Week 4 - COMPLETE

Week 4 of training is complete and I actually am feeling pretty good. It was a bit challenging as far as the air quality but the actual workouts seemed okay. Had a good two days of swimming, a good strength day on Wednesday and a good workouts over the weekend.

Saturday we had a run/swim at Foothill High School in Pleasanton followed by our honoree potluck. Air quality was still a bit icky so Coach Adam told us to take it easy which it seemed like everyone really did because on my second lap even the fast guys were running at my pace. I walked the first lap with Ms. Amy and felt pretty good so after stopping at the water stop I decided to go for another lap and actually ran it. I felt great and if I had time I may have been able to do a third lap but it was time to get in the pool so no go. I forgot to download my Garmin info so I'm not sure how much I did in mileage and time. I do know it was slow but at least I did it and felt good. I really need to push myself more on the running so that'll be my goal for this week.

After the run we had another injury prevention clinic and then into the pool for our swim workout. I felt great and I was even video taped by R2 so that Coach Paul can watch it and critique it. I'm actually looking forward to it because although no one has really said anything to me yet, I'm sure my form is off. I'm curious to see what Coach Paul has to say.

Warm Up - 15 minutes
25 drill (balanced body position)
25 swim
25 drill (side balanced body position - right side)
25 swim
25 drill (side balanced body position - left side)
25 swim
25 drill (balanced body position - roll)
25 swim

repeated above twice

Main Set - Completed 1200 yards
30 minute continuous swim

Cool Down
100 yards

Completed 1500 yards total :o)

Showered up afterwards and then headed to the honoree picnic for a nice lunch and to hear lots of inspirational stories. After the potluck I headed home and passed out for a nice nap and then went to dinner with my hubby and ran a few errands. It was a pretty mellow evening.

Sunday we had a bike ride starting at the San Ramon Valley High School. Olympic team was to do 70 minutes. I was short on the time though because on the way back it was all downhill and I think we got back 10 minutes faster. Oh well. I felt pretty good and got about 12 miles in. I need to double that though, must get out on the bike more often and work a little harder on that as well.

Went home and cleaned our house, did laundry and relaxed some more. Hubby made a yummy bbq and we just lounged around the rest of the evening. It was much needed and very nice to not have to be anywhere.

This week we still have workouts on the schedule but I'm sure it's going to be a light week because of the holiday weekend and my birthday :o) woohooo!

Tuesday - Swim
Wednesday - On your own bike ride (my mentor is having a social for our group so I'll be going to that instead of riding)
Thursday - Swim
Friday - Run (will try to run in the morning before the 4th of July festivities and since I'm sure I won't be running on Sunday after the birthday festivities on Saturday)
Saturday - Coached Swim/Bike and it's MY BIRTHDAY :O)
Sunday - SLEEP IN :o) taking the day off

Unhappy Lungs

My lungs are not happy about all this smoke and all the work they are having to do. Last night had our Thursday night swim and oh my, it was a long crazy workout. Phil, Amy and I did great, we got it done but it took us 1 hr 10 minutes and what we realized is that if the workouts get longer, which they will I just looked, we might not be able to finish them :o( The pool closes at 8:30 and last night we got done at 8:15, YIKES! Feeling a little bit of pressure now.

Warm Up:
2 x (150 LVL2, 100K, 50SBBP) 15”RI

Main Set:
2 x 25 Balanced Body Roll (10”RI)
2 x 25 Distance Per Stroke (10”RI)
4 x 25 Build (10”RI)

Do Above Portion of Main Set 4X

2 x 500 (Negative Spilts) LVL 3-6 (30”RI)

Cool Down:
100 LVL1

2500 yards = 1.42 miles = 1:10

I was feeling great last week but now I'm feeling pretty exhausted again. This is one of our "build" weeks which means the intensity of our workouts has picked back up. I guess it makes sense why I'm sore and tired again.

Taking tonight as an off night. Tomorrow is a run/swim day and our honoree potluck. Sunday is a bike day and the rest of our weekend is free so I think we'll just relax :o)

Lunch Workout

This "unhealthy" air quality is really starting to take a toll on all of us :( and it's not good when you are suppose to be outside training for a triathlon. We are trying to work around it but I think we are all feeling the effects of it and it's not fun. Tuesday evening seemed to be better but it's gradually gotten worse and today we officially have an "unhealthy" air day and Air Quality Control peeps are saying that people should be careful about doing too much in this smokey ick.

I packed all my stuff on Tuesday night with every intention to go to track but when I left our house you could really smell the smoke bad and when I got to work once again Mt. Diablo had vanished. I work a hop skip and a jump away from there but the mountain is not visible at all. I was going back and forth all morning on whether I should go to track or not and trying to figure out how to get my workout in. Then I got an instant message from Ms. Olivia twisting my arm to go to a function in Walnut Creek, Wine Walk, darn her! After many messages back and forth of me saying I had to workout and she telling me that the air quality was to icky I agreed to meet her in Walnut Creek and enjoy the evening. When I was leaving the office for lunch my workout bag stared right at me and gave me a "ooohhh, you are skipping track" look...LOL! I felt guilty about not going so I put my little brain to work and then I remembered that there is a gym here in the plaza where I work and I could just workout on my lunch. I printed out a guest pass and took myself over there. I had to listen to the "please join our gym" talk but that didn't take too long and then I was free to workout.

Treadmill - 10 minute warm-up

10 squats
5 side planks on the left (hold 5 seconds)
5 side planks on the right (hold 5 seconds)

10 each leg mule kicks
10 push ups

5 each side opposite leg/arm extensions (hold 5 seconds)
10 leg raises (hold 5 seconds)

10 crunches
5 each leg one leg squats

I did this twice and then a 10 minute cool down

It was nice and cool in the gym although I'm feeling pretty sore today so maybe I pushed myself a bit harder then I do at track or maybe it's that I did the circuit drills 2x without doing the one .25 mile run between each set. I dunno but at least I got my workout in :o) right?

After work I headed to Walnut Creek to meet Olivia for the Wine Walk. For $20 you get a glass, a wrist band and a map with 32 locations (clothing stores, travel agent, pet store, etc) and you basically go wine tasting. All the wines were from Napa and some places had small finger foods like fruit, cheese & crackers and cookies. It's a great way for businesses to get their name out there and people to come in and check them out. I am going to assume they had a very successful night because it seemed like ti was quite packed out there and they even ran out of the glasses so some people had plastic cups. Olivia and I managed to hit 23 of the locations in the 3 hour time frame, it was like the Amazing Race :o) I didn't actually drink at all the places but it was nice to go into some stores that I'd never been into or even knew were there. Although some I'll never go back to because I can't afford them. Like the shoe place with the $300 flip flops and $800 Jimmie Choo's. It was a very fun evening though.

We hadn't really eaten any food so afterwards we went to Pyramid for dinner and I picked up some food for the hubby who'd been at school all night and couldn't join us. I went home stuffed like a piggie and did the usual routine of unpack, repack, straighten up the house and then went to bed.

Smokey the Bear

Smokey the Bear has been hard at work along with a gagillion fire fighters trying to put out the 800+ fires in the area. Those fires though have made for some very icky skies and very icky air quality. Not good! News man keeps saying to be careful if you are outside, umm, I'm suppose to be outside every evening doing some sort of workout :O( breathing in this yuck stuff has not been fun.

Last night was Tuesday night swim with Phil and Amy but since the pool doesn't open til 7pm I've decided that I'll do a 3 mile walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays to kill some time. We aren't suppose to be adding any "extra" workouts to our schedule since it's already pretty intense but I figure if I walk and not run it shouldn't hurt me especially on a swim day. Anyway, I had mentioned to Olivia that I was going on a walk and she offered to join me. She drove up and met me at my office and we headed right out the door from here down Camino Tassajara. Mr. Garmin says we got in a 3.35 mile walk. YAY US! The air was icky but not as icky as it had been so it wasn't too bad. We had a little bit of shade and a breeze :o) We finished right around 6:30 and then I headed to the pool. THANKS for joining me Ms. Olivia.

Our schedule had us doing from Level 3-6 and all went well except for the fact that my form went out the door once I was doing Level 5 and 6. What's funny is that on race day we are suppose to be swimming at a Level 6 or 7, haa, haa. That's pretty funny. I probably wouldn't make it very far if I had to do 0.9 miles at a Level 7. I was tired but felt pretty good after the swim.

Warm Up:
300 LVL2
200 kick
4 x 50 (25 stroke count, 25 side balanced body position) 15" RI

Main Set:
6 x 150 LVL 3-6 (descending) 20" RI
1 minute rest
4 x 100 LVL 3-6 (descending) 15" RI
1 minute rest
4 x 50 LVL 3-6 (descending) 10" RI

Cool Down:100 LVL 1

Total distance = 2300 yards (1.31 miles)

Tonight I'm headed to our last track workout at Clark Kerr but we'll have to see what Coach Paul ends up having us do. He made a note in his email last night that he was going to keep track of the weather and amount of ick in the air and if it's really bad he may change the workout. I noticed that today is much worse then it was yesterday. I usually open up the window in our bedroom at home during the day but today I could smell the smoke pretty bad so I closed it back up. Hopefully it gets better by the end of the day.

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Fundraising is moving along :O) I still have quite a bit to go until my minimum is met but I wanted to say THANK YOU.......Rich, Carol, Tom, R2, KJ, Aaron, Brian, Bree, Glenn, Phil, Karen B., Mark, Karen Barnes, Leslie, Jeanette, Lindsay, Charlie, Melissa, Bryan & Jen, Ray & Joanne, Sarah, Deb, Lillian, Kathy. I really appreciate your continued support.

If you are interested in donating you can do so below and remember that every penny counts so even if you can only donate a little it all helps :o)

My Fundraising Page

Week 3 and a Tri

Week 3 "recovery week" is complete. I feel pretty good about my performance last week. I guesss I should feel good since we did have to take it pretty easy :o) The next two week are "build" weeks and then we have another "recovery" week should be interesting since the 2 weeks of "build" means things will pick up again as far as intensity and time. We'll see how it goes.

Tri for Fun Update
Great Swim, Great Bike, Bad Run!

My alarm clock went off at 4am on Saturday. I had gotten all my gear ready on Friday night so really all I had to do was get dressed, eat and load up the car. I did all that and we were out of the house by 4:45. We arrived at Shadow Cliffs at 5:15 and to my surprise there wasn't a huge back up of cars waiting to get in the gates. We paid our $6 and found parking spot nice and close. Amy arrived a few minutes after and since we were super early we were able to have a great spot to rack our bikes and set up.

We got our race numbers, got marked with our numbers (righ arm, left leg) and then we sat around and waited and waited for the 7am start.



Do you see in the picture above how much space is between my bike (the white one) and Amy's? and then between Amy's and the guy next to her (who happened to radomly rack his bike next to us and then Amy and him got talking and he's on our team, LOL! Hi MATT!) Anyway, at Pac Grove this will NOT be happening. At Pac Grove there will be no space between our bikes and all the bikes will be squashed together along with all our gear on the ground. It's going to be madness.

The swim - 8:41
I felt great during the swim and was actually able to find a great spot to just keep swimming without being killed by any of the other people. My only probably was that I had to back off a little and slow down because I was catching up to the girl in front of me and she would have kicked me in the face if I got to close. I tried to go around her at one point but she moved over and then I got sandwiched in between her another girl so I just backed off a bit again. I was happy with my 8 minutes and 41 seconds though. I've done this race 2 other times and that was my best swim so far. I'm sure it's still slow compared to others but for me it felt good and I didn't panic this time. I guess I'm finally getting used to being in the water. Oh and it did help that I didn't look towards the bottom to see the ickies.

Transition#1
Took way too long here, I think it took me almost 3 minutes to get out of the transition and onto my bike. I'm not sure why, I was just moving way too slow.

The Bike - 38 minutes (actually it was a little over 38 minutes but I can't remembe the exact seconds)

The bike went well also. I got up the hill out of the parking lot pretty easily although for some reason I couldn't clip in my left foot so it wasn't til I was on Stanley Road where it was flat that I could actually get my foot clipped in. I was super thirsty during the ride but I still am not very stable when drinking and riding so I only took one gulp of wate and didn't try it again. I was too wobbly and I didn't feel like stopping just to drink. I felt great otherwise and felt good with my time. Again it's not as fast as it could be but of the last 2 times I've done this race it was my best ride.

Transition #2
This went much smoother and I think it only took me about a minute and a half. I racked my bike, took off the bike helmet, gloves and cycling shoes and slipped on my running shoes, sunglasses, visor and grabbed my water bottle and was on my way.

The Run - BONKED - 45:00 (or something close to that)
By the time I was on the run it was crazy hot. It was in the 80's and it did not feel good. I had put ice in my water bottle and after a few minutes of running it was all melted and my electrolytes were super warm :o( The trail we ran on is not shaded, all dirt and had quite a few hills. I walked all the hills and walked a few minutes after going through the two water stops. Needless to say my run was very very slow and I felt horrible. I started to get a headache and just wanted it to be done with.


I know my final time was 1:40 but other than my swim and bike I'm not 100% certain on exact time and seconds. I forgot to do all the splits at each sport and transition. The good news is that I've gotten better and I'm happy about that. All in all the race was good.

A special thank you to my hubby who had only had an hour of sleep because he had a gig on Friday night but he still got up at 4:30 am and was ou there cheering me on. Also a big fat thank to Olivia and Jeanette for getting up super early on their day off from getting up early to come cheer us on. It was so nice to have you ladies there and thank you for the pretty sign :o)


Congrats to Ms. Amy who completed her first triathlon and did a great job :O) 13 more weeks til Pac Grove.

We had a nice breakfast with everyone and then headed home for a much needed showers and naps. Hubby and I had planned on going to the movies but neither one of us thought we'd actually stay awake through it all. I was also not sore but super exhausted. We decided instead for a mellow evening. He dropped me off at the nail shop where I met Amy for pedicures and he headed to his favorite store, Guitar Center. Afterwards, he picked me up and we walked around Walnut Creek for a little while and then had dinner. I was going downhill fast and I think it had to do with the heat and maybe a bit of dehydration :o( by the time we got home I had a massive headache so I went to bed, at 8pm, gosh I'm old :o(

Sunday we had a scheduled team run so I headed out to Danville to meet the team. I still wasn't feeling sore but pretty tired and the air quality was icky from all the fires. No way I was going to run so I decided to walk. Amy and I managed to do a little over 3 miles and I felt pretty good so I'm glad I made the decision to walk.

Afterewards we grabbed Starbuck's and did a little shopping and then headed home. Rocky and I were going to meet Olivia, Lael and Phil in SF for a free concert at Golden Gate Park so I picked up a few sandwiches on our way home, went home, showered and then headed out again. The weather had cooled down quite a bit and when we got to SF it was like winter again. The cold was no fun but we had a great time hanging out with everyone, eating and listening to the music. We actually got home a lot earlier than I had anticipated which was nice. I did some laundry, watched a little tv, ate dinner and then headed for bed fairly early.

It was a good weekend and now it's time to get ready for week 4.

Another Race

The time is here for me to do another race, it's a little race, but it's a race. YIKES! I'm excited and a bit nervous. I'm excited cause I like doing the triathlons and I'm excited because it's going to be Amy's first triathlon :o) I know she'll do great and it'll be fun doing it with her. I am nervous because HOLY SMOKES I've only been on my bike ONCE, I repeat ONCE, since I got the new bike back in November :o( That once was last weekend and that bike ride was all flat. The ride tomorrow is pretty flat but we do start uphill, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and saying a huge prayer that like before I get up that hill and not fall over :o( That would not be good. I am also keeping my fingers crossed that the weather is not as bad but I have a feeling we won't have much luck with that. When I arrived at work today at 8am it was already 75 degrees out :O( I hear tomorrow will be the same which means that by the time I'm on my bike and run it'll be scorching, yuck!

THANK YOU in advance to my hubby, Olivia and Jeanette for getting up early to come out and watch and cheer us on.

Last night I had a good workout with Phil, Amy & Jeanette. I completed 2200 yards and felt pretty good. I helped Jeanette with showing her the drills that we used to do before to work on our form so I did stop quite a bit which could be why my workout was so great :o) longer breaks in between the workout to help Jeanette out, hee, hee.

Tonight I'm taking a much a rest day to get some errands done and to get ready for tomorrow.

Happy 1st Day of Summer!

Only in Berkeley

Only in Berkeley do you have people sitting in trees protesting for 2 years. Yesterday there was a whole lot of craziness going on in Berkeley because of the people in the trees and when we arrived at track there were about 4 or 5 news helicopters flying around getting their footage for the 6 o'clock news. It made for great conversation while we waited for track to start.

This week is a recovery week for us which means our workouts are suppose to be as hard, our Coach is funny cause I'm not seeing that anything is any easier this week. Last night we had more drills to do and I managed to ge through the workout twice YAY! I did take it easy though and didn't push myself to hard but I did get it all done and felt pretty good.

Warm Up:
Run for 10 minutes

Main Set
1 lap around the track

Station #1
8 right side planks (hold 5 seconds each)
8 left side planks (hold 5 seconds each)
10 push up
1 lap around the track

Station #25
8 arm/leg extensions one side (hold 5 seconds each)
8 arm/leg extensions other side (hold 5 seconds each)
10 crunches
1 lap around the track

Station #3
10 squats (2 seconds down, 2 seconds up)
8 mule kicks (5 each leg)
1 lap around the track

Station #4
8 leg lifts (hold 5 seconds)
5 burpies
l lap around the track

Repeat Stations 1-4

10 minute cool down

I thought for a while that I was moving at a good clip but then I realized I had skipped Station #2 on the second go around so I had to go back and finish it up :o)

I did a total of 3.63 miles, not as many as last week but I know that on the warm up and cool down and I didn't go around as many times.

2 more days til Tri for Fun!

Call me Nemo

Seems like the few weeks of pre-training that Amy and I did paid off a little. I'm feeling pretty comfortable in the water now and I get through the workout without totally dying. Yes, I'm tired at the end and yes it's an insane amount of swimming (2350 yards = 1.33 miles last night) but I'm feeling good and getting it done.

Lasts nights schedule had us doing 2350 yards and we all did great. Only whining about last night was about the pools new summer schedule, the pool has changed it's hours and the lap swimming now doesn't open til 7pm which means we start half an hour later and I get home even later :o( Oh well, not much we can do, we have to get our workouts in.

Warm Up:
6 x 75 LVL2 (20" RI) * Focus on Form

Main Set:
2 x 200 LVL 4 (20" RI)
1 x 100 LVL 6 (20" RI)
2 x 200 LVL 4 (30"RI)
1 x 100 LVL 6 (20" RI)
2 x 300 LVL 4 (30" RI)
1 x 100 LVL 6

Cool Down:
8 x 25 LVL 2 (5" RI)

Week 2 - Complete

Week 2 went well for me, my body is still trying to get used to this new schedule of working out 5-6 days a week so I'm still quite tired but I think it went much better then it did last week. I got in 5 days this week because I decided to take the optional day off on Friday, I'm so glad I did.

If you've read Amy's blog already then you know that Amy, Phil and I all have a yucky rash from Shadow Cliffs :o( the thought of ever swimming in that water again makes me sick, oh wait, I have to swim there this Saturday for the Tri 4 Fun...YUCK! NASTY NASTY WATER! I sure hope we don't end up swimming there with our team. I thought it might be swimmers itch but it doesn't look the same so who knows what weird thing we have. I thought they were flea bites at first because I only have a few bumps here and there. I think in total I have about 10-15 bites. I realized very quickly it was not fleas when both Amy and Phil said they had it also :o(

Saturday morning I was up early to meet the team in Pleasanton. It was a swim/run day for us and at 8 am it was already pretty toasty. At some point on Friday an email went out that we were running first because the pool didn't open until 9am, never got the email and neither did half the team...urrggghhh. I had to change from my swimming suit to my running close behind my car in the parking lot because the bathrooms weren't open either and the only thing there was a port-a-potty...yuck!

We started off our morning by hearing about Mr. Gruen who passed away last Friday. Deb even came out to the workout to hang out with the team. We then had a short run clinic and then we did our run.

The Olympic team had to do 45 minutes. We went in a loop around Foothill High School and depending on where you started in the parking lot the mileage was a bit different. I did a total of 2 laps around, 3.29 miles in 39:25. Not a very fast pace and I was sweating like a piggy. I felt good the first lap and I think part of it was that I was chatting and then really struggled and slowed down on the second lap. I think all those months on not doing anything really messed me up and I've lost all my conditioning. I feel like I'm starting back at square one with my running :o( I know it'll get better I just need to work on it.

After the run we had to change and get ready for our swim workout which we were all looking forward to because it was so darn hot. We had another short clinic and then into the pool. The HOT pool :o( they must have not turned down the heater in there cause it felt pretty warm so no cooling off. I once again jumped in the lane with the half ironman team and did the workout, the whole workout, YIPEE! I felt great and the Coach said I had good form and I looked like I was just gliding through the water. I was happy to hear that. The full workout was 1800 yards :o) (that's me in the box)


The best part of the workout was lunch. A large group of us went over to Zachary's in San Ramon and had some very yummy pizza and salads. It was great way to refuel and hey some of the coach's were there so if they eat pizza I eat pizza :o)

The rest of Saturday was a bit chaotic and by the time I went to bed it was 11pm and I was one tired, grumpy girl :o(

After pizza I had to make a quick stop at Target for a gift for our niece and then Performance Bicycle for some spare tubes or the ride on Sunday. Then it was home to shower and head back out. Hubby packed up the car with our chairs, blankies and doggies and then we headed to Millbrae for our niece's bday bbq at the park. You never know what the weather is going to be like out there but it turned out to be a really nice day. We hung out til about 6 ish and then it was off to Rocky's parents house to help them move some things around, they are having their house painted and floor refinished. We finally made it home around 10pm. I had to pack and get all my stuff ready before going to bed.

Sunday morning I was up early once again to head to Walnut Creek and meet the team for a bike ride. At first I thought I'd go with the half ironman team but who the heck am I kidding, I can't keep up with them and hello, this was my first time on my bike since I bought it back in November. I decided to just stick with my group which was a good idea. The ride was flat and our group was to do a total of 60 minutes. I struggled a little bit but I got 13.75 miles done in an hour and 1:04. I actually think it was just a tad more because this is the info from my Garmin which I actually forgot to turn on til we had already gotten going. I forgot to check what my bike computer said which was on since we left the parking lot where we met. It's not a huge difference though and I was pretty happy with my ride and time considering I haven't ridden at all.

After the ride I went by Forward Motion to deposit some money, haa, haa. I had to get another sports bra for biking cause one isn't enough, need two to be able to rotate them so they don't fall apart too fast. Then if was off to Safeway to buy stuff to make lunch. I'm trying to be healthy so instead of going out for lunch we had some yummy turkey panini sandwiches at home. I went to bed and although I wasn't able to nap at least I rested for a few hours before leaving the house again. We met up with Rocky's family in Burlingame for a casual Father's Day dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. It was very yummy! We hung out for a little while and then went home. I packed up my swimming bag for Tuesday because I'm not going to be home til late tonight. Lights out around 10pm.

This week:

Monday - REST
Tuesday - Swim
Wednesday - Track Workout
Thursday - Swim
Friday - Run
Saturday - Swim/Bike
Sunday - Run

So laundry has been piling up like crazy now that we are both training. For some reason Rocky and I always seem to have lots of clothes to wash on the weekends but now it's worse.

This is a picture of what we both used last week, it's hanging in our bathroom because we can't dry any of it in the dryer (I'll have to post the picture later it's not updating properly)

here is a list of just my stuff though from last week

3 swimsuits
3 towels
3 outfits (top & bottom) to change into after swimming

2 running shorts
2 running tops
1 sports bra
2 regular tops to wear over running top or sports bra
2 pairs of socks
2 dri-fit undies
1 visor ( had to wash it too cause it was icky after 2 days of running in it)

1 pair of bike capris
1 sports bra
1 bike jersey
1 pair of socks
1 pair of dri-fit undies

In a Better Place

That was the subject of an email quite a few of us received early this morning :o( At 2am Mr. Henry Gruen lost his battle with Leukemia.



Mr. Gruen is our friend Deb's father and our team honoree. I've known Deb for a few years now, she's been on the triathlon team for a long time. When I went to the first workout she had mentioned she had just returned from Florida from visiting her father who had gotten sick recently. He had been doing well after a transplant but had become ill again. At track on Thursday she said that they were just playing the waiting game now. He's been in a lot of pain and sleeping most of the days. Today he went on to a better place to be cancer free and watch over his wife and daughter. Keep them in your thoughts today as they go through this difficult time.

Last night Phil, Amy and I met at Shadow Cliffs for our Thursday night swim and it went well. It was 90 degrees out but for some weird reason the water was still pretty chilly, not what we expected but we jumped in and did almost an hour of swimming.

16 laps (140 yards each) = 2240 yards (1.27 miles) WOOHOOO!

It has been a mystery for a long time on how long the swim lane at Shadow Cliff's is, I'm not sure why and I"m not sure why none of us have ever thought to do the simple thing, ask the man that works there. Haa, haa. Last night we did and he confirmed that it was 140 yards.

I was beyond exhausted when I was done but I was proud of us for getting it done. GOOD JOB AMY & PHIL.

Today is a bike day or optional day off if we feel we need the rest. I feel I need the rest so that's what I plan to do. Tomorrow is a swim/run day and Sunday a bike day.

A Little Inspiration

Yesterday Amy and I were emailing back and forth about doing the Tri 4 Fun next week. I think I gave her a small heart attack when I said NEXT WEEK, I think she thought we had two more weeks til Tri 4 Fun. Nope it's in 10 Days! Then we whined a little about how tired we were from Tuesday's swim, blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine. After a few emails I told her OKAY NO MORE WHINING :o) We WILL do this, We CAN do this and We MUST do this. We must do this for our friend Raji, who would much rather be out training with us but instead has to be in treatment for ovarian cancer :o( urrrgghhhh. We are perfectly healthy and able to do this triathlon and our friend Raji can't cause she has to get icky chemo and eventually have surgery. So NO MORE WHINING! or at least not as much whining :o) hee, hee!

Last night we had track at Clark Kerr again and there we also got to hear another inspirational story. Our teammate, Keiron, will be doing his first triathlon and with only one hand. Keiron lost his hand in a paragliding accident in Colombia back in 2006.

Last night's track was more running and more drills. I was tired after the workout but I feel like it went much better this week.

Warm Up
15 minutes - 5 laps 1.25 miles

Main Workout
1 lap around track - .25 miles

Station #1
1 lap around track - .25 miles



Station #2
1 lap around track - .25 miles


Station #3
1 lap around track - .25 miles

Station #4
1 lap around track - .25 miles



Repeat Workout

Station #1
1 lap around track - .25 miles

Station #2
1 lap around track - .25 miles

Station #3
1 lap around track - .25 miles

I didn't get to Station #4 a second time because Coach Paul told us to do our cool down but I'm hoping next week I'll get it all done twice :o) I was able to do on extra station this week that I didn't do last week.

10 minute cool down - 2 laps (I walked :o) ) - .50 miles

Total miles - 3.75

Midnight Snack!

Okay so I didn't really have a midnight snack last night but might as well been since dinner was at 9:30 last night for me :o( I've read some articles and heard several people on tv talk about how you should try not to eat 3 to 4 hours before bedtime if you are trying to lose weight, HA!, I guess they weren't training for a triathlon :o(

Last night was our Tuesday night swim at San Ramon with Phil and Amy. Since Amy and I had planned on going to Shadow Cliff on Thursday we decided that it'd be good to switch the workouts. Do Tuesday's workout on Thursday and Thursday on Tuesday and mainly because last nights workout was all swimming at different levels and Thursday is lots of drills which are hard to do at the lake. After a few minutes of trying to convince Phil that it was okay to switch the days he was on board with us and swimming we went. Thursday's schedule called for a 1050 meter warm up, yes people 1050 meters just in our warm up. Last week we did 1400 meters in our total workout! YIKES!

200 meters swim LVL 2
200 meters Kicking only with kickboard
200 meters swim LVL 2

when we were done with the first 600 meters we got back for a quick 20 second rest but noticed our workout was missing ( I think Phil threw it in the pool, hee, hee). Amy found it at the bottom of the pool but it was useless and we didn't have another copy of it. Phil had brought a copy of the Tuesday workout so we decided to go ahead with our scheduled workout instead.

The schedule had us doing 1200 meters at different levels including a Level 7. Our levels go from 1-10 with 1 being the easiest. I did my very very best I could at trying to swim a level 7 and when I was done I was exhausted and breathing very heavily. It was a tough workout but we all go through it and then did an easy 100 meter cool down.

It went like this:

300 LVL 5
300 LVL 3
200 LVL 5
200 LVL 7
100 LVL 5
100 LVL3

100 cool down concentrate on form

total workout - 1900 meters

We were beyond exhausted and ready to go home. I was starving of course as I always am after swimming. I decided to stop by Trader Joe's and pick up a few things that are easy to make since coming home late and trying to eat continues to be a problem especially since my hubby isn't always home to cook and have dinner for me :o( he'll be gone twice a week also for training and then he has his band practice day once a week. Yeah, I guess you could say our lives are a bit chaotic at this time. Anyway, by the time I made it home it was almost 9pm :o( I had bought some shrimp to make as salad so I turned on the oven to preheat and then played with the pooches for a little while, picked up their mess from the day, hung up the wet clothes and unpacked my swimming gear, packed my running gear for tonight, put on my jammies and then back in the kitchen to make my dinner. It only took about 15 minutes, I made my salad, ate my salad and when all this was done it was about 10pm, which is normally my bed time but I can't roll into bed right after eating so I forced myself to stay up til 11pm. I'm tired today but I got 7 hours of sleep so I guess that isn't so bad and I'll just have to get used to it being that way for the next 14 weeks.

Post #2 - Mommy Update

So the weekend with my mom turned out to be very nice and fun although we stuffed our selves like piggies and I'm thanking my lucky stars that I didn't gain any weight....PHEW!!!

Thursday

That was the night we had the pasta and I had the icky squid ink pasta :o( blech!

Friday

We headed out to Walnut Creek for the day and although I didn't ride my bike like I was suppose to on the training schedule we did walk around for 3 hours, does that count? We started our day with manicure and pedicures :o) it was my treat for my mom's birthday and she LOVED it. She was so comfortable and enjoying it so much that she almost fell asleep in the chair.

By the time we were done it was lunch time so we had a slice of pizza, yummy! Then it was off to do some shopping. We heart shopping. I had to make a stop at Kaiser so we walked over to it and then headed back for more shopping. After a few hours we were pooped so we headed back to the car and headed home. We made a quick stop at the grocery store for a few dinner items and then finally made it home. We rested until the hubby got home and then he cooked us a nice yummy bbq and ate again :o) Hung out for a little bit and then hit the sack.

Saturday

Rocky and I left the house pretty early for training :o( mom stayed home and slept, lucky girl. Rocky was off to Berkeley and me to Pleasant Hill. I got my swim workout done and then headed back home to get mom. We took the doggies to Pt. Isabel and picked up Rocky on the way. It was a nice day although a little hot for the doggies but we still got a nice walk in and got the doggies bathed. After the doggie park it was back home for uhhh, lunch :o) had some leftovers and then we all took some much needed naps.

In the evening we were meeting Rocky's parents for dinner so they could see my mom and to celebrate her bday. We were originally going to go to Sausalito but then plans changed a little and we went to Il Pescatore at Jack London Square, OMG it was super yummy. I had the best seafood risotto ever :o) I had the waiters put a candle in our dessert and when they brought it out our waiter and two other waiters sung happy birthday to my mom :o)

Walked off a bit of the dinner & dessert over at Barnes and Noble and then headed home, hung out for a little bit and then hit the sack again.

Notice the patter? Eat, Walk, Sleep, Eat, Walk, Sleep :o) Hey no training but I sure got some walking in. I'm sure my mom is still in a food coma and still tired of all the walking.

Sunday

Rocky had Kali in the morning so my mom and I hung out at home. I cleaned our house and she napped. We headed out of the house close to noon and picked up Rocky and then headed to Berkeley to El Plantano, very yummy Salvadorean food. If you like Salvadorean food or would like to try it this is a great restaurant.

Sunday was actually my mom's birthday so we thought it'd be nice to take her to Salvadorean. We attempted to eat a light meal since later in the evening Rocky's parents were coming over for dinner, umm that didn't go so well and we left there stuffed but once again it was such good food :o)

Rocky had the platanos w/beans and sour cream

and a tamale ( a salvadorean tamale is a bit different than a mexican tamale, it's cooked in banana leaves and the masa is a little different. It is stuffed with chicken potato and olives)

and my mom and I had a cheese pupusa and yucca frita con chicharron

guess what was next? back home for a nap and then dinner. Actually first I made, at the request of my hubby, a Hawaiian Macaroni Salad because we were having Maui ribs. It was super simple and actually turned our pretty good. I made the salad then took a nap.

Rocky's parents came over for dinner and we had a great time just hanging out chatting about knitting, watching the basketball game and of course eating. Rocky's parents brought a very yummy custard blueberry pie so we stuck a candle in it and sung Happy Birthday to my mom again.

Monday

Rocky went to work and we did nothing. We were both pooped so after breakfast and after lunch we took naps until it was time to take her to the airport.

:o( mom is back home now :o(

We missed having my dad here and hopefully he is feeling a lot better. It was nice to have my mom visit since she doesn't get to do it often and we haven't really seen each other since last July :o( I did hang out with them in Solvang but that was a quick trip. Hopefully we'll see my both again very soon.

Week 1 Down 14 to Go

I tried to do the calculation earlier and it looks like in total we have 15 weeks of training and I'm scared. I hope make it and not collapse. My confidence was deflated a bit on Saturday. As like Phil and Amy I was also pretty exhausted after week 1 and I didn't even do the full week of training because I was in SD and then my mommy was visiting...YIKES! I'm scared of how I'll feel by Sunday after following this weeks schedule and actually doing the full weeks workout.

Saturday I headed out to the pool at College Park for a swim and injury clinic. I decided not to go on the bike ride so my mom wouldn't have to sit around and wait to long for me. I've decided that I want to train with the Half Ironman team so I can push myself more. I'm pretty good with endurance in the pool but OMG Saturday killed me. I have no idea how many meters we did but I do know that we were suppose to do our main set 3 times and I only got it done once and then all of a sudden Coach Mike said to cool down and get out of the pool for the clinic and then the bike ride. HUH? I'm not done yet though :o( So either I suck and I'm super duper slow or we aren't getting enough time in the pool to do our workout because we have to go ride or run. I dunno but I felt poopy and was kind of disappointed. Phil, Amy and I do great in the pool on our own and get the workout done, we are tired but we get it done so I'm not sure what the deal is on Saturday. I'm gonna blame it on the team and say we aren't getting enough time....HAA, HAA!!!

This weeks schedule

Tuesday - Swim
Wednesday - Track (Run/Strength)
Thursday - Swim (Amy & I are going to Shadow Cliffs)
Friday - Bike
Saturday - Swim/Run
Sunday - Bike

I'll write about my weekend with mom tomorrow since I left the pictures at home :o(

Squid Ink!

I was cracking up last night when I read Phil's blog because he wrote that his "love handles" hurt. I second that! My love handles hurt, my chest hurst, my legs hurt....ouchie ouchie. Those drills did their job :o) I guess that's a good thing but ouchie.

My mom is in town so last night hubby picked her up at the airport while I was on my way home from work. We came home walked the doggies and then headed out to dinner. We went to our favorite Italian restaurant in Montclair. They had quite a few new items on the menu so we thought we'd try them out. I ordered the Squid Ink Penne Pasta with Shrimp and Scallops. Okay I like seafood and it sounded yummy when I ordered it and everything actually tasted good when I got it BUT the pasta was black, that was a bit weird. I wasn't too into it so I ate all the seafood and hubby ate the rest of the weird black pasta. It was a nice mellow dinner then we came home, watched a little tv and hit the sack by 9:30. Mom was pooped from working and flying. Today we have a mellow day planned and it looks like it's going to be a nice day.

Request to the faults, please no more earthquakes ;o( we had 3 small ones last night and of course Rocky snored right through all of them while I was awake wondering if we were going to have a bigger one :o( no more please.

Clark Kerr, Where is That?

We returned from San Diego on Monday evening and we were pretty pooped so I did nothing all afternoon but lay in bed with the doggies. The doggies had a rough weekend so they were super happy to have us home and were attached to our hips. No joke I just layed in bed for a very long time and only got up to unpack from our trip and pack my swim gear for Tuesday. Training started right away last Sunday after Kick Off, tri team isn't messing around.

Tuesday
Met Amy and Phil at the pool in San Ramon. I'm thinking this will be our usual routine on the day's we swim on our own. Amy and I might hit Shadow Cliffs though on the second day to get some more open water swims in before the Tri for Fun but for the most part I think we'll be at the pool since the schedule calls for doing quite a few swim drills.

25 yds at Level 2 exertion (very easy)
25 yds Balanced Body PositionRest 15 seconds x 4
100 yds stroke count for each 25 yds ( counted about 23 strokes for each 25 meters)

Main Set - 25 minutes at level 2-3 exertion (easy) - we did 1000 meters which is 40 laps :o)

We did our entire workout in about 45 minutes and we finished with 1400 meters

I'm sure I still have to work on my form but I'm feeling a lot better about being in the pool. Getting started is always rough just like running but once I get going I feel great and feel like I can just keep on swimming. I'm pretty happy about that.

Wednesday
Our Wednesday night workouts for the next few weeks will be at Clark Kerr in Berkeley so last night I headed up there for our training.

Warm Up - 10 minute run around the track

Main Set
1 lap around track (0.25 mile) LVL 3 (easy)

Station #1
10 Squats
5 right side planks (hold 5 seconds each) & 5 left side planks (hold 5 seconds each)
1 lap around rack LVL 3

Station #2
10 leg lifts
10 push ups
1 lap around track LVL 3

Station #35 arm/leg extensions (hold 5 seconds each)
5 lunges (front, right, left)
1 lap around track LVL 3

Station #4
10 crunches
10 supermansl lap around the track LVL 3
1 lap around track LVL 3

We had to keep doing these until Coach Paul told us to stop. I managed to get through one repeat of this and on the second time around I only got to Station #3 and the Coach Paul told us to cool down.

Cool Down - 15 minutes


I didn't keep track of how many times I went around the track during the warm up or cool down so I'm not sure in mileage what I did but I did keep track of time on my watch and I ran for a total of 46 minutes. Not too bad.

Am I sore today? You betcha :o( but it's a good sore and I'm happy about training again. I'm sure it's gonna take my body some getting used to and I'll be tired and sore for the first few weeks but I hope to adjust. I was pleased with my workout last night considering I really have been a couch potatoe since I fell last year. Yes, I did New York but that was 7 hours of torture.

Oh and we had a little company up in the hills of Berkeley.

I have training everyday but for the rest of this week I"ll have to play it by ear because my mommy is flying in tonight.

Weekend Recap...COMING!

Olivia has done her race recap so now I can do my spectating recap :o) but that won't be happening til tomorrow. I've had two great days of working out but oh my geesh, I'm tired and I'm guessing that tomorrow I'll be sore.

Tuesday Swim - 1400 meters took about 45 minutes
Wednesday Track - Ran 50 minutes total and did lots and lots of drills in between all the running

I'll post updates on both tomorrow, I go to sleepy night night now.