smooooooth

he should really consult with me before doing anything like this. even for a role.

whatever. i wouldn't kick him out of bed for this.

the cake diet

last week, i made a red velvet layer cake. yum! it was sweet torture trying to finish the damn thing (i had cake at every meal!) but finally, by saturday we did. on sunday, i went to my brother's house and he had an orange zest layer cake! it was 10 times better than my red velvet cake and unlike anything i'm sure my parents have ever tried. so i brought some home for them...and we're STILL trying to finish up the leftovers. it's great...but oh so bad. i do not recommend the cake diet.

on the running front, we did 1.5 miles today. i'm not noticing any soreness afterwards or anything, but i am finding the sides of my calves to be really tight when running. it looks like i'm gonna have to dust off my yoga mat and get to doing some warrior poses. where is my yoga mat? i abandoned it sometime last summer...

p.s. how in the world do people fit in every aspect of working out? stretching, cardio, and strength training? i seriously find it hard enough to get in all my swimming and running workouts, much less adding more time for yoga AND strength training?

running with a 10 year old

my partner was attending to mom duties this morning so i thought i'd be bringing in the rear by myself today. not so. as the slowest runner i got the "stuck with" coach's son. he can't run the entire distance but he doesn't want to get bumped back into the run/walk group away from his dad. so when it became apparent that if i were to run my pace the kid would be left alone, i decided to stick with the kid.

to keep him motivated, we played the age old game of running from landmark to landmark with shortish breaks in between. i should have told him we were running a fartlek. i bet he would have gotten a kick out of that. for me, talking to a kid is much easier than talking to an adult. i found out he's 10, plays baseball and his favorite team is the red sox. he just started playing the clarinet and would rather have fridays off for 3 day weekends because he has band on monday. i was half tempted to ask about his dad but honestly, i'm not that interested.

so the kid and i finished up our mile and a half and joined the rest of the group to stretch. his dad thanked me profusely, but i was happy to help. besides i got another mile and half in myself afterward. and i have to say, my workout with the kid was much more enjoyable than my solo run.

talking to myself

am i the only one who needs to give themselves a pep talk in the morning?

even though i woke up ahead of my alarm, i didn't want to get up. i contemplated sleeping in. spending every last second i could in bed, but i wasn't sleepy. what would be the point in that?

but i knew that if i didn't get up with enough time to psych myself out for a positive day, i would be in a grump all day. and why waste a friday in a grumpy mood?

but still, it shouldn't require this much effort to get out of bed and be a productive member of society. please tell me i'm not the only one...

casual or tux?

i choose both. my pretend celebrity boyfriend is so hot. can we clone him? can i please shut up about him already?

no running or swimming today. i opted for martinis instead.

substitute teacher

judy was m.i.a. tonight so i had a sub. i can't for the life of me remember her name. something really happy though, like hope or something like that. anyway, judy left notes saying i needed help with my breathing. i told her i also had hip sinking issues. so straight away, she sent me across the pool. and when i reached the other side she said she didn't see anything wrong! wtf? back and forth i went and she only had positive remarks!

until i showed her my breast stroke. my pull was good, my kick was good. the timing of the two, not so good. apparently, the way i was doing it was very counterproductive. so we spent the bulk of my lesson retraining my brain and body to sync my stroke for optimum glide.

and get this dudes, i did my first flip turn! wahoo! i actually did a couple! and i didn't slam my feet on the wall. i haven't yet integrated it into my laps yet, but i still can't believe my feet made contact with the wall. pushing off is so much fun!

my sub also planted many many seeds in joining her and some of the other swimmers in doing some triathlons. they've got plans for the ice breaker in april and one in september. the baby tri looks doable: 400 yard swim, 6.5 mi bike, 2 mi run. BUT the bike course is windy and hilly. eeek! anyway, whether i join them in the race(s) or not, i'm hoping to get in some open water swims with them. or at the very least some swimming in the outdoor lap pool that is not heated. eeek!

she also planted seeds about joining masters swimming. this sub, i tell you, she's on crack. i'm honestly just getting used to working out 6 days a week. but honestly, i foresee some great, huge fitness strides this year. turning 30 is seriously gonna kick some serious ass!

night. rain. run.

running at night in the rain is freaking awesome!

granted we were only out for a mile, but it was a pretty exhilerating mile. at the end i didn't want to stop, but i also didn't want to seem like a showoff. i figure i can get my "real" miles in on thursday during my solo workout, and i'll try to squeeze in a few before my saturday group workout.

so far, the group thing is going well. i'm running faster than i would by myself, which probably has to do with the fact that i'm only running a mile for now. but i'll take it. and talking while running isn't as bad as i thought. especially when you only have to talk for a mile! the woman who is my pace is the newbiest of newbies but she seems very determined and even laughs when i'm trying to be funny. good enough for me.

i barely recognized gucci since she was decked out in a normal hoodie and hat. though i sadly admit, she finished before me. booooooo!

as for the coach with no wedding band, he's not the one with the annoying voice. and while he has no wedding band and is in fact pretty cute, i found out tonight he has a son. hmmmm...

oh and the headlamp? made me feel hardcore.



ps neither running coach nor phelps twin look as good as eric. *swoon*

no holiday for me

one word for today's swim workout: eh.

i was tired going into my workout and felt tired throughout. i almost feel like i'm a worse swimmer now. thinking way too much about my hips which do nothing but sink. but i know i'm not really worse, i just feel that way because i keep concentrating on the one thing that still really sucks about my form. any tips on keeping my hips up where they need to be?

now that i can swim more than one length of the pool without dying, i've been doing some research on beginning swim workouts to help build endurance. i read somewhere that i should take my time on swimming 500m and use that time to measure my progress. i cut that distance to 200m.
100: 2.43
100: 2.54
T: 5:37

i also worked on somersaults today and i totally rocked them! i even tried getting closer and closer to the wall of the pool. my big fear is flipping over and slamming my feet and ankles on the lip of the pool. OW! and i still don't know how i'm not gonna get dizzy from flipping each time i reach the end of the pool.

tomorrow night is our second group run. it's supposed to rain. we have to bring flashlights or headlamps. what in the world is gucci hat gonna do? i've got an hour and a half between the end of work and the start of our workout. if i go home in between i totally see myself napping right through the workout. the other option is to get dressed at the gym and get in a good lifting session.

ugh.

natalie and scarlett who?

the other boleyn girl is coming out soon and the media is in a frenzy interviewing and snapping shots of the two main actresses. but you all know why i've been dying for this movie to finally come out:



can we all just breathe a collective sigh? *swoon*

saturday

i woke up at around 630 with lots of time to kill before my group run. i did some laundry, ate breakfast, surfed the net...by the time i was out the door for my run i was already feeling tired!

i don't really feel like going into all my first impressions and observations. but i will say this:

1. the head coach's voice is really annoying.
2. i am probably the 3rd youngest person there.
3. my running coach did not have a wedding band on.
4. i was the second to last runner to finish our mile and i was pushing it even though they told us not to. i came in around 10 minutes.
5. the one who finished last was wearing a gucci hat. and makeup.

when we finished we stretched, i picked up my shirt and drove to the lagoon to fit in another 2 miles. 2 very uninspired miles, but done nonetheless.

i showered, changed, ran some errands, and am now back in the bed for a post lunch nap. i think my workout from friday wiped me out. my hamstrings are sore.

happy saturday y'all.

p.s. i ended up staying in last night with a movie: notes on a scandal. holy crap! that's some intense effed up shite right there!

FRIDAY NIGHT!

at 5 pm, it was 58 degrees and sunny. i knew i had at least an hour left of daylight and i wasn't going to waste any more time in my car than i had to. i drove to the gym, changed, and headed outside for an easy 2 miler. but despite nature handing me the most perfect running weather, i hadn't planned the most perfect running route. i ran along busy streets, with heavy traffic, past numerous smelly gas stations, and several fast food restaurants. blech. but whatev. i got my some much needed vitamin k and logged 2 miles.

then i headed inside to the pool for some laps. i warmed up with 50m of freestyle kick, then 50m breaststroke kick. then i did 100m pulling, 100m breastroke, 100m freestyle. then repeated that set and cooled down the same way i warmed up. then i practiced my somersaults. they're definitely getting better, but i could only do about 5 before starting to get dizzy.

so that's it folks! the weekend has officially started...and i'm off to the movies!

FRIDAY!

I'm finding it very hard to concentrate at work today!

pain in the neck

is it possible to get whip lash in your sleep?

or maybe it's meningitis.

whatever it is, dudes it hurts! my neck is so stiff and so freaking sore, it hurts when i'm not even moving. i was roused from deep sleep at around 4am that's how bad it hurt.

the odd thing is that this neck pain is more frequent than ever. something i've picked up in my late, late 20s. stress? bad posture?

or maybe my brain is just getting heavier and denser and my poor little neck just can't support it. or maybe i'm just getting old.

hump day

no inspiration for a title today dudes.

went to the "informational" meeting on the training group and signed up. of the 75 people, 80% are run/walkers. the upside is that i'll get more one on one attention from the one coach dedicated to the runners. the downside is that the training schedule is like ridiculously easy (so i say now) they have threatened tuesday speed workouts, so i might change my mind once those start. once i get back into the swing of things, i might just start tacking on some miles on the saturday "long run" workouts to get me ready for the 10k in april. and once i'm done with the group, i'll be back up in mileage to run with the normal free running groups that also meet on saturdays, until i have to buck up for CIM training! but for now, our first group workout is saturday where we have to walk a mile (snooooze). tomorrow i'm going to try to run two.

went to my swim lesson tonight. last week i missed it because i went home in between work and class and totally fell asleep. HA! luckily they didn't make me pay for that lesson. we did a lot of pulling today to get me to keep my damned hips up. my stroke is kicking ass and my kick is great when i'm kicking with the board. but putting the two together and down go my hips. we also spent some time treading water which got my arms very sore...though that's a good thing. getting an upper body workout without having to lift a weight is ideal.

ok peeps, sorry for the boring post. the good news is that spring is in the air...at least here!

12 weeks to a 5k?

my local running store runs a variety of training groups. i missed the sign up for the half marathon, and the marathon group doesn't start up til june. what they're running now is a "no boundaries" 5k group. i'm thinking of joining for a couple reasons:

1. i am coming off an injury, one that will reoccur if i overuse too quickly.
2. i would like to meet new peeps.
3. i would like to run outside and really only feel safe doing it with other people while it's dark.
   
4. i'm hoping a group would keep me motivated and consistent with training.

but...the program is 12 weeks! 12 weeks to train for a 5k? they say it's not just for wanna-be runners, but also for people easing back into running or anyone looking to better their time. but 12 weeks seems like a long time. i had originally planned on taking 8 weeks to train for a 10k.

even so, i think i may check out the informational meeting tomorrow. saturday's the first workout but once we pay and we get the training schedule there are no refunds. even if the training may seem slow, training with the group seems to have more benefits than training alone does right now. and perhaps i can supplement the workouts by adding time in before or after the workouts.

we'll see...i don't even know if the group thing will suit my personality.

p.s. i finally broke it off with MH tonight. it's been weighing on me for quite some time and every time i would try to do it, i just couldn't. i'll spare you the details. it wasn't terribly messy, part of me thinks he saw it coming, but he made it very clear there is no room for friendship.

it's not that i'm heartbroken. maybe a little sad. but honestly, more relieved. it really was the right thing to do for a lot of reasons. though, this may be the first time i'm a little sad on valentine's day.

i love running, again!

and swimming...

but first, the running. 5k today in perfect conditions. 45 and sunny. a leetle windy but nothing too bad, once you got moving. my goal: to finish. my hope: that i could still run the entire distance.

and i did! as i got ready this morning, the process of getting dressed, lathering on the bodyglide, and lacing up the shoes, i felt like it all started coming back to me. that routine which i had abandoned for a quarter of the year still felt familiar.

taking my first steps and breath of the brisk morning air, i knew i was home again. it felt so good, almost like i'd never been away. i found a rhythm early, albeit a slow one, and i honestly felt like my whole body was singing.

not to say it was effortless. it was uncomfortable at times, but the idea of finishing without stopping kept me going. passing people kept me going. so i kept going, right on down to the finish line! time: 37:34 my watch is being dumb right now, but i ran each mile in a little over 12 minutes, with my last mile being the fastest.

definitely not a noteworthy time, but a fun, fun run nonetheless.

now onto my swimming. in one lane there was a dude, a serious swimmer doing serious laps. not once during the entire time that i was there did i see him stop. he was joined by his bionic twin and they caused many a wave in the pool. i shared a lane with a serious chick. at first she made me nervous, but i decided to take advantage of the opportunity and observe her. without being obvious of course because that would be creepy. somehow swimming next to her pushed me to do better. i thought, let's see if i can go across and back without stopping. even if i have to stop in the middle on the way back. and wouldn't you know i made it all the way both ways! HUGE breakthrough! i did a couple more laps like that with rests in between the 50 m. i was like floored. and totally stoaked.

then at some point i thought, hmmm maybe i can do 3 times across? well my friends, 3 turned into 6! SIX! wtf!? the cool thing is i didn't feel out of breath or totally crazed like i do sometimes when i can complete only 1. maybe i had "endurance" on the brain and that sustained me and calmed me the entire distance.

i left the pool feeling like a mother effing rockstar.

i also practiced flip turns and was finally able to do a decent somersault. but no flip turn. i hate feeling dizzy though and i don't know how i'm not gonna get seasick once i start to get some real laps in.

so that's the end of my athletic adventures! it's a great way to start my weekend. let's just hope i don't twist my ankle again tonight while i'm shakin' my thang on the dance floor. i want to keep this momentum going!

sleep through the static

everything you loved about jack johnson PLUS some electric guitar.

i'm swooning. and going running!

my potty humor

so you know how work email accounts usually go first initial last name@whatever.com? like jdoe@whatever.com.

today, i received an email from a Catherine Litsinger....

no joke. and not spam.

seriously, made coming into work today totally worth it.

running redemption and amendment to my 2008 goals

while my swimming has picked up, my running has been non-existent. for roughly 3 months. it's been part burn-out, part injury, part wintertime blahs. after letting a whole month of the new year tick by without so much as a trot around the block, i'm making february the month i fall in love with running again.

saturday, i'm running a 5k. the same one i ran last year to kick off my running season. i certainly won't PR, like i did last year. i may even have a personal worst. even so, i'm going to do my damnedest to run every inch of the race, even if i resort to the kind of shuffling you see bleary eyed marathoners do in the 24th mile. i really do expect to do horribly. but that's ok. i'm hoping the black and white numbers of my crappy time and the burning in my lungs will light a fire under my ass.

the real race i'm training for is on april 5. it's a 10k through the carneros vineyard. the $30 registration fee includes a tshirt (duh), pancake breakfast, commemorative wine glass, wine tasting, and a raffle ticket for more schwag from the winery. pretty sweet, huh?

i've got to get in good shape by then because the second half of the year is when i have my big races planned. in may, i'm planning to run bay to breakers. i have planted a seed in several of my cousins' minds about running/doing it together. let's hope they come through.

the summer brings several options. in june, i had originally planned to run a 10k through a different winery, whose amenities include a big barbecue party, but i might swap that out for the napa-sonoma half marathon in july. and i would start marathon training the week after that. i'm planning to do my training with a group this time.

i have 3 opportunities to do the aquathlon, as it is held once in june, july, and august. i'm guessing that i won't be ready until august, if i'm ready at all. open water swimming ain't no joke and if i'm not ready to swim 1.5k without the safety of a pool, i'll find a different swimming challenge. and then there's the matter of wetsuit vs no wetsuit. blech. i'm not trying to be a quitter here, just realistic.

i'm aiming for a december marathon. CIM is the front runner, but las vegas is a close second. i also considered seattle, which is the end of november.

everyone and their mother

it was a dark and story saturday night. i thought for sure that the pool would be nice and empty. and it was....to begin with. i got there and there was only one chick in the pool and someone's uncle jeb in the spa. seriously, dude had curly mullet, handlebar mustache, and a gold chain on his hairy chest. blech.

i warmed up a few laps and then the crowds came. like out of nowhere. through every door possible. phelps twin and his tubby sidekick, another dude that look like he belonged to them and what looked like his little sister. luckily they stayed away from my lane but they were making tons of waves. i felt like i was in the ocean or something. as i ended my 5th or 7th lap, a dude asked to share my lane. then his wife came along and we had three in one lane!

it didn't start off a good workout, as i felt really slow and tired, and the hoardes of people were a bit of a distraction. but after awhile, by concentrating on tuning them out, i think i was able to concentrate more on swimming too. i barely used the board because it was hurting my shoulders. i concentrated mainly on getting consecutive laps in and pulling when i got tired. i also found i can take 6 strokes between breaths. when i'm not tired that is. towards the end, i got back down to 4. but i felt much improved and faster when i could breath in 6.

i have no idea how many laps i did total or how long i worked out since i left my watch at home. so i used the good ol' exertion test and quit when i was spent. by then the pool was empty. i meant to practice flip turns but only remembered when i was in the shower. DOH!