Joaquin-Miller Ride

Yesterday we went on a very mild ride into the Oakland Hills that over look the 24 and 13 freeways. It was a beautiful day and we didn't set out until 5 due to the heat.

We also had a few new characters join us on our ride. Kindly, Erica's brother, Brian, came along so that we didn't get lost on this new ride and my new co-worker, Laryssa, also joined. It was nice to ride with a group of new people. Brian is training for triathlon nationals and it was great to have him around to bounce questions off of. At this point any and all tid-bits are useful! He was a very good sport going slow and being patient with us :)

The Joaquin Miller Route is a 30 -40 minute mild up hill climb. It really was quite mild after doing the 3 bears a few weeks before! I think that Brian was worried that if he took us on to difficult of a ride we wouldn't make it all the way! :) But it think that it was a good ride to test out my new bike and use my new clip-less shoes.

But on the way we ran into the goats again and of course to Brian's chagrin we HAD to get off and feed the goats a bit. He also kept telling us that the wired fence was probably electric- even though it appeared to be made of plastic. None of us however believed him until Erica kindly tested the theory by accidently getting shocked while feeding one!

Erica and Laryssa feeding the goats and testing the theory of conductivity

From there we emerged on Skyline which gave us some amazing views of the whole bay area. Too bad it was a bit foggy that day or else we would have been able to see all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge!

Not bad guns huh?! ** On a side note YAY new bike and new shoes!**

So after we got to the top it was a very nice ride down the backside of the mountain. Luckily for me it was a mild ride that day since many a thing went wrong! First on the way up my contact decided to take a little trip around to the back side of my eyeball.. now for those of you who don't know I have really bad eye sight. And if I would have managed to loose my contact I would have not been able to see much on the ride back. Okay, fixed that eventually, but then on the way back going up a minor hill I accidently unclipped my right shoe. Which was not good cause then I couldn't clip back in while going up the hill.... uggg. Luckily I was almost at the top so I sorta had to just scoot up the hill with one foot clipped and the other pushing along. A very sad sight to see indeed. Lastly, you remember how when I was practicing with my shoes and pedals for the first time and I had only fallen once? Well my second time came on this ride. Happily we were on a bikes-only part of the ride so no fear from cars when I fell. Some how my chain became derailed and as I was looking down at it and unclipping my right foot my bike just sorta started a slow descend to the left. I was able to sorta get my left foot unclipped, but not in time and I just fell to the floor. Really more embarrassing than anything else. Erica of course was right there with the video camera to capture it all on film. What great friends I have! Ha!

Well at least all of those calamities are out of the way! Good riddance!

After that the ride finished uneventfully- sadly however somewhere earlier in the week in a moment of total insanity I suggested to Erica that we should run after the bike ride. We tried to go for a 3 mile run- which I just couldn't bring myself to do. Not that I was too tired to do it- I just don't have the drive to run and push myself through the uncomfortable part of running. I need to really work on that- so more running this week. The only way I can get over it is by just forcing myself to do it right? ::sigh:: I STILL hate you running!

Morning Swims- my new bestest friend!

I guess in the 1930's thats what type of "sports" women were allowed

to do at the Hearst Gymnasium!

Thursday I woke up bright and early for a morning swim again- and let me tell you it was an awesome swim! I have recently tried to explain this phenomenon to people: of when you just have an excellent workout and the amazing high it gives you for the rest of the day. THAT workout was this morning swim.

For the past few weeks, especially with running, I feel like this training has been an uphill battle all the way. Nothing has come smoothly and I have never had the "in the zone" feeling while working out. Thursday swim was a final break through moment.

I got in the pool at 7:20am and started the workout that I had set out for myself.

It started with:

Four 100 freestyle each with a 20 second interval in between. These were at a quick pace to get the heart rate up enough so so that I needed the full 20 seconds to catch my breath.

Then:

Four 100 freestyle kicking with a kickboard. Facedown in the water so that I could work on my streamlining and be in proper alignment. These had a 15 second interval between each.

Then:

Three 100 freestyle zipper/ high elbow technique swims with a 10 second interval in between. These were at a slower pace so that I could work on my glide and my bilateral breathing. Something that doesn't matter so much when you are a 100% in the pool swimmer, but when you get out on the open ocean you want to be bilaterally breathing so that you are not lopsided and slowly start to swim off in the wrong direction. It happens- easily in open water swims!

Then:

I did a 100, 200, 300 and 400 back to back. With only a 10 second interval in between each one. And that is where I got in the zone. It was blissful! I am NOT a distance swimmer and always was a 25 meter, 50 meter, MAX 100 meter freestyle sprinter. So I have really been working on slowing down my initial pace and just working on my arm technique- cause that is what is really going to pull you through the long swims. So doing a 400 meter at a good pace, finishing in 8 minutes and NOT feeling out of breath at the end is a good sign. That means that in the pool I am doing a mile swim in 32 minutes- which is a good baseline for me to start at.

I also ended up swimming 2,100 meters that morning- which is a good workout

Any who, I felt really jazzed after that swim and went to work on cloud nine :).

Later that day I also went to a cycling class. I am working up to having a Trifecta Day- which is where I do all three sports in one day (however not necessarily in order or back to back).

So Thursday was a good day for me to end my workout on. Friday and Saturday I am taking the days off and Sunday doing a long ride. I am feeling pumped again; that swim was the ego boost that I needed to keep me going! Whoot Whoot!

Learn-To-Not-Fall-On-Your-Ass Day!

Wednesday was my day to learn how to bike with my new pedals and shoes. I took the advice of the nice lady at Mike's Bikes and went to a grass field where all the people playing with their dogs could see me while I biked around attempting to clip in. Luckily I had only one fall and it was on the grass so it wasn't too bad. I am however still a bit wary about biking around in traffic with them, but I just have to dive in head first and go for it.

After I sorta successfully celebrated Learn-To-Not-Fall-On-Your-Ass Day I then met up with Erica for a run. We started with a medium jog around the track which turned into a little more that a 2 mile warm up. That's not bad for me! We then did reps.: a fast sprint for 200 meters with a 200 meter recovery jog. We did about six of these and called it a day.

During the warm up jog I did however have an epiphany. I realized that while throughout my life I have been very active and involved with sports not one of the sports I have ever been involved in required running! And the sports that I did that should have required running I participated in on the non-running side! Such as I used to play soccer- I was the goalie and I did do track and field- I did long jump and high jump! My other sports have included competitive equestrian, volleyball and swimming- all none running sports. This was quite the revelation to have and I guess sorta puts my running into perspective now!

Morning Swims- My new best friend

UC Berkeley's Hearst Pool at the old women's gymnasium

So I thought waking up at 6:20 to do a morning swim was going to be the worst idea ever and that by mid-day at work I was just going to crash from morning exercise and forcing myself to stay awake manually (i.e. NO coffee still!). But HOORRAH! I have found the joys of morning swims- and let me tell you they are amazing! It is like I have been awakened to a whole new world where I can work out AND still get home in time to cook dinner and have a little me time - which is highly essential for my sanity.

So my first morning swim was on Tuesday and after wandering around the UC campus for a while trying to find this gym I was finally in the pool by 7:30am. I didn't realize that the Hearst Gym was the old women's only gymnasium- ergo they had to make it look the most un-gym like possible, ya know to suit our womenly sense and all! It is a beautiful building totally done in the style of the late 1910's and 1920's of art nouveau and very well preserved. However, not what you are expecting to be a gym when you see it from the outside.

Inside it is a bit creepy and very sanitarium-esque. I do love the old signs that they kept about the place from the time when it was a women's only gym. Such as "MEN if you are here ring this bell for service". And the pool is gorgeous-I mean the pool is completely marble people! I have never swam in a full marble pool. It is pretty luxurious!

So of course I get there at 7:30 and they tell me that Tuesdays are the one day that they close early at 8:00 to do a pool cleaning. ::Sigh:: Oh well at least I got in a 30 minute work out and had the glorious revelation that working out in the mornings isn't that bad. And to boot I didn't crash mid day like expected even without the wonderful life sustaining fluid that is known as coffee.

A little Behind....

Okay, so this week I got a little behind on my blogging/ recording of training. However, I am going to do the best to catch you up on the training that I did this week.

To start, the running clinic actually wasn't that bad. I mean it wasn't fun- but it wasn't as painful as the first time I went running with Erica where we just did a few miles straight without stopping.

So the workout for the running clinic was so:

A warm up of a few stretches and lunges- nothing too intense and nothing to bring up the heart rate.

Then:

One 400 meter at a jog with a set of 4 stairs

One 300 meter run, 100 meter jog with a set of 3 stairs

One 200 meter run, 200 meter jog with a set of 2 stairs

One 100 meter run, 300 meter jog with a set of 1 stair.

That part was HARD - and I actually just ended up jogging the whole thing. I can't sustain that kind of a run and have anything left over for a set of stairs! It was a damn good set and one that I have to try again. When I am more fit...

We then moved on to a 1 1/2 minute plank followed by:

20 squat jumps and 100 meter sprint... we did this five times.

That actually wasn't that bad. Not that I am in any way a sprinter, but I am much better at bursts of energy then a cool down then a sustained long run that is slower.

After that we did 50 sit ups with a partner pushing us down and 50 leg lifts with a partner pushing our legs down. Those were great for the abs and was still feeling it even on Friday!

So that was the running clinic- not terrible, but still not on any level enjoyable. HA! I felt not triumphant- but good for getting through the whole thing and not being the slowest- until Erica told me that this teacher had let us off easy and that most trainings were harder :(

::Sigh:: What a total bubble burst!

3 Bears Panoramic

I know that it took me a long time to post this photo, but here it is! The panoramic shot from the 3 bears. The rolling hills of California just never get old! This was our pit-stop refuel break.

Week 2 Summary

So, I won't say that I completely failed on my week two training schedule.... but it definitely didn't go as planned. Life definitely got in the way last week. I am having a bit of a hard time trying to balance life and all of this training- and I have come to the horrid conclusion that I might have to start to do morning workouts. Not that I have anything wrong with getting up early, its just doing a morning workout at 7am and then going to work from 9 to 6, coming home cooking and doing everything else I am suppose to do sounds a bit exhausting! But I will be giving it a try tomorrow.

So, as you can see, I ended up taking the whole weekend off- Father's Day what can ya do? - as well as taking Monday and Wednesday off to buy groceries and to buy my bike. This week I definitely need to step up my game. Starting with running workshop today that Erica has tricked me into thinking I am in enough running shape to do.... Why do I let her trick me into such things?

I'll shamefully have to let you know how quickly I pooped-out during the practice tomorrow, that is IF I can walk to my computer....