A week of firsts

Let’s start with Tuesdsay evening: as I was finishing up Wednesday’s spin class, I was bending my toes on the carpet and suddenly felt a pull on one of my toenails. Ouch! Felt like it was kind of ripping so I immediately walked into the bathroom to grab some clippers. As I bent over my foot, there was my second toe with ITS TOENAIL HANGING OFF.

OMG.

I have heard about you runner folk and your black toenails that fall off, but it has NEVER happened to me before! In all the years of tri I always managed to have shoes that never caused black & blue toenails. But back in January Matt and I had gone on a hike and as we were running down the trail to beat darkness, my left second toe kept jamming into the front of my hiking shoes; I definitely had a hunch it would be bruised. Sure enough, it eventually turned black.

Little did I know it would FALL OFF. How WEIRD is that?! It’s like my toe managed to form a protective layer between the skin and the nail so that when the nail DID come off, it was kind of no big deal. But I’m still weirded out by the fact that my toenail just kinda…fell off!

Onto Friday: my first ART session. For those not in the know, that’s Active Release Therapy (ART). Matt has been going to Patrick Pisenti, DC for a few different ailments and I know plenty of other people (including Holly) who have sung his praises for whatever injuries they were dealing with.

I’ve been dealing with this scar tissue in my right quad for awhile now and it hasn’t ever gotten any better. It affects me most when I run but I still feel it when I swim and bike and even in yoga. My right quad generally feels weaker than the left. I was just tired of feeling it and feeling injured.

Last November I felt so angry after my last XC race because it really flared up to the point of causing so much pain I had tears in my eyes and it was all I could do just to finish the damn thing. This stupid injury essentially ruined what should have been an awesome race for me. That was really when I decided to hang up running for awhile.

So I decided it was time for me to visit Pat. ART is PAINFUL! But I’m hoping it works. I’m supposed to follow up my treatment with the good ol’ foam roller and see how it goes for a couple weeks before I make any follow up appointments.

Onto the weekend! Hope everybody has a wonderful Easter weekend and gets some great rides/runs/swims/egg hunts in!

2 Recipes for healthy people on the go

I know, I know, I’m waaaay overdue. Things have been nuts lately. My cooking has been much more of the “how can I make this as healthy as possible while still making it as quickly as possible because it is already 8:00 p.m. and I am STARVING?”

First up: Stir fry

No special stuff here but this is my ALL time favorite go-to ‘hurry-up-i-need-something-healthy’ meal.

-I start with a base of Trader Joe’s Chimichurri Rice. If you are a TJ’s shopper, YOU MUST BUY SOME OF THIS! It is a frozen rice mixture with some great spices. Re-heats REALLY well and serves as an excellent base. I do all kinds of stuff with this.

-In another pan, start braising tofu or saute some chicken or ground turkey or turkey sausage…etc

-Meanwhile, start cutting up all the veggies you’ve got:

• Bell peppers
• Asparagus
• Carrots
• Mushrooms
• Chard
• Whatever other great veggies you might want in a stir fry

-I often will actually use a third pan and get my onion and mushrooms going by themselves

-In the Chimichurri Rice pan, once it’s been on heat for about a minute, start throwing in your veggies based on how long they need to stir-fry for. Carrots first, Asparagus and bell peppers next, then once the mushrooms and onion are almost done, throw them into the mix. Time it so that about two minutes before everything is all done, you can throw your meat or tofu into your wok also. Then about one minute before it’s all finished, throw in the chard. Chard cooks quickly so be sure everything else is done. Keep turning the chard over so that it cooks evenly but usually you never want more than a minute before it will become over-cooked.

That’s about it. In about 15 minutes of prep and cook time, you’ve got a pretty solid meal of protein/carbs/veggies and it tastes REALLY good. Sometimes I’ll wrap it in a tortilla, sometimes I’ll eat it alone. Mmmm.

Next up: Quinoa and Black Beans Salad

I heart this SO much. This recipe makes enough salad for two people to stretch out for about 2-3 days so you may want to halve it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups quinoa 
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed, if canned
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups cooked corn (cut from about 2 large ears) *
  (I used TJ’s frozen corn and it was great; also use TJ’s ‘Soycutash’ mix and that works really well in this, too)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 1/2 cups tofu, chopped into small blocks (something I added on my own, definitely optional!)

For dressing :

• 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

Rinse and cook quinoa. (If you’re not familiar with it – rinse a few times as you would rice. Can use a 1-2 ratio – 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water; bring water to boiling, put quinoa in, let simmer for 15 min or so until all the water has been absorbed)

While quinoa is cooking, in a small bowl toss beans with vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer quinoa to a large bowl and cool. Add beans, corn, bell pepper (and tofu) and toss well.

Make dressing: In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, salt, and cumin and add oil in a stream, whisking. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well with salt and pepper to taste. (*Note: I used about 3/4 of the salad dressing)

Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring salad to room temperature before serving. 

Doing without

Without what?

A lot of things. The last two weeks have been all about extreme control and conscious restraint. Yet, I still seem to be in a good mood!

Matt has been having some stomach issues and thought it might be a good idea to try giving up alcohol and coffee for a month. Figuring that I would probably also benefit from such restraint, I decided to go along for the ride.

It’s been a little over two weeks so far and here are the results:

Alcohol: I mean yeah, I get jealous when James updates his Facebook status with what type of beer he’s relaxing with or JP mentions having noodles and beer. I passed by the Russian River Brewing Co the other day and thought “oh…that sounds GOOOOD.” But overall, I think it’s good to give the ol’ liver a break.

We went to a mixer last week for an organization called GoLocal (all about promoting the support of local business) and the theme last night was “Drink Local” – supporting local beverage makers (and while Sonoma County IS wine and beer country, they also were talking about some local tea/coffee importers, etc.).

So we go to pour ourselves a glass of water and what is sitting next to the bottles of water?

A BIG jug of Russian River’s Pliny the Elder. I let out a little whimper as I spied it. Taking a deep breath, I said confidently to Matt “I’m fine. It’s fine. Just give me the water.”

Phew.

But after that, I really WAS fine. The evening went on without another thought of the matter. Which shows me that a) I’m not that addicted to beer and wine (that’s good!) and b) It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.

Coffee, on the other hand, has been a completely different story. MY GOD am I craving my fresh French-pressed brew!! We’ve been drinking black tea in the mornings instead but it just isn’t the same. And since I’m not the one with the stomach issues, I think lasting through two weeks of experimentation has been enough for me.

In all actuality, I haven’t really completely given it up. The other morning Matt felt bad for me and made me a pot. The day before that I had a breakdown and went to Peet’s on my way to FedEx (they’re next door to each other, how convenient) and got an Americano. At the GoLocal mixer you’d better believe I was ‘sampling’ (if that’s what you could call getting a refill three times) the decaf blend.

If that’s what ‘giving up’ coffee has done to me, then I think I was better off with my one-cup-each-morning habit!

Besides restraining from coffee and alcohol, I’ve been counting calories. Fitness Journal has a really cool food diary that can either be really detailed or really simple. The detailed version is cool in that a lot of foods are already in there from other members (i.e. Clif Z-Bars). I’m not so much wanting to ‘diet’ as more wanting to understand exactly where the calories come from and what my daily percentages of carbs, fat and protein are. Further, I want to make sure I’m doing enough to get the majority of my carbs from veggies and fruits rather than starches. I’ve actually really enjoyed doing this and it’s helping me to make more conscious choices during the day, especially if I can see that I’m lacking on the protein or the carb/fat/protein ratio is a little out of balance – I can adjust meals accordingly.

Overall, training’s been good. Still not much running to speak of. Fine by me! I got in a great swim last Saturday on my own and decided that I can’t be a wimp about it anymore. If I can’t make a Tues/Thurs eve master’s workout, I just have to suck it up and go early those mornings on my own. I CAN push myself and I CAN be disciplined. I don’t necessarily enjoy it as much, but I need to do it and I’m always glad when I did.  I decided that I definitely want to get some open water swims in this summer and when Shan moves up here I want to round her and some other folks up and go BAY swimming! I haven’t swam in the Bay in quite awhile but it’s really an awesome experience (cold, but awesome).

Finally, I should announce that I have officially joined the Early Bird Women’s Racing Team and may be racing as early as April 26 at the Wente Crit Race! YEAH!

What is the meaning of life?

Whatever you want it to be.

That was the question/answer on a card I wrote today. I love it. It couldn’t be more true.

This week has been nuts in the most awesome way. It started Saturday and has been pretty much, well, great, every day since. I don’t even know where to START! After such an incredible weekend, I began to reflect inward a little bit. Last month I mentioned a few things about how our attitude is everything. I am starting to see the difference my positive thinking is making on my life and my actions. Not only is it helping me to see the brighter side of things more easily, but I can see it in my confidence as well. I’ve been making decisions recently that are the direct result of more confidence in my feelings and direction I want to be going. It feels so good to make a decision and not question it or wonder if I should be doing it differently.

I looked at a blog post I remembered writing almost a year ago to this day. I was feeling pretty alone here in Sonoma County. Frustrated that my relationship with my students at the YMCA wasn’t forming immediately (patience is something I constantly work on). A little disappointed in my Oceanside 70.3 race (btw GOOD LUCK TO YOU FOLKS RACING!). Missing my friends in Berkeley and Oakland. Lamenting on my former life.

A year later, I can honestly say my life and outlook are 180 degrees from where they were one year ago. Take spin: several hours later, I am STILL on a high from spin class this morning. A year ago I was doing everything I could to look forward to spin on Mondays. And a year ago, when I was stoked that spin was 85% full? This morning’s class was full by 5:35 a.m. - for a 6 a.m. class. As I think about why I feel so fulfilled by teaching spin, I realize it’s something that I have worked so hard for. The comments from my post last week about Wednesdays were interesting to me. People seemed surprised that I’m always changing up the workout and playlist. But just like the quote at the top of my post today says: you get out of things whatever you put into them.

One of the things I know I am good at and love doing is building relationships and friendships. In spite of that, I am also impatient. The former takes time and yet, my personality likes things to happen YESTERDAY! Especially when I get EXCITED!

Just as it took a good 6 months for my relationships to really deepen with my spin students, it’s taken time for me to build my community here in Santa Rosa. To build friendships. To figure out what I wanted out of my new life up here. But I was so thrilled to be moving up here, to get out on my bike and learn every road in Sonoma County, to enjoy all this beautiful place has to offer, I think I expected it all to happen overnight.

I’m kind of interested to go back to another post from March of 2008 where I said:

After this year, who knows? As much as I love this sport and love the fitness that comes along with it, there are a lot of other things I'm interested in doing. I'm interested in cooking more. I'm interested in growing a garden to use my own veggies. I'm interested in becoming fluent in Spanish. I'm interested in reading more. I'm interested in getting into cycling racing. I'm interested in more yoga. I'm interested in learning more about web design and learning CSS. I may even be interested in running a marathon at some point.

I don't think I'll give up triathlon after this year, I just think I'll back off the intensity and just have fun with it. Pick a couple key races to do every year and do them for fun.

Kind of funny to look back on that! I was already gearing up for 2009 and yet, a few months ago, I was STRUGGLING SO MUCH with the idea of letting go! A WHOLE YEAR AGO I KNEW what I wanted. And yet up until about last week I was still hanging on to the last threads of somehow feeling like I NEED to do triathlon. Or that I NEED to run.

Yet the only thing getting in my way of pursuing other, just-as-exciting things was ME. Life is what you make it.

Now that I’ve set the stage (no this post isn’t over yet), let’s look back at what I said in March 2008 that I wanted to do:

1. Cooking more – have to say I’ve been really lazy lately. Haven’t been posting recipes at all lately and my cooking has lacked pizzazz. Time to step it up! I’m going to try and plan at least two great meals a week that involve a little more extended time in the kitchen. I’ve got PLENTY of inspiration from JP and Devon!
2. Garden – possibly working on doing a community garden with Carmen, yeah!
3. Spanish – nada. Still have to table that one for a little while.
4. Reading more – reading at least 15 min a day from a BOOK and it’s working out great! (in addition to Bicycling…New Yorker…Gourmet…Swimmer…)
5. More yoga – yes! I’ve totally picked this up this year! Going to keep rockin’ that one…
6. Web design and CSS – another one to be tabled. Maybe someday…
7. Marathon – nope, certainly not right now.
8. Cycling Racing – funny this should come up…

On the topic of road racing: last week on that FANTASTIC Riviera Ride from West County Revolution (an absolute MUST for anybody remotely nearby – I will let you know the details for the next one), I met a woman named Laurel Green. I told her about my desire to race this season and she said “Do you have a team?” I said “No.” Her: “Want one?” Me: “well…YEAH!”

Laurel is running a development team for women in their first year of road racing. How PERFECT! As the ride went on we spoke more about what’s required and what I could expect to get out of this experience. The result? All that’s left for me to do is send my team dues in. Count me IN!

Besides it being a great ride for finding myself being recruited to a racing team, it was truly one of the most gorgeous days in Sonoma County I’ve seen this year so far. A perfect day for riding, and boy did we RIDE! I found myself feeling feisty and got into a few pacelines and attacking up a few hills. It hurt SO good. I posted the pics below!

After and incredible lunch at Riviera, that evening I went to my FIRST professional hockey game! We watched the Sharks beat the Phoenix team. GO SHARKS! It was awesome. And I couldn’t believe they just LET them keep fighting!

Sunday I did more riding with Soda. She came up around 2 p.m. and we set off to do about a 40 mile, 2 hr mostly flat ride. Well…it ended up being 53 miles and 2 hrs 40 min. Oops. We got into Occidental and she had never turned right on Bohemian Hwy from there. We were both on TT bikes and I said “oh…Soda…that is THE BEST ROAD FOR A TT BIKE! YOU WILL FEEL LIKE YOU ARE FLYING!” I thought we’d go down from there to Monte Rio and take River Road in – a long flat ride back – perfect, right?

Kind of. We enjoyed Bohemian Hwy all the way down. We hit upwards of 3o mph! Once we were on River Road about 4 miles from Guerneville, we were moving along at a nice clip of about 21-22 mph. I was letting Soda do all the pulling since she’s the one racing next week. :) I decided to kick it into my big ring and slow down the cadence a tad. As I pulled the left gear toward me, it, well…kept pulling back! “What the hell?” I thought. I looked down and my chain had gone nowhere. Damn. Front derailleur cable had snapped! Still, worse things could have happened. With no bike store in Guerneville, we decided to just focus on getting back. I didn’t want to slow Soda down so I just decided I’d practice my spinning all the way home (I should also point out I couldn’t shift up to any of the last 3 gears on my rear cog because the chain would start rubbing against the front derailleur, so I was pretty much stuck with one gear on the flat).

Home – guess I kind of forgot it’s about 20 miles from Guerneville. Oh well, we still managed to do about 19 mph with my legs spinning the whole entire way!

Once we got there I had planned on doing an easy 20 minute run with her afterward. As we embarked down the block, my legs were SCREAMING. The thought of running another 18 minutes seemed like a feat I would not be able to conquer today. I apologized and told her I just had no strength left in my legs. All in all, it was a great ride and I definitely wasn’t concerned about missing out on the run.

This week started off really well, too. Monday spin was great. Went to yoga that evening and it felt so good but my legs were still hating me and for the first time in a LONG time I had to come out of my warrior poses to massage my quads! Oooohhh so sore.

Tuesday, in spite of still sore legs, I willed myself to go out at lunch at get a 20 minute run in. I won’t lie. The first 10 minutes sucked eggs. I spent every step plotting how I was going to describe the pain in my blog entry. The muscles right above my knees especially – just so tight. I’m wondering if that’s soreness from using the TT bike which I haven’t ridden in months? After the first 10 minutes it wasn’t so bad, but folks…it was dreadfully slow! I haven’t run that slow in AGES!

I sort of smiled about it all. Perhaps doing a 10K in two weeks might be out of the question. Of course I have the cardio strength for it but not sure my legs have it. And honestly…I don’t really care. I am really beginning to think that I may just take a total break from triathlon this season. I am TOTALLY FINE WITH THIS, FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL YEAR! On my ride on Saturday, about 20 minutes before I spoke with Laurel, I said to Lee “you know…I think I might just be okay if I really just focused on bike, swim and yoga this year.” Kind of funny how it all worked out.

Life is like that. It seems to work itself out. Things don’t always happen as quick as we want them to, but I am coming to the full realization that if you just set some goals and gain a clear understanding of what it is you really want, put it out there for the universe to hear, and work at it, everything will be okay. Obviously there are always hiccups and roadblocks along the way, but nobody ever said succeeding was easy. I know more times than not I wish life were easier, but when I look at the big picture I know that life really is good and I can make it into whatever I want. I like that.

Wednesday: The Toughest Day

Indeed, Wednesday is my most difficult day of the week. I teach spin twice. It’s not even the double workout that makes it tough. I’ve done two workouts in a day plenty – as have most triathletes. That part is nothing new. And sheez, I get a whole 12 hours in between so it’s REALLY just fine!

No, I think the issue with Wednesdays is simply that I’m TEACHING two spin classes. And working all day in between. My main problem is that I’m not planning ahead well enough and it seems it is beginning to catch up with me. For example, instead of being the smarty pants I KNOW I can be by getting all of the week’s spin classes together on Saturday or Sunday, I inevitably whittle away my time so that Sunday evening I really only have time to plan Monday’s class. Then Tuesday rolls around; I go to swim practice from 5:45 – 7:00 p.m., come home, eat, and by the time I’m sitting down to plan Wednesday’s double duty it’s about 9 or 9:30 p.m. Theoretically I would be getting ready for bed by then. Oops.

The realization is finally hitting me that this ‘process’ really needs to stop or I will break down and it will begin to affect how I teach. I don’t want that. I’m trying to get through this nasty cold; lack of sleep isn’t aiding in recovery now, is it?

Just like everything else I do, I’ve finally realized that if I want to continue to be a good spin instructor I really need to plan out when I will be writing out classes and honor that plan. Time to GET WITH IT! Out of curiosity to anybody out there who coaches/teaches as a side job – do you have a routine that works for you to get this kind of stuff done?

In spite of my stress I am CREATING FOR MYSELF (that’s how I know I need to get my act together – it’s stress that I am unnecessarily bringing on MYSELF!), I still absolutely love teaching spin. Seeing my students improve in their ability to push themselves, in their form on the bike, in their willingness to commit to working hard – it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. Oh and I love finding new music. If you haven’t checked out the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire, you should! Some great workouts songs on there!

On another note…slight schedule update:

• March 14 - Solvang Century Ride - Done!
• NEW: April 12 – Artichoke 10K (Pescadero, CA) – Maybe
• April 19 - Santa Cruz 10K – a NO GO if I do the Artichoke 10K
• April 26 - "Just Go" 10K (Santa Rosa)
• June 7 - Tri For Real #1 Olympic Distance (Folsom)
• July 4 - Kenwood 10K
• July 12 - Tri For Real #2 Olympic Distance (Folsom)
  
• July 19 - Donner Lake Triathlon - Olympic Distance (Truckee, CA)
• July 19 – Trans Tahoe Relay (Lake Tahoe) – WOOO!!!
• August 9 - Tri For Real #3 Olympic Distance (Folsom)
• August 22 - Santa Barbara Triathlon (MAYBE)
• September 13 - Escape From the Rock Triathlon (San Francisco)
• October 25 - The Big Kahuna Triathlon (Half-IM) (Santa Cruz)
• Insert Date Here - Some Half Marathon

Today’s spin song list:

1. Children – Robert Miles
2. Life on a Chain – Pete Yorn
3. Two Step – Dave Matthews
4. Aaj Ki Raat - (Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack)
5. Bottom of the Barrel – Amos Lee (recovery)
6. Mercy – Duffy
7. Maneater – Nelly Furtado
8. Shot in the Dark (remix) – Chris Mancini
9. Send Your Love – Sting
10. Get the Party Started – Pink
11. Bicycle Race – Queen
12. Tainted Love – Soft Cell
13. It’s the End of the World – REM
14. Faith – George Michael

When to rest?

It’s a new week. New goals. New attempts to manage my time and do more with the same minutes I had. But it seems like my body is telling me to rest. Last week, during both Monday a.m. spin and a Wednesday ride I had a difficult time getting my heart rate up. By now I know this is a sign that my body is tired and I need to give it a rest. Considering I had ridden 103 miles at a decent pace only a few days before and I was also feeling a cold coming on, I thought “okay, definitely a good time to take a break.”

Spring has sprung in Sonoma County!!

Begrudgingly, I made Thursday a rest day. Friday morning I still had a little bit of a sore throat but when I taught spin my HR was back to normal and I thought all was well again.

But I still took Saturday off and after yesterday morning’s 2 hr pain session on the bike I decided against swimming. Yet…I still have a sore throat and my nose is all stuffed up again and my voice is not too strong. ARRRRRRRRRGH!

This is positively frustrating! I’ve been trying to build momentum back each week but it seems like I just can’t quite get there. So what does REST truly mean? Take a few days off from everything and sleep? Do lighter workouts? Skip a workout? I know rest varies for each situation – if you’re REALLY sick then you stop working out. But what if you’re just battling two back-to-back colds? I seem to have recovered from last weekend’s century, but I’m still obviously battling whatever sickness has decided to manifest inside my respiratory system.

On another note, I did my first 20 minute run last week (after a several-week-long hiatus from running) and that was actually fairly nice. I think I should be ready for a 10K in a few weeks. Suddenly what used to be such a short distance seems so much longer. When Carmen and I were driving down to Solvang we were discussing running and I said “I guess I just hate how much it HURTS!” She said “that’s because you RACE it! Try just running at a gentler pace and you might enjoy it.”

What a concept. Hmmm. I think doing something like that would be difficult for me but perhaps good practice in throwing the ego out the door. Just enjoying it for the run itself. Yet even on the century ride I found myself wanting to chase people down (silly girl) KNOWING this was NOT a race and NOBODY cared if I caught them. It’s that competitiveness though. It’s what drives me forward in triathlons…from the very first one I ever did. We’ll see. One day at a time.

And now I’m off to swim (I know…rest…but swimming always makes me feel better when I have a cold).

Sunset from my friend Damon & Erin’s window looking out across the avenues in SF’s Sunset District and out to the Pacific

Solvang Century Ride Report

**A Joint Ride Report by Sarah and Carmen and Sarah** (mostly Carmen because Sarah is getting lazy about blogging)

Carmen says:

The first highlight of the trip is the night before the ride. We stopped in Pismo Beach for dinner, just in time to see a breathtaking sunset off the Pacific Ocean.

We then went to Splash Cafe and had what had to be the best Ahi tuna fish tacos in the world. We split our orders so we could each have one taco with this tangy Citris salsa and the other with this spicy horseradishy green sauce. YUM!!

Sarah says: This place is NOT to be missed if you’re going through Pismo! It’s on the main drag heading toward the pier. You can’t miss it b/c it will be packed with people!

Carmen says: After dinner we headed down to Solvang to get our ride packets. As usual, there was a product expo where we spent more money than we planned. Sarah nabbed this super cute “Cycling Diva” t-shirt, a TriDiva hat and a pair of sunglasses. I (finally) got the Bento box I’ve been needing and a new pair of sunglasses.

It was nearly 10 p.m. before we got to the hotel in Lompoc. Not much to say about Lompoc, but the hotel experience was classic! We hijacked a luggage dolly and loaded it up with our crap and then rolled it and our bikes up three stories and, of course, all the way to the other side of the hotel. We couldn’t stop laughing as we looked at this thing piled high with gear bags, overnight bags, and groceries. Seriously. We were there for one night but could have stayed a week with the amount of stuff we had!

The next morning we got a little bit of a late start but managed to hit the start line just in time for the cut-off (8:00 a.m.). (Sarah says: really, Carmen? There was a cut-off? I had no idea. :P If it’s not a race…I’m not in a hurry…no stress…and I knew we’d be fast anyway!) It was a bit on the chilly side as we started out but the place was packed with riders and we were excited to get moving. The first group of riders we ended up with had two younger ladies in pink/lavender clothes with a "HOT" sticker stuck to their rear-ends. At first, we were like, "that's cute." But after awhile, they were driving us bananas. Speed up, slow down. Speed up, slow down. By the time we got to the first rest stop, we made a decision to simply roll through and left our little group behind.

BEFORE we left, though, we met Batman and Robin who were riding on a tandem bike. Apparently last year they rode as the Tortoise and the Hare. These two guys were cracking us up - and they were fast! We kept seeing them throughout the ride and yelled, "HEY BATMAN!" (Sarah would like to note that at one point Batman said “You can call me Bruce, too…” and I didn’t get it until about a minute later…DUH…BRUCE WAYNE!)

Miles 40-60 were probably the best miles of the ride.

We caught a group of riders a couple of times and were SPEEDING along at some crazy paces. Sarah hung on longer and probably could have stayed all day - she was doing AWESOME! Sarah also had this amazing pull down this busy stretch of a road. Every time we looked back, more and more people were jumping onto the pace line. That's kind of what's neat about these rides. You don't know anyone but pretty soon little groups form and you all work together to get some good miles in.
Mile 60-ish was a low point for me. All that fast fun took a toll and eating was at a minimum because my stomach was revolting. Sarah finally said, "You NEED to eat." She was right. After stopping briefly to eat a half a PB&J, I felt like new and off we went.

Another low point was miles 80-86. Why? Because everyone kept telling us there was this "huge climb" at mile 80. So Sarah went ahead at her own pace while I took it easy to save some legs for the climb. But then mile 80 went by, 81, 82, 83, 84....still no climb. We were like what the heck? Where IS THIS CLIMB? Sarah joined back up and we were for some reason really pissed off by the fact that "big climb" wasn't where everyone said it would be. Can't really figure out why it bothered us so much but I suppose it was just that we were taking it easy to save our legs and it just was nowhere in sight! (Sarah says: I was pissed because at the mile 72 rest stop Carmen had taken off ahead of me since this ‘big’ climb was coming and she figured I’d catch her. So I passed her around mile 76 and thought “well I’ll just keep going and wait for her at the top of the climb.” But mile after mile…this climb wasn’t coming and I felt bad for leaving my friend to ride alone. LAME!) Finally, at around mile 85/86, the "big climb" came. It wasn't really a big climb. These people need to come to Sonoma County - we'll show them a big climb! Nonetheless, I stuck it in an easy gear and went up while Sarah breezed her way to the top.

The landscape for the first 80 miles was bleh. Nothing too exciting, especially when you compare it to our beautiful Sonoma County. But the last 20+ miles were very nice.

Sarah continued to ride strong and I was getting a second wind and feeling great. In fact, after the fun times at mile 40-60, the last 20 miles were the next best miles. Great views and strong legs.

We finished in 5 hours and 50 minutes. Sarah could have gone faster but she graciously waited for me. Even so, I felt like I had a pretty good showing for my first Century ride!

After the ride, we stopped at a Danish Bakery and had the BEST Danishes and coffee. Although it could be that everything tastes better after you've ridden 103 miles. One thing we noticed, though is that Solvang is kind of an eerie town. It's suppose to be really cute with all the Danish architecture but, hello, we're in the middle of California. EVERYTHING has a Danish spin to it. It kind of felt like the twilight zone. Beautiful, but strange.

All in all, it was a great day!

Sarah says: I think Carmen did an awesome job with this ride report, so I don’t feel like I really needed to add much. Or I’m just lazy. ;) But seriously…while not the most scenic century I’ve ever done, definitely one of the BEST!!

First, I had great company (yay, Carmen!).

Second, I felt like I kicked ASS all day long. And when we finished I thought “ya know…I could ride another 30 if I wanted to.” My nutrition was solid all day and I never felt too tired or like I wished I could just get off my bike and curl into a ball. THAT is an achievement for me! All I can say to people is EAT, EAT EAT!!!! Gotta keep eating on those long rides even if you’re not hungry.

Third, it felt so awesome to pull a train the way I did. I was scared to look back and see how many people were on the back but when Carmen told me there was a huge long line behind me I just smiled this big smile and kept on pedaling. Yeee haww!

Fourth, it felt awesome to join up with a train of guys at mile 70 and be going at 28 mph. We were FLYING! Love love love love that.

Fifth, I was so proud of our ride time and really proud of Carmen. I think she had a spectacular first century – and she’s only been riding for about a year now!

Thanks, Carmen!

Enjoy our photo album from the trip…

This weekend: Solvang Century!

I know I’ve been super lame and haven’t been writing much lately. Just so much busyness and I wish I could say with training but sadly the last two weeks have been not so great training-wise (especially now that I have a couple of runs to prep for!). Que sera, sera. Life happens and you have to just roll with it. There’s no point in being upset over things I can’t control.

SO here it is Friday already! This is a short post because Carmen and I are taking off at 1 p.m. to drive down to Solvang for the Solvang Century. YES! Been looking forward to this for weeks. We finally got to ride outdoors last Sunday and did an incredible 75 miles in glorious sun. It felt amazing and I felt SO happy just to be there, on my bike. During those four hours, there was NOWHERE else in the world I wanted to be than riding my bike through Sonoma County vineyards with friends on a sunny day seeing all sorts of other friends along the way who were also out riding. It was heavenly and I was so grateful for the weather finally cooperating.

The other cool thing that happened this week was that I got a re-fit on my tri bike from Rand Libberton at Aria Velo. This was more of a ‘mini-fit’ because he had helped my friend Pat get fit to my bike when I was going to let Pat borrow it for IM AZ last year when his bike kind of broke at the last minute. So Rand was just making sure that things were back to how they should be.

BUT I learned about what a ‘real’ fit involves there – first of all, it’s a 4-HOUR SESSION. Wow! I was so impressed with the detail that’s involved, from discussing what type of riding you want to do with your bike to getting you set up with 3-D points so he can evaluate every aspect of your positioning. His set-up is super high-tech and I just couldn’t get over the level of details he gets to in determining a proper bike fit. What’s more, he keeps all of your ‘numbers’ so that when you’re out looking at new bikes he can pull them up and say ‘yeah, I don’t know about that model, you might be 3 cm too short for it,’ etc.

Why do I write about this? Because for all the time and money we spend on our bikes, this could be the best $350 you’ve ever spent. I’m SO excited now to book a full appointment with him, especially as I’m looking at new road bikes this year. I think it will help big time. If you’re local, go check out Aria Velo. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

That’s it for today. Hope everybody has a great weekend of training and good luck to any event-goers! I promise to post pictures of our ride next week!

Sweet Swim, Go SERC!

My friend Heather posted this video on her Facebook page this evening. South End Rowing Club (SERC) is a club in San Francisco that, among many things, fosters the sport of open water swimming. They are nested right at this cove near Ghiradelli Square and many swimmers new to Bay swimming get their start with SERC. Folks can swim in the cove (typically sans wetsuit) and have the comfort of a nice sauna afterward to get their body temps back up.

All of my serious open-water swimming friends are/were with SERC. In the open-water swimming world, it's known as one of the best places to train for big swims because the Bay has so many changing conditions.

One of the most challenging club-sponsored swims is the Pt. Bonita -> SERC swim. Below is a video of it.

While I never felt a desire to swim more than 3 miles in the open water, I always sincerely appreciated my friends that did. I crewed for my girlfriends Jessica, Alice and Amber when they swam the Maui Channel and I tried to help out as often as I could when they were training for other big swims.

Open water swimming is just downright HARD! Besides the physical aspects of swimming hours upon hours in training, there is so much coordination involved. Getting your crew for training swims. Making sure you have a boat. Making sure your crew is fed. Etc etc etc. Then there's the acutal SWIM DAY. Again, making sure you have your boat and driver AND a back-up plan in case something goes wrong.

I think I really just appreciate the will it takes to want to do something like this - whether it's 5 miles, 10, 20 or beyond, I would get SO BORED! The Donner Lake swim is 2.7 miles and I do enjoy that swim a lot, but by the end I'm definitely ready to be done.

These people put so much time, effort and dedication into this - I really think it's just awesome. Enjoy the video. :)

Yesterday was Square Root Day!

It was 3/3/09 - and three is the square root of 9 (3√9). So the next one won't be until 4/4/16. Isn't that cool how that works?

Yes...I AM a math geek! However, instead of celebrating Square Root Day the healthy way and cutting up root vegetables into squares, I went to Happy Hour at Equis where they were serving $2 beers and $2 appetizers. So I drank 3 Racer 5's (TWO DOLLARS EACH, OMG!) and enjoyed the early evening with 9 friends (4 of them people we met there, but hey...new friends!). I was pretty proud of how that worked out.

However, celebrating in that fashion also meant that I skipped masters swim. Whoops! Gotta have some fun when it presents itself, though.

Still, I felt a tad guilty this morning (only a tad) and decided to start filling in that race calendar.

There are two 10K races in April...one in Santa Cruz and one in Santa Rosa that is benefiting REACH (the medic helicopters). I may just do both! Why not?

Doing those would help get me back into running shape for the Tri For Real Series in Folsom in June, July and August. I may throw in a couple sprint tris in between as well. Then I will finish the season with a half marathon (not sure which one, any suggestions?) and the Big Kahuna in October.

I also really want to pick a few bike races to do this summer as well just for fun and to see how they go/how I like them. Velopromo doesn't seem to have anything up past April yet but we'll see.

Sure is looking like a full plate (I'll update my sidebar soon)..

• March 14 - Solvang Century Ride
  
• April 19 - Santa Cruz 10K
• April 26 - "Just Go" 10K (Santa Rosa)
• June 7 - Tri For Real #1 Olympic Distance (Folsom)
• July 4 - Kenwood 10K
  
• July 12 - Tri For Real #2 Olympic Distance (Folsom) -OR-
• July 19 - Donner Lake Triathlon - Olympic Distance (Truckee, CA)
  
• August 9 - Tri For Real #3 Olympic Distance (Folsom)
• August 22 - Santa Barbara Triathlon (MAYBE)
• September 13 - Escape From the Rock Triathlon (San Francisco)
  
• October 25 - The Big Kahuna Triathlon (Half-IM) (Santa Cruz)
• Insert Date Here - Some Half Marathon

I have to smile as I look at this. Knowing that I'll be adding in a few other goodies in between, it IS turning out to look like a busy season. And I'm GLAD about that! I've taken an extra long time this year to actually lay out a schedule. I've taken an extra long break from running. I've chosen leisure over working out (well, not always, but many times in the last few months) when the opportunity presented itself.

But I FINALLY, finally feel like I WANT to run again. Like I am ready to commit to a few more hours a week. My words can't even describe how good it feels to actually want all of this, maybe more than I've ever wanted it before. And really my goal this year is to simply do the best _I_ can personally do and have fun at it.

I am also making a promise to myself to:
-Refuse to stress over missing a workout here or there
-Take time to rest if I feel I'm getting sick
-Not be afraid to take something off the schedule if it begins to feel like too much
-Take rest weeks SERIOUSLY and ADHERE to them

I think one of the big reasons I was SO burnt out was that I never took proper rest over the last four years. Yes, I took time off between seasons, etc., but never enough. I was always too afraid of 'losing' my fitness. But now it's kind of fun to think of the challenges that lie ahead. Tomorrow's goal - a 20 minute run. Wooo!

March seems to be off to a good start.