Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Treadmill Tuesday
I'm getting soft. I didn't want to run outside today because it was too cold when really, it wasn't all that cold. Regardless, I thought I'd be running alone, so opted for some indoor training.
It turned out my running partner, Bunny, met me at the gym and we did intervals on the treadmill. Since she's so much faster than me, it's a good way for us to do speed work together. We warmed up for a mile, then started out with 4x400 meters, with 1.5 minute intervals. It wasn't an exact science, meaning the intervals may have gone for two minutes, but you get the idea. I set the incline to 1.5 and the pace to 10:30. Usually when I'm on the dreadmill, 13 minute miles feels hard, so I figured 10:30 would really be a challenge.
It wasn't. We extended the repeats to 6, then 8. I was starting to wear down by the end. I couldn't understand why I was able to run so fast and figured it was the fact that Bunny was on the treadmill next to me. Then I remembered that I had a Grande latte and a cup of coffee before my workout. So maybe it was the caffeine. I normally don't drink coffee before a run because I read it dehydrates you, but maybe I should go to Starbucks before my next marathon. I hear there might be one in Seattle. :-)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Blast from the Past
Hi There! Happy New Year and I hope you had a nice holiday season.
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. And thanks for the gentle nudges from some of you, letting you know you missed me. Everythings fine, great even, but I haven't established a new routine for posting. In Minneapolis, I'd be home after a run and would post while the memory was recent. Here, I run, and then it's like the next day before I get computer time, and by then the iron is cold, so to speak.
So much has happened! SD is now officially retired. Now I need a job. ;-) No, it's not so bad, but it has been a big adjustment for me. I was used to having lots of alone time, which pretty much means doing whatever I wanted when I wanted. Like reading blogs till two in the morning, or making the bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. Now I have him around all the time, so my time is not my own. However, I've discovered the secret of surviving a spouse's retirment--"honey do's!" You know, "Honey, would you paint the garage door," etc. He'll either take up golf or we're going to have the spiffyest house in the neighborhood. :-)
But none of this has anything to do with running. I'm ramping up my mileage before I start marathon training. I've got a 21 week plan to follow and my next marathon is at the end of June (Rock n Roll Seattle.) In the past, I've rarely gone beyond 40 miles per week during training, and I want to amp that up to 50. I'm also used to running only 3 days a week and I'm trying to increase that to 5. Oy, all that laundry!
I've continued running with Bunny and some of the others in the group. Bunny is the most disciplined, though. Probably because she ran track in high school. We went for an 8-mile run last Thursday; it rained a little,, but not too bad. It was humid though, and I forgot to bring my water belt! I remembered when I was on the road, but if I had gone home to get it, I would have been late to meet her. She shared her water with me, though, and even had an extra GU.
Last Saturday, four of us ran an 8-mile race from San Simeon to Cambria. It was a beautiful route along the ocean on Highway 1. I wish I had a picture, because the sun was shining and the water was so blue. But it was hotter than we expected; I had a short-sleeve top under my jacket and had to remove the jacket within the first mile. I ran with S., who ran the Las Vegas half-marathon in December. It's funny, I ran the same course four days prior to the race, but I ran alone that day. I pushed myself and tried to not take walking breaks and ran 11:35/mile. However on race day, with S beside me, we ran 10:49/mile and that's with walking breaks every 9 minutes. I guess there's something to be said for competition! We started conservatively and passed several people. It was especially gratifying to pass runners who were decades younger than us. :-)
The hot weather didn't last though and we've had a lot of rain this past week. I'm not complaining, because we need it. California had such a bad fire season last year, that I want to reservoirs to fill up and the ground to get soaked. It's making the hills turn green, and that's really nice. There's so much moss dripping off the trees that it looks like Oregon!
I'll take some pictures when the fog clears, but for now I'll leave you with these. SD and I went to San Francisco the weekend before Christmas, just to enjoy the sights. I love the way Union Square is decorated for the holiday. It's not Rockefeller Center, but they put up a skating rink. This is the spot where the expo was for the Nike Women's Marathon, for those of you who were there.
The spot across the street in front of Macy's is where we had an RBF Meet-up before the 07 Nike Women's Marathon. Here are (l-r) Irene, Juls, Michele's friend, Elizabeth E-speed, Michele, and me. That's Juls son, YaYa, in front. I'll bet he looks much older now. Of course, the rest of us look younger. And thinner.
We went to a fabulous restaurant in this hotel. It's called Michael Mina and the experience was incredible! We ate in the bar to save money, but the food is fabulous and so was the service. If you go, I highly recommend the tuna. I can't describe it and do it justice, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you see the menu.
It's kind of old-lady, but whenever I go to San Francisco I have to buy a gardenia corsage from the flower vendor. The fragrance is so sweet, and I don't know any other place that offers these. I laughed when I pulled up the blogger photo and saw I was wearing a corsage that day too!
Have a great week, everybody. Stay warm!
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