One of those days

I just didn’t have it today on my run.

I think I was bonking. That sounds dramatic, but I think as I get older I need to fuel myself more frequently for exercise. This notion doesn’t sit well with my WeWa self who wants to hoard points-  points points points vs. ap’s ap’s ap’s floating around in my head creating a ruckus of unfocused energy.

When I was younger, I could go out for 2 or more hours without breakfast and without eating while out on the trail. I tried that this morning: coffee for breakfast, followed by an hour of yoga, then off to a 4 mile run.  I could barely make 2 miles before I had to walk, and restarting the run was painful. I think if I had rested for a half hour after yoga to have a banana or some oatmeal, I’d have felt better on my run.

(But maybe I have swine flu. LOL!)

Poo Soup

I did pretty well in the Napa Valley Sprint triathlon. It rained the whole swim and bike ride, and was cold(water temps in the mid-60’s, air temps not much warmer) but I came in about 1:43. I was scared on my new bike on those slick roads being a fairly inexperienced road bike rider.

Buuuut…… I just completed the Tri Girl Tri Sprint Triathlon on Oct 4th, and I dropped 8 minutes off my last time!! I completed in 1:35:17. The weather was gorgeous, and the water temp about 72. That makes a huge difference.

Here are my splits:

1/2 mile swim – 13:32

11 mile bike- 49:something – I think it was actually 12 miles, but whatevs.

3 mile run- 29 something. I was just happy to be under a 10 min mile!

After the last triathlon, I’m back on the WeWa, seriously. I feel so competitive about my finish I just know if I dropped some lbs I would really be a contendah! I have my eye on next year.

I’m not much of a vegetable eater, so this is one of my challenges with improving my diet. I had all this leftover broccoli and some swiss chard so I threw it in a pot with some ff chicken broth, some ginger, garlic, celery, fresh thyme and fresh parsley.

I roasted a sweet potato I had on hand and threw that in too. 1C 1% milk and blended everything together into a creamy consistency.

It looks like something you’d find in a baby’s diaper, but it sure tastes good and it’s probably a cup of veggies.

New Bike!!

I feel like a little kid. Last weekend I went out and got a fancy carbon fiber Raleigh road bike for the triathlon I signed up for. My bike dealer gave me a great deal because it’s from last year.

I refuse to become a team spandex proseur though. We are innundated with Lance wannabes every weekend who drive up from the city and ride in packs of 20, creating a road hazard on blind corners and hilltops.  As much as I respect athleticism, and feel the healthy fear of being within inches of a couple of tons of 45 mph bone crushing automobile, I can’t tolerate the entitlement of some of the cyclists I encounter daily.

I rode my new bike out of my local bikeshop and right up White’s hill. I haven’t ridden a road bike in about, well, a couple of years. I had a bianchi I bought used off craigslist, but it was too big. I had no idea that a wrongly sized bike could exhaust me so thoroughly. Scared me too, going downhill. I felt completely out of control on that bianchi.

The first thing I noticed about riding my new bike is the gears are not granny compatible. I need to get stronger (weighing less would help) to use this gearing to get up hills. The second thing I noticed is that a good fitting bike is unbelievably fun to ride. I feel like I’m on a razor blade in a wind tunnel going down hill on this bike. Being carbon fiber, I can practically pick it up with my finger.

Now I am in the game. I am so excited about this triathlon, I have actually started looking around at other sprint distance events to get really going. I think I may sign up for the Vineman Showdown, too, even though its only about a month away.

Again, thanks Donut.

Tri the Dark Side

I was going to write a pathetic pitiful poor me post today about how disgusted I am with myself, how my knees hurt when I run, how I’m always out of breath, blah blah blah. I didn’t know how to start so I went downstairs and made a big fat waffle with butter and log cabin syrup (I’m on sick-child duty today- waffles were her idea, darnit).

Great idea. No inspiration in the waffle.

Then I went on WeWa to tally the damage, lurked a little on the boards, and  behold one of the regular invisipeeps started a Triathlon thread asking if anyone else had an interest in tri-ing.

Thank you Donut.Thank you thank you thank you.

You also inspired me to get my fahazatness out the door with the Nike + thingamajig that started this whole blog.  So I just signed up for the Napa Valley Sprint Triathalon. Then even have an Athena category for extralarge girls like me (over 160). Oh boy.  I dream of 160!

And I’m excited! This has turned my day around! I look forward to it! Now I just need to go get a bike…..

Running-Thing

DH says the sun head picture from my previous post looks like this ’70’s movie poster:

back on the trail

This is me this afternoon before I started my run. Yes, we have 65 degree weather when the rest of the country is socked in snow. This is abnormal. We are all a bit freaked that we don’t have rain.  But it’s great running weather!!

Less than a mile later I lay in the dirt with gravel in my palm and trail rash on my elbow, knee, and lower leg.

I tripped.  On nothing.

It’s kindof cool to trip and tumble when trail running, but more like when you are 85 miles into the Leadville 100 or something and you actually have an excuse. I’m just out of shape.

I’m about 2 months past my last unsuccessful embryo transfer for IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization).  Seventeen healthy embryos literally down the toilet. I haven’t got any profound insight on this as some women do. I didn’t experience any traumatic events, like carrying a baby nine months only to have it spontaneously abort, or be stillborn. I just can’t get pregnant. I’m one of those who is inexplicably infertile. No problems on the inside. Nothing abnormal with the husband… he has a daughter from a previous relationship. Nothing anyone can figure. I still haven’t figured out how I feel about this. Honestly, I think I’m relieved, though I know I would be a phenomenal mother, I have a fantastically close and loving family. I do wonder though about people who ARE allowed to get pregnant, and why God allows all these desperate children. I don’t know, and that’s all I’ve got.

So now, I am allowed to get my heartrate up again. I just wish I could get the notion into my head that zero point soup and water are just as fun as pizza and beer.

Geocaching

I discovered Geocaching accidentally while following links on the web.

I dug out my husband’s old GPS that he got as a gift a couple of years ago and programmed in the coordinates for my first cache find.

I was way off.

Turns out I am going to need a primer in Longitude/Latitude and general compass use. I am totally excited about this.

My newest hobby, as if I need another,  is to divert my attention away from my apparent inability to conceive. Maybe I will find a child in a basket on one of my rambles. I will name it Bill.

In spite of this setback, I am a lucky girl. My husband is building a workshop for me so that I don’t blow up his beloved collector car whilst pursuing my other hobby, steel working.

Yesterday, I plugged new and improved coordinates into my eXplorist, and ta-da! I found the cache!

It doesn’t look like much, but they are designed to be hidden, and once up at the location, Dutchman’s Rock, this is the view (that’s Dutchman’s Rock in the foreground):

And of course, my trailmate, ready for some water.

Today I am off to find another, maybe a couple. I am logging my finds on the site. After I find enough, I think I will hide some of my own. I look forward to geocaching in other states and other countries!

A month of pictures

July was eventful!

I celebrated the 4th in Coronado with my family. I am pretty sure this is the most patriotic 4th of July celebration on the west coast. I can’t think of too many patriotic cities between L.A. and Seattle, so it was fun to enjoy some good ole’ Americana.

The 16th was my third anniversary, and the 20th was my birthday, that I celebrated for a week!

Then at the end of July, we had visitors from Vancouver. I went to Alcatraz for the first time in my 15 years living in the SF Bay Area. It’s a common thing around here for locals to miss their own top tourist attractions. It was pretty amazing, and the audio tour makes up for the clusters of wandering tourist zombies one has to navigate upon arrival to Alcatraz. One thing they don’t mention about “The Rock”: it has practically become a bird sanctuary, and therefore smells like one. Pee-eeww.

One of my favorite places around here is West Marin. A highlight at the Saturday morning Point Reyes Farmers market, besides the famous Food Network TV chef-stars doing cooking demos at Toby’s feed barn, is the grilled egg & cheese sandwich tent. The whole sandwich is produced in West Marin, from the Brickmaiden bread, to the local organic eggs, and the grueyere cheese aged at the Cheese Factory on the Pt. Reyes-Petaluma road. Even the butter is whipped at one of our local dairies.

Here’s a happy cow, whose milk I may have consumed in the form of too much butter on my delicious breakfast sandwich:

Oysters are a big part of eating here. I personally loathe them, but I enjoy watching people enjoy them.

Point Reyes Beach.

10 Miles one way.

Good Running.

Since I’m on the subject…

Waaaaaay back in 2003, I had a severe and admirable notion of fitness. Today, I aspire to the me I was back then.

This picture displays a very proud me on top of Half Dome after my solo ascent. I actually trained for this climb, treating the strenuous hike as a trail run. Half Dome is approximately 15 miles (roundtrip) from Yosemite Valley.

I left Curry Village at about 5:30 am, and made it to the top third at 9:30 am, behind a very nice couple from somewhere in California, who snapped this picture for me with my disposable camera.

Anyone who has ever scaled Half Dome knows that by 11 am or so, the cables to the top are crowded with people. The final ascent is across an open granite dome and only accessible by your own climbing equipment, or the cables installed by the park service.

To give credit, the photo below is not mine, I stole it from this website to illustrate the crowded cables. Thank you Bill Wohler.

Yosemite!

When I worship, Yosemite is my church. Every time I go here I just feel glad to be alive.

My daughter took this picture of Vernal Falls from the pack trail.

I went last week with my daughter, her friend, and my friend. They went on a mule ride up to Vernal Falls. The half day ride was full except for three spots, so since I’ve done the climb to half dome via Vernal Falls, I opted out so that my girls and my friend could enjoy the drama of this accessible trip out of Yosemite Valley.

My daughter took this picture of Half Dome from the valley:

Notice how blue the sky is. This was last week, before California was set ablaze by weird unseasonable dry lightning strikes. The weather reports said that we had upper atmosphere storms, but that the lower atmosphere temperatures were so hot that the raindrops evaporated before hitting the ground.

I went back to get some alone time with Yosemite this week, and here is a picture of the view of Ten Lakes Basin north of Tuolomne in the high country:

You can’t see anything except for the foreground mountains because of the smoke from all the wildfires. It’s a shame for the folks who booked their Yosemite vacations a year in advance and flew from who knows where to be here. Like a couple I met from Switzerland who are through hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Philippe is a photographer, carrying 7 pounds of camera equipment from the Mexican border all the way to Canada. I gave them a ride half way to Lee Vining one morning, and they bought me a scone and coffee at the Tioga Pass Resort.

Here is my turtle shell, it has everything I need, and is very cozy:

I got excited and decided to do a 20 mile roundtrip hike from White Wolf Campground where I was staying to the Ten Lakes Basin. I made it to the Ten lakes pass (9000+ elevation) and took a shortcut back. I am still having trouble walking two days later. This was after 5.5 miles (I’m not looking like the adventurer I think I am):

I left White Wolf at 9:30am, and made it back out to the Tioga Pass road at about 4:30pm. During my 6 hours and 14 miles on the trail, I encountered a big, big, bear, a lone coyote, about a dozen deer, and 6 humans.

The people working at White Wolf told me that they knew of this bear, he is untagged, and the largest known in Yosemite. Forgive me for not whipping out my camera for a picture!