Cowtown Miracle

I finished Cowtown in 2:11:37!

So sore today but I can't believe it!

Detailed report to follow ... BUT I ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR FOUR BRIDGES HALF MARATHON ..

Race of the Year

As you may have noticed, I haven’t raced much in the last 18 months or so. My thesis/feces took priority. On Sunday, October 4 I will endeavor to complete the Cowtown Half Marathon. I am a little worried and nervous. I have been sick for two days this week; had a bad ankle for 4 weeks; and now have some shin pain.

I ran 4 miles this morning in 40:32 and felt great after so I’m keeping my hopes up that Cowtown will go well. I’ll try to take pics and post them after the race.

If all goes good with Cowtown then I intend to register for four bridges half on Oct 25. CIM group is slated to run 17 that day, so I’ll do the 2 mile warm up before the race and a 2 mile cool down after so I can get in my mileage. My mom (58 years old!) is running Four Bridges – her first half marathon ever!. She rocks it. She started running when she was 50 –and had absolutely NO athletic background before she began running a few years ago.

Anyway, that’s it for now.. Send good vibes my way on Sunday morning.

Rolling is awesome

Foam Roller and Trigger Point Therapy set.

These things really work in terms of helping my pain / injury from IT Band, Piriformis pain, etc. You roll on them slowly and deeply. It helps to break up adhesions and scar tissue and really helps with pain.

Hoo Haa HA Six' Oclock

I am so exited.
I
Ran
11
miles!
And
I
Can
Still
Walk.


Yes. I ran 11 miles on sunday with my CIM group. I should have only dont 8 (75 % of workout) but got to yammering with a lady and before I knew it I was at the 5.5 mile turnaround point. It took me 53 minutes to reach turn around. The way back took a bit longer and I stopped my garmin at 2:00:17 for 11 miles.

Whoo.
Hoo.

I rolled my hips, calves, Psoas, and tensor fascia, etc when I got home. OUCH. I rolled them again at about 4 pm. I took the trigger point ball and ground it into my hip for about 20 minutes at 9 pm. This morning, no pain other than the expected muscle soreness. I can't believe this rolling stuff works!

Today is rest day and then swim tomorrow.

Hoo Ha Ha Six'O' Clock!

~ From a book I read in 8th grade called, The Divorce Express. It is an expression of fun and excitement.

Spreckles

Haven't posted in a while. I have been consumed with
a) feeling sorry for myself
and
b) being angry at feeling sorry for myself.

anyway, now that is all 'sorted' (as my brit friends say) I am back on the horse, er bike and run and swim.

I ran last week several times. I ran half the perscribed distance for my fleet feet group. Here's some totals


Anyway, with all my extra time NOT training, I've gone back to doing some quilting. With the crappy econonomy here, I've decided to give handmade quilts for christmas this year. I have probably 20 quilt kits in various stages of production in my house. I blew the dust off the ol' Janome sewing machine and got to work this last week on piecing together a new quilt top for my mom. I was planning on giving one to my mom for christmas, but was at the same time struggling with what to do for my brother. My bro is the kind of guy who buys whatever he wants--so it is hard to figure out christmas gifts for him. As I was sewing away, I was pondering his likes/dislikes and all the presents from past christmases' that he hated. Then an idea hit me--he is a NUT for CAL Berkeley football. As an alumni, he still buys season tickets every year and travels to all the games. So I thought, I should make him a CAL Berkeley QUILT. Ok, I know it sounds crazy, but it just takes blue and yellow (ok-california gold, I know). I even made a quick design.. Here.

Waddya think? Yes that is the cal bear, my drawing sucks..

Workout? What Workout?

I thought about listing all the things I did this weekend in chronological order, but really, that would be boring. So instead, I will list my injuries/aches and describe how they came about….So from the head down:

Skull—Achy because of high estrogen/low progesterone. I feel a migraine coming on this week. I also haven’t been eating breakfast at all and stuffing my face with crappy food instead of staying on my low salt diet.

Eye (right)—stye forming on the top lid. It fkn hurts. Probably from swimming in dirty lake water with leaky goggles.

Cheeks – Flushed and irritated from too much sun and not enough SPF.

Nose—Stuffy and runny. I better not be getting sick.

Lips (right corner) – Cracked. I have no idea why. Probably from the crappy food I’ve been eating.

Forearm (right) –In an attempt to ‘bond’ with the family, agreed to play badminton for a few hours in the sun. I haven’t really played since high school—20+ years ago. I also decided to show off by beating everyone in the family. Now I’m paying for it, because I can’t even pick up my coffee cup.

Kibbles & Bits – 20+mile bike ride early Saturday morning. First time on the bike since August 5. It hurts. A lot.

Ankle (right)—went to the CIM workout with Fleet feet early Sunday morning to try out the ankle, finally. They ran 7. I did 2. It felt good while running but now a little bruised.

Foot (left)—While getting ready for CIM workout (above), walked into the dark bathroom and rammed my left foot into the corner of the cabinet under the sink. Someone (RR#2, but I’m not pointing fingers) left the cabinet door open all night and my foot impaled itself on it. The foot is swollen, bruised and nasty looking.

TonightI will attempt to run another 2 miles and make a decent low salt low fat dinner. Cheers!

Doing Swimmingly

Since my ankle catastrophe, I decided to focus more on my swimming--particularly, swimming endurance.

On Tuesday, both Rugrat #2 and I reached a milestone.
She has been in the open water swim class this summer. She learned to swim using the Total Immersion method. She learned to put her face in the water, push on her buoy, sharkfin, etc.

On Tuesday, she agreed to 'swim long', meaning instead of staying close to the shore and doing skills and drills, she would swim up the lake shore to a predestined marker and back. She chose to do the 1/2 mile swim.

I wanted to stay with her (motherly instinct and all) but the teacher told me to scram and that a kayaker would stay next to RR#2 the whole time so she didn't panic.

I took off and reached the 3/4 mile turnaround and then looked longingly at all those people who swam the extra mile lap around an island in order to get just over a mile in the water. Someone in my group stopped and said, "c'mon! Stay on my feet and i'll pull you around the island".. Well, i'm so slow, I couldn't stay on the feet--but I did make it around the island!!!! I swam back to the shore exhausted but proud that I made the 1900 yard swim in about 43 minutes. When I reached shore, RR#2 gave me a high five and told me about her jaunt to the 1/2 mile turnaround!
I was so happy for her. She said it was really difficult and she was scared but she persevered and made it! She is so excited to continue swimming in the lake until it is either 1. too dark after work or 2. the water gets icy cold.

Anyway, phew. I can swim a mile and she can swim 1/2 mile. Just maintain now until next year.

TriKarenTri's Tuesday Tantrum Twelve

I wish I had something really interesting to write about, but I don't.

I am resting my ankle since it has been puffing up. I think my wednesday 5 mile run to test out the ankle actually hurt it worse.

So here's a list of a few things about me. I'll call it "trikarentri's tuesday tantrum twelve"

1. Reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I'm on page 13 and I love it.
2. Joining the Capital Athletic Club in the next week or so.
3. Volunteering at XTERRA Lake Tahoe on August 29 so i can earn a free race voucher for next years' race.
4. My ankle still hurts
5. I think I will do Millenium Restaurant's aphrodisiac night for my birthday.
6. My boss just told me "good job".
7. I am confused and sad about rugrat #1 and the Cult.
8. I am amazed that I have so many great friends. They are super supportive and very fun to hang around.
9. I want to obtain a great base level of training so I can do a half marathon effortlessly. (ha!)
10. I have a rash from stress.
11. I am thankful that for the most part my body works like I want it to.
12. Hopefully, Active Release Therapy appointment tomorrow will help my ankle.

Baggin' it

I decided to bag the race (or hobble) on Sunday. So no "Blood Sweat and BEERS" for me. My ankle was throbbing last night and this morning. I can take off two weeks now and still head into CIM training with some good conditioning. If I keep aggravating it, i might be out of contention for CIM altogether. Soooo I'm going to pick up the T-Shirt and hat but not the timing chip.

My husband said he'd buy me a beer on Sunday to make up for missing BS&B.. Say it with me.. "AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" He's really great.

Thanks for all the kind words regarding RugRat#1 and the ankle. I was a little PMS-y this week so everything seemed to be a deadend. Aunt Flo just showed up and now the world is full of sparkle and sunshine.

In any case, I also signed up for Total Body Fitness' Half Ironman Triathlon (HIT)for next year. So that makes two half ironman races next year AND an XTERRA next year. I think that is really good enough, don't you? Well, maybe I'll throw in a sprint or two; maybe even an olympic. Like I said, the world is full of sparkle and sunshine these days.

I ran 5 miles in the dirt

Our last weekly workout last night. The trail run class was awesome.

I ran 5 miles in the heat and dirt.
I was really slow and today my ankle hurts. Not as bad as it did before but it still hurts.

I am angry. REALLY ANGRY about all the effort I put into this class and that my speed gains have been blown 1.5 weeks before the race. I don't know if I should do the race or just bag it or cut to the 5 miler or what. Doc says no risk of permanent damage, but "Karen you need to respect the pain and be smart."

Blah.
Sorry i'm in a bad mood about my throbbing ankle.

Oh, and RugRat #1 (17 years old) wants to join a cult. We tried to talk her out of it, but she's been brainwashed pretty quickly. Woke up at 4:30 a.m. to find my husband crying his eyes out. He doesn't know what to do; I don't know what to do since she lives with her mom full time (hubbies beeach-ex--wife)She bailed on our plans for her to come spectate my race on sunday--because the CULT wants her to do some things with them on Sunday. I told her it hurt my feelings to be dumped and left it at that. Double Blah.

Diet Fail

I had a chili burger with fries and a coke for lunch. It was to celebrate my new promotion.

I wonder how much salt & saturated fat I just ingested.

Back on the horse for tonight's dinner.

Adieu Adios ArriveDerci Sat Sri Akal Bye See Ya Xaire Vale Zay gesunt

Garmin is going back.

I couldn’t take it any more. It refused to work the last two days. It would not record time properly. It would not charge. It turned on and off by itself. It discharged it’s entire battery. It lost workouts. All these things happened a few weeks ago and then magically corrected themselves. They also magically returned on Saturday. I need stability in my life. I need structure. I need to know that my Garmin will charge when I hook it up to the charger.

I was ready to throw it against the wall or flush it down the toilet last night.
Instead I packed it back in its box and I’m taking it back to fleet feet where I bought it. Hopefully they can exchange it out. I do have an email from Garmin Tech Support that says, “Please return to place of purchase and exchange for another.” I am not sure what I should do. Should I get another Garmin? Should I switch to Polar or Sunnuto? Or maybe I should simply stick with the good ol’ Timex sports watch?

In any case I am trying to relax before I have a stroke.

In better news, my ankle feels a lot better. I’m gonna try the 5 miler workout tonight and see how it goes. And if all is well I will race on Sunday (“RACE” is a bit of an exaggeration. I hope to finish).


_________________________________________________________________________________


UPDATE: I exchanged the old Garmin at Fleet Feet. They were laughing at how it was angrily stuffed back into its box, "Frustrated, Karen??" I got my new one and started charging it at my desk. First think I noticed was that it clicked to charge IMMEDIATELY. I also noticed that it had none of the "wiggle" that my old Garmin had at the charge sites on back. So yes I obviously must have gotten a dud before.

tentative

Ran 1 mile this morning in order to try out the ankle.

It went ok.
Doesn't hurt any more than it has the last few days.

I might be ok to go for the race on sunday?

I hope.

Doc says....

First of all—ankle is not broken. Only strained ligaments/tendons. That is good news. Doc says I can start running using “pain as my guide” .. Well then fill me up with some Vicodin so I can run soon. I had to bag my Sunday long run with the trail run group because I was in so much pain Saturday night/Sunday early morning.

Bad News: I have high blood pressure. My doc was really surprised. For years I’ve had the standard 108/60 or 110/65. No problem. I exercise. Well since May 2008 my BP has steadily crept upward. 125/78, 130/75, 138/80, 141/80. On Friday at the docs office it was 157/92!!!!

He was really shocked and said I need to radically change my diet. He told me to monitor my BP at home regularly and if it doesn’t improve in a couple of months, I’ll have to go on meds. Here’s the thing—He said, “you are not obese,(yeah!) you exercise a lot(yeah!) so it is either too much salt or it is hereditary” In this case, two positives, makes a negative.. I have to admit I am a total SALT WHORE! I don’t have a sweet tooth, I have a salty MOLAR. Oh and EVERYONE in my family (both sides) has very high blood pressure. My dad and his brother died from complications of it, as did his sisters, & my grandparents. Oh my mom has high BP as does my baby brother. So I hit the crap lottery with the Blood Pressure Gene.

In any case, I have decided on a radical new diet. No animal products at all—and little to no salt. Oh and no alcohol other than ½ glass of red wine. This is going to suck big time but I have to give it ago before I blow a vessel in my brain.

Later!

ANKLE pain

last night's 5 mile run was going well until I felt a sharp pain in my right ankle on the outside.

When I got home I couldnt' walk on it.
Last night's ICE and Anti-Inflamatory didn't help. Still excrutiating. No swelling though.

I'm scheduled for Dr. Appt and x-ray/MRI tomorrow a.m.

I hope it isn't a fibula fracture.
Sad when you are wishing for tendonitis, isn't it?

Finger's crossed!

New Stuff

Here was last sunday's "easy" run... Good times!

Picked up the garmin soft-strap heart rate monitor and matched it to my garmin.
It says that I had a heart rate of 244 on sunday's run.

I mean, I knew I was good, but 244 means I have better cardio than Lance or Alberto or Floyd..

I e-mailed garmin to ask them about it, they said that sometimes if it is getting jostled around too much our touched too much by clothing (really? Heart rate monitors are supposed to be worn without clothing?) it can register each 'touch' as a heart rate.

In any case, I tried the heart rate again today on my tuesday 4-miler and it was fine. I set my maximum at 183 and it said my average was 147 --- 80%.

Garmin seems to be working fine now--I figured out how to set the darn thing so my heart rate and heart rate % show on the screen. Today, I kept looking down at it as I ran to see it. Now, I just have to figure out how to make it vibrate or beep when it goes over, say, 90%.

Only two more weeks until Blood, Sweat, and Beers. I am doing a practice run of the course next Sunday. Coach Tim Tweitmeyer told us on sunday, that the 10-mile course is a "killer". Coming from him--that scares me to death!!



Other than that, I am simply trying to stay consistent with my training over the fall/winter months. I would like to add in a little trail running and mountain biking too.

I wish I could quit my job and just workout all the time--That Would Be Awesome.

Weird but True

Weird but True

Hold your breaths. Wait…Wait for it…

I am getting faster.

Yup! Faster.

F
A
S
T
E
R
!

Every week trail run group meets and runs 5 miles. The same 5 mile out-n-back route.

First week with the group it took me 65 minutes.
Second week: 56:48
Third week: 54:01
Yesterday: 51:02


I passed people running yesterday. I passed them at the END of the run. I felt so strong and awesome! People even commented to me after the run, “dang you were fast today!” Last two miles yesterday were 9:37 and 9:08! Wow.

I
AM
FAST(er)!


Ok, back to work for me!

Nathan Intensity Hydration Race Vest Review

New Nathan Intensity Hydration Vest
As promised –the new Nathan Intensity Hydration Vest review.

This pack is awesome. It works exceptionally well for my long trail runs where I am out for over an hour and there is no water source.

The Intensity is the women’s specific hydration race vest. Specifically, it is designed for a shorter torso—perfect for me. The vest is made of some exceptionally soft ultra space age material. I think I could get away with wearing this pack without any shirt—only a bra top—and be fine.

The pack has two main compartments. The first compartment holds the 2 Liter water bladder—the bladder is held in place wit a couple of clips. The second compartment is smaller and will hold a small jacket or some arm warmers. I usually put my keys in the smaller compartment.

The front of the water pack has two smaller holders. One is zippered—this one I use to hold my TP and plastic bags, just in case of runner’s trots. (This is a very handy thing to have it in the front of the pack. I do not want to be wrangling with my pack trying to find the TP in the back of the pack when I have dropped trough and am trying to avoid poison oak—I want easy access to the TP).The other compartment in front is draw string-like and that’s where I keep my Gus and Cliff Shot Blocks.

The hose is easily locked into place on the front sternum strap. The bite valve works fine and water comes out quickly and easily.

The sternum strap adjusts well. For me, I wear it beneath “the girls” since they seem to be in the way. It’s ok though.

The water bladder holds enough to last me 2.5 hours running in 100+ degree weather There is little to no water bounce when I run. My only complaint about the entire thing is that occasionally, my WIDE shoulders get stuck in the vest when I try to take it off.

All in all, the Nathan Intensity Hydration Pack rocks it.

Tidbits & Progress Made

Now that I have the garmin whining out of the way, I can tell you that it has almost miraculously started working really well. Only one part of it doesn’t work (training center) but I realize I have an older version of it on my computer so that should be fixed soon too.

AnyHOO, I just looked back at some of my recent 5 mile trail runs—since I got my garmin, I have done a particular 5-mile trail run 3 times. The times are as follows:

#1 Run 1 hour 5 minutes
#2 Run 56 minutes 21 seconds
#3 Run 52 minutes 1 second

Is Garmin making me faster or WHAT? HA!

This weekend my trail group will be running 10 miles on Quarry Road. Fred and Wilma and Barney and Betty will be out there.

Signed up for the 10 mile trail run, Blood, Sweat and Beers.
I’m scared.
I’m scared that they might run out of beer before I finish.

I found a new love—early morning bike rides. Rode Wednesday AM at 5:15 to 6:15. It was quiet and peaceful, roads were sans cars, & the air was clean. AWESOME! I’ll be doing it again next week.

I’m scared of the Master Swim group I have joined. I have not yet attended a workout. I need to do that, but even the thought sends me into a panic. Swimming fast at 5 a.m.? I need to SUCK IT UP and get in the water.

I am running Cowtown half marathon with my mom. She signed up, so we will run it together. My mom rocks it!

I haven’t thought about school or my thesis in weeks. I am so glad it is over.
Just informed I got a promotion—since I have that illustrious M.A. in hand. Hurray!

I'll re-test my Nathan water pack again on Sunday's 10-mile trail run and have a review next week.

Posting Dread

I have really dreaded writing this post.
Not because I have writers’ block, but because I really wanted to like the Garmin 310xt.

I really REALLY want to like it.
But I can’t. It is too frustrating for my short fuse.

So here goes:

THE GOOD:
• Small on the wrist
• Snazzy orange color
• Moves through the screens quickly
• Very very accurate GPS (I was expecting it not to be, but it is very accurate)
• The functions sound great—and would be very useful… BUT

THE BAD:
• It took two hours on the phone with Garmin to get the ANT+ and garmin connect to work properly on my computer.
• Then it still didn’t work
• ANT+ stick doesn’t always recognize my garmin
• Garmin charger is flakey and won’t charge my Garmin. There is supposed to be a fix for this on their website but I can’t find it. But the worst part is…

THE UGLY:
• Garmin turns off and on by itself when charging (that is when it actually agrees to charge)
• Garmin has spontaneously erased several of my workouts only to load workouts that I never did. For instance, it says I did a run workout on April 6. I did not get my garmin until July 6. The April 6 workout was not on my device until AFTER it spontaneously erased several workouts.
• Workouts will not load to Beginner Triathlete properly.


I really want to like this device. I am hoping that as the software bugs get cleared out, it will start to work better. The last 2 workouts have been saved on Garmin Connect but cannot be loaded to Beginner Triathlete properly. BT said they are working on it.

In any case I’ll test it in the water on Tuesday so that will probably generate a whole new round of software bugs.

Races:
I signed up for Blood, Sweat, & Beers trail race 10 mile distance
I will sign up for Cowtown half-marathon in October
I will sign up for Buffalo Stampede in September
I will sign up for Four Bridges Half Marathon in October
I will sign up for Clarksburg Country Run 20-miler in November.
I signed up for California International Marathon (CIM) in December
I signed up for Auburn Half-Ironman Triathlon in May 2010.

Workouts:

With the intense heat I bagged my Wednesday run.
I rode my bike for the first time in a month and half on Saturday. I did 24 miles up and down some pretty good hills. Beal’s point to Sunrise, then around Lake Natoma and back to Folsom Lake.

Sunday’s 9 mile trail run in the searing heat was too much. I walked a lot of it. It was around 1500 feet of climbing. I cut it short to 7 miles and drank 1.5 Liters of water. I used my new nathan water carrier and it was pretty good. Detailed review to come later.

That’s it. I watched the Tour yesterday and was blown away by Alberto Condator’s acceleration(s) up the mountain. GO ALBERTO!

Up NEXT... Review of my new Nathan Intensity Water Carrier