I was up this morning at about 4am with the race day jitters, EVEN THOUGH I was only running 7 miles. Not sure what that was, but ready I was. I put on my silly outfit and made my way downtown. I got to see some fast runners go by, then some familiar faces as I waited for my relay teammate that I had never met. It was pretty easy to spot someone dressed exactly like I was. (although she was about 5 feet tall so the shorts looked a little more normal on her!) I took off and just tried to warm up a bit since it was pretty chilly at 6:30 am and a little misty. It was such fun having so many people to run with. I am not used to that. The Boston Marathon usually left me with all the stragglers in the way way back of the pack. It could get lonely out there. But here in San Diego practically half of the runners are with TNT and they are all running about a 4:30-6 hour marathon. I forgot how much running on the highway sucked and I pretty much felt like I was going to fall over because it was so slanted. Unfortunately it was like that for a good 4 miles. I met some interesting people along the way and kept at about a 10 minute mile, which is actually pretty good for me. I upped it for the last mile and a half and ran 9 minute miles which is even better for me. I finished and passed off our drumstick (rock n roll marathon....get it?) and walked another 3 miles to try to meet up with Brian since most of the roads were closed. I ended up waiting on a corner where there was a group of jokesters from a local bar. They had a whole crazy set up, couches, tables, tv's, and a treadmill. The best part was there was a guy about 75 on the treadmill barely moving, and he was already up to 16 miles for the day (he started at 5am), they were taunting the runners with bagels, donuts and jello shots and I was shocked at how many took them up on the offers! I can't even imagine downing a donut with another 13 miles to go, but to each his own! Brian said "well you slammed down beers at Fenway" I had to let him know that having one mile left is a whole different beast than having 13 more to do!Sunday, May 31, 2009
Balls n Dolls
I was up this morning at about 4am with the race day jitters, EVEN THOUGH I was only running 7 miles. Not sure what that was, but ready I was. I put on my silly outfit and made my way downtown. I got to see some fast runners go by, then some familiar faces as I waited for my relay teammate that I had never met. It was pretty easy to spot someone dressed exactly like I was. (although she was about 5 feet tall so the shorts looked a little more normal on her!) I took off and just tried to warm up a bit since it was pretty chilly at 6:30 am and a little misty. It was such fun having so many people to run with. I am not used to that. The Boston Marathon usually left me with all the stragglers in the way way back of the pack. It could get lonely out there. But here in San Diego practically half of the runners are with TNT and they are all running about a 4:30-6 hour marathon. I forgot how much running on the highway sucked and I pretty much felt like I was going to fall over because it was so slanted. Unfortunately it was like that for a good 4 miles. I met some interesting people along the way and kept at about a 10 minute mile, which is actually pretty good for me. I upped it for the last mile and a half and ran 9 minute miles which is even better for me. I finished and passed off our drumstick (rock n roll marathon....get it?) and walked another 3 miles to try to meet up with Brian since most of the roads were closed. I ended up waiting on a corner where there was a group of jokesters from a local bar. They had a whole crazy set up, couches, tables, tv's, and a treadmill. The best part was there was a guy about 75 on the treadmill barely moving, and he was already up to 16 miles for the day (he started at 5am), they were taunting the runners with bagels, donuts and jello shots and I was shocked at how many took them up on the offers! I can't even imagine downing a donut with another 13 miles to go, but to each his own! Brian said "well you slammed down beers at Fenway" I had to let him know that having one mile left is a whole different beast than having 13 more to do!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Prune toes
I woke this morning to a text asking me "are you still riding today in the rain?" Hmmn I didn't know it was supposed to rain. I watched the weather and they really did not say much, so I just got ready and off I went. I actually had to use my windshield wipers on the ride out to meet up with my team. That almost NEVER happens in sunny San Diego. As I am getting ready I realize it is going to be a very wet ride and I was ill prepared. Luckily I ended up receiving my full fundraising TNT jacket. Its fluorescent green and purple but everyone in San Diego gets one once you meet your fundraising minimum. I was a little out of it this morning and started doing the whole "fat guy in a little coat" as I stood in the middle of my team circle. I then look to my left and my mentor was videotaping the whole thing. I'm sure he'll post that soon so i'll be sure to share that just in case any of you were missing seeing me make an ass out of myself on a regular basis.
A few people got back in their cars and decided not to do the ride because of the conditions. My coach just continued with his mischeivous little smirk and I knew we were still riding. Since it never rains here the roads build up quite a bit of junk and when it rains it gets very slick. We just kind of took our time and played it safe. I almost bit it once but was not really going very fast so I was able to steady myself before I fell over. PHEW! Four teammates actually all hit the same glassy patch and all got flats. Then a woman I was riding with had some damage to her bike so we had to make sure she was okay. So the ride took a little longer than normal, but I felt pretty good. My coach rode with me a bit and suggested I get my cadence up because if I keep riding like I have been my legs will be toast for the run. It just means that I have to go into an easier gear and work my legs really fast, instead of moving them slower but harder and going way faster. That mainly means that I can't keep up with my friends on rides and then end up somewhere in between groups and ride alone which I am not a fan of. Especially since I am lazy and don't like to look at the cue sheets that tell us where to go. Oh and towards the end of the ride on one of the paths we were on there was a snail mass suicide. There were hundreds and hundreds of snails crossing the bike path. Lets just say that some made it, some did not.
Anyways we made it back to base and took off running in the canyons. It was a great path and the only thing I had to watch out for was lots of horse poop. People ride their horses through here. Smelt awesome. I felt really good and was really comfortable running about a 11-12 minute mile.I would be happy with that on race day. Granted I only ended up doing about 3 miles because I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow to join a relay team for the Rock N Roll marathon. While I was very excited at the thought of this, actually getting up and running the most desolate and slanted part of the race is really not so appealing. Out of hte 6.5 miles that I will be running only 1 is on roads that I will see people. The other is on the highway that I recall HATING the year I did it because it was so slanted it felt like you would fall over. Not a good thing for me since my legs are already different lengths. Oh well what are ya gonna do right??? It should be interesting trying to make my way back to my house after ending somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Now I am off to volunteer for the TNT. Since about 5000 or so TNT runners come into town for this event they need plenty of help with their pasta party. This is the same party that I won the motorcycle at 6 years ago. Ah the memories. I will be collecting raffle tickets (which I believe will be for this years big prize) funny how all things come around full circle. I'm sure I will cry at least 5 times tonight listening to stories and speakers.
Maybe it will give me some good ideas for the speech I was asked to give before our triathlon!!!
A few people got back in their cars and decided not to do the ride because of the conditions. My coach just continued with his mischeivous little smirk and I knew we were still riding. Since it never rains here the roads build up quite a bit of junk and when it rains it gets very slick. We just kind of took our time and played it safe. I almost bit it once but was not really going very fast so I was able to steady myself before I fell over. PHEW! Four teammates actually all hit the same glassy patch and all got flats. Then a woman I was riding with had some damage to her bike so we had to make sure she was okay. So the ride took a little longer than normal, but I felt pretty good. My coach rode with me a bit and suggested I get my cadence up because if I keep riding like I have been my legs will be toast for the run. It just means that I have to go into an easier gear and work my legs really fast, instead of moving them slower but harder and going way faster. That mainly means that I can't keep up with my friends on rides and then end up somewhere in between groups and ride alone which I am not a fan of. Especially since I am lazy and don't like to look at the cue sheets that tell us where to go. Oh and towards the end of the ride on one of the paths we were on there was a snail mass suicide. There were hundreds and hundreds of snails crossing the bike path. Lets just say that some made it, some did not.
Anyways we made it back to base and took off running in the canyons. It was a great path and the only thing I had to watch out for was lots of horse poop. People ride their horses through here. Smelt awesome. I felt really good and was really comfortable running about a 11-12 minute mile.I would be happy with that on race day. Granted I only ended up doing about 3 miles because I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow to join a relay team for the Rock N Roll marathon. While I was very excited at the thought of this, actually getting up and running the most desolate and slanted part of the race is really not so appealing. Out of hte 6.5 miles that I will be running only 1 is on roads that I will see people. The other is on the highway that I recall HATING the year I did it because it was so slanted it felt like you would fall over. Not a good thing for me since my legs are already different lengths. Oh well what are ya gonna do right??? It should be interesting trying to make my way back to my house after ending somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Now I am off to volunteer for the TNT. Since about 5000 or so TNT runners come into town for this event they need plenty of help with their pasta party. This is the same party that I won the motorcycle at 6 years ago. Ah the memories. I will be collecting raffle tickets (which I believe will be for this years big prize) funny how all things come around full circle. I'm sure I will cry at least 5 times tonight listening to stories and speakers.
Maybe it will give me some good ideas for the speech I was asked to give before our triathlon!!!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The King of the Road
This week's breakdown and shakedown.
Sunday- I got my whimpy ass to the La Jolla Cove where I met up with fellow woosies (you know who you are) and LG (not a woos at all). The cove is a beautiful area where many people and divers go to snorkel and look at all the fishies. While I too enjoy snorkeling, there is something different between snorkeling, and then swimming, with wildlife all around. I would also like to note that there are many many seals in the area, and we all know what kind of large fishies like to eat seals....SHARKS!! So we walked up and must have had a terrified look on our faces because the firemen asked "what are you looking at?" we replied "searching for any signs of sharks." They laughed and walked away. A few minutes later I heard one of them say "shark" and I nearly lost it, and he said "no no no I was just repeating you." Then they went on to say, "it takes a shark about 3 minutes to completely eat you and it takes us about 8 minutes to get out there on the jet skis." GREAT!!!
We suited up and got into the water. The reefs are literally right at the edge of the beach so right away we were surrounded by many fishies. Now I am not even sure why we bother swimming in the pool and working on our form, because once I get into the open water I am just a flailing body trying to go in one direction and not die. I swallowed so much water and refused to look down. I made sure to stay close to my swimming buddy and just focused on LG, fortunately she pulls to the left and I pull to the right, so we kind of kept eachother straight. My least favorite part was swimming through the kelp, they don't call it "kelp forest" for nothing!
We made it out in one piece and stood there waiting for our mates that went a little farther. I felt so Californian with my wet suit pulled halfway down and the bikini top on, should have taken a picture.
Monday I took off for a much needed day of rest. I spent memorial day learning to embroider and I was quite suprised by my efforts. I am going to do some fun tank tops for people. I'll post pics of my first one once its completed.
Yesterday was another beatdown at Rehab United. Lesley returned from her weekend triathlon and she placed 2nd! We did a 4 minute warm up of 15 minutes standing 15 minutes seated for 4 minutes. then did a pyramid of all out 15 seconds, rest 15, all out 30, rest 30, and increased it by 15 seconds all the way up to 90seconds. Then did a circuit of lifting and jumping and silly things like that and then did it all over again. It was a great workout once again.
Tonight I attempted to run. I was going to go around mission bay but realized I had no idea where I was going so I did 2 loops at Fiesta Island. Around mile 5 I literally felt like my entire stomach was spasming, it was some serious cramping like I have never experienced before. I was close to tears and just plain embarassed since the bikers were passing me over and over again probably wondering why I was looking so pained. I just tried to plug through it and eventually made it back to my car. I did 8.5 miles but wanted to do 9.5. Oh well.
On a more exciting note, my brother and I bought my dad a Harley Davidson for his birthday and for being an all around kick ass guy. Mark and Dad saw one that he fell in love with this weekend while they were in Indiana for a race and we decided to go for it. He is so excited and I can't wait to see pics of him on his black cherry Road King!!!! He deserves it and then some!!!
Sunday- I got my whimpy ass to the La Jolla Cove where I met up with fellow woosies (you know who you are) and LG (not a woos at all). The cove is a beautiful area where many people and divers go to snorkel and look at all the fishies. While I too enjoy snorkeling, there is something different between snorkeling, and then swimming, with wildlife all around. I would also like to note that there are many many seals in the area, and we all know what kind of large fishies like to eat seals....SHARKS!! So we walked up and must have had a terrified look on our faces because the firemen asked "what are you looking at?" we replied "searching for any signs of sharks." They laughed and walked away. A few minutes later I heard one of them say "shark" and I nearly lost it, and he said "no no no I was just repeating you." Then they went on to say, "it takes a shark about 3 minutes to completely eat you and it takes us about 8 minutes to get out there on the jet skis." GREAT!!!
We suited up and got into the water. The reefs are literally right at the edge of the beach so right away we were surrounded by many fishies. Now I am not even sure why we bother swimming in the pool and working on our form, because once I get into the open water I am just a flailing body trying to go in one direction and not die. I swallowed so much water and refused to look down. I made sure to stay close to my swimming buddy and just focused on LG, fortunately she pulls to the left and I pull to the right, so we kind of kept eachother straight. My least favorite part was swimming through the kelp, they don't call it "kelp forest" for nothing!
We made it out in one piece and stood there waiting for our mates that went a little farther. I felt so Californian with my wet suit pulled halfway down and the bikini top on, should have taken a picture.
Monday I took off for a much needed day of rest. I spent memorial day learning to embroider and I was quite suprised by my efforts. I am going to do some fun tank tops for people. I'll post pics of my first one once its completed.
Yesterday was another beatdown at Rehab United. Lesley returned from her weekend triathlon and she placed 2nd! We did a 4 minute warm up of 15 minutes standing 15 minutes seated for 4 minutes. then did a pyramid of all out 15 seconds, rest 15, all out 30, rest 30, and increased it by 15 seconds all the way up to 90seconds. Then did a circuit of lifting and jumping and silly things like that and then did it all over again. It was a great workout once again.
Tonight I attempted to run. I was going to go around mission bay but realized I had no idea where I was going so I did 2 loops at Fiesta Island. Around mile 5 I literally felt like my entire stomach was spasming, it was some serious cramping like I have never experienced before. I was close to tears and just plain embarassed since the bikers were passing me over and over again probably wondering why I was looking so pained. I just tried to plug through it and eventually made it back to my car. I did 8.5 miles but wanted to do 9.5. Oh well.
On a more exciting note, my brother and I bought my dad a Harley Davidson for his birthday and for being an all around kick ass guy. Mark and Dad saw one that he fell in love with this weekend while they were in Indiana for a race and we decided to go for it. He is so excited and I can't wait to see pics of him on his black cherry Road King!!!! He deserves it and then some!!!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Sea Breezes
Our trip to the Cabrillo National Monument from Belle's perspective. One of the most beautiful places I have seen in San Diego. Nice hikes and lots of fun tide pools to search for sea creatures. Its still fun to flip over rocks and see whats underneath! Reminds me so much of Bar Harbor and EAGLE RAKE!!!!!Will post more pics once Bri sends me his pics.
"You haven't lived!"
I was pretty much a bum on Friday. I was planning on doing the La Jolla cove swim with my team. HOWEVER I am just scared, and a you know what, and will find ANY excuse to swim elsewhere. My friend Katie and I are both wooses, so we quickly talked our ways out of the swim. She at least made it to the pool, I made it to the couch for a nap, then out to our favorite Italian restaurant for some homemade gnocchi and the most amazing artichoke I have ever eaten (it was boiled in water and white wine, then sauteed with garlic, had a very long eatable stem...yum). Whatever its a recovery week.
The alarm went off at 6 today and I started my Saturday rituals (packing my bag, making sure I have all my essentials, spraying lots of sunblock, loading the bike on my car....you get the idea). Since it is a recovery week we were ONLY doing 26 miles. We met at the UCSD campus, and had a training on how to give and receive water bottles while remaining on your bike. Apparently on the course they have two stations to refuel. Some people practiced "bunny hops" in which you would hop over debris with your bike. That just sounded like a sure trip to the dentist for losing my teeth so I just stuck to the handoffs.
We got our course stats for the day and I quickly noticed that there were a few streets with the word "mountain" in them. That typically means a nice climb. The hills I can handle, but then I see that we are riding on the 5!! In case you are wondering, that is the largest freeway in San Diego. As coach Trent said "you haven't lived until you've ridden on the freeway." I was a little scared but kind of psyched. We took off and were quickly turning onto the onramp. It was so exhilarating and fun to have cars whipping by you going 70+ mph. My friend Katie and I pretty much hysterically laughed at ourselves at this point. I can only imagine what people on the highway thought. Apparently it is legal at this part but I am not so sure. We soon hit the Sorrento Valley hill which did not look like much but boy it was a doozey. It was only about 3 miles into our ride so a bit tough to get your body acclimated to that. Needless to say my heartrate was way up and I was panting like a boston terrier. Next up was Black Mountain road, which was actually not as bad as the hill before. At the top of this was our trusty SAG man Marty. If he were fast enough he would have caught a picture of me peeing in a median, but I was too quick for him. Would have been a good pic though. Next time. Next we got on the 56 bike path and headed towards the 101 to go up Torrey Pines. This is the same hill that I struggled with months ago. Today it felt like a bump in the road. I could not be happier. My heartrate stayed pretty steady and I stayed in my middle gear the whole time. At one point a large group of older men were riding by me. One of them had a very strange looking bike so of course I inquired about it. One guy (Carl) responded "its for his neck, no neck pain at all anymore" my reply "really have you got anything for vagina's?" The guy nearly fell off his bike after asking me to repeat myself about 4 times before he believed what was coming out of my mouth. We quickly introduced ourselves and we gabbed all the way up the hill. That probably made things go by a bit quicker as well. All in all a great ride.
About 10 or so of us went out for some grub after and I so very much enjoyed my mimosa, oh and bacon, and french toast, and eggs. YUM.
Todays garmin stats:
timing: avg speed 12.4, max 30.8
elevation: 2228 elevation gain
Heart rate: average 160, max 182
Time: 2:07, distance 26.37 miles
calories burned: 1370
Now we are off to do some sightseeing at Cabrillo National Monument. Such tourists
The alarm went off at 6 today and I started my Saturday rituals (packing my bag, making sure I have all my essentials, spraying lots of sunblock, loading the bike on my car....you get the idea). Since it is a recovery week we were ONLY doing 26 miles. We met at the UCSD campus, and had a training on how to give and receive water bottles while remaining on your bike. Apparently on the course they have two stations to refuel. Some people practiced "bunny hops" in which you would hop over debris with your bike. That just sounded like a sure trip to the dentist for losing my teeth so I just stuck to the handoffs.
We got our course stats for the day and I quickly noticed that there were a few streets with the word "mountain" in them. That typically means a nice climb. The hills I can handle, but then I see that we are riding on the 5!! In case you are wondering, that is the largest freeway in San Diego. As coach Trent said "you haven't lived until you've ridden on the freeway." I was a little scared but kind of psyched. We took off and were quickly turning onto the onramp. It was so exhilarating and fun to have cars whipping by you going 70+ mph. My friend Katie and I pretty much hysterically laughed at ourselves at this point. I can only imagine what people on the highway thought. Apparently it is legal at this part but I am not so sure. We soon hit the Sorrento Valley hill which did not look like much but boy it was a doozey. It was only about 3 miles into our ride so a bit tough to get your body acclimated to that. Needless to say my heartrate was way up and I was panting like a boston terrier. Next up was Black Mountain road, which was actually not as bad as the hill before. At the top of this was our trusty SAG man Marty. If he were fast enough he would have caught a picture of me peeing in a median, but I was too quick for him. Would have been a good pic though. Next time. Next we got on the 56 bike path and headed towards the 101 to go up Torrey Pines. This is the same hill that I struggled with months ago. Today it felt like a bump in the road. I could not be happier. My heartrate stayed pretty steady and I stayed in my middle gear the whole time. At one point a large group of older men were riding by me. One of them had a very strange looking bike so of course I inquired about it. One guy (Carl) responded "its for his neck, no neck pain at all anymore" my reply "really have you got anything for vagina's?" The guy nearly fell off his bike after asking me to repeat myself about 4 times before he believed what was coming out of my mouth. We quickly introduced ourselves and we gabbed all the way up the hill. That probably made things go by a bit quicker as well. All in all a great ride.
About 10 or so of us went out for some grub after and I so very much enjoyed my mimosa, oh and bacon, and french toast, and eggs. YUM.
Todays garmin stats:
timing: avg speed 12.4, max 30.8
elevation: 2228 elevation gain
Heart rate: average 160, max 182
Time: 2:07, distance 26.37 miles
calories burned: 1370
Now we are off to do some sightseeing at Cabrillo National Monument. Such tourists
Thursday, May 21, 2009
A "safe" run
I met my team tonight at a local high schools track for my first track run. Since it is a recovery week not too many teammates were there but a good little group of ladies to run with. Our workout was 2 laps warm up, 3 laps at a 80%hr, 2 laps at a 85-90%hr and then one lap "balls out", then back to two laps at 85, then 3 laps at 80 and then do the whole set over again. The track was great because it was dirt so a little nicer on the knees than the concrete and flat!!! What was fun about this run was running by a fluorescent green condom on one of the turns (we were at a high school afterall), so I felt like it was an extremely safe way to run. My second favorite moment was when the volleyball coach took her girls out of hte gym and reamed them a new one "I am sick of your bickering and trashy mouths, and harrassing one another!!" Oh man those poor girls must have been up to no good cause this woman was not backing down. Made me realize how happy I am working with the population of kids that I do.
I felt really good and enjoyed this run. It flew by!
I averaged a 10:29 minute mile, and best was a 6:50
average Heart Rate- 166 Maximum heart rate: 189
4.62 miles in 48 minutes
497 calories burned GOSH I HEART MY GARMIN!!!!
While I was running I was chatting with a super fun and sassy teammate who mentioned that one of her friends had to drop out of their relay team for the rock n roll marathon next weekend. I was just thinking how fun that would be so I am going to join her team and do about 7 miles of the marathon with all the glory!!! It will be fun running parts of my first marathon again and I am looking forward to dressing up like an ass, maybe even literally!
Time for pepperoni pizza!!!!!!!!
I felt really good and enjoyed this run. It flew by!
I averaged a 10:29 minute mile, and best was a 6:50
average Heart Rate- 166 Maximum heart rate: 189
4.62 miles in 48 minutes
497 calories burned GOSH I HEART MY GARMIN!!!!
While I was running I was chatting with a super fun and sassy teammate who mentioned that one of her friends had to drop out of their relay team for the rock n roll marathon next weekend. I was just thinking how fun that would be so I am going to join her team and do about 7 miles of the marathon with all the glory!!! It will be fun running parts of my first marathon again and I am looking forward to dressing up like an ass, maybe even literally!
Time for pepperoni pizza!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
2 months from today
Vineman Ironman is 2 months from today. HOLY *$#*!!! We are onto our recovery week, which basically means our Saturday ride won't have me out of the house from 6am til 3pm...YAY!!! Monday was a nice long swim about 2300 yards or so. Tonight I was back at it at Rehab United. Before I went I had a mini shopping spree at Marshalls. Now I rarely shop, so when I do its hardcore. I needed sandals for work because we have to have backs to our sandals so we can run after kids at a moments notice (you'd be suprised how often that is). My method at stores like Marshalls is not to use a cart or I will overload. I went a little crazy on the cute sundress rack though and ended up trying to balance two shoe boxes and WAY too many clothes. Lets just say that by the time I ended up at the checkout the woman looked at me and said "why didn't you use a cart?" I had marks and lines all over my arms from the pressure of so many clothes. The reason I am sharing this story is because one of my purchases was an Under Armour compression shirt. I had absolutely no idea what this meant. Until I got into Rehab United tonight. It was super hot tonight, not sure why. We did some crazy sets on the bike and by the end of the first set I literally had a stream of sweat from my neck to my stomach. I am not a sweater so I was pretty shocked. I mentioned this outloud and my friend LG to my right says "it's a compression shirt, it locks in the heat to get your core going." Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh awesome just what I did not want on my hardest workout of the week. Anyways we got off our bikes and did 1 minute stations that included jump ups onto a big cushion thingie, kettlebell swings, more jumpy things, plank discs, shoulder presses, lunges and side to side crunches with weights. After that was done we got back on the bikes for another whole bike and strength set. Again I was left in a pool of my own sweat. It was fun to have more of my teammates and coach there tonight, always good to be surrounded by fun people during a tough workout.
2 months to go! I can't wait to say I am a Vineman finisher! And more importantly I can't wait to see how much more money we can raise for a cause that helps so many people!!!
You can donate online to my site at : http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/VineHIrn09/jmerrill
2 months to go! I can't wait to say I am a Vineman finisher! And more importantly I can't wait to see how much more money we can raise for a cause that helps so many people!!!
You can donate online to my site at : http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd/VineHIrn09/jmerrill
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