My Crazy Weekend...

...began with going away party number one for Becky at Gayatri's house where we gorged on goat biryani and all sorts of amazing desserts. I'm worried about cramming myself into my tights tomorrow morning.

Speaking of tomorrow - I have a bike clinic for Team in Training in Sunnyvale (north of where we live) at 8:30, then I have to go to work for ~2 hours (with a ~1 hour drive the other direction to get there, putting me at work at ~12), then I come home (back ~45 minutes north) and we hop in the car and drive up to Petaluma (~2 hours north of the house - yes, you did notice me driving in big circles tomorrow) where Great Big Sea is playing. We have dinner with a friend at some point after we check in and I manage to clean up enough to be presentable and then we're all going to the show. Sunday we come back to the house, I go back to work, and we see Great Big Sea again in Santa Cruz!

Whew, I'm tired just writing about it! I guess Sunday is a rest day for me, at least work-out-wise.

I have a mental block about cycling, so tomorrow will be helpful...

Running!

I went running today, and I saw some very interesting people on the trails above UCSC. I've decided to keep a tally of the characters to the tune of "12 Days of Christmas." I'm up to three, using "days of running" (which isn't exactly accurate but whatever, it fits). So, here you go:

On the first day of running, I saw a crazy thing: a hippie doing yoga in a field.

On the second day of running, I saw a crazy thing: two bikers' butt-cracks and a hippie doing yoga in a field.

On the third day of running, I saw a crazy thing: three stoners smoking, two bikers' butt cracks, and a hippie doing yoga in a field!

I'm sure it won't take long to get up to 12. And it kept me entertained while running five miles today!

Working on a Fundraiser

I mustered up all my courage today and spoke with the owner of a venue where I'm interested in hosting a fundraiser. She was lovely and appreciated my organization (I came with fliers), and seemed very interested in helping me out for an evening. I came away with her personal cell phone number and a promise to call her if she doesn't call me. I'm excited! Hopefully I can squeeze this in before the holidays. Once I have a venue and a date officially nailed down, I'll start soliciting the local merchants for donations I can raffle off...

Stay tuned!

First Coached Workout!

Well, "workout" might be a strong word! It was more of a meet-and-greet with a little 3/4 mile jog in the middle, but it was fun. We met at Foothill College (awesome track and really nice turf field) and broke into groups for a little stretching and core work (if ten crunches counts as core work!), then jogged for ~10 minutes and did a little scavenger hunt (which has us moving, certainly). One of the items on the scavenger hunt checklist was a cheer that we had to make up. Ours was pretty silly - a kick line and a cheer that at the end involved us thumbing our noses and saying "nyah nyah nyah" (yes, I am 35, what?) - but at the start, as we were all running up to start our cheer I regressed to my gymnast/cheerleading years and did a little round-off with a cheerleading jump, which was greeted with cheers from the crowd. I think I pulled something. (Okay not really, but it was pretty fun!)

Tomorrow is water polo (yay!), so that's my swim, and Thursday will be - gasp! - a bike ride.

I'm frightened and have already started looking up possible routes to bike, as riding in traffic scares the crap out of me. Especially since I listened to two women tonight describing their awful crashes! Ack!

Kicked Off!

As in the season has officially...

The meeting last night was amazing - this organization does not mess around! Arriving at the hotel that was hosting, there were volunteers outside with Team in Training signs pointing us to the appropriate venue. Once inside, big signage directed you to where you pick up your paperwork and you are assigned a color based on which team you are on (tri, cycling, marathon). The tri team was purple. You get a green piece of paper with a picture of a t-shirt on it, which you turn in at the next station to claim your Team in Training... well, training t-shirt. Then, it's into the large ballroom with rows upon rows of chairs. However would one find where to sit?

The colored balloons tied to the chairs, of course! Rows of purple balloons = tri team. I saw Cara, my mentor, and we caught up a bit as I met some of our mentor group and teammates. We each got a goodie bag filled with magazines, coupons, and sports supplement stuff (Gu, powdered drink mixes, etc). Then, the meeting began.

Background info on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Team in Training, a lot of introductions (to the coaches, captains, mentors, honorees, and I'm forgetting some...), then a personal story from a mother about her 6 1/2 year old daughter's bout with leukemia ~5 years ago that had the audience in tears (we laughed, we cried...). The daughter, up on the stage, just playing with a toy and watching the audience, looked happy and healthy! Then we broke up into our respective teams and got our official workout schedule.

Whew, I'm gonna be busy.

There were some more rah-rahs and a lot of applause, and then on to the fundraiser fair, where we could sign up for info about how to raise money.

My big one, I think, will be a fundraiser at a local bar where I host a raffle with items donated from local restaurants and shops. Hopefully that will push me over the top, but it will be a lot of work to get up and running.

Tonight is our first coached workout on the track. Have I mentioned that I am NOT a runner? Should be interesting. Hopefully I won't puke... :-)

Midday Swim

I love swimming in the middle of the day - the sun was out, the pool was nearly empty (because it's COLD outside!), I had a lane to myself! I do not love the water draining out of my sinuses while back in lab, nor the goggle imprints around my eyes. I look freakish.

Nice swim though - 2100 yards (plus a 100 yard warm down), broken up as follows:

500 free warmup
4x100, fly-free-free-fly, back-free-free-back, breast-free-free-breast, all free
1x200 IM, kicking first lap swimming second lap
1000 yard ladder: 50, 100, 200, 300, 200, 100, 50, all free
100 warm down

For some reason I had it in my head that it was a 1.5-MILE swim, which is about 2700 yards. I just realized (sometimes I amaze myself with my stupidity) that it's just as 1.5 KILOMETER swim, which is ~1640 yards. I swam 1.35 times that distance today and felt pretty darn good.


Yeah, I'm in good shape for the swim already. I think I'll aim for top 1/3 in the swim portion (I placed in the top 1/3 in a 2.2-mile ocean swim I did years ago, so that seems reasonable for some reason) and then just try not to die for the rest of it.

Excited about the meeting tonight!

Two days off...

San Francisco was great fun - and Wicked was amazing! Our "obstructed view" seats were hardly obstructed at all (we just couldn't see deep into the right side of the stage), but I would love to see it again from good seats. Highly recommed the show!

Today it's a dip in the pool for me - and it's cold outside! Hopefully that means the pool will be nice and toasty. The anticipiation of the initial shock of the water is always the worst part.

Tonight is the season kick-off meeting for Team in Training, where I get to meet our team leader and see my "mentor" (a friend of mine) and meet our San Jose teammates. I also get a t-shirt and free earmuffs for having raised over $500 pre-season. Woo hoo! Earmuffs = good for running in the cold weather!

I'm sure I'll have more to report after the team meeting tonight!

Running Commentary

I ran yesterday, same trails, and as I was coming back into the building a woman who also works in the building crossed my path and commented loudly that she was impressed that I'd been running twice this week. (Actually, three times, but I didn't correct her!)

She then said, rather loudly, that she thought I "am going to lose a lot of weight!"

Thanks. I think.

Once I got over the backhanded compliment (hey lady, spandex doesn't look good on anybody!), I was rather impressed that I'd run the entire thing yet once again.

This morning I went to yoga, which sounds nice and relaxing but it's a "flow" class and they keep you moving! My legs were shaking by the end of it and I'm still pretty beat. More bendy, but beat.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to SF for an overnighter with my good friend Becky, who is leaving for her native country (England) in less than a month. We're going shopping in Union Square and then going to dinner and to see Wicked (very excited!), and heading back to Santa Cruz on Sunday. Those will be my two days off...

Monday is the big kick-off meeting/party for Team in Training and I'm excited! Plus I get free earmuffs for having raised more than $500 already (thank you donors!) - I love free stuff!

Tonight, I have to admit, I am planning on attacking a bottle of wine. I've stopped all drinking during the week (shocking, I know) and have been looking forward to this specific bottle of Zinfandel all week long... In fact, I might try to finish up early and go open it before the BF gets home... :-)

Actually running!

Yesterday I went for a mid-day run and actually ran it! The trails above UCSC are gorgeous - fire roads and single track through redwood forest, with rumors of mountain lions (never seen one), and lots of deer and coyotes (seen both, lots). I ran "to the water tanks," an uphill fire road that's mostly shaded that joins up with two other fire roads at three large water tanks that look like graffittied (sp?) barrels on their sides. It's an out-and-back route that ends up being between 2 and 3 miles round trip, but the first half is almost entirely uphill. I maintained the "running" tempo the entire time, although sometimes it felt more like shuffling, and the downhill was awesome. I used these trails almost exclusively to train for a half marathon I ran in Death Valley in 2007 (winter, don't worry), and was wonderfully prepared, I think because it's so hilly out there.

The only problem with midday runs at work? Putting on the spandex and walking through the building.

Not cute.

Running, Day One

Or should I say "running" - I use the term loosely! There was a lot of very slow jogging... Dare I say shuffling? Running is *not* by strong suit... Anyway, I took advantage of the extra hour today to head out for a little morning run. I was pleasantly surprised that my ankle held up rather well, and I jogged for quite a bit of the ~3.2 miles I ended up traveling. It's a bit sore now but frighteningly so. Still a bit bruised but I think it's finally healing up nicely.

Tomorrow is water polo/swim workout! Tonight I am tired and am just waiting until an acceptable time to go to bed...