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!  

Going a little SLO

So this week my training suffered a bit, but I decided to hit the road and test out the Wildflower course with my boyfriend and our friend Eric.  This meant a weekend in SAN LUIS OBISPO!  I haven't visited SLO for quite sometime since I don't have a Cal Poly couch at my disposal (my sister graduated 2 years after me).  Poly has changed drastically since I graduated: there are commercial retailers, twice as many bars, bars I wouldn't even have risked vomitting in have been remodeled, and the college campus looks all shined up fancy and new.  However, most of SLO remains the same.  Firestones is still mouthwateringly good, bubble gum alley is still disgusting, I can always find tank tops and dress shirts at Lucky Lulu's, High St. deli still makes my sandwich the way I like it, and all the ugliest buildings on campus still stand (yes, the rat maze and library of concrete have not been renovated, these buildings would make anyone wonder why Poly is one of the top Architecture schools in the nation).  However, I didn't just come here to relive my college days, but with a mission of seeing what I've gotten myself into by signing up for this race.

I did volunteer for Wildflower as a student, but as a volunteer you don't really see the full picture of the course so this weekend I not only saw, but experienced it.  We headed out around 9a.m. to ride, run and swim? the course.  Well we didn't have the drive to swim the course with the wind chill in the air, but we got ourselves together and headed out on the road.  Once the guys finished making fun of my tank of a bike I was off.  The crosswind made the out and back fairly painful, but the hills weren't nearly as tough as I expected.  Certainly Lynch Hill out of the transition area was long and slow, but I managed to get up to 17 or 18mph while on the gradual inclines.  Unfortunately, I missed the turnaround so I added a few miles, but I'm sure it will help me more than hurt me.  After the long decent back into the training area I felt relieved that all the fear people had instilled in me wasn't as bad as I imagined in my head.

Now the run is a different story!  I was told tales of the endless hills and how you can probably fry an egg on people's foreheads in the heat, but I needed to test out the course for myself.  Miles 1 and 2 started out pretty well, a lot of rolling hills with a few steep sections, but nothing too miserable, but come about mile 2.5 the long slow stretches of hills begin.  Mile number 3 was a killer slowly winding up, feeling like it never ends, but then I made it!  Mile 4 meant more rollers and I feared that there was much more in store for me.  I was huffing and puffing through the end of mile 4, but then...SALVATION!  The downhill began!  The last mile and a half is downhill so it was home free at the end.

After the run I needed a nap, but I felt accomplished that we made it through the course and breathed a sigh of relief that it was time to Party or at least eat all the awesome food in SLO.  So now I need to work on mental preparation now that I'm well aware of what pain I'll be putting myself through in 3 weeks.  So 3 weeks left and here I go!

Wildflower Training...getting past burnout...1 month to go

This week I pepped up a bit!  I got almost all of my workouts in and I felt really great by the end of the week.  I am happy to report that life was good for my peak at week 13.  I can't believe I have only one more month until I'll be revisiting my college days and doing the Wildflower triathlon...only this time I'll be one of the people doing it not one of the people in a hazy fog writing numbers on athletes early in the morning.

Monday
With Trojan Olympics out of the way I was happy to have my mondays for training back.  Although the days are gorgeous it is a bit difficult for me to ride by myself outside, plus my bike isn't at my house, I decided to keep the spin indoors and enjoy warm evenings in the pool.  I hit the gym early, got some papers graded and then chilled out on the bike for 90 minutes.  I was feeling good and pushing it hard.
     I hit the pool with Masters after.  I started out a bit sluggish, but after my arms were warmed up I felt pretty good.  Tom (the coach) told me that I am swimming with my arms across my body so to try reaching outward, so this is what I focused on for most of the evening.  I did a series of short sets totaling 2000 and then I called it quits, I just didn't have another 15 minutes in me.  I was proud I managed to do both.

Tuesday
Usually this is a track day, but with my track "coach" being held back by a conference call, I ran about one lap, thought my legs felt like crap and called it a night.  I just put in too much on monday I guess.

Wednesday
Since I didn't want to miss track completely I got up early to hit up Wednesday morning track.  Usually this is too late for me, but since I had a conference at 8:30 I had enough time to track and shower.  This week was 3x1mile with 200 recovery and I felt the best I've ever felt.  I ran the first at 6:53 and I thought there is no way I can negative split this, I'll be lucky if I make it through.  I did slow down for the second at 6:58, but you know what I pushed myself hard and got through the 3rd with a 6:51.  I was happy to head off to work on that note.
  In the afternoon I got 90 minutes of spin and some abs in and then headed home.

Thursday
I had planned on getting up early to get in a run, but my body just wasn't down for that so I woke up early, readjusted my alarm and headed back to bed.  In the afternoon I had hoped to make it to the gym early enough to hit up a weight lifting class, but I got held up and instead decided on another spin but a bit easier this time around for about 60 minutes.  Then out to the pool.
I managed to get through the whole workout feeling great and I am starting to feel more confident in my swimming, but the bad news is I didn't get my 3rd swim in for the week.

Friday
I had planned on swimming and/or running, but when my boyfriend and some other friends decided to hit up diablo I decided I wanted to join in.  I have been waiting a while to climb that mountain again and I have a personal relationship with the north side because this is one of my first rides I ever tried to conquer and although I failed a few times I eventually made it to the ranger station and then to the top.   After making it up and back it had been a long week so I went out for a well deserved cocktail.

Saturday
I was very well behaved in limiting my cocktails, but I did not have the energy, legs, or will power to ride on saturday, so I opted for a slow short run.  I got in a little over 4 miles and then relaxed for the day.

Sunday
I got up a bit early to hit up the Mt. Diablo/Briones Trail loop.  I took my time and a bit of perpetum, since I don't usually do breakfast before running and because the weather can be a bit unpredictable in the spring and summer months.  It ended up being a gorgeous day!  I really enjoyed my run and was excited to make french toast and cut berries for the post-run breakfast, with a side of chocolate milk of course

My week ended with 11 hours of training and a huge smile of accomplishment, not to mention a cupcake!  Here goes week 14 and the butterflies are starting to stir.

March: A month of highs and lows

March has been a very tough month for me in terms of getting all my training hours in.  I have struggled with burn out and weeks with little to no swimming.  I even had one week where I only ran twice, which is very out of character for me since I love running.  I'm happy to say I completed 429 miles and 37 hours of training.  Although this sounds like a significant amount of hours to dedicate to my training I am still about 8+ short of where I wanted to be by now.

    On the positive side I've seen a lot of improvement in my run and my riding.  I improved my ride of the three bears by 1mile per hour and I've noticed an improvement in my track workouts.  This week I ran 3x1 mile and all of my times were under 7 minutes.  Last time I tried this workout this month my stomach hated me and before that my times weren't below 7 minute miles.  My students worked hard and did well at Trojan Olympics putting on a show I am proud of even though we had some minor set backs along the way.  I'm an advisor for the class of 2013 and I couldn't find their dance on youtube, but here is their pyramid and the senior dance, hard to believe this was my first freshman class.
Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better now that T.O. is over and I can make more time for my workouts and GRADING...which I have fallen so far behind on.  Another positive was that my mom came to visit.  It was exciting to see her since I don't get to see her too often and we finally got to celebrate her retirement.
    However, March was also filled with some major bummers.  This was a month of rainy days to say the least.  I can handle running in the rain, but I spent many days sitting on a trainer or in a spin class instead of enjoying the outdoors on my bike.  I also had a few track sessions that I had to call it quits and try track again on the treadmill.  I skipped workouts to catch up on sleep or just lay on the couch.  Overall, I will be happy to see March go, and I hope April brings sunshine and great days as I wind my way toward Wildflower.

End of week 13 and a day of spectating

Usually I am the runner/racer when it comes to an early morning out on the race course, but today it was my turn to spectate as my boyfriend Nick tried to take on the Oakland Half Marathon.  I ran this half marathon last year, but I refused to do this half again due to the late start, 9a.m., last year it was scalding hot by 11a.m.  Despite some major blisters and a side stitch he did pretty well finishing at 1:31:50, which shaved about 2 minutes off of his first half marathon in Big Sur.  He did a great job even though he had some issues along the way.
In terms of being a spectator Oakland is a perfect course to cheer anyone on.  I was able to walk from one side of the course to the other and cheer Nick on at the start, mile 9, and mile 12.  I would have made it to mile 5 as well, but it isn't exactly the safest side of town to walk through by myself so I stuck around Lake Merritt.  I'm very much a poster and flashy spectator kind of person, but to avoid embarrassing Nick I stuck to just cheering with my backpack of supplies.  I even managed to meet a few people sharing stories along the way and they helped me cheer for Nick at mile 12.  Cheering to me is very important because when you're really starting to lose hope and everything hurts its the people who are out there that know you can finish even if you don't think you can that keep me going.  I remember during San Diego during mile 23 I really had nothing left in me, but I had people yelling, "Keep going Lauren, you're doing great!"  I didn't know these people I just had my name on my racing bib, but they still encouraged me to keep going.

I'd like to send a shout out and big THANK YOU to everyone who has ever been a spectator or cheerleader, we all need you more than you think, you are what keep us going and what makes me want to kick my butt a few more times.