Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Kid Haul Training Day 1

Well, I only had one kid to trail with this morning since the other one is at school. So Ky, myself and the Bob headed out just after 9am to try and beat the heat. Instead of ding my 1 mile loop twice, I figured I would go down my street and back up, which is 2 miles round trip. And it is literally all downhill and than all uphill on the way back. I ran down the street, my favorite part! turned around at the end and had to negotiate this poor woman twice as she was trying to back into her driveway and doing a very poor job of it and using both lanes of traffic to attempt it. We than ran about 2 blocks back up the street before I decided I would walk the remainder of the way. The lungs were feeling much better today in comparison to Monday's run. And it must have been a nice jaunt since Ky feel asleep on the way back home.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Whooping Cough really makes it hard to run

Yes, I'm 34 and have whooping cough or pertussis, since I should be using my medical terminolgy. I had it when I was 19 and honestly have probably had it several times in between but went undiagnosed. I have sensitive lungs according to my doc.

Even though I have estentially taking time off since completing the battle, I have been trying to stay active. I rode my bike for the first time in two years this past week. We hit the trails at Boca, and while it was only 3 miles of riding, there was lots of hills and plenty of rocky paths to navigate. I think it was a great first ride. And the little Yox girls had a blast. Following behind Daddy in the double trailer you could hear them squeal with delight as he went down hills and over bumps, what a great ride for the entire family. And did Imentuion the sore butt... two days of sore butt, yes it's been awhile.

Today, our first day home, Ky was too sick to go to kids club at the gym, so I put her in the Bob and took off for the neighborhood loop. On my own I typically do the 1 mile loop twice and run all of the flat and downhill portions and portions of the uphill and walk the rest of the uphill. Today I found I could only do the loop once and couldn't run as much of the uphill as I normally do. Between the cough and warmer weather , I was "put a fork in me, I'm done". Despite whooping cough, I must continue as I have the Moraga 4th of July run in less than 2 weeks, and as my friend Kirsten calls it "the kid haul". Yes, I'll be pushing at least 80 pounds of kid and stroller for the two mile run. So must preapre as much as I can.

Friday, June 12, 2009

BR VIII Awards Dinner


Last night was the awards dinner. We arrived a little late just as Gary was getting ready to hand out the first awards. We squeezed into a table with Tami (MD Trainer), her husband and a few other people I had never met before. Scott was a good sport and thankfully because there were only about 40 participants this year the awards were not ridiculously long. It was amazing to hear what some folks accomplished during the 8 weeks and makes me want to do it again next year to see what further accomplishments I can achieve. We happened to be sitting next to a team member of Huck the Fuskies, pleased to know that he was a U of O Graduate, he and Scott had lots to talk about. He also happened to rake up lots of awards! He had knee surgery during the battle and days after surgery came in and did final testing on the leg curl and increased his weight by 40 pounds, earning him an Iron Man Award. For the second year I received an Ultra Elite Award in Body Composition. An Ultra Elite is awarded to anyone who achieves 8% or more body fat loss, I achieved 9.03% body fat loss. As always, it was an exciting a fun night. I may even have convinced Scott to compete next year, it is hard to believe I'll have to wait an entire year to do it again!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Scott finishes 1st place in his division at Hit the Road Jack!




We woke up around 5am Sunday morning to get ready for the drive to Sonoma. Scott's Mom arrived at 6am to watch the girls for us, who much to my dismay were awake at 5:30 and 6:00 am. We made the drive to Sonoma and had planned on parking at the hotel and walking to the plaza, however after passing our hotel and not realizing it we found ourselves at the Plaza and found that there were no parking restrictions on Sunday's. We parked directly across the street from the Plaza and wandered over. We had received our bibs ad chips in the mail so we were all set. We got ready, stretched did a short jog and stretched some more. We made our way over to the start line and waited. I wanted to be sure to be at the start of the line, after the Devil Mountain Run and not crossing the start line until almost a minute into the race, I wasn't going to d that again and have an extra minute added to my race time, I need all of the help I can get! We had two 14 year old boys in front of us who were talking times I could only dream of. And at the last minute some parents through their young kids (probably around 10) in front of the crowd. Many of us wondered if this was a good idea. As we got the "Go" I got caught up with all of the front runners and the really fast take-off. Less than a block into the run I witnessed the first casualty (probably the one one) where a young boy was knocked down, I knew that throwing all of those kids in the front was a bad idea. Very quickly I realized I was nuts if I thought that I could keep up that pace, I used up a lot of energy at the start line, I guess I was afraid I might be trampled as well, but I knew there would be a lot of walkers and I didn't want to be behind them negotiating my way around them. I struggled trying to find a pace that was working for me. We quickly veered onto the bike path and after a short stretch on the bike path the course navigated back onto the streets. Up ahead there was a stop sign for vehicles and apparently a truck was pretty pissed off at having to wait for the runners. Thy promptly laid on the horn and burned rubber out of there. Which then prompted several runners ahead of me to yell obscenities. Would have been nice if we had some race officials or one of the motor officers at that point. As we moved into a residential neighborhood, we started a slow ascent (okay, I'm a fast and flat girl and was not ready for even this mild hill) this about killed me. Between my lungs and the side cramp I was developing I had to slow to walk and walked through the first water station. Why is at water stations people feel the need to jump right in front of you and stop for water??? Granted, I was only walking, but I was walking and grabbing and going. This is why I don't typically take water, but I did anyway. I started running again as we had a small downhill section where I thought I might gain some momentum. In my mind I kept thinking mile markers would be nice... I must be halfway right? I saw a second water station ahead and grabbed more water because it was a kids baseball team and they looked sad because most people weren't grabbing water. After that I slowed to walk again. What is wrong with me, it's only 2.2 miles and I just ran a 5k. Feeling like a slacker I noticed the photographer ahead, seeing as I am still bitter about no photo from my Devil Mountain Run's I started running and there were only a few people around me so I'm pretty sure he got a photo of me. After that I could see the finish line, although it still looked pretty darn far away. I thought about walking again, but there were some people this far out cheering out folks in, so I figured it wasn't an option when there were spectators that could see me to walk. I was starting to pass a Mom who was pushing a double stroller but both kids were walking (apparently they had cut through the course somewhere... why hadn't I thought of that?) Her son wanted to get back in the stroller but Mom said he could make it to the finish line, so I cheered him on and he started running. As I came into the final stretch I could see Scott who had finished about 8-9 minutes ahead of me, he was telling me to pick up the pace. I normally don't have much at the end of a run to sprint or pick up the pace. But there were these two kids in front of me who had been like me and walked/jogged much of the course. I was going to be damned if they beat me. Somewhere I dug down deep, I saw the clock was fast approaching 23 minutes and my goal had been a sub 23 minute run. I must of dug really deep, I don't think I have ever run that fast on pavement I ended up passing at least three people and came in at 23:01.




Maybe the battle helped me in pulling out that last sprint or maybe it was just pride that I wasn't going to let those teenagers beat me. It sure felt good afterwards. After Scott and I reconnected he mentioned that he thought he may have come in 2nd in his age division. We stuck around and watched people finish up the 2.2 miler and than cheered the 10k folks in. It was exciting to watch the top men and women come in, I was in utter amazement of their athleticism. Maybe one day I will be able to run a 10k. We enjoyed the post race food. Lots of fresh fruit and muffins, but the best part... baguette's and an array of jack cheese. Some of the best cheese I have ever had... yummy!




We stuck around for the awards since we thought Scott had gotten 2nd place. I was amazed at some of these kids. Scott laughed and said "yep, she passed me at the end and oh she passed in the beginning!" We talked about how Sydney will love to do that run when she is a little older. They did have a 5-7 age division, so maybe even next year. I had a sneaking suspicion that Scott may have gotten first place in his division after listening to some of the times in the other age groups. Sure enough, he was awarded first place. How exciting! I knew I should have grabbed the real camera, but all I had was the camera phone. At least I know there will be professional photos of him receiving the award.


After that we enjoyed a wonderful day and night in Sonoma complete with spa treatments and great food. I'm hoping we can make the Hit the Road Jack event an annual one, it was great fun and really well run. I would love to go back next year and shave some time off of my run.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

One day to go

We will be getting up bright and early so we can get up to Sonoma by 7:30am for an 8am start time. Packing today and getting everything ready for Grandma Barb to come and stay withe kids overnight.

Hit the gym this morning for a mellow workout of 30 minutes on the bike, weight training, followed by 20+ minutes of walking on the treadmill. I'm still trying to set a goal for tomorrow's run but I've never run a 2.2 miler before s I guess I'll have to do some math and my average speeds from 5k's.

Speaking of 5k's I'm researching my next races. I'm looking at doing the Jail Run Break in Dublin next month. It's hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff's SWAT Team and benefits Special Olympics. It's a flat figure 8 course.... sounds right up my alley. Then I was looking at the Bear Creek Trail Run, close to home... but I've never done a trial run and it sounds like it is uphill and then downhill, nothing too severe they tell me. Um, this girl runs flat courses so any trail running will prove to be severe for me. If anyone has any feedback on either of these two runs, I would love to hear more.

Otherwise, wish us luck for tomorrow!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Cardio, cardio and more cardio

Today was a cardio only day since I did my weight training yesterday. Scott said "you were on the treadmill for over an hour!". I actually enjoyed running on the treadmill today since I knew it was just a workout and not how fast I could run for 12 minutes. I cruised for 25 minutes for running and 35 minutes of walking. Since I know Scott was still working out I decided to hop on the bike for the remainder of his workout. That turned out to be only 10 minutes before Kids Club paged us for a dirty diaper. Despite the dirty diaper I was able to get 70 minutes of cardio in today, surely that makes up for the Mike's that I am currently consuming.

Did I mention that I have decided not to weigh myself this week? Since I'm taking a week off from my dieting/healthy eating habits post the Battle, I've decided it is in my best interest not to weigh myself. I'm giving it a week before jumping back on that wagon to lose the remaining weight. And that Mr. Pibb sure did taste good today after 12 weeks of no soda. I know, it sounds like I am being terrible, but I'm really not. I'm still making decent choices when it comes to food, but I'm not counting calories. And I did decline the fully loaded bake potato at Outback and opted only for sour cream and chives... skipping the bacon and butter is a good choice right? I ate my veggies as well!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Trying this blogging thing

I obviously have too much time on my hands if I think I have time to blog. After following some of my friends blogs I was thinking it might be a fun way to document my adventures of late. And who knows, maybe someone is even interested in reading them.

I just finished the Battle Royal VIII. 11 pounds lost, 9.07% body fat lost, 3.37 inches lost and 2 dress sizes lost in 8 weeks. I'm pretty pleased with myself. I achieved an overall 102% fitness rating. I still have about 8 pounds left to lose in order to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm at a lower body fat percentage than I was pre-pregancy, so I'm pretty excited about my accomplishments in that area. Awards dinner is scheduled for June 11th, should be a fun evening.

Next up on the agenda is "Hit the Road Jack" a 2.2 mile run in Sonoma followed by music and wine. My mother-in-law has graciously volunteered to watch the girls overnight so that Scott and I can enjoy a fun filled overnight trip to the wine country and not strain ourselves too much in the short distance run.

Oh and thanks to everyone who suggested the ipod touch. Scott got it for me for my birthday and I am loving it. My 1st generation ipod had a great run, but it was time to retire it, lots of good memories together. Now I need a case for the new one, any suggestions?