70.3 Challange Part I

It's the dead of winter and I'm ready to start thinking about summer. For me this means training. I have a busier than usual spring and summer planned so I'm also planning my days and what hours I can allocate to what. Last year I did an Olympic Distance "challenge". I don't think anyone followed along with me, but it sure kept me accountable. So for the next 20 weeks, I'm going to do a 70.3 challenge. Part I is base building and my schedule for the next 4 weeks. I don't type in my training yet but I intend to follow something similar to this plan here: with a few adjustments since I am a slow biker and runner so the I will need to add some time on the runs and such. Alsok the plan is kind of crap since there are no rest days later on in the plan. My life schedule looks like the following: each day will include 8 hours for sleep, 3 hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and an hour of grooming and shower time.

Monday:
Class 4.5
driving 4
Training 3
Free 0.5

Tuesday:
Work 8
Driving 0.5
Training 3
Free: 0.5

Wednesday
Study 2
Training 3
Free 7

Thursday
Work 8
Driving 2.5
Training: 0
Free 1.5

Friday
Class 3
Driving 2
Training 3
Free 2
Study 2

Saturday
Class 6
Study 4
Driving 2
Training 4
Free 4

Sunday:
Training 5
Free 7

Am I insane? Don't answer that. I function really well on a schedule. My free/study times will be adjusted day by day depending on my needs. Also I don't expect to initially spend 3, 4, or 5 hours training every day, but I want to give myself plenty of time these initial weeks. I hope this is feasible. I looks a hell of a lot more productive then I am now, but this is a good thing, seeing that I slack off a ton during the week. In 4 weeks I'll re asses my choice and go from there.


Are you ready for the challenge?

Workout: 2000yd swim and 23mi bike ride..OUTSIDE!

My Little Old Man

The Beagle went back to the vet today. Over the weekend he developed a sore on his neck. I thought it was just irritation from his collar. Well last night when I picked up to go to bed (remember he can't go up stairs) the sore was huge and bloody. I cleaned it off the best I could with baby wipes, put alcohol and antibacterial ointment on it and tried to trim away some of the nappy fur. Momma Bear took him to the vet while I was at work. No idea what caused the sore, but he's on antibiotics now for that. He also get sent home with eye drops for his allergies. Vet said that he has an injured knee. He said it was genetic in beagles and if it doesn't get better with rest, he'll have to get surgery. In the meanwhile, The Beagle is sanctioned to kennel time when no one is home or if we need to go upstairs. He actually loves his kennel and voluntarily goes in it and lays down all the time.

I went for a run for the first time in a week and a half. I hate taking breaks because I feel like a pack a day smoker with all the endurance I lost. My shin hurt like a bitch. What the heck. I was going to do 6 miles but after 2 the shin hurt so I cut it short. grrrr

I'm icing like a mad woman now.



Workout: 4.5 mile run. 9:00 pace.

Does Glucose = Gluten?

This weekend I picked up some PowerBar Gel Blasts.

They are basically gel filled gummy bears similar to a gel. On my spin tonight I decided to try them. They are delicious and might as well be candy. I had the unfortunate discovery to find something on the ingredient. The first ingredient is glucose (from wheat). I've had glucose before because it's in a lot of gels. I have never seen it labeled as "from wheat". From my basic chemistry and nutrition classes in college I know glucose is just a sugar. Gluten is a protein. Therefore glucose should be safe right? I don't know. I did some Google research and it looks like glucose is technically gluten-free and products can be labeled as such even if they contain wheat glucose. However, wheat glucose (there is corn glucose as well) can affect those with wheat allergies (as opposed to gluten). To be honest, I don't know if I have a wheat allergy along with gluten. I've never really had a product that had wheat but sans gluten. I feel fine right now but I'm going to see how I feel overnight. Really I should just avoid the situation due to almost certain cross contamination in the production process. Maybe I should stuck to GF gummy bears and safe GF gels.



Workout: 20 miles on the bike trainer.

Helping Central Oregon Tourism

Friday morning, TH and I headed up to Mt Bachelor to do some skiing. Too bad for us it was 31 and raining. EW. Now, I'm an Oregonian and I've skied more times in the rain then I can count, but the forecast for Saturday called for 29 and clear skies. We decided to give up on skiing and go snowshoeing. After talking to some folk we decided to go to the Edison Trail.

We got to the SnoPark and started snowshoeing.

About a mile and a half up, we found a warming hut with a stove inside. Having nothing dry( remember it was raining) to start a fire we tried, got some flames, then just smoke. It was getting late so we hiked back down to the lot.

On our way back into town, we decided to stop at the High Desert Natural History Museum. There were some interesting exhibits including a huge thing on the CHinese railroad workers. We got to see a bobcat and a lynx, and some other fun creatures.

A strange eagle-like animal in his nest

Bagged myself a bronze buck.

That evening, TH and I met up with his friend ES and his wife at The Summit Saloon and watched a few local comedians. Funny stuff. We later headed to The Bend Brewing Company for some more happy hour snacks.

Saturday morning, we headed back up to the mountain to ski. The weather was perfect and aside from the icey conditions and being old, the sking was great. I watched a bit of a high school ski race (memories) and filled TH in on everyone's form.

TH: man of mystery

In the parking lot, on our way to head back to town, we ran into a former ski teammate's family. Actually, they were parked right next to us and took this picture.

On the way back to our hotel we made a last minute stop to the Deschutes Brewery. TH had some samples and then we took a tour.

Upon return to the hotel, I couldn't find my glasses. We searched everywhere and told the front desk guy. He was helpless. I was getting upset because he blew off my glasses like they were nothing. What if it was my cell phone or laptop? TH and I forged on, had dinner at The Bend Burger Company, and then went to a local play called Love, Laughter, and Lucci and the 2nd Street Theater. Wine helped my mood. This morning we packed up and headed out. As a last minute effort, TH asked the desk attendant upfront about the glasses. She was A LOT more helpful then late night guy. She called housekeeping, spoke to the housekeeping manager, and even had the maintenance guy go dumpster diving because we decided that my glasses fall/we knocked into the trash when housekeeping was cleaning. After a minute or two of dumpster diving, the front desk attendant ran out and had a wonderful surprise. Housekeeping had seen my glasses in the trash and put them aside. YAY! I didn't have to be blind for the next 2 months, before my insurance would buy mamma a new pair of glasses.

Am I a lucky girl or what?

Bend Hoe!

TH and I are headed off to Bend in central Oregon for my Birthday Weekend Celebration. I hope the snow on the mountain is okay because we've had some wet and warm weather lately.

Chauffeur TH

A typical Oregon drive: Trees

Mechanically Inclined?

I tuned my bike today. I had previously ordered thinner tires (I had 25, ordered 23s) and also planned to replace my front derailleur cable. 3 hours later... lol I had a little problem with the cable that was a really simple fix, I just needed to figure it out my self. While I was changing one of my tires I accidentally pinched my old tube into the new slimmer tires. That sucker popped and I can't tell you how loud that ways. My ears hurt and everything was sorta muffled for the next hour. I didn't realize that I would need to trim the derailleur cable after installation. I thought they were standard size. Wire cutters don't work because they just fray the cable. off to buy a cable cutter. $30 later... I picked up some gels that were on sale for $0.79. One Gu blackberry and a Gu Vanilla. If they taste good I'll go back and pickup more. I also wrapped my aero bars but didn't have handlebar tape so they are duct tapped. VERY CLASSY. I'm such a noob I can't get over it. Regardless, I feel that my way awesome triathlete skillz (yup, with a "z") jumped a few points. Along with setting up bike shop in my living room, I cleaned out my closet and donated a Subaru Impreza car full (seats down) of clothes, shoes and accessories to Goodwill. My closet, sadly, still looks packed. I'm working out getting rid of junk this year. I went through some paperwork and shredded a ton of old tax stuff (older than 5 yrs) and bills. I had planned on going on a nice bike ride on this sunny day but between Portland, Trivia, Cleaning, and fixing it was 5pm before I got a chance to go out. I rode on my trainer for about 40 minutes and my computer said 15 miles (again, trainer miles so it could mean anything).

Spring Cleaning

I ventured out to Portlandia this morning at the spry time of 6:30am to meet my friend ZG for a coffee and shoe exchange. I rode the Max in because I'm not stupid enough to drive downtown on the parking lots known as 217 and Hwy 26. I got really ambitious last night and planned to Max into Portland then bike back home. Well it was 31 degrees this morning and my car was frozen over. No biking.

ZG and I met up at a coffee shop called Fehrenbacher Hof in Goose Hollow. ZG picked it because it was German. I agreed because it was right off the Max line.

After coffee and a GF pumpkin muffin we parted out ways and Miss PDX rode her bike to work.

When I got home, I planned to clean out some of my old clothes and donate them to Goodwill. I have a lot of clothes and I don't wear a lot of them. Seeing that I live at home with my mother, I also have some shoes and other things from high school. Here are the piles that would make a hoarder blush:

Yup. 10 pairs of shoes. The clothes I left out are for me mom to sort through. There are more hiding in the bags. She'll probably snag them all since she hates "wasting" things. bah. Is that a strobe light? Yes, yes it is. See that trophy? Yup 1st place dance competition back in the day. GLORY.

Now I'm off to work to play trivia. That is what us cool kids do on out days off.

The Morning After

I woke up this morning and didn't want to move my body. I was sore, but not as bad as Hood to Coast. Definitely worse than an Oly tri though. Drove back to Momma Bear's and then lounged around the rest of the day. My next race will likely be the Shamrock Run 15K. I would like to do a short 5K in February though. I'm poor. Someone registrar for me. Thanks. I successfully rotated the tires on my bike and I'm going to set out to replace the shift cable probably on Wednesday. The cable has been frayed since Bike Shop Tom from REI "tuned up" my bike when he really just F-ed it up and it came home with frayed cables. I didn't think this was that big of a deal until I realized that it was... such a n00b. I love that you can learn to do anything on You Tube. Fantastic.





Workout: 2000yd swim. legs feel better.

Cascade Half-Marathon

First Half-marathon did and done. The weather sucked. Really couldn't say much else. Sideways rain and killer wind. Could it be worse? Well, it could have been 30 degrees. It was in the 50's so I shouldn't complain. Though, the wind was really rough.

The first 3 miles were very crowded because we were sharing the same route as the 10K. I really tried to watch my Garmin carefully to slow myself down. I was still at a 8:00 pace. I also started getting a hot spot between my big toe and the one next to it (pointer toe?!). Throughout the run I consumed 2 Hammer electrolyte capsules and at miles 6 and 10 I had half of a PowerGel. I felt really good until just after mile 10. No surprise since most of my "long" runs have been 10 miles. Mile 11 was my slowest at 9:04. Mile markers 12 and 13 took FOREVER to pass. The entire run was on rural farmland and the start (local high school) wasn't in view until just after Mile 13. I sprinted in the last 200 meters and was very excited to be done. I was dragging towards the end and wanted to be done. My legs actually felt pretty good the whole time. No shin or knee pain and only until mile 10 did my hamstrings really start to feel tight. I felt walked after the finish and because there was no chip timing we had to stand inline for someone to collect the little thingies off our race numbers. I kind of forgot about my Garmin so i forgot to stop it after crossing the finish line. So, I'm pretty sure my actual time is at least a few seconds less than what I have below. Either way, I finished under my goal of 2 hours. Barely, but did it. I'm happy. I don't know how all of you crazies out there finish these things in 90 minutes or less.

I should also mention that TH Mama ran her first race in a long time. She competed in the 2 mile run. We started together but I lost her after we got out of the parking lot. I think it was awesome of her to sign up and I can't wait to see/hear about her triathlon this spring.

TH Mama and I waiting to start.

Her finish! I didn't see it, as I was out being blown away by the wind.

My finish. I guess I kept running past it?

The awesome tech t-shirts. It's hard to tell in the pic but they are Brooks and are that safety night green color. YAY. They ran a bit large though and ran out of XS.

Garmin Time: 13:20 miles; 1:54:27; 8:40pace

Happy Birthday..... to me!

No more running for me until Sunday morning. Thankfully, it is taper week. Un-Thankfully, it has been just days before the Cascade Half that my shins were roaring. I've been icing and planning on wearing calf compression to help survive Sunday. I know I will be able to finish, but I hate that I know it'll be THAT much more painful due to my shins.

Anyways, today is my birthday. I can now legally rent a car. Yes, I am THAT young. TH and I have plans to go to sushi for dinner. We are actually celebrating next weekend in Bend.

No crazy partying this year. I'm running 13.1 miles in a couple of days.

I had dinner with one of my friends last night. We were at Baja Fresh for nearly 2 hours chatting away about our lives. I hate that I never have time to hang out with people and it keeps getting pushed off.

I wish I had more to post today. I've been spending the past week in an intensive course on Law Practice Management. Interesting stuff to consider about starting your own solo practice. After taking the course I feel that starting my own practice is more attainable then I thought. There are also a lot more considerations that I thought. We'll see what the future holds.

Speaking about lawyering... It's crazy when I look at my Google Calender and see nothing but blank days after July. It's also scary because free days = unemployed. While I'm excited about the possibilities that lay ahead, I'm terrified as well. What if I don't pass the Bar? What if I don't get a job? What if I never work as a lawyer?! OMG


On another completely unrelated note: I want a sponsor. Not like Lance Armstrong/Nike sponsored, but like getting free products from companies sponsored. I know a lot of amateur, "hobby" athletes that are sponsored in one way or another and I want to know how they made that happen. Tips anyone?


OMG OMG Portland is offering another LongCourse Tri this Summer! It's also cheap (for a LC)

http://www.racecenter.com/stumptown/

Where'd you go?

I just glanced over my class's "facebook" and realized that there's a handful of my classmates that are no longer listed in the roster. I know of few who transferred or what not but there are a couple of former students that were here the past 2 years, but are gone now. Hum.. Where'd you go? Hope all is well.



Workout:
Run cold, painful, SLOW 5K this morning

Costco FTW! (I think)

I had a friend tell me today that there was GF bread at Costco and it was actually good! I Googled this and supposedly, the Oregon Costcos are having a special. I don't have a Costco card though. I'm not at home with Momma Bear at the moment and TH is in California! What IS a girl to do?!


The Beagle used the last of his doggie pain killers today. I hope tomorrow pans well for him. :/





Workout: No workout today. Leg (yup just one) uber sore from the track run yesterday. I better not be injured. It just feels like sore muscles in the side of my shin though, no bone.

Just so nobody gets jealous.

Here's a pretty realistic article from the NY Times. Now no one has to tell me repeatedly that I'll be rich. I would appreciate some pity instead of "Oh, you'll be rich and okay."




Workout:
10 mi run on the track. Not as boring as a dreadmill, but pretty darn close. I had 2 old men ask if I was getting dizzy from all the loops I was making. Smart asses.


Can you tell I'm in a whiny mood? No?

Getting old

not me, the Beagle.

Momma Bear and I decided to take him to the vet to get x-rays. Turns out, my lil man has a few herniated discs in his back. The vet said that he was showing signs of a lot of pain and that he was very very uncomfortable. :( I feel awful for the guy. We also found out about some arthritis in his back leg from the x-rays but the vet said that beagles are so muscular that they typically don't even notice any pain from that. We were sent home with muscle relaxants and pain killers and orders for no stairs, up or down. She wants to see The Beagle back in a few days to check on him. In the mean time he's all wonky from the drugs. Poor guy.


Workout:
50min spin class
Intervals with the running group. 3X 400; 1X 1600; 3X 400 with warmup and cool down and recovery. Total of about 6.5 miles.

Mixing things up

I decided to take a complete rest day. My knee is still sore and the weather sucks. 33 and raining. Blah. I still have a hard time just not doing anything because it makes me feel lazy. I decided to do some yoga with the Wii Fit. Did that then some boxing to round up my time to 60 minutes. 174 calories later (haha)... the stupid thing tells me to lose 10 lbs to be my "ideal" weight. While I agree with this, I hate having a machine telling me this. Those last 10 lbs means I have to eat healthier and less. Though 10 lbs less of Jayme would be ideal for my race weight... oh lord. Maybe after my birthday and cake.

GF SF Pumpkin Spice Granola

What is one of the most versatile snacks? Granola. It can be eaten with milk as a cereal, a topping for yogurt, and just a crunchy snack. A lot of store bought granola are full of fat, sugar, and gluten. They also have low nutrition levels.





I've made granola at home a few times before and it has turned out great.








Pumpkin Spice Granola





Ingredients:


1/4 cup maple syrup


1/4 cup honey


1/4 cup grapeseed oil


2 tablespoons pumpkin spice


dash of Cinnamon, all spice, and nutmeg


1 teaspoon on vanilla


2 teaspoons of salt (I like mine salty sweet, you might want to half the salt)


1/3 cup flax meal


2 heaping tablespoons of vanilla rice protein powder


1/2 cup water


1 and 1/2 cups of nuts (I used walnuts)


4 cups gf oats


** optional**: chopped dates, raisins, cranberries, etc. I didn't have either of these on hand but I highly recommend the dates. They are delicious in this.





Mix all the ingredients minus the oats and nuts. Stir in the oats and nuts until evenly coated. Spread onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 for roughly an hour. Check every 20 minutes to avoid burning the stuff. It also helps to stir the mixture around when you check.

I've finally found what was wrong with The Beagle. His somehow hurt his right front leg. I think it has something to do with the joint by his shoulder. This would explain his prior slow walking, reluctance to beg (highly unusual for my lil man), shivering (pain), and being lazy. He can still walk but is avoiding stairs. I doubt there is much a vet can do for him except recommend rest. I don't know. I'm going to give him a couple more days and if he's still sore, I'll take him in. He's eating fine, pooping fine and asides from not being as active, being his normal beagle self. I'm kind of upset the emergency vet didn't realize this. Especially since The Beagle yelps when you move that leg. He just gave The Beagle an anti-nausea injection. The vet supposedly asked if he normally had a good appetite. Anyone have experience with beagles? Right. I understand that vets don't have the luxury of having clients who can speak, but I feel like he should have maybe done a physical exam on The Beagle's movements. maybe he did... I don't know I wasn't there... but who knows. I guess just like with people doctors, there are good and not-so-good ones. *sigh*




Biggest Loser Season Premier! WOOT.



Workout:


Gym: 15 min each: Elliptical, stair climber, row, treadmill, recumbent bike, elliptical. Free weights for arms and core.





No running group tonight. My legs need some rest.

Visitor from India

Today I met up with my best friend ZG to exchange shoes and meet up for some coffee. She spent the last 5 and a half month teaching in India. Asides from being jealous of her adventures, it was good to catch up and learn some things about her trip. ZG has her medical school interview tomorrow so everyone wish her luck! We went over some "typical" med school interview questions and I tried to give my thoughts on appropriate responses. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her because she would be PERFECT as a med student.



Along with stories, she brought me back from Indian goodies:

Red stone bracelet which I can't wait to wear to work on Wednesday

Himalaya brand lip balm and eyeliner. Supposedly all natural and authentic. I guess everyone uses eyeliner in India. Perfect that eyeliner happens to be my favorite makeup of choice.

Stone elephants

Shoes made from Camel skin. They are hand embroidered and super cute! They are also super uncomfortable but are suppose to mold to your feet after a few wearing. I hope that is true because I love them.

The Beagle was really sick last night and went to the doggie emergency room. They couldn't find anything wrong. He's still a bit lethargic today but after feeding him some chicken broth and a baked potato, he seems to be a little better.

In the mean while he's not complaining about being baby-ed or laying in front of the fire.

Workout:
Sunday: 2000yd swim with TH
Today: 10 Mile run 1:27:36 time 8:45 pace

New Years and the Resolution 2011 5K

TH and I planned to have a night in with our friends, JD and fam. We had a friend drive up from Southern Oregon and another flew in from Eastern Oregon. We made fondue (cheese and chocolate) and strawberry margaritas, played some board games and nearly missed the countdown. We turned the TV on with 7ish seconds left. Good timing I suppose. After my tummy was filled with tequila, cheese, and chocolate we all got to bed because we had a race the next morning.

The aftermath of the fondue

Playing Cranium

Last NYE we all (more or less) ran the First Run and Walk 5K at the stroke of midnight. This year the same event planner held another 5K on the same course during New Years Day. We opted for the morning run since midnight is late for JD Junior (and TH). It was super cold in the morning but dry and sunny. Would have been perfect if not for the East winds coming from the Gorge. They were frigid!

My goal for the race was to finish under a 8:00 pace. I told myself that I was going to focus on pacing myself and not going out too fast. We started and again I had to slow myself down but thankfully I had the Garmin to tell me exactly how overly fast I was going. I slowed down to just below my 8:00 pace and I felt like I was jogging. It's interesting how my body has no idea of how fast or slow it's really going. I kept at that pace for the next 2 miles. At the end of mile 2, I picked up the pace a bit because I felt completely refreshed and fine. I picked up the pace, but not too much and then I had an all out sprint the last quarter mile. I ended up finishing in 23:37 according to chip timing. That put me at a pace of 7:36. I was pretty happy to see that because i just had the goal of finishing with an 8:00 pace. I ended up getting 2nd in my age group (20-24) but I've come to the realization that everyone in my age group was busy being hungover and not running. I compared my time to the runners the night before and I wouldn't have even made it top 10 in my age group. Regardless, I got myself a medal. I later scanned through the Garmin and my last mile was recorded at 7:26. This is interesting because when I did 1 mile intervals with my group Thursday night, that was just under my average time. Interesting. I want to do another 5K because I want to push myself harder because I felt so slow during this run. Aside from the last half mile, I really felt like I was jogging. I looked back at my results from last year and interestingly enough, My pace for that race was 8:01. I didn't even know I ran a 5K with that pace before. Still happy about knocking 25 seconds off my pace, but now I'm motivated to do more!

The JD family. JD Junior and his daddy did a great job! JD mama did fantastic too!



Our group after we all finished.

Workouts:

Friday: 15 min row machine, free weights for arms, core 1500M swim + 3- 50M sprints
Saturday: 5K race
Today: Possible swim with TH but no running since I poured boiling water all over my foot and it's burned. boooo