A Sunny Tuesday

We woke up to BEAUTIFUL weather, overcast this morning and a sunny breezy afternoon!

• 3.25 mile boardwalk run

• 12 minute HIIT workout...on the beachfront patio

• 1 mile dog walk

• 9.5 mile beach cruise to La Jolla

I'd say it was an active Tuesday! We also squeezed in a Mexican lunch and a couple of cold beers with limes....and a little shopping.

We are heading to Del Mar in a couple hours to have early dinner and drinks with a friend, and tomorrow.....we are going to be beach bums.

Flashback

Apparently, I think I'm 21 again
 
Friday night was date night. Actually, double date night with our fun friends....we met up at Zinburger, dined, wined and laughed. 7 hours later...I was drinking a chocolate shake at Denny's and my husband was wolfing down an Omelet. Classy class.

Best part? We got home at like 4am. Kill me.

However, we had a REALLY REALLY fun time. I can sleep when I'm dead right?

After sleeping in until 9:30am, we got productive and spent some time outdoors, running errands and being adults. We crashed pretty early knowing Sunday was our "long run" day. After being a moron and signing up for RnRAZ last week, I figured I needed to bust out a decent long run. It's been a month since I ran over 7-8 miles, awesome.

It was decent. The weather was perfection. (seriously, who gets to run in a tank and shorts in January?) Wade joined me for part of it so it was helpful to have him alongside. It wasn't my fastest...but it wasn't my worst. I just need to tell myself that this one is for fun. No PR's to achieve, just fun.

We showered and hopped on our cruisers to ride over to Cyn and Jeff's house for some BBQ and football. It was a great day full of things that I love; being active, friend filled, food and beer consuming, and laughing.

Time to sit on my butt until tomorrow. Ugh.

No shame here

I really shouldn't post the ugliest photo I have ever taken on the world wide web, but let's be honest here...I don't care. Strangers at the gym see me like this...and fellow runners at races...and my poor friends, family and husband.They still love me. You will too.

I tested out the "new trainer" today and Wade WAS NOT lying. I parked my bike in front of the big screen, popped in the video that came with it and hopped on. A 10 warm-up and a 37 minute race and I thought I was going to die. My heart was exploding out of my chest, I was drinking sweat, and my quads and hamstrings were on fire. God, I disgust myself with that description.

Proof.

Aren't I a vision of beauty?

I'm starting something I'm excited about on Monday....details to follow!

Get Fit - A Lesson on Cycling

I completed my 2 hour bike fitting last night with Perry at Landis Cyclery. I was a little apprehensive about doing it, because I really wasn't sure WHY a rookie, a beginner, a novice like me needed such an intensive fitting. However, Wade had it done a month or so ago and said it was well worth the fee (we got a discount for buying our bikes at the shop) so I went ahead and scheduled an appointment.

I arrived prepared with Dolce (my beautiful bike), my super sexy bike shorts, shoes and an open mind.

He started by checking my ankles, feet, knees, hip, shoulders..taking measurements and seeing if I was properly aligned. Nothing out of ordinary here. 

He then proceeded to set up a massage table - much to my disappointment no massage was involved (how rude), but several tests to see my range of motion, flexibility, and strength were conducted as well as a test for saddle fit vs butt size.

Table Work Discoveries:

Pros - A very strong core and glutes. Better than average flexibility (surprising).
Cons - A weak hip flexor (yup, extreme pain following this race) and tight quads.

I will be doing some research on gaining more range on motion and strengthening that area. 

As I already knew from running, I pronate (particularity on the right foot) and this affects my pedaling, a few simple adjustments and a shoe insert solved this problem right away.

Perry then set up the Trainer and popped Dolce into it, had me strap my shoes on and hopped on.

He had me start and stop several times, taking measurements of the angle of my legs, and hips and then making small adjustments to my bike.

Trainer Discoveries:

Pros - Strong core = perfect upper body form
Cons - My seat was WAY too low causing all sorts of weirdness in my knees and feet. When I pedal my legs go bowlegged. (here's where those shoe inserts come in handy)

I was fearful to have to my seat raised, and I knew he was going to do it. Clipping in and out still scares me, but a lesson on properly doing so made me feel much more at ease and more comfortable about the seat being so high. Perry knows his shit, I immediately felt more comfortable when on my bike and my feet didn't fall asleep once while in the saddle. I highly recommend this service to anyone that rides a bike.

I'm pretty excited to get on my bike...even more to do it with Wade's new Christmas present  - ha! When I got home last night, Wade had just completed an hour video while on his trainer and said it was the hardest workout he had ever done, his clothes were dripping wet.

Awesome.

Man Down

Yup. I ate shit today.

I'm OK...just a bruised ego. First day with shoes and pedals.

At least only one car saw me. And he just sat there and stared, WTF dude?

So my hip, ankle and elbow are sore...but it was a good lesson learned. Lean the same way as the foot that's NOT in the pedal.

Der.

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

I LOVE Sundays!

We had a super day yesterday...I tackled my 14 miler, and ran my fastest time ever on a long run...and I felt great afterward. All that summer running might have paid off.

We showered, ate, and headed to the Pumpkin Patch with our good friends Jeff and Cynthia...it was a beautiful day. The Farm was really cute, we took a hayride out to the "Patch" and picked a Pumpkin to carve. Little Natalie did really well (she's 5 months) and it was fun to have a little one to tote around.

We spent part of our afternoon watching the live feed for the Kona Ironman. Wow. Those people are insane and I can honestly say, the most amazing athletes ever. Swimming, riding and running at an intense pace for 8+ hours is something I can't even wrap my head around. I can barely run a half marathon with my turtle pace.....

We had date night, and spent a lot of time talking about the Ironman....Wade keeps saying he wants to shoot for a Sprint Tri or a Half IM - I would be VERY proud if he were to do either. After dinner, we met up at a friend's house for a party. Good times.

Sleeping in, blueberry pancakes and coffee started my morning today.

And this...

So I haven't offically taken her out with the new pedals, but I did a few practice "clips" and I got right in...that boosted my confidence. Now if I can just keep from falling into an intersection in the future. 

Off to a birthday party....we are playing dress up today.  ;)

108

That's how many miles I logged in September. I started keeping better track of my runs on a spreadsheet a few months ago, and thought it would be fun to see what kind of mileage I'm doing each month.

I'm pretty proud of that little number.

Goals for October:

Mileage - 97 ( I have a taper week and Ragnar)
More strength training
More mileage on my bike
Gain speed for my half on 11.6.11
First ARR Social event!

I got this!

Lazybones...

I've been a lazy blogger. Yes, I have.

I haven't done anything monumental or super exciting, so I thought I shouldn't bore the 3 people that read this. Plus, I've been pretty busy with that thing you call work, how rude.

So remember on Saturday when I said I was going to bust out a bike ride on Sunday?

I did.

And it was amazing.

It finally clicked with me. My bike and I figured each other out (thise damn 27 gears). And I even learned how to look behind me while riding, and not wobble all over the place. My fastest speed was 22.1 mph. I even yelled out loud/whooped at one point during the ride...I was grinning from ear to ear. I wasn't even scared anymore. Wade was patient and even hopped on my midget bike at one point to teach me how to properly shift. I went 22 miles. All hills. And I wasn't even sore. Guess all that running is paying off.

We had family day on Sunday. BBQ, wine, and homemade carrot cake.

I even hopped on my old horse and cruised around the pasture on her. She still remembers me every time I see her....and she's 25. We grew up together.

All is good.

Weekend Fail

So my dreams of running a 12 miler and riding a 20 miler were shattered.

Shattered by pure laziness and wayyyyy too much beer. Ugh.

God I'm an idiot.

I woke up late on Saturday...fortunately we were up North so I thought a later run could be done. And then we got stuck waiting for Larry The Cable Guy. He was at our cabin for like 5 hours. Rude.

 And by then, I was super irriated because he was making me miss "Oktoberfect". Turns out, we didn't miss much. There were like 5 people there and half of the vendors had packed up to go home by the time we showed up.

So we cruised by the local bar to grab a beer and get out of the house for a while. Whoops. 675 pitchers of IPA later, we were both drunk as a skunk and needed to go to bed STAT.

Still Sober

Naturally, I woke up with a hangover and of course, no desire to do anything physical besides nap and BBQ myself a hotdog. Lunch of Champions right there people!

 

We drove our worthless asses back to the Valley just in time to hop on our road bikes. We busted out a 11-ish mile ride. I felt good, but I think I went so fast on the way home (all uphill) because it was dark and I was scared of getting creamed by a car in the dark on a pretty busy road.

End of sucky weekend.

I'm not even going to post my workouts for the week becasue it's 12 miles short of what it should have been. I have 4 1/2 weeks until Ragnar Las Vegas....oy.

All Hail the Weather God(dess)

So initially I was totally pissed that I couldn't take out my sweet bike tonight for a ride because it's raining....and then I slapped myself.

 I mean, I technically could have tried to ride, but knowing me...I'd probably eat shit.

So I'm just going to sit here, drink a brewski and eat some Chicken Tortilla Soup and not complain about being far from dying of heat this morning on my run.

Hells Yes.

Labor Day Weekend, Here and Gone

This weekend flew by, as they always do. We headed up to our "home away from home" Friday night, truck full of food, odds and ends and of course, our dogs and cat. (yup, I said cat)

Luna the Traveling Cat. She's a BIG fan of being smooshed into this thing for 2.5 hours straight.

Pissed Off

We got there late. Ate late. Went to bed late. Woke up kinda late.
----> insert shitass run here <----

But then the fun began. As I mentioned before, we had a few extra house guests this trip. It was the first group of our families to join us up North at our new little cabin. We were excited to spend time with them. To laugh, tell silly stories and pretty much act like the idiots that we are. And fortunately no one can really afford to be judgmental up here in the sticks....there are some interesting characters in these parts, hillbilly USA, yo.  Wade's sister is funny. Really funny. And his bro-in-law. Equally funny. So ya, we had a lot of laughs. We took them to lunch, and fishing at the lake.This was a "first time" experience for the girls, and we honored to be a part of it. Proud Aunt and Uncle moments here....

 We BBQ'd brats and toasted smores in front of a big and beautiful campfire. We made a big family style breakfast on Sunday and then they were off to make the trek down the mountain. A great time was had by all. I sure love those little Princesses.

Wade and I spent Sunday antique-ing and shopping, and painting exterior doors and mirrors. Out with the boring old white, and in with green!

 We always go on a cabin style "date night" and it's typically filled with a big fat marg and some tasty chicken and shrimp salads at the local Mexican Joint. We watched a movie and hit the sack. Pretty rocking night if you ask me. Check out Wade's VERY serious model pose face, sexy.

And today, we took out the bikes. It was a little scary, not gonna lie. It was windy and there was a fair amount of traffic headed out of "town" and back to the Valley. I probably looked stupid hanging out for dear life as I whipped down those hills at 20/mph...but then again, the spandex probably made me look more stupid.

12.5 miles done. Hopefully my ass doesn't hurt too bad tomorrow.

Happy Labor Day y'all!

Roadie

I caved. And now this is mine.

I wasn't 100% convinced that this was a new adventure that I was ready to take on. After all, I am still in the learning process of running and racing and quite frankly, I really love it. But my determined husband was not going to take NO for an answer. You see, my first ride on a road bike was not a good one. "The Bike Shop" (that I did not purchase from) put me on a test bike that were probably trying to unload on some stupid oblivious newbie. A bike that is made for racing. For people who know what the hell they are doing. And apparently women with iron vaginas. And that ain't me...except the oblivious part of course, wink. Soooo, I assumed all bikes were like this. And I wrote it off.

 I of course, encouraged Wade to pursue this new adventure and to get a bike of his own. He has a wild hair up hiss ass to train for a Triathlon, and I think that is super. We went to "The Bike Shop #2" on Sunday to check things out...and purchase something for Wade. Wellllllllll, I tried out some bikes more suited for riders like me. People who are riding for fun, leisure and exercise. And for scardy cats. (aka extra brakes and tires that are wider than a grain of rice) And how very sweet, Wade wanted US to try this new adventure together, as a couple. Something else to do together and something else to be excited about. He's right. We don't have kiddos, we don't have very many expensive habits (eating out, running, and traveling when we can) so I finally said "what the heck, let's DO this"

2 days later, I picked her up. Now she just needs a name. And I must admit, I'm pretty excited.