It's All Good

Today I ran with some of my favoriate running buddies: Jenny, Brenda, Dan, and Kevin. We ran 11 miles and I know that for sure because Dan and Brenda have GPS's. I've decided that a GPS is a good thing because it validates the pain you feel later in the day like I'm feeling right now!

It was a really good run. I felt great the whole way but now I'm sore and very tired. That's the difference getting older makes....I used to be able to run 11 miles and feel relatively fine later in the day and now, even though I felt great on the run, I can hardly walk 3 hrs later.

But that's ok, I'm just happy to be running and spending time with my friends. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning! Now, excuse me while I hobble over to the kitchen to get some Advil and an ice pack.....

First Solo Ride

Yeah, baby! Rode out to Kodak and back and kept a good pace the whole way. The only problem was the wind was much stronger on the way back than I thought it would be, making me late to pick up my kids from school. Thank God for cell phones!

I know I will be doing lots of solo rides and I'm actually looking forward to them. Hoping to ride 3 times a week as soon as the weather is consistently warm.

I keep singing the Rocky theme song in my head. Hmmm......

Getting Stronger....

You're supposed to sing those words to the Rocky theme song as you read this ("getting stronger!!!") swam 30 mins this morning and felt great! Could've easily swam longer but didn't have enough time - woo hoo! Like Marshall, I get very bored with swimming but at least I'm seeing some progress. AND Tom M. commented on how much my stroke has improved. Thanks, Tom!!!!

It's supposed to be 65 degrees today so I'm taking my bike with me to a presentation I'm giving at Aims today and riding afterward for about an hour - can't wait - I'm on a roll today!

Counting my blessings

That's what I did on my run yesterday morning, after seeing my son fall through the ice on Saturday at Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch!

He was walking around the edge of the pond that I was skating on and, as he later exlained, he thought he was on a snow-covered bank but lo and behold, it was thin ice. He fell in up to his chest! I was at the other end of the pond and didn't hear him screaming at first...then I turned around and saw a group of teenagers trying to reach him. They managed to pull him out before I got there and although he was unharmed, he was scared to death and crying so hard he could hardly speak. Thank God he's ok!

It's times like those that make you step back and appreciate what you got! And it sure makes training for an Ironman seem like trivial stuff.

But I did get a really good run in on Sunday morning. Ran by myself since I needed to be back by 9:30. I enjoy running long runs by myself once in a while. I get to listen to music that I normally don't listen to and I just relax and let my mind wander. I can stop when I want and go back when I want. I love running with friends and prefer to do long runs with them, but once in awhile it's nice to go solo.

This run was unique. I ran Daisy for 4 miles and took her back home, which I wasn't crazy about at first because it's hard to go back out once your home but I didn't give myself a choice and headed back on the road after dropping her off (she's not ready to run super long with me yet). And guess what? I felt GREAT! I ended up going much longer than I expected - ran out by Target and back through some residential areas....about 80 mins long and I felt I could've easily run another 15 mins or so but didn't have time.

I have a busy work week this week (three presesntations to give) so I'll just bike or run for the next few days since they are "quicker" and then start swimming more consistently again starting March 1st. But for now, no ice skating on outdoor ponds.....

Down Time

Not feeling well today but managed to squeeze in a 45 min run with Daisy. Better than nothing. Yesterday I rode the trainer for 30 mins. Whoop-dee-doo!

Taking a church group to Beaver Meadows tomorrow to do some tubing, ice skating, and snow shoeing, with the kids, of course, so need to move my long run to Sunday (before church, of course). Trying to think positive....I will get it done, I will get it done, I will get it done....

Right now I've decided to do what I can for the next month, mainly due to work commitments, and then gear up for full-fledged IM training on April 1. Marshall is already way ahead of me but he's going to start a 26-week IM training plan developed by Gale Bernhardt and that's what I want to do too. So maybe that will help my motivation level (which is waning big time right now).

I will say that keeping this blog really does help to keep me accountable. I know a few people who read it (hello!) and just knowing that helps me to keep going....a little bit of pressure is a good thing!

I love my kids, I love my kids, I love....

Of course I do but I'm starting to wonder if training for an IM is compatible with parenting younger kids.

Twice in the last few days my workout has been cut short because of my kids and normally that would be no big deal....I like to think that I'm a typical mom who adores her kids and who puts her kids' needs first, who would gladly stay home and read Green Eggs and Ham for the 50th time instead of going for a leisurely ride or run.....but once you send off that big fat check to North American Sports for an Ironman.....you become just a little bit greedy with your time.

Case in point: Sunday morning I really wanted to ride my trainer for 45 mins, maybe even 60 minutes. I felt really good and ready to go. I quickly got breakfast for the kids, cleaned up the kitchen, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, threw a load of laundry in the washer, listened to my son tell me all about his birthday presents for oh, maybe the 10th time, grabbed my water bottle and ran downstairs. We had to leave for church at 10 so I needed to get going.

But nooooo....my kids have not acquired "conflict resolution skills" in any way, shape, or form. They chose this morning to argue and fight over EVERYTHING and to come tell me in great detail what the other one did. After the third round of "Mommy, she/he won't share the computer" (or whatever), I get off the bike and have a heart-to-heart conversation with them. I tell them in my kind-but-don't-mess-with-me voice to please stop fighting and to get ready for church. I would be done riding soon and we need to get going.

But noooooo.....they are intent on tormenting each other. After getting back into a good pace, I hear a scream....then a wail....then a "Mommy, he/she hit me!!!!" For a split second, I considered ignoring the noise and pedealing on but the screams got louder and louder so I got off the bike AGAIN. By the time I got them settled down, it was too late to finish the ride. Fuming, I took a shower and went to church (I had to teach Sunday School that day so I was committed).

This is the point when all parents, I believe, fantasize about saying to their kids what Bill Cosby said so very well: "I brought you into this world and I can take you out!"

Ok, fine, I thought to myself. We're going to Winter Park this afternoon to ski for a few days, I'll go for a good run tomorrow morning since Kurt will be there to manage the kids. Great, can't wait.

But noooooooo......at 2:00 AM on Monday morning, I'm wakened from a deep sleep by a little girl saying "mommy, I had a bad dream" in my ear. I know from past experience that telling her to go back to bed doesn't work so I lay down with her in her bed, which happens to be a twin bed in the condo we're staying in.

Oh lovely. I'm wide awake at 2:00 AM and squished into a twin bed with a squirmy kid. Nice! She falls asleep quickly but I lay awake for an entire hour.....causing me to oversleep in the morning, meaning that I didn't have time to run. ARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Finally, on Tuesday, the kids slept through the night and I did too, making it easy to get up at 5:30 and out the door for my run at 7:00. I ran for a good, long hour (in heavy snow and ice, mind you, but I didn't care!) and felt great. Thank you, God!

I do love my kids but I also like my time away from them. I just keep reminding myself that training makes me a better mom. Somehow I don't think they'll buy it.

Happy Birthday, Evan!

No time to write much today because it's my darling son's birthday and I have work to do. Just wanted to log my workout: approx. 80 min run with my amazing friend, Jenny - thanks, Jenny!

I ran Daisy (cute dog at left) to meet her and Zoey. We ran to UNC and then dropped Daisy off at my house....I continued on with Jenny and she dropped me off on Reservoir Road. She ran all the way home, getting in 2+ hours of running. I felt pretty good.

Tomorrow we're headed up to Winter Park for some skiing....back Tuesday night. Ta Ta!

Finally!

I never thought I'd be typing these words, but I had a great swim yesterday! Yep. Me, the swimmer wanna-be. I got to the pool around 9:15 and swam until almost 10:00, which is not that long but it was the first time I swam almost continuously the whole time. The first 15 mins I included several laps of kicking and one lap of pool-running (which is really hard on the quads) but for the last 20+ minutes I swam laps without stopping and that is definitely a first for me.

I know it was a harder workout for me because my arms are sore today!

It's 7:00 AM and I'm leaving in a half-hour to run with Jenny. She's running into town and I'm meeting her near Bear's Car Wash, like we did last week. There's about an inch of snow on the ground right now - very pretty, I love running in light snow!

Today is Valentine's Day AND my son's birthday. We're having ten 7 and 8 yr olds here today and he's just a little bit excited (he's bouncing off the walls right now). I think after a long run and chasing 10 kids around the house all afternoon, I am going to crash tonight!

Flashback

Maybe it's the full moon we have right now, I don't know. But I've had two amazing runs in less than 4 days and I don't know how that happened!

Today I woke at 4:50 AM, the 4th morning in a row that I've woken up before 5:00. Got out for my run a little late (6:30) but felt very good. Took Daisy with me and after wrestling with her twice to get her harness on (she pulled out of it the first time), I headed down the road at a pretty good clip.

I took my Ipod, of course, and a song came on that I didn't recognize. It didn't have many words but had a disco-kind of beat. Reminded me of the Russian techno music blaring from the back speakers in the car we rode in to my daughter's orphanage when we first met her. My mind drifted back in time....

It was late January in 2002...we had traveled many days to get to a remote village in eastern Ukraine, 30 miles from the Russian border. We stayed in Lugansk, a blue-collar, industrial city which was about a 40-minute drive from the village. It was bitter cold and the sky was endlessly grey. I don't think we saw the sun the entire time we were in Ukraine.

Every day we went to the orphanage and I'll never forget that drive. Our driver was a dark-haired, chain-smoking man with shifty eyes who stopped at various places to secretly exchange something with other dark-haired, chain-smoking men who stood on street corners. I'll never forget seeing them huddling together - all of them dressed in black, their hands going in and out of pockets quickly as they glanced behind them to see who was looking. What were they exchanging? Money? Drugs? Cigarettes? I'm not sure I want to know.

Then he'd bounce back in the car, crank the techno music, and we'd take off. He drove so fast that I closed my eyes and prayed - really. I glanced at the spedometer and saw the needle hit 140....but soon realized that was kilometers per hour, not miles per hour! Still, it was very, very fast.

And it's not like we were in a comfy SUV or well-built Honda. Oh nooooo....we were in one of those tiny little european contraptions that makes you feel like the door will fall off when you slam it.

We flew down that country road so fast that I honestly thought I was going to die. The day we brought our daughter back to the house where we were staying I told the interpreter to tell him to SLOW DOWN and turn down the music! He looked at me like I was from another planet.

After waiting as long as we had and traveling that far (and to be quite honest, paying that much) to find our daughter, there was no way I was going to die in a car crash because some punk couldn't obey the speed limit.

Interestingly enough, this rough-looking KGB wannabe driver turned into a major teddy bear when we met Katerina. He was smitten by her - he actually told us that. He told the interpreter to tell us that "the other kids are nice but he'd take this one hands-down"!

(That's him in the picture above, see Katerina pick his nose! The other pic the long road to the orphanage).

Ok, I digressed big time....my mind tends to wander when I'm running....

Flip Flop

That's what it seems my mind and body are doing lately. Yesterday, I woke up at 5:00 AM feeling fresh and ready to go. I felt like I didn't even need coffee, I had so much energy. Got out the door for a run with Daisy at 6:20 and felt amazingly light and fast.

We ran around UNC (which is nice when no one is around) and came back across the practice fields. The sun was just coming up over the horizon and I had some great music on my Ipod. I let Daisy off her leash and zoom, off she went. Life couldn't be better!

But it didn't end there....I felt so good I decided to do some hillwork. Ran up the "sledding hill" 10 times (really, 10 times!) and was hardly out of breath. Had to get back to get kids to school so headed home and as I was crossing my lawn, I looked at my watch and thought "I bet I could get one more FAST mile in"....so left Daisy in breezeway and took off for one more loop around the block. I was scratching my head all day at to where in the heck that energy came from!

OK, so today was the exact opposite and as I think about it, I guess that makes sense. I had planned to swim but Evan is home sick today. No problem, I can ride my trainer. But I had zero motivation.....zero energy....literally forced myself onto the bike and quit after 20 mins. No go today.

I guess that's the way it goes with training - one day is good and the next is crappy. I just hope to have more of the former than the latter. With a birthday approaching, I can't help but think that I'm getting too old for this!

Holy Moly!

Truly amazing. That's what I said when I saw the headlines "First American Woman to Swim the Atlantic". But it was even more amazing when I saw that I KNEW the woman in the picture - Jennifer Figge.

Kurt and I met Figge way back in the early 90's on the bus to the Las Vegas Marathon starting line. She was walking up and down the bus aisle waving her magic wand saying "PR's for you and you and you...." She was very charismatic - someone you never forget. We laughed the entire time we were in her presence.

At the time, she was trying to run across every country (yes, every country) and when we got home, she mailed us a picture of her running across some God-forsaken middle-eastern country that I had never heard of.....with a big smile on her face.

Then a few years later, she told Kurt that she had developed osteoporosis and couldn't run anymore. She switched to swimming. She sent us a picture of her walking out of a mountain lake with a full wet-suit on (including her head) and smiling a big smile.

I remember being in total awe of her (but that was back when I could not even imagine swimming across Windsor Lake, let alone the Atlantic ocean).

Since then, she has swum across the Straits of Gibraltar, from Tahiti to Moorea, from Turkey to Greece, across the Cozumel Channel, in Sydney Harbor, and 52 miles from Cay Sal Bank in the Bahamas to Marathon in the Keys. Amazing....

Speaking of swimming, I actually did that this morning. Had a busy morning planned so got my butt down to the Rec Center at 6:20 this AM. Only swam for 30 mins but that is all that I can do right now.

Actually, this was kind of a cathartic swim. My kids were fighting a lot this weekend and after putting out fires all day long, I blew up at them. Totally exploded. It sounds funny now but it wasn't at the time. Although I had every reason to be angry, I don't feel good about yelling at my kids. I went to bed feeling like a horrible parent. My head is still reeling from all the drama.

The one good thing about endurance activity is the stress-relief it provides. Running, biking, swimming, whatever...it gives you time to calm down and process whatever it is that's bugging you. I needed that so much this morning that I actually looked forward to swimming. And that's a first!

Maybe Figge's magic wand really did work. I may not get a PR in anything but I sure got some good karma from her today.

Better day

Finally, a good long run! I ran two full hours today and felt great. Felt like I could've gone a bit longer.

Left my house at 8:00 with Daisy and met Jenny and Kevin near Bear's car wash (about 2 miles from here). Ran to Josephine Jones park, went around park, then ran with Jenny back to 35th Avenue and across highway 34 to the first light....ran back to get my vest, which I ditched earlier because I was hot.

Got home at 10:05. We stopped a few times to cross roads (and make a few pit-stops) but other than that, kept running. Kurt met us on the way back from our run and took Daisy back. He said she was tired and had to stop a few times so we might need to slow down on her running.

Anyway, thought about the Ironman the whole time on my way back, after leaving Jenny. Hadn't let myself think much about it lately because I don't want to get burned out. But it was fun to think about...that I might actually finish one. You never know, I may get hit by a truck too....

The ol' marathon-training effect has taken hold: post-long-run fatigue. I feel like I could take a nap. I tried to jump on the trampoline with the kids and holy moly, my legs were tired! I could hardly jump at all. Then, Evan wanted to walk up to the skate-board park so I did....and now I just want to sleep!

But I am SO glad that I ran well this morning. Felt like I was back to where I was last summer. I need to rev things up now, starting with my weekly runs (go longer) and increase cycling too. I don't want to stay in a rut. I think I'll start by riding my trainer tomorrow. I usually take the day off after a long run but not this time. Gotta get a move on!

Another glorious day...

It's February and I've worn shorts for the last three workouts! Today I actually rode my bike, with my friend Lynne, as mentioned below. It was in the upper 60's, if not 70 degrees today. It's so nice yet so weird....I hope our grass doesn't dry up and blow away.

But we had a nice ride anyway. We rode for 75 mins and I could've easily gone longer. I can't wait until spring when I can ride more often. I'm sure this warm weather won't last long.

Speaking of riding in the spring. Since I was able to change my flat tire handily the other night, I've decided that I need to keep working on that because I really want to ride at least 3 days a week starting in late spring and I doubt if I will always be able to get someone to go with me. I want to be able to go when I want to go. And I think I will actually enjoy riding by myself so I'm looking forward to it.

Today, after the ride I picked up the kids from school and as usual, we stayed for awhile and played on the playground. We do this all the time and I'm always amazed at how fast the school clears out...how almost all of the parents pick up their kids and go home or wherever they need to go. Why not hit the playground for awhile??? Esp when the weather is no nice! I really enjoy it.

Tomorrow the kids are home but I'm hoping to go swim for anyway - just for 45 mins (since we have Sasha here). I hate to be away from the kids for too long but I'm thinking that one hour isn't bad. I still feel guilty, though, when I leave and they're here....I know they want to play with me so I try to make an extra effort to do stuff with them when I come back.

Lynne took a picture of me with my bike in the snow....will upload later.

Yesterday I gave a talk at Aims Community College called "Active at Any Size". It was a talk for their Biggest Winner program (weight loss program). Toward the end of the presentation, I gave some advice on how to integrate physical activity into a busy schedule....like walking around soccer fields when your kids are practicing, parking a few blocks from your destination and walking, etc. Little did I know that I would actually practice what I preached that very day.

I had planned a late afternoon run but got tied up in another meeting after this presentation, making it impossible to finish my run before picking up my kids at 3:30. Sooooo....no problem, I decided to run to the school from my meeting, get the kids, walk them back to my mother's house, and then finish my run. Wa- la! It worked perfectly!

It doesn't always work out so well. But today it was great because my talk and my meeting were all within a few blocks of where my kids go to school. The weather was freakishly warm so the kids wouldn't mind walking to grandma's house. It was the 3rd day this winter that I've run in shorts and short-sleeved shirt and boy does it feel good (but I worry about the grass and trees!).

Today it's supposed to be up to 70 degrees! My friend, Lynne, asked me to ride with her at 2:00 and I'm going to go - woo hoo! We'll only have an hour but it will just be nice to ride outside. I hope Marshall can go too!

I'm stoked because I changed my own flat tire last night....my dear husband coached me through it but I found that I knew more about it than I thought. I want to get to the point where I can change my own tire at the drop of a hat....need to know that for the Ironman!!!

Dogs and Ipods

Today I had a short, but good run. Unfortunately, I had misplaced my Ipod and thinking that I had left it in the condo in Winter Park, spent almost an hour trying to track down the number of the management company for the condo. Kurt could not answer my calls so I had to find it myself and strangely enough, it was difficult to do.

Finally, after finding the right number and asking the head of housekeeping to please, please, please, go look for my Ipod in Unit #4, I found the darn thing in the side pouch of my suitcase.... ARRRGGGHHH! An hour of looking, stressing, haggling with wrong numbers, I find it right where it was supposed to be.

So, I left for my run at 10:30, which is very late for me. The good news is that it was so warm that I wore shorts and t-shirt.

Took Daisy with me, which I thought would be good since she hadn't run since Saturday. But she seemed tired and didn't run very fast. She stopped at least 5 times to sprawl out on patches of snow....she must have been hot. I literally had to drag her off the snow to get home. Weird run all together!

I lifted weights and noticed that it's getting easier - woo hoo! I'll take the small successes anyday.

Rocky Mountain High

If it weren't for these amazing runs that always seem to happen when you least expect it, I don't know if I'd continue to run.

Every runner knows what I'm talking about - the kind of run you have once in awhile (and the older you get, the longer that while is) where everything falls into place and you feel like you could run forever. I had one of those runs on Sunday.

We were in Winter Park with the kids and Sasha, our Ukrainian exchange student. Kurt and I ran on Sat morning but we didn't have time to run for more than 30 mins. I was tired and sluggish. One of those runs where you just do it to get it over with.

Then, on Sunday, I had the "magical" run. My energy level seemed to go through the roof and I literally felt like I could run for hours. It was cold and we were at approx. 8000 feet altitude (whatever Winter Park is), but I was comfortably warm and felt like I was running at sea-level.

Kurt and I ran together for the first 40 mins and we laughed quite a bit along the way. I carried my camera (of course!) and we took pictures of each other (above). Aside from stopping for a train, we sailed right along at a good pace. Then he went back to get the kids ready for skiing, letting me "sail" on a little longer.

After he left, I turned on my Ipod. The sun was just coming up over the mountains and the music was crystal clear. Ironically, the song that came on first was "Run" by Cold Play, one of my favorites. I cruised up the long hill leading to our condo and felt so good, I ran further up the hill. I just did not want to stop!

I got to the driveway leading to our condo and walked the rest of the way....only because I didn't want this experience to end. I turned off my Ipod and listened to the early-morning silence and the crunching of the snow under my feet. It's moments like these that make you glad to be a runner.

The high from yesterday's run seemed to continue on today...I finally had a great swim. I probably only swam 1000 yards or so but it felt easy, for once. Didn't tire out as quickly. I still have a long way to go to feel ready for an Ironman, but with a run like I had yesterday and a swim like today, it doesn't seem that far out of reach!