Farewell!

Farewell? Yes, this is my final blog entry. I started the blog to track my progress and help motivate me to stay on track. I did that! I am in better shape now than I was when I got pregnant with Miles. It is a great feeling. So it is time to bid farewell.

What will I be doing going forward? I will continue on with what I am doing. I start a reformer class once a week next week. I think sticking with that will be helpful. I'll also continue doing my daily yoga. Build in one swim and one cycling day per week. Keep up with the lifting, since I do see a huge difference in muscle toning. And finally, I will keep running!

What goals do I have? The only goals I have are improving on what I think I can accomplish. There will be races where my race time is slower than my training times, however I won't get down on myself. There are always bad days. Unfortunately, like the Garden 10 mile, some of my bad days will fall on race days. That experience taught me to keep my chin up and not be too hard on myself. I can accomplish anything I set my mind to, because I set my goals based on what I can accomplish and not what others have accomplished. I will be doing my first triathlon in the fall and we'll see if I add more of those to my race schedule going forward. It will be a very fun, challenging adventure.

My life is in a great place. I have wonderful friends and family. My husband loves and respects me and treats me so well. My children are angels whom I am amazed by every day and very thankful for. I've relaxed about the house work. Having a lady to help with the things I don't get to helps. There is always that one thing that gets to me... I do get uptight about finances, however I also know we have accomplished more with savings than many people who have two incomes. I will be exploring my career options in the months to come. I am ready to explore what's out there for me. We will continue traveling and enjoying our time as a family and our time with friends. I couldn't imagine my life any other way. There is definitely a sense of accomplishment in my life that I didn't have when I started this blog, so it is time to bid farewell.

Thank goodness for massage!

You can say that again!! This morning I had the absolute, worst upper back and shoulder pain/cramping. I thought I was going to break. I know part of it is from recurring soreness over the past 3 weeks, but I also lifted too much on Thursday. ouchie! I will have to watch the amount of weight I'm lifting!

Anyway, I had a great easy run, well a little harder than easy, but it couldn't be considered a hard run, today. My legs are still feeling a little fatigued from the Slacker. While running down, if I ran faster than a 7:00mm, my legs ached. That tells me I'm not 100% recovered. Going up was a breeze, so I'm good there.

Tomorrow is my first time up past Barr Camp this year. I am very excited. There is something exhilarating about running/hiking up Barr Trail. It really is one of my favorites. We'll be getting in around 16 miles tomorrow, so I'll take a break Monday. Ella will be in swim lessons, so I'll get an easy swim in then. Swimming is another one of those wonderful feelings for me... letting my sore muscles glide through the water. I love it.

So it was a quick update today. I have a few minutes in between waiting for dinner items to cook. We are having friends over, so I have to get dinner done on time.

Fast times...

Fast times? Oh yes! I'm talking about the road bike I was just fitted for. It sure does fly! I need to get comfortable on it, but I was surprised at how fast it is. Those tiny wheels move!! The weather is way too nice to be stuck in a gym doing a spin class, so I've moved on to outside cycling. Plus, I have the triathlon coming up in September too. I am working on getting used to the bike, then I'll be putting on the clipless pedals and getting some serious riding in. A girlfriend and I will be meeting once a week for around a 30 mile ride. The good thing about the bike is that Harsha is just a little taller than I am, so he can use it too - no adjustments needed. Perfect cross training for both of us!

And now I'm sure you are wondering about the swimming aspect of the triathlon? Well, I am meeting a girlfriend once a week at the pool for regular swims, starting next week. I've been doing some short swims, but nothing serious. Now I really need to get in the pool and start working on the lap swimming. Between the swimming and cycling, I think I have my cross training covered.

So workouts for the next month or two look like this - swimming one day, cycling one day, weight training two days, Barr Trail training two days, easy run one day, and tempo/interval longer training (8-10m) one day. It sounds like a lot, however, the swimming and cycling aren't hard on my body like running can be. I'll be right around 35-40 miles of running, which is still high for me, but it has to be that way while I train for the Ascent. As soon as I am done with the Ascent, my mileage will decrease back down to 25-30 miles. I like that better! And of course, the yoga will continue on an almost nightly schedule. I am a strong believer in stretching out the body!

Funny Me!!

Sometimes I find myself to be very funny. In the last .2 miles of the Slacker, there was a lady who comes creeping up to me. I cheered her on! Then when I turned the corner to the finish, she was still right there and I continued to cheer her on. Well it turns out, she got third in our age group! HAHA!! Oh well, next year, maybe I'll place. It did bring a smile to my face when I saw the results though, because I knew exactly who finished 12 seconds ahead of me. She was an awesome runner, just having the same problems as the rest of us in that last hilly mile, so she deserves it.

Anyway, I finished #18 out of 334 female runners. Not too bad, if I can say so and not sound like I'm bragging. I had a good run. Still awaiting pictures, which I know they got some good ones of me. I wasn't dieing, so when I came upon a camera, I smiled and even waved. Boy, I was a friendly little chickie during this race. Hopefully I can keep it up. I'll post pictures on our website when they become available. YAY!!

And one more note - Harsha got his qualifying time for the Ascent. He can now register for wave 1 next year!! His half marathon goal going forward is 1:40, which I know he can easily do, but it is nice having his qualifier out of the way. Such a smart runner!!

Redeemed myself!

That's right, I redeemed myself!! YAY!!! I knew I had it in me. Coming around the corner to the finish line, I saw the surprise on Harsha's face. It was one of the best feelings.

So what race am I talking about? The Slacker Half Marathon. The name is deceiving though. I wish it really were slacker, but there wasn't much slacking about it. It started at Loveland Ski area at 10, 600+ feet, going down to Georgetown (~8,200ft), all rolling hills. The first five miles were on a service road, which was very rocky. I had to take it easy on that, since I wasn't looking for a sprained ankle. Then we were on hot black top road/trail until mile 12. And I mean hot! The race started at 8:05, so by the time I got to the road, the sun wa s at full beam, burning holes into me. And then the last mile was brutal, with many short hills. I couldn't believe how many hills we had to climb in the last mile. Even the finish line was at the top of a hill!

It was a great race. I pushed a little, but not all out, I'm going to die, type pushing. I used my inhaler before the race, so I could breath without difficulty. Starting at mile 6, I walked through all the water stops and made sure I drank a full cup of water. It was a refreshing break every two miles. I did take a GU at mile 6 too, so I had plenty of energy. I did die the last mile though. All the hills and winding through town really killed my momentum. I was ready to be done! At one point, the guy next to me and I said "you've got to be kidding me!" and then I proceeded to walk up the hill. I did that a few times in the last mile. Up until that point, I was keeping a 7:40 min mile pace. It felt good, but then it felt great to walk in that last mile.

So my unofficial finishing time is around 1:42:58. They haven't published the results yet, so we'll see what my timing chip came in at. I felt great. It was a little faster than my goal half marathon time, which is 1:45. I can't say this race was easier than a flatland half marathon. I wish it were, but it didn't turn out that way. It was a great race and I do plan on doing it again next year. We plan on getting a big group together to do it. Stay the night with the night and let the kids run. It sounds great.

I'll write more about my coming week later. We're going camping, so gotta go prepare for our little trip. It will feel great to dangle my legs in the lake, that's for sure! Pure relaxation!!

Excitement - still have it?

I had the pleasure of volunteering at a 5k/10k race over the weekend. I worked the finish line, so I got to check out all the faces of the finishers. As I watched them cross the finish line, it struck me how excited newer runners are about racing. For me, those are the ones I enjoy watching the most. I have only been running a couple years and have only done around a dozen races, but somewhere along the way I lost that excitement I see on newer runners faces. I do get excited about most races, but I'm also too goal oriented and don't think so much about enjoying the experience.

A couple weeks ago, I had my worst race experience and it made me think "why do I do this when I enjoy all my training runs?" I have a wonderful group of runners that I enjoy training with and even when I'm having a bad day, I enjoy myself. I do like the challenge of races, so I will continue doing them, but I need to find that excitement I see on the newer runners faces. It is somewhere in me still. Rather than focusing on goal time and my watch, I need to relax and enjoy the experience. My goal, for the rest of my summer races, is to enjoy the races and not worry about my time. Easier said than done, since I am one of those driven individuals. I am going to try hard and let my friends help. Rather than pushing ahead at the start of the races, I will enjoy a more relaxed pace with them and then pick it up. It sounds like a good plan to me.

As far as my workouts go, I am ramping up training for the Ascent. As a result, my mileage is going to be hovering around 40 miles, which is more than I normally like to do.
Round trip to Barr Camp is 14.5 miles, so I don't have much choice when it comes to mileage. I am trying to figure out how to best stay connected with my ladies too, so we'll be figuring that out over the next couple weeks. I will need to use some of my weekend time on the mountain. Right now, I think I'll alternate Fri and Sun on the mountain. We'll see how that works though. Most likely, I'll be playing it by ear.

And this blog... It was supposed to be for one year, which has already passed. I'm not sure how much longer I will keep doing this. Shoot me a mail if you have an opinion. I know some of you enjoy reading my exercise exploits still.

Body image?

Body image, this is always an interesting topic. In this month's issue of Runner's World, there is an article about weight and running. It lists out how much time one would shave off races, if they lost 5lbs, 10lbs, etc. So the first thing that goes through my mind is "how much weight do I have to lose?" It took me a few minutes of thinking about it to realize that I am already at an ideal weight for myself. I did a quick search for the BMI calculator, which calculated me at 20.1 to 20.4, based on my 5'7" frame and weight that fluctuates up and down by three pounds. It is pretty good, when considering that 18.5 to 24.9 is within the normal weight range.

So why is the first thought that goes through my mind, "how much should I lose?" I guess I have to give the catch all answer that it is something that has been programmed since I was a teenager. I'm much healthier now. My weight doesn't yo-yo. I'm very committed to exercising. Still I have to stop to think about losing weight, it doesn't just come to me automatically that I am where I need to be. I wonder if this will change with age? I wonder, if it does change, will I remain at a weight I am happy with? I sure hope so.

I think of healthy women and I think of all the wonderfully strong, active women that I am friends with, related to, or just see around. I think of my grandma, who is 84 and still walking regularly, lifting weights, stretching and doing all her own cleaning and gardening. I wonder if they have the same doubts about their body image that I have. I'm almost sure they do, however they are probably not as hard on themselves as I am, that is what my Harsha tells me. So I guess I shouldn't be so hard on myself... but then there is that nag in my mind about my dad saying I aged... that's an altogether different story though!