Training for an Ironman

Yep....... Some people just don't get it! We're crazy!!

In between Christmas and New Year

It's that time of year...... tween. The time in between Chrismas and New Years. Christmas was fantastic other than I was sick with a nasty throat/sinus/bronchial infection which I had to call in the reinforcements "Penicillin" to knock them out!! Because well after all it's Christmas and I had family at my house in SD and then family at Mark's and my place in SP. It was a nice Christmas at home in SD with my son (down from SFSU) and my mom and Mark and his cousin and wife. The pork tenderloin from Costco was the BOMB!!!! Very yummy with all the fixings. In the morning Mark and I headed up to SP for round 2 in SP. Mark's kids Ali and Jacob and my son Clint drove up later in the morning and Mark and I prepared for the Christmas Day dinner feast. We had Ham with all the sides you could imagine. Very yummy!! It was very nice to celebrate the holiday with Mark' brother and his wife and his cousin and his wife again and my Dad. So, we drank (my dad as usual drank the scotch/whiskey bottle dry), we took pictures and just like that...... Christmas is over. I find myself feeling a little deflated that Christmas is over and excited that the New Year is about to begin. With the New Year are new resolutions and new thoughts on how to get faster train more effective and seeking out the new bikes and gear. You know..... stuff that is just out of reach price wise. Well enough about that. Saving is the big word of the year for me which I have been practicing for the past few years and learning to live on a small budget. Ok, so enough about finances. Now let's PR some races!!!

No blog like the present

Well....... blogging has been non existent and life has been crazy. So since I haven't blogged since like July. It's time. There has been so much going on that there isn't enough MB to hold it all. Let me just say, now that Christmas is here and the New Year is fast approaching. I'm really happy that family is around and that my relationship with Mark is on a steady path. Friendships seem to grow and more now around the holidays. Workouts are up and down due to colds and rain however they have been productive when I'm able to get after it. I have a few races coming up and need to get beck at it. Yoga needs to be more of a staple in my diet as does some lifting. This year I will work on my writing and take up another language (French) and maybe plan a trip to England France and Scotland for next year. My mother will be 70 and my aunt will be 80 so we intend to celebrate. I'll be cooking more vegan now that my son is at SFSU and my mother eats anything I cook so why not. right?
I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe PR of a New Year. I know I'll try to get that on the books.

-Simone

Forced recovery

Well that pesky issue with my ITB/periformis is still bothering me and I've been hitting it with all of my guns. I think that it's gotten a bit angry with me. First I started more intense yoga and rolling it with the roller, then it was the cortisone injection, then ART (Active release therapy), then a deep tissue massage from my bomb massage therapist Dani. I just love her!! And well things are just so so with it. I've cut back on the running and jumped up on the bike and swim. Though when I get off the bike it's a bit sore to walk. It doesn't bother me when I'm on the bike just when I get off to walk. So, this trip to Alaska is much needed recovery. One week of hiking, kayaking, ice climbing and camping. It will be a much needed rest and recovery. I hope this will help.

Alaska will be sooooo much fun. I'm taking my son who is 18 and just graduated high school and received his Eagle Scout rank. So this will be a double celebration for us. It's just the two of us and we haven't gone away in a long time. I really enjoy camping and hiking with my son. He is such a great helper and loves outdoors just like me. I hope the weather holds out and I can get used to the many hours of daylight. Sunset around midnight and sunrise up at 3am. Tylenol PM will be on tap for this trip just for insurance. I will miss my bike but we will be hiking soooo much that hopefully it will make up for it and not aggravate my ITB. I'll be bringing a tennis ball my roller so that I can get some more relief as well.

When I get back it will be off to SF for the marathon (well half marathon now) Stupid ITB. But that's OK. It's just for fun anyways and it will be a workout instead.

Sydney will have day care 3 days when I'm gone so she will be very happy. I know she's gonna miss her morning walk/runs but hopefully she will have a great 3 days of play with her friends. She will be one year old on July 16th when I'm gone so I'm gonna miss her birthday. I better bring some treats home for her.

I've got plenty of GB for the camera and my candy charger so lots of photo's to follow. The nice thing about this trip is NO CELL PHONES OR COMPUTERS!!!!! I'll be totally in nature and will have to wait until I get home to be on Crackbook and blog. Hey, that's perfectly fine with me.

See you in a week. =))

Blogs

I really enjoy reading blogs. It's nice to read about a race or and idea on nutrition or just some experience that a person has had. It can make for some interesting reading to say the least. Happy days and keep on blogging!! =))

So much to say so little time.....

It seems that I've wanted to blog a bunch and then when I have time I get distracted. Even thought I don't have any followers on my blog it's still nice to write thoughts down and maybe share a little of what is going on in my head. Not that you might find it interesting.

Workouts have slowed a bit because I have this pesky pain in my crest of my pelvis that I've been dealing with for the past 3 weeks. I've tried rolling yoga and message and it has only gotten just a bit better. Even Arnica or Motrin has not helped. I had a cortisone injection last night and hope that it will ease it up a bit so I can back into my running mode. The bike however is looking good and I seem to be riding more lately and really enjoying it. I seem to be getting stronger and stronger and I really like to see that improvement.
I'm supposed to run the SF marathon July 25th but with this injury I have been set back a bit and I'm trying to get into the half instead. Which is a major disappointment!!!!!
I'm focusing on my swimming as well and I really want to crush my next IM distance race next year. I don't think I will ever be a 10 or 11 hr IM'er but maybe 12??? I seem to think that it is all about the bike and the run. And if I can just get those things dialed in and make my swim strong I may have just that chance.

As for races this year I really look forward to Soma 1/2 in the fall and I hope I get into IMAZ if not back up plan is full Vineman in July. Seeing the improvement in the past 6 months really shows me that I can do this and I can become faster. Sometimes the brain takes over and lets be slack off and I really need to stop. For example..... This morning I was going to ride to work now keep in mind that I had a shot last night in my proximal IT band and it was a bit sore. So I blew the ride off and decided to swim instead. Once again changing my mind. I look at it as..... I'm not really training for anything other than the marathon and well you know how that's coming along. So, Lots of riding and swimming this week and maybe a run on Friday I hope. I feel that I've taken so many steps back in my running that it's a bit frustrating!!!

I hope I haven't bored anyone and thanks for letting me ramble on about my frustration and stuff. I hope to get out of this funk and maybe I just need a good slap to snap me out of it!!

Fourth of July Recipes for Runners at Runner's World

Fourth of July Recipes for Runners at Runner's World

Track not!!

Well lets just say that yesterdays workouts were non workouts. My calves were still tight after the Sunday run in the compression socks. (Never again) They will only be used for recovery. So, I was supposed to meet up with 3 others which will remain nameless because they all flaked out on me dammit!! But hey that's OK I was still meeting a big group with TCSD at UC high school and that's perfect. Well it took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get there with a fuel stop in there as well. So much for getting there for a warm up and starting on time with the group. So track started at 6:10 and by 6:20 I showed up (great, just perfect) I thought. So I got all my stuff together and made my way to the track (realizing I forgot my Garmin. But I had on my H/R monitor... perfect). So, I'm off to a fabulous start. I start warming up thinking that I could catch some of the interval work later on in the session. However my calves had another plan all together. They were not going to play nice. After 3 miles of warming up and stretching in between I was done. Calves done! I was not gong to risk injury to calves that were already angry. So I went home and called everyone who cares and cried on their shoulders.

All I can say is YOGA, YOGA, YOGA!! That's what I've been doing. I was going to hop on the spin bike this morning but I did Yoga instead and that was a great move because as the day goes by I feel better and better. Tonight I'll hop on the bike and see just how things are. It's amazing how one bad run can ruin your workouts for 2 days later. This sucks!!

Swim class

Yes....... I'm in swim class - Beginner swim class to be spacific. I feel lame but I have a method to my madness and hopefully I'll be able to explain it well enough so that you can understand. You see, I have an issue with water mainly swimming in it and mailny in open water. Even though I have done many races in open water and 2 Ironman lake swims it seems that each time I step into the water at the cove or the beach I start to panic and become distressed and think I'm going to be a nice meal for the sharky's out there. I freak out on every swim and every race I have in the open water. Sometimes I freak out in a lake or even in Mission Bay. I start to hyperventilate and feel like I'm running out of air. I feel pretty comfortable in my wet suit and I've had good swims in the open water and bad swims in the open water. I never know how I'm going to feel until the gun goes off and I'm struggling with this every race. I thought that if I take a beginner swim course I could get back to the basics and work on my mental game in the water. Make sense???? Maybe not yet.

So, my theory on this is if I can feel comfortable with my stroke, breathing and flip turns, I should feel comfortable anytime. I really hope this works because my last resort is a sports psychologist. The flip turn thing is another issue. I think that is because of rolling upside down and holding my breath at the same time. and the feeling of panic that I'm underwater and I can't get up for air. Kind of the same if your in open water and you get caught in a wave and are under water upside down. My mind set plays a big roll in this I know so let's see how the next class goes.

Organic Gardening, When to Plant Crops: Grow It! blog

This is a great site for organic gardening and resources!!!

Organic Gardening, When to Plant Crops: Grow It! blog

Where has the week gone???

Wow, this has been a big week in our house. First my boy Clint graduated from High School on Tuesday. What an awesome feeling to see the completion of this chapter in his life. Also to know that in August he is moving to SF to go to college. Yipee!!!! Oh, did I say that out loud? =)) Actually I'm very, very, excited for him. He is going to have such a great time and the memories will be forever. I really hope he enjoys this new adventure.

On Thursday Mark and I went to the SD county fair to see a sneak preview of the photography exhibit. I had entered 3 pictures and the one that I has hoping to get a ribbon did get Honorable mention. How exciting is that? Well, they only showcase 1/3 of the 4000 entries in the exhibit hall. So that made me feel very special and very proud. I think it's very cool.

Saturday was a drive up to Buena Park for the SFSU orientation. So pretty much an all day affair. Clint got his classes and we got some questions and the feeling to uncertainty seem to diminish and Clint has begun to feel the excitement as well. This is so cool. Now we can't wait for July when we take our backpacking trip to Alaska for his graduation present. What a fun time of year this is for my boy!!

Sunday morning run 11 ish miles in my new compression socks. They jury is still out on this new concept for me. Although I feel good when I run in them my legs seem to go through some changes during the longer runs. I feel that maybe I will only use them for recovery and not on long runs. First 3 miles calves were cramping, next 2 miles quads cramping, next 3 miles felt great no issues and on the last few miles both calves were cramping again and feeling a bit uncomfortable. So, I think that I will only be using them for recovery. Which is fine and a great tool for me to use because of my lower leg swelling that I tend to get.

Re cap of the weekend

Well it's been a few days and I have lots to wright about. So, lets start with Friday. I had the day off actually I have every other Friday off. I started off with a great 5 mile run with the girls and than off to the pool. I was done with my workouts by 10 am! Great!! Now I have the rest of the day to enjoy. Mark and I went to Hodads in OB for burgers. BTW I only eat that stuff like once a year. So, as you can imagine it's quite a treat. Got home and did usual housework ( i really with I could afford a maid). My girlfriend who was doing the Rock and Roll marathon invited me to go with her to the expo and so I tagged along. It was great!! I picked up my new Zoot Compression socks and had my picture taken with Michellie Jones which is up on FB and picked up a ton of free stuff. We had a blast it was one of the bigger expos I've been to.

Saturday was a run of 10 miles at 5:30 am (ouch) with my new compression tights. The compression tights performed very well. At first my calves didn't know what to think about them. They were a bit crampy and than after mile 4 or so they started to feel great. I opted for a smaller size because when they measured me and I put on the size 3 they didn't feel that compressed at all and since it was the end of the day and I always have swelling of the legs I went a smaller size. They seem fine. and they seem like that they may be a bit tight but that is where the compression comes in right??? I even wore them to the doggie obedience class later that morning with Sydney at 8am. Later at 10:30 I had rode up to Pachanga with Mark for a work thing. It was only supposed to be for a few hours but turned into allot longer. We were also up to see some friends of ours and hang out for a BBQ and wine. We had a great time but we got home a bit late 10pm. So that made it tough to get up early for a bike ride. But it went OK.

Sunday I rode with some girls and boys ( Julie, Shannon, Beth, Katya, John, James) I haven't rode with before and they were much stronger riders than me and I was a bit nervous. So at the start of the ride I through in the disclaimer that if I get drooped don't worry about me I'll be fine and that I was ending my route a bit different than they were anyways. So, by mile 30 is when I got dropped and I said to "John", this is were I dangle off the back. I feel like I'm getting stronger but still need time on the bike more and more!!! It's all good. The rest of the ride was great 63 miles 4 hrs. and I finished up well. got home. Shower, compression tights, food, nap, wash 2 dogs and dinner and movie with Mark.

What a great weekend.

It's Wednesday!!!

Where did the week go? I guess that after a 3 day weekend of workouts and yesterday turning into a day off from workouts with exception of walking Sydney in the morning. I was just too tired to do anything after work. So I decided to wrap up some projects around the house left over from the weekend. Today is Wednesday and that means a 5 mile run with the girls and I'll finally be able to make my Wednesday night MTB ride. I haven't made it on that ride since the beginning of the year. Due in part to Ironman training. I'm starting to get back into the 2x a day workouts again. Starting today. So we will see how my body handles it. I seem to be working my legs way more than my upper body in the past few weeks. I need to get back into the pool again and start strength training again more regular with Yoga and weights. I was going to go to the Tri Club meeting tonight but decided that a MTB ride is better for me right now. I really missed my MTB when I was training for Ironman. Plus I think he got a bit jealous since the road bike was getting all the attention.

Lately I mean in the past few weeks I've been obsessed with climbing hills. I need more, I want more, I think I must have been slipped something at IMSG to have these kind of thoughts. I'm sure it was the Tequila and Veyo pie Sunday night that did it!! Am I crazy?? I'm sure these thoughts will pass and I'll come back to reality and look at Palomar and think.... "No not today". But for now...... It's MTB time.

One more work day for me this week. Yipee!! I think I'll ride my bike to work tomorrow because I really need to to that more!

Saturday social butterfly ride

The Butterfly Ride: What a great ride it was this morning leaving out of Pine Valley. Checked the weather and wind on Friday and all was looking well. It was another story when we got out there to Majors Coffee Shop in Pine Valley. The wind has a howelling and gusting pretty good. We talked it over and we decided that we would ride Pine Creek first and see how it was before they decieded to do Kitchen Creek. I knew that I was on my 4th week of recovery from IMSG and I really didn't know how my legs were going to feel so I had already decided the day before to only do Pine Creek 30 Miles and 3200 ft elevation gain. Sooooo.......... the wind was REALLY, REALLY bad and the group decided to ditch the Kitchen Creek idea. We turned it into a social butterfly ride instead. Meaning we took our time and took some pictures and stopped at the desert lookout on Sunrise Hwy on Mt Laguna and really took the time to enjoy the scenery. Our ride off the summit was a white knuckle ride for sure and I needed help to unclamp my hands and peel my self off my bike. JK it was just a hang on to your bike on the decent kind of ride. Major cross winds!! I would really like to do that ride again and include Kitchen Creek as well. On a side note my legs felt great and I felt like a climbing machine but my lungs and HR were another story. The altitude got me a bit. However, overall I felt great and that's what really matters to me.

Just stuff.....

Let's see this morning I felt a little better in the leg department. I decided to take it easy yesterday and do some strength training and some much needed Yoga. Boy did that feel great!!

As usual Sydney is ready to go for her run with mom and we set out to meet Liz for our 5 am run. I'm not sure what is up with Sydney but she was really after those bunnies this morning. She almost caused a wreck when she veered in front of me. So, I'll have to work on that with her so we don't crash and burn. That would be ugly. On our run Liz shared her stories about Miles her dog and that when they would run together they had a mishap as well. Her story had some blood involved. Ouch!! I was also quizzing her on her compression socks...... since I'm in the market for some and wanted her input. She seemed to like her 2XU socks and calf sleeves and she believes they do her a lot of good on longer runs and races. Since I only want them for longer runs I'm only interested in the socks and not the calf sleeves right now. So the investigating continues.

For tonight's festivities...... Mark and I are headed to a German Bistro "FIZZ" in Escondido and then some Yoga!!

What a way to start a Holiday weekend!

A needed tune up.

So my Wednesday morning run with Sydney and Liz was well...... interesting. I guess the past 3 days of runs and bike workouts were a bit much for the legs to handle. Sydney was on the look out for bunnies and subsequently pulled me the entire way up the hill back to the house. Thanks Syd for the help I really needed it!! Gotta love dogs! It was a good thing because my legs were revolting and screaming NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Liz the ever encouraging running partner was there for mental support as usual. I love her for that!! When I got home I did some extra stretching and noticed that my left upper glute was really, really tender. All day at work I hobbled around at work and my coworkers (gotta love' em) harassed me as usual. So, later that evening I had my chiropractor (North County Family Chiropractic) give me an adjustment just before my scheduled massage. I was told that my pelvis was rotated and probably due to running a bit funny from my ankle flesh wound from IMSG. It's funny how many muscle structures are related to the glute and Piriformis. So after my adjustment, message, a great dinner with Mark and a glass of wine. This morning it felt a bit better. I'm taking the day off for the legs and working on my upper body instead today. Good thing!! I guess since I've been feeling great I kind of over did it a bit. So, another lesson learned.

Now, I'm shopping for compression socks. I have been using my SKINS recovery tights for a couple of years and absolutely LOVE them. They allow me to recover soooo much faster than an ice bath alone. I highly recommend them. So, I'm thinking maybe I should use compression socks on my long and high intensity runs as well. I have a few friends that swear by them so I guess I'll join the crowd of tri geeks. Any ideas???? May the shopping commence!!

Fiesta Island...

WOW.....what a fun time tonight! Legs have been a bit sore from the runs on Sunday and Monday so I thought that I may be in a bit of trouble and only last for like 15 min like last time 2 weeks ago post IMSG. However that was not the case. I had soooooo much fun out there. The pace was great and as usual started to ramp up 20 min in. OMG, I hung in there for 28 min!!!!!! The group rolled between 21 and 28 mph which was just perfect post IMSG recovery pace. I tried to not get too excited so I split off and just cruised the island until the peloton came back around and than jumped back on for a couple minutes until I realized that I needed to back off and relax and don't be a dummy and kill yourself just because you feel good. I'm on my last week of recovery and ramping back up next week so don't blow it stupid! Good thing I listened to myself tonight. Now it's off for a walk with Sydney and Cooper the dogs post dinner and than a run in the early hours with Sydney and Liz!

Tour of California

What a great weekend in LA. It's been a long time since I've been up that way and spent any amount of time in LA or the SFV. Mark, Sydney (the dog) and I went up to Downtown LA on Saturday to watch the Time Trial for the Tour of California. It was such a fun experience. We toured the expo and even took a pic with Bob Roll. He was a great sport since Mark was stalking him so he could get this great picture of both of us.

We ran into many friends of ours from Sub 5 and even made some new friends from Wisconsin and Tennessee. The cycling crowd was fantastic and the energy unreal. Some of the riders at times rode so close to the crowd that you could just touch them. I've seen many bike races and I have to say

that the time trial was my favorite by far. It gives you the opportunity to see the riders one at a time and if your lucky you are able to see them multiple times in the event. Sydney seemed

to be very popular as well with the spectators. She felt like this show was all about her. It was very funny and I'll elaborate more on my Sunday summery. So, there we were watching the finish of the time trial and waiting for the top riders to zoom by and here comes George Hincapie riding his bike through the crowd and making his way to his expo tent for some PR time.

George seemed to follow us around after the event because when we were trying to grab a Starbucks at the plaza of the Staples Center he scooted around us and some worker yelled at him and told him to get off his bike......and we said to that worker... "do you know who that is that's George Hincapie". The man did not find this amusing and than he proceeded to let us know that dogs were not allowed in the outdoor plaza area. In all this commotion George got back on his bike and continued to ride through the plaza. Good for you George!!!! After all that getting out of LA and making our way to Woodland Hills was a breeze. Now on to day 2.

Sunday started with a gorgeous 6 mile run in the hills on Mulholland Drive on a dirt trail with Mark and Sydney. It's been quite a long time since I've seen so much of the SFV. Meaning that it was so clear. After a quick snack we headed to Westlake Village

to watch the final stage of the Tour. It was great we got there in just enough time to see the beginning of the race just after the neutral start. We than made our way to the expo area knowing that we had an hour before they were to return for their second lap. So as we headed towards that area we noticed that we suddenly became surrounded by Amgen people and they all had banners and flags and hats and shirts and what not. The people on the other side of the fence began cheering and clapping and the MC began to speak about the parade and at that moment it dawned on me that we (Mark, Sydney and I) had just crashed the Amgen breakaway from cancer parade. We started to laugh and Sydney started to strut. It was so funny.

So, after all the excitement of seeing Patrick Dempsey and others on the parade route we made our way finally to our destination...... the expo. From there we now have way too many reusable bags and a bunch of samples of sports beans. Mark was eating them like candy. Sydney was scouring the ground for stray popcorn and whatnot. It was great. Every hour we would go back to the race course and see them all come by and it is such an energy to see those guys. After a few more hours it was time to go and head south back to San Diego. Traffic was great (Surprise) and before we knew it we were home. What a great weekend in LA and SFV for the Tour of California. Next year I hope it makes it back to SD like the previous year. This is such a great sport and really has gained popularity as it should. VIVA TOC!!

Finally feeling normal after IMSG

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since Ironman St George and I'm feeling great. The legs are getting back to normal the mondo blister on the lateral aspect of my ankle is looking and feeling more like a minor flesh wound. That was the most painful thing I have experienced in a long time. Even though I've been riding my bike and swimming with little pain the running thing has been on the back burner and very light at times if at all. Sydney does not like it when mommy does not take her on a run. So the past 2 mornings we have been running 4-5 miles and ankle feels great and Sydney is a happy girl!! I'm soooo happy to get back to normal.

I think I must be a bit sick in the head because....... yesterday an email came out regarding Palomar challenge and I'm gonna do it ( I need to see if I can get some partners in crime for this ride) =)) and on top of that there was another email on a Tri-state Gran Fondo that starts in Mesquite NV and goes out to Veyo (Part of the IMSG course) and back to Mesquite NV. (114 miles and 7500 ft of elevation). I'm seriously thinking of doing this ride in November. I must not have gotten enough of IMSG. The best part is the Veyo pies!!!

Well, we will just have to see if I can entice some crazy friends to share in these 2 adventures.