Weather was crazy this weekend. Warm front came in and gave us 2" of rain (made my yard happy, but the MU Tiger and Alabama fans not so much). I did some work on Friday and picked up kids and spent the evening shuttling them around to an activity. Saturday was overcast and the usual Saturday laundry called for more of a chillax inside day.
Was scheduled to hit the road with Walter this afternoon, but he texted at lunch about 25+ mph wind gusts and voted to cancel our outing. It was clouding up and looked like another storm so I figured it was for the best. It also saved me from juggling chauffeuring duties for afternoon basketball practice for my daughter. But by 3 PM, the sun was back out and the rain looked to be past and I figured I'd brave the wind to knock out some more bike miles. I took my phone in case I needed a pussy pickup though.
Felt pretty good aside from my choice of jacket (it was in the upper 60's, but the wind was cool so I didn't know - though I like having the bigger pockets). I had my usual struggle on the hills, but kept plugging along. I kept changing my mind about how far to go. First I was just going to stay close to home and do some flat loops, but then I thought it would be mentally hard to keep going unless I did more of an "out and back". Then I thought I'd go out to the Y/M intersection in Taos which would give me 17 miles. Then I thought it is so nice and I am not needed back by a certain time so I'll just go out to the other end of Bode Ferry. Oh, what the heck - out to Kleffner Ridge. That last climb past the ballfields was a bit tough, but I made it out there in 55 min.
Headed back and toyed with the idea to stop and take pictures of the pretty leaves, but didn't want to ding my pace calculation. Let's just say that I am very blessed to live in such a pretty area this time of year. The good news related to that is that I rode mostly along a ridge (roller hills) and could look out over the Osage River valley treetops that were beautiful in the sunshine. The bad news is that through most of the "ridge riding", I didn't have much protection from the wind. A few gusts were pretty scary, but I powered on. I was running low on fluids (didn't really initially plan to go out for so long - note to self: take an extra bottle anyways!) so once I got back to the flats by Scholastic I didn't plan on adding a whole lot - just a loop or two.
It didn't matter though - because when I turned onto Algoa by the Guard, I was pedaling with all my might in my middle front ring just to make forward progress on a relatively FLAT section. Yikes that wind was brutal!! So I swung behind Scholastic to see if the trees back there would provide a break, but it was more like a FUNNEL for the wind! I swear that last 3 miles or so to get home was the WORST! And my music crapped out on the Wavco hill so I didn't have anything to distract me from the pain of the last hill and the wind in my face.
Got home and mapped the ride for a total of 24 miles! Yay!! Took me a stupid 1 hr 53 min for a wretched pace of under 13 mph, but with the wicked wind and some hills mixed in - plus a brief stop to drink twice (hard to drink on the bike when getting blown around) - I'll take it. Still way behind on the miles towards the goal, but that helps a lot! Why can't warm weather ever come without all that wind??
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 661.3 mi / 1000
Run: 281.2 mi / 350
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday LSAR
Well, Tue and Wed were a bust. I got a lot of work done yesterday, but barely got dinner made/ate before Brownies (scouts not dessert) and then got home just in time to sign a few things from the bookbags and settle in for a TV show that I wanted to see (plus one that I watched because I was settled in). Tue wasn't much different other than I did more homework supervision and hoped to squeeze in a short bike ride after piano, but it clouded up and I didn't want to ride badly enough to risk getting drenched.
But my friend Susan came to the rescue. I was a little worried because yesterday at a school function she asked if I was going to "make" her run today. I told her it depended on how much work I got done Wed. But yesterday afternoon I texted her to ask where and when and how far. She said she needed some good "therapy" time on the Katy Trail so we headed out. Neither of us were really feeling it (that is the Long Slow Ass Run = LSAR), but we sucked it up for the full 8.4 miles. Here we are at the turn around:
The sun had been out when I took the kids to school at 7:30, but it had clouded up quite a bit while I made my soup and waited to meet Susan at 9. It is a shame because I STILL didn't get the picture to do the pretty leaves justice. It also made the 55° or so feel plenty cool.
Came home and ate my soup (Sante Fe Corn Tortilla) and showered up. Read some blogs and now am trying to figure out what I can get done before I have to pick kids up from school. Have a deadline on Monday that I should be chipping away at. It is supposed to warm up this weekend so hopefully there will be some biking! I'm thinking I may have overestimated my ability to get that mileage done, but underestimated the running. Guess we'll see!
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 281.2 mi / 350
But my friend Susan came to the rescue. I was a little worried because yesterday at a school function she asked if I was going to "make" her run today. I told her it depended on how much work I got done Wed. But yesterday afternoon I texted her to ask where and when and how far. She said she needed some good "therapy" time on the Katy Trail so we headed out. Neither of us were really feeling it (that is the Long Slow Ass Run = LSAR), but we sucked it up for the full 8.4 miles. Here we are at the turn around:
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| Christina + Missouri River |
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| Susan + Missouri River |
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| I drive by the bluff behind me every time I go to the survey office in Columbia and this always has the nicest color. I was worried the trees wouldn't be pretty this year with the awful drought last summer. |
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 281.2 mi / 350
Monday, October 8, 2012
A few more miles...
This weekend was pretty busy - laundry, fire dept 100th anniversary parade, more laundry, fixing a toilet (ok, well - my husband and father-in-law did this), church, stuffing myself with pizza (ugh) plus all day ATV ride for charity in the cool fall air with bright sunny, blue skies. That works for you though because I get to put off boring non-picture posts one more day. My husband and I did go for a nice walk before it got dark last night.
The boys took off right after he got home from work for a Scouts/Knights of Columbus project at church. I couldn't convince daughter to go to grandma's so I could get on my bike and kind of lost the desire once they got home and time was getting short. Thankfully, Stacy came through dragging me along for a 3.54 mi jog (ok, with some walking). So a few more miles down, but I am going to have to get with it on the bike mileage.
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 272.8 mi / 350
Tomorrow is early release and daughter's piano lesson, but maybe I can squeeze in a short bike ride somewhere after getting my sewer plans submitted and some work on my site plan that is due on Friday and supervising homework after school. Deep breath....
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| Husband drove one with daughter on back |
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| Son drove our other ATV with me on the back This was at a nice break on the Gasconade River |
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| A self-pic of me and my boy |
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| There were almost 100 machines and the wrapped around this field and went up the hill behind us with several in front of us too. |
Needless to say, with kids home all day today - it was hard to get much done today that didn't involve them (though I helped my daughter knock out part of a big project for school - yay). Stuff ourselves at lunch with daddy today too. Ugh.
The boys took off right after he got home from work for a Scouts/Knights of Columbus project at church. I couldn't convince daughter to go to grandma's so I could get on my bike and kind of lost the desire once they got home and time was getting short. Thankfully, Stacy came through dragging me along for a 3.54 mi jog (ok, with some walking). So a few more miles down, but I am going to have to get with it on the bike mileage.
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 272.8 mi / 350
Tomorrow is early release and daughter's piano lesson, but maybe I can squeeze in a short bike ride somewhere after getting my sewer plans submitted and some work on my site plan that is due on Friday and supervising homework after school. Deep breath....
Friday, October 5, 2012
Prison Break Race Report
I still think that Superkate had the best race report for this event. It can be found here. I also thought I had taken more pictures than I did, but such as it is - here is my race report. I went the night before the race and picked up my shirt. They were pretty cute gray technical t's. Check it out:
They weren't very organized and I had to kind of bug them to get my stuff. They had grilled some hot dogs and were having kind of a gathering, but again - not very organized (ie. I was almost done eating my hot dog when someone realized that they hadn't handed out the chips.) And while I got my shirt, they didn't hand out race numbers so I still had to get that in the morning.
This being the inaugeral running of this race, it was a pretty small event. I heard 150 people registered. Since I had already turned in my waiver and gotten my shirt, all I needed to do was pick up my number and get my "mug shot" taken. I may or may not have butted in line.
While we waited around in the prison yard of the historic (no longer in use) Missouri State Penitentiary, I visited with Eric and Bree (former co-worker and bike friends). Before long, Superkate and her crew showed up after their early morning drive from the St. Louis area. Later they told us to go down to one of the old housing units. Some people got to put on old prisoner shirts, but there weren't enough to go around and it seemed like more hassle than it was worth. And after corraling us there, it was time for us "maggots" to march with the fake correction officer down to the dungeon in housing unit 4.
We waited down in what must have been solitary confinement and we joked for quite a while about what sorts of things prisoners must have done in there to pass the time. Let's just say that I am glad there were no black lights (though the strobe started driving a few of us a little bonkers). After what seemed like forever in the stuffy dungeon, we saw folks start moving out. Never did hear any kind of official starting "horn" or whatever. And while this was, in theory, a "timed" event - there was no starting time mat so it was just your total time from whenever they "started" the clock. Odd.
Pretty soon we got to a water stop and what was supposed to also be a fence climb. I wasn't broken up that they didn't make us do this. Then we had to crawl through a 20' length of storm culvert (30" HDPE) and then another that was smaller (24" I think) that was running uphill. Not quite big enough to crawl fully on your hands and knees. These were TOUGH - and I had bruises on my knees from it. Not fun on the kneelers at mass the next day! Funny to admit that I've done this kind of obstacle MANY times in my actual job - just never in shorts!
As we ran around the park on the trail, there were a few poorly marked turns - seriously people, a couple pieces of chalk could have fixed this. But I could see Bob and Kate and most of her crew ahead of us so I had an idea where to go and we didn't cut the course short like some people we saw. We ran around the park, around the pool and up the ampitheatre stairs to the first slide. It wasn't quite wide enough nor angled correctly and as you slid off the edge into the grass it hurt and was very muddy. I snapped this shot of David heading down - didn't really intend it to be such a butt shot. Oops.
Then it was time for this bit of fun. There were little strings you had to crawl under (had to kind of lift them). Then at the far end, you dug out a map with the rest of the running directions. I gave my camera to a lady who offered to take a pic of me crawling, but apparently a $10 disposable water/mudproof camera was too difficult for her to operate even with me coaching her. Oh well - you get the idea.
Then we ran up a hill and had a chance to hose off a bit - I mostly just did my shoes that were caked with mud. I figured less mud would be nice to run with. But some people were trying to make it a finish line shower! The final slide was even more of a disaster as far as width/angle. You can kind of see it on the hill in the right of the above pic. I rolled off and ran the last third of the hill. Ouch on the "grass burn".
But then we ran across the driveway (dodging the flag football families coming and going) through a patch of grass in the background of the mud pit pic and headed out on the hilly run back to Prison Brews. There were no other obstacles other than the steep roads. This was just a lot of tough running. Taylor Street was the worst hill, but I've run parts of some of the other streets and knew it wouldn't be too bad after that. David and I walked and jogged and talked about how neither of us were really "runners" (guess he's more of a bike guy). But before long we were at the final turn and could see the finish line. David ran ahead of me and finished a few seconds in front of me, but it got me to run a little harder at the end. Then we took some nice group pictures and talked with the Superkate/Virtus gang.
When I got into the finish area, there was no water left in the jugs. They got that fixed pretty quickly. I heard that the "free appetizer" we were given a coupon for (and which I had left in my car) was actually just free pizza (and not much of that). I got a couple small slices and ate with a guy I used to work with (Andy - survey tech). Once standing still, it was pretty cold out so we hugged the outdoor heaters after the last few people came in. They handed out the awards (growlers) and there was some confusion when the guy who they said got first said that another guy came in ahead of him. No worries that I was jipped out of a prize with my slow five miles. A bunch of us piled into the Team Virtus van (thanks Luke!) and got dropped off back at our cars. He was very brave to let this bunch of dirty bodies into his family vehicle (though yes, his gaggle of kids obviously don't keep it spot free). I tried to take a pic of my dirty leg, but the mud has dried a bit and its hard to see with the crappy camera (or was I trying to show off my wicked blister which is even harder to see):
Later, after a bit of a bath in my garage mop sink (so nice when a race is literally like 5 min from your house), I changed clothes and arranged to meet Kate and some of the gang for lunch in Holts Summit at a mexican joint. We had a nice visit and lunch (with one margarita). It was a pretty great day with friends - definitely more of a "party than a race"!
If they do this next year and if all the fun people want to do it again, I'd be up for it. I do hope they take some constructive criticism and put it to use. But it was a solid first try. And what a neat venue - lots of history at that prison!
Four days in row now. I knocked out 1500 yards at the pool today at "lunch". I struggle with counting especially when a wierd old guy stops to talk when I am stretching out a cramp in my foot. But I was there 45 min or so and I got at least that many yards in. Yay me!
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 269.3 mi / 350
Now back to your regular boring blog posts without tons of pictures. However, I've started looking hard for a waterproof digital camera because I fear film going the way of the dinosaurs and the pics I got were pretty crappy anyway. Any suggestions? I'd like to spend $150 give or take. Are any at that level worth a damn?
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| Slipped this on with my jeans and that weird bump in front is my belt buckle. LOL Oh, and when do children learn to take pictures in focus? Oh well. |
This being the inaugeral running of this race, it was a pretty small event. I heard 150 people registered. Since I had already turned in my waiver and gotten my shirt, all I needed to do was pick up my number and get my "mug shot" taken. I may or may not have butted in line.
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| They emailed these to us a couple weeks later. Nice touch! |
We waited down in what must have been solitary confinement and we joked for quite a while about what sorts of things prisoners must have done in there to pass the time. Let's just say that I am glad there were no black lights (though the strobe started driving a few of us a little bonkers). After what seemed like forever in the stuffy dungeon, we saw folks start moving out. Never did hear any kind of official starting "horn" or whatever. And while this was, in theory, a "timed" event - there was no starting time mat so it was just your total time from whenever they "started" the clock. Odd.
We ran past the old showers and up the steep dungeon stairs and through the housing unit. It is hard to believe that people lived in here as little as a decade ago. We ran out into the fresh air and around the end of Layfayette Ave. Since Kate and a couple of her friends stopped to pee on the way out of the prison yard, I got ahead of her and snapped this pic after I hit the turnaround. It was also the only time I was running with Bob and Luke (Kate's fellow Team Virtus members). Luke ran with TP that had been thrown around the housing unit dangling behind him.
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| Front of the historic MSP with Superkate running down to the turnaround before heading out |
We ran down Capitol Ave and back into the prison yard. One big loop around what is now a big parking lot and then back out to head towards Riverside Park. I started running with Kate's friend David in here somewhere and we walked the steep ass hill together, but I tried to get him to do some jogging along while we chatted. Turned out that he works for an aerial mapping company that I am familiar with so we talked a few min of shop.
Pretty soon we got to a water stop and what was supposed to also be a fence climb. I wasn't broken up that they didn't make us do this. Then we had to crawl through a 20' length of storm culvert (30" HDPE) and then another that was smaller (24" I think) that was running uphill. Not quite big enough to crawl fully on your hands and knees. These were TOUGH - and I had bruises on my knees from it. Not fun on the kneelers at mass the next day! Funny to admit that I've done this kind of obstacle MANY times in my actual job - just never in shorts!
As we ran around the park on the trail, there were a few poorly marked turns - seriously people, a couple pieces of chalk could have fixed this. But I could see Bob and Kate and most of her crew ahead of us so I had an idea where to go and we didn't cut the course short like some people we saw. We ran around the park, around the pool and up the ampitheatre stairs to the first slide. It wasn't quite wide enough nor angled correctly and as you slid off the edge into the grass it hurt and was very muddy. I snapped this shot of David heading down - didn't really intend it to be such a butt shot. Oops.
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| Note the busy parking lot from the flag football families. Also note the big muddy area to the right of the bottom of the slide where you went off and got "grass burn". Not cool! |
Then it was time for this bit of fun. There were little strings you had to crawl under (had to kind of lift them). Then at the far end, you dug out a map with the rest of the running directions. I gave my camera to a lady who offered to take a pic of me crawling, but apparently a $10 disposable water/mudproof camera was too difficult for her to operate even with me coaching her. Oh well - you get the idea.
Then we ran up a hill and had a chance to hose off a bit - I mostly just did my shoes that were caked with mud. I figured less mud would be nice to run with. But some people were trying to make it a finish line shower! The final slide was even more of a disaster as far as width/angle. You can kind of see it on the hill in the right of the above pic. I rolled off and ran the last third of the hill. Ouch on the "grass burn".
But then we ran across the driveway (dodging the flag football families coming and going) through a patch of grass in the background of the mud pit pic and headed out on the hilly run back to Prison Brews. There were no other obstacles other than the steep roads. This was just a lot of tough running. Taylor Street was the worst hill, but I've run parts of some of the other streets and knew it wouldn't be too bad after that. David and I walked and jogged and talked about how neither of us were really "runners" (guess he's more of a bike guy). But before long we were at the final turn and could see the finish line. David ran ahead of me and finished a few seconds in front of me, but it got me to run a little harder at the end. Then we took some nice group pictures and talked with the Superkate/Virtus gang.
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| My new race friend - David. Glad Kate conned him into coming as he was the only one of her "group" that ran my pace. |
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| Sarah, David, me, Bob (Virtus), Lukas (Virtus), Kate (Virtus) and Lindsay Prison Brews pub outdoor patio/bocce ball area to the left of this pic where everyone stood around and froze post-race |
When I got into the finish area, there was no water left in the jugs. They got that fixed pretty quickly. I heard that the "free appetizer" we were given a coupon for (and which I had left in my car) was actually just free pizza (and not much of that). I got a couple small slices and ate with a guy I used to work with (Andy - survey tech). Once standing still, it was pretty cold out so we hugged the outdoor heaters after the last few people came in. They handed out the awards (growlers) and there was some confusion when the guy who they said got first said that another guy came in ahead of him. No worries that I was jipped out of a prize with my slow five miles. A bunch of us piled into the Team Virtus van (thanks Luke!) and got dropped off back at our cars. He was very brave to let this bunch of dirty bodies into his family vehicle (though yes, his gaggle of kids obviously don't keep it spot free). I tried to take a pic of my dirty leg, but the mud has dried a bit and its hard to see with the crappy camera (or was I trying to show off my wicked blister which is even harder to see):
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| Check out my sexy leg! |
Later, after a bit of a bath in my garage mop sink (so nice when a race is literally like 5 min from your house), I changed clothes and arranged to meet Kate and some of the gang for lunch in Holts Summit at a mexican joint. We had a nice visit and lunch (with one margarita). It was a pretty great day with friends - definitely more of a "party than a race"!
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| Kate, Lindsay, David and Sarah (forgot to do this before Bob left for work - doh) |
Four days in row now. I knocked out 1500 yards at the pool today at "lunch". I struggle with counting especially when a wierd old guy stops to talk when I am stretching out a cramp in my foot. But I was there 45 min or so and I got at least that many yards in. Yay me!
YTD
Swim: 14,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 269.3 mi / 350
Now back to your regular boring blog posts without tons of pictures. However, I've started looking hard for a waterproof digital camera because I fear film going the way of the dinosaurs and the pics I got were pretty crappy anyway. Any suggestions? I'd like to spend $150 give or take. Are any at that level worth a damn?
Thursday, October 4, 2012
FINALLY! PICTURES!! Epic Mud Run 2012
Yeah, yeah - I know I've been promising these for a month. I snapped off the final three shots on the disposable waterproof camera and spent half the afternoon trying to find a place to do one-hour film development and put them on a CD for me (only two places apparently still do that here). I have lots of pics so I'll break it up and give you something to look forward to. I'm working on a proper race report for Prison Break. But also, I've since gotten some pics from the Ultramax Flicker page that will be fun to share. So starting off with Epic Mud Run pics (and lots of them):
I had a great time at this event. So did my husband who is already talking about doing it next year. I hope we can recruit some other friends to do it with us and try to get in the same wave. Maybe we can even do matching bright colored shirts :)
Today was a three-peat. Susan and I went out to the Katy Trail. We didn't intend to do such a long run (if you can even call it that - we did a lot of walking/talking). But we covered 7.1 miles! It was a beautiful morning and couldn't ask for a better partner. Trees were pretty on the bluffs - hard to see, but I tried to get a couple pics (last of the disposable camera and all):
YTD
Swim: 13,200 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 269.3 mi / 350
Stayed tuned for the Prison Break race report tomorrow!
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| Free Race Start Corral Pic from Ultramax Sports I'm in the back on the left (green shirt) People were throwing "color" here. |
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| My left arm and my husband in the start corral |
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| Running up this muddy/wet hill was hard - forgive the fingertip. |
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| Free Race pic on the "Fire Hose" hill |
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| Free race pic on the "Fire Hose" hill |
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| Fairly early (still have the "color" on my cheeks); wade through mud/water pit and then climb over that hill. Key was to have the rope between your legs as you used your hands to pull yourself up. |
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| Husband going over an obstacle on what was otherwise mostly a "run" portion of the event. I think some used to have signs that said to go under, but we went over most of them as the instructions weren't there. |
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| Made this pic XL because it was the BEST part of the whole Epic Mud Run. Husband (and I) just FLEW down this slide. You were going so fast that you had no choice but to land in the big mud/water pit at the bottom. BEST SLIDE EVER! |
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| Husband captured me climbing down into the section of single track/ditch we had to go through. I love that I look like I am having fun! |
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| Husband getting ready to go under the obstacle in what I think is the mud/icewater pit. There was just enough room that you didn't have to put your face in the water if you didn't want, but the back of your head was in it. |
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| Camera lens is getting pretty fuzzy here, but me going over one of the wall obstacles in another section of "run". |
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| I'm sliding down the last obstacle and spinning around to take a pic of hubbie coming after me. This landed in a big swimming pool thing which was a nice way to get the worst of the dirt off. |
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| Better pic of the last obstacle with our friends almost to the bottom. |
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| My favorite of the free race pics - this is where my husband ran into me on the last slide |
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| Didn't expect to go under in the final pool, but apparently my husband was expecting it because check out him holding his breath. |
Today was a three-peat. Susan and I went out to the Katy Trail. We didn't intend to do such a long run (if you can even call it that - we did a lot of walking/talking). But we covered 7.1 miles! It was a beautiful morning and couldn't ask for a better partner. Trees were pretty on the bluffs - hard to see, but I tried to get a couple pics (last of the disposable camera and all):
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| And I'm even wearing my Mud Run tech T |
Swim: 13,200 yds / 25,000
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 269.3 mi / 350
Stayed tuned for the Prison Break race report tomorrow!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Two days, two workouts - Hell Yeah!!
Tuesday morning I recommitted myself to training. I was still not "feeling the love", but trying to "fake it, til I made it". Then with a new goal, I decided it was time to get with it. Texted Stacy and asked about a run. Never heard back. Called - didn't hear back. Checked phone just before going out on my own and had a missed call (must have been while changing clothes). She said she'd go with me if I waited. So at our usual 8:30 PM start time (not ideal, but so much nicer to go with someone), we headed out towards Walmart. When I go with her it is a little over 5K (like 3.3 mi) because she makes me do the hill behind the store whereas when I run to go to the bank, I go in the front of the store and skip the hill. So check off another 3.3 miles towards my goal of 350.
Then today was supposed to be the warmest of the week and with highs the next couple of days in the 50's so I decided I'd better get my butt on the bike. I had invited a friend, but never heard back. Is my texting working? Oh well - on my own is ok too. I dawdled a little longer than I planned and left just a minute or so after six. I rode out to Taos and on through to the Hwy M/Hwy Y intersection before turning around because I was burning the last of the daylight. I passed the bank clock about 10 min to 7 and it said it was still 72°, but my knees felt cool (wore shorts). I'm thinking it was colder than that, but forgot to check my home thermometer when I came in. Was too anxious to map it because I didn't know how far it was. Turns out it was 17.1. I was kind of bummed because I felt like I pushed the pace a fair bit, but I guess with the hills (a couple monsters and some rollers) slowed me down (though I screamed back down them which I figured would average out). It took 1:15. I couldn't have ridden any longer. The bike light was glowing on the pavement pretty good by the last mile or two. I really need to leave closer to five if I am going to go very far (not to mention that the sun will set earlier each day). Not a lot of traffic even through town so that was nice. Had to yell at two dogs that weren't tied up, but such is life.
So my new YTD totals:
Swim: 13,200 yds / 25,000 (trying to figure out if I can get to the pool on Friday)
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 262.2 mi / 350 (meeting Susan on the Katy tomorrow after my haircut - yay!)
Absolutely promise to use up the last 3 pics on the disposable camera and drop it off to get developed tomorrow!
Then today was supposed to be the warmest of the week and with highs the next couple of days in the 50's so I decided I'd better get my butt on the bike. I had invited a friend, but never heard back. Is my texting working? Oh well - on my own is ok too. I dawdled a little longer than I planned and left just a minute or so after six. I rode out to Taos and on through to the Hwy M/Hwy Y intersection before turning around because I was burning the last of the daylight. I passed the bank clock about 10 min to 7 and it said it was still 72°, but my knees felt cool (wore shorts). I'm thinking it was colder than that, but forgot to check my home thermometer when I came in. Was too anxious to map it because I didn't know how far it was. Turns out it was 17.1. I was kind of bummed because I felt like I pushed the pace a fair bit, but I guess with the hills (a couple monsters and some rollers) slowed me down (though I screamed back down them which I figured would average out). It took 1:15. I couldn't have ridden any longer. The bike light was glowing on the pavement pretty good by the last mile or two. I really need to leave closer to five if I am going to go very far (not to mention that the sun will set earlier each day). Not a lot of traffic even through town so that was nice. Had to yell at two dogs that weren't tied up, but such is life.
So my new YTD totals:
Swim: 13,200 yds / 25,000 (trying to figure out if I can get to the pool on Friday)
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 262.2 mi / 350 (meeting Susan on the Katy tomorrow after my haircut - yay!)
Absolutely promise to use up the last 3 pics on the disposable camera and drop it off to get developed tomorrow!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
My New Goal - Thanks Kovas!
If you have read anything on this blog in the last several months (believe me - I just reread a fair bit of it), you will have noticed that I just haven't had that drive to train. It seems like it disappeared in the spring when it should have been going into hyper-mode. But this morning I was inspired to set a new goal to keep me going at least through the end of this year. It will likely fit well with doing the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge (hoping Amanda at Run to the Finish does this again).
I was reading Kovas's post found here about him working to meet the goals of running 1000 miles and biking 1000 miles in 2012. And I laughed at Bob's suggestion that he should include swimming that mileage too. But it got me to wondering how far I've actually gone this year. I track most of my workouts right here on my blog so it just took sitting down and skimming through posts to add up the numbers. What I found was that I had ran way more than someone who claims not to be a runner should have and I have seriously been going longer and longer on my bike. I've been a bit of a pool slacker, but what better than a little self challenge to get that back on track?
So here are my current YTD (as of 10/2/12) stats the best I can come up with:
SWIM: 13,200 yards (give or take - several workouts the laps weren't counted so I used some averages based on how long I said that I was in the pool)
BIKE : 620.2 miles (what was most impressive to me was how few of these rides were under 15 miles when last year my LONGEST ride was about that)
RUN: 258.9 miles (I ran very few of these solo which is probably what made a big difference, but I was blown away by the number of times I drug my ass out the door to get this done)
MISC WORKOUTS: 27 (P90X DVDs, Just Dance, AbRipperX, Pole Class) - Winter sometimes requires indoor workouts and when Stacy and I want to sweat, this works for us in a pinch.
Earlier this year, I did the Iron distance over the course of four weeks. Kovas says there are 14 weeks left. So I did some averaging and rounding to pretty numbers and came up with a new goal. Anyone who knows me knows that this Type A gal really needs a goal. My new goal (drumroll please) is to finish the year with the following stats:
SWIM: 25,000 yards (averaging just 843/week - I usually do a min of 1000 each trip to the pool so I just need to make it once/week and I'll exceed this goal, but no slacking and skipping. Funny though - it is only 14.2 miles total. Can't imagine trying to swim 1000 miles - ouch!)
BIKE: 1000 miles (averaging just over 27 mi/week - it shouldn't be hard to do two short or one long workout each week to get to this - plus it would be cool if I could do the same amount of total biking as Kovas! Maybe we can keep each other honest.)
RUN: 350 miles (averaging just over 10K/week - one long or two short runs each week should be doable. Plus there are a lot of 5Ks this time of year so I may just race to train.)
MISC WORKOUTS: Unless weather becomes an issue, I don't plan to spend a lot of time on these. But I know my core and some of my stabilizer muscles could use some work so my goal is to get in 13 more of these - about one/week - I like round numbers though so my end goal is 40.
Well within my capabilities, but enough of a stretch to get me off the couch on the days that I'd rather not go. I may try to front load some of the bike time given the fact that Nov and Dec may start getting dicey as far as weather, but otherwise I'll aim for the weekly averages. Yay - so happy to have a plan of attack! I can feel the mental funk cloud lifting already.
I was reading Kovas's post found here about him working to meet the goals of running 1000 miles and biking 1000 miles in 2012. And I laughed at Bob's suggestion that he should include swimming that mileage too. But it got me to wondering how far I've actually gone this year. I track most of my workouts right here on my blog so it just took sitting down and skimming through posts to add up the numbers. What I found was that I had ran way more than someone who claims not to be a runner should have and I have seriously been going longer and longer on my bike. I've been a bit of a pool slacker, but what better than a little self challenge to get that back on track?
So here are my current YTD (as of 10/2/12) stats the best I can come up with:
SWIM: 13,200 yards (give or take - several workouts the laps weren't counted so I used some averages based on how long I said that I was in the pool)
BIKE : 620.2 miles (what was most impressive to me was how few of these rides were under 15 miles when last year my LONGEST ride was about that)
RUN: 258.9 miles (I ran very few of these solo which is probably what made a big difference, but I was blown away by the number of times I drug my ass out the door to get this done)
MISC WORKOUTS: 27 (P90X DVDs, Just Dance, AbRipperX, Pole Class) - Winter sometimes requires indoor workouts and when Stacy and I want to sweat, this works for us in a pinch.
Earlier this year, I did the Iron distance over the course of four weeks. Kovas says there are 14 weeks left. So I did some averaging and rounding to pretty numbers and came up with a new goal. Anyone who knows me knows that this Type A gal really needs a goal. My new goal (drumroll please) is to finish the year with the following stats:
SWIM: 25,000 yards (averaging just 843/week - I usually do a min of 1000 each trip to the pool so I just need to make it once/week and I'll exceed this goal, but no slacking and skipping. Funny though - it is only 14.2 miles total. Can't imagine trying to swim 1000 miles - ouch!)
BIKE: 1000 miles (averaging just over 27 mi/week - it shouldn't be hard to do two short or one long workout each week to get to this - plus it would be cool if I could do the same amount of total biking as Kovas! Maybe we can keep each other honest.)
RUN: 350 miles (averaging just over 10K/week - one long or two short runs each week should be doable. Plus there are a lot of 5Ks this time of year so I may just race to train.)
MISC WORKOUTS: Unless weather becomes an issue, I don't plan to spend a lot of time on these. But I know my core and some of my stabilizer muscles could use some work so my goal is to get in 13 more of these - about one/week - I like round numbers though so my end goal is 40.
Well within my capabilities, but enough of a stretch to get me off the couch on the days that I'd rather not go. I may try to front load some of the bike time given the fact that Nov and Dec may start getting dicey as far as weather, but otherwise I'll aim for the weekly averages. Yay - so happy to have a plan of attack! I can feel the mental funk cloud lifting already.
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