Monday, February 27, 2012

Ski Utah! 2012


Where have I been?  Neglecting blogger, thats where.  ha ha.  Actually, I went on vacation for several days with the family to Utah.  We were able to ski at Brighton, Snowbird, and Alta.  Three of my favs!  I took a ton of pictures.  It wasn't so cold that I couldn't get my hand out to use the camera, and we weren't being pelted by wind or blowing snow that also makes it hard.
My favorite of Ryan, at Snowbird skiing in Mineral Basin:
Brighton, Both kids did Ski school in the morning (it was a bust for Soren, but at least all the adults could ski).  My parents and Ryan's brother, Tyler, and his son, Chase, came with us:


More Snowbird, the kids stayed with my parents for the day and we went with Ryan's brother for the morning, and then his wife and some of her family joined us for the afternoon:



 Ryan and Tyler



Tyler and Minde



Alta- We had the whole family in force today.  Keira and Chase did a morning lesson, and my mom watched Soren at the base.  Tyler, my dad, and Ryan's parents hit the slopes in the morning, and then in the afternoon, Minde joined back up with us, and we got everyone out of ski school.  We also met up with Arthur, Ryan's friend who lives in SLC:




 Papa, Keira, and Nana (Ryan's parents), at Alf's.  This is the first time we have been able to ski the kids over here to the mid mountain restaurant since before Keira was born!


 Chase, Keira, and Nana
 Almost everyone
 Tyler and Chase
 Arthur (Ryan's friend and our best man who lives in SLC), with his daugher Astrid (and Ryan)
 Art and Astrid with Ryan and Soren
 My parents, aka Grandma and Grandpa



It was a great trip.  We are so happy we went!  It had been way too long since we were out there!  It just didn't make sense with the kids so little, though.  We will have to make this a yearly trip again.  Next year should be even easier (although pricier), because we will be able to put both kids in ski school! 

That's all for now.  I have a lot of other stuff coming up, that I know you are just so curious to know about.  I had my first 20 miler, swimming lessons, and went on a diet after the ski trip.  More updates to come!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Run For Sherry

Here is a quick recap of Saturday's run for Sherry Arnold.  Beth, who organized it, is amazing, and put together this video slideshow.



I was so happy that I was able to have Erin to run with me for it.  We ticked off 14 miles (she meant to do 13, but this engineer apparently can't do math and run at the same time) together, and then I did another 5 on my own.  It was the first time she ever ran in the snow, and my first time this year.  It was also the first time my camelback straw froze.  We stopped at CVS at mile 9 to buy water, but otherwise, had no issues.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Weigh in Challenge and a Running "Girl Date"

This morning was pretty exciting, for a Thursday.  Obviously, my life is not very exciting when you read this, as it isn't much, but when you spend most of your day with a 3 year old and half your day with a 5 year old, and only a few hours or so with your hubby, little things mean a lot.

I am all set up to run with a new female friend, Erin P (not to be confused with Erin O who would just be a speck ahead of me in the distance) for my long run on Saturday.  Not to say that Erin P isn't quite the athlete herself.  She has completed 2 Ironmans, and can kick my butt in the half Ironman.  She ran the Monumental Marathon full in under 4 hours, so she isn't quite as speedy on the run portion, but I will take the company and a new friend over running alone.  I've been running my long runs a bit slower this year, without Cristina to pull me to the lower 8s for a super long run, but since I am not trying to PR, I am OK with it.  Hey, I want to enjoy Boston once I am done, not lay flat on the pavement frightened to move wondering if medical was going to come over and ask me if I was OK like I did when I got my BQ, except Cristina is pretty much qualified as medical, so I knew I was in good hands, but still concerned. We'll be running 13 of my 19 together, so if I need to, I can pick it up for the last 6 on my own.  It would probably be beneficial for me to try to run the second third faster anyway.  I'll also be sporting my Run for Sherry bib during this run.  I hope you can pop over to Shut Up and Run and do the same for your Saturday run.

Also, I got weighed in for the weight loss contest.  Yes, I know, I don't have a ton of weight to lose.  I also got some flack from the trainers at the gym saying that I didn't have any weight to lose, but they didn't see me last summer in my skinniest.  I just want to lose a few pounds.  I came in at 16.6, and that was after my 9 mile treadmill run (I did drink a myoplex and drank a whole 20oz water bottle during the course of the run, so while I wasn't fully hyrdrated, I wasn't completely dehyrated either.  This is about 4-5 lbs heavier than I would like to be.  I'm going on vacation next week, so it is likely going to get a tad worse before getting better, but I have a month.  I am going to use Rick's Advocare products and do the same thing I did last year, and it was very successful.  The link will take you to his business page, and you can see that he is an example of fitness himself, which goes along my line that I only take certain advice from people that are fitter or faster than me.  He and his wife are both in incredible shape.  That will start on Feb 20th, once we are back.  I want to look like the photo below.  This is a picture that I blatantly am stealing from f/b.  I am sorry that I can't give the photo credits, and it is a friend of a friend, so I totally don't have permission.  If you happen to be reading this, I am sorry I stole your picture!  That is what allowing friends of friends to see your stuff on f/b will do for you(and I have those same settings too, yikes)  :)  Please just know that you are serving as major motivation to me to want to look like you!  I promise I won't be a creepy stalker!  My stomach  just always looks really bad when I am on my bike.  Like my insides are falling out due to gravity.  Maybe it is because I am old and have had 2 children.  Oh wait, Cristina is OLDER than me and has ALSO  had 2 children, twins in fact, so that can't be it.  This isn't Cristina, but her stomach looks way better than mine on her bike.
Any big weekend plans?  Don't you just love my stolen photo of "Trixie"?  Thanks for being my motivation.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Soggy Seventeen Miler- It's starting to get hard

So, things are getting hard.  There are a lot of reasons, actually.  The first is that is is HARD to run 17 miles!  Holy cow, that is not a laughing distance by any means!  That is big time marathon mode running there.  Also, I was really bummed out by the weather this past weekend.  We had unreal fabulous weather all week and then Saturday, "woke up to the sound of pouring rain" weather.  I was SOOO glad I had already committed to run with a group who was doing 8.  I'd  have to do the loop twice, and then run out another half mile and back, but that seemed totally doable.  The hardest part would be getting up and out the door at 7:30am, and getting up pretty much the same time I always do during the week.  I was sacrificing my ONLY morning to sleep in.  I guess it is time to do that.  With the running time now upwards of 2 hours and starting to approach 3, I am going to need to get up early so that we can still have a decent day with the family.  Or at least all lay around exhausted together :) 

I get to the shop and there were 4 other people there.  There was one other lady there, who I guess I scared off when I said I was going to do the loop twice.  She didn't run with us, and she was going to ride on the bike trainer instead.  I had prepared myself for everything, though.  The shop had a shower, and was just down the street from my gym, where I thought I could possibly finish up my extra 9 I needed.  I packed half my closet just in case.  Peter, my friend from the store who wanted me to come out probably won't ask me to come running again.  I have been so bored with running by myself and not having Cristina or Valerie to chat with that I pretty much couldn't shut up.  We held a decent 9 min/mile pace, which was great since we were so stinking wet.  It got to the point where we couldn't get any wetter, and just didn't even realize the rain.  The two other guys running with us were planning on doing the Derby full, which is a couple weeks after Boston.  I had one of the guys all sorts of scared because I was going to do the loop twice.  He kept asking me when my race was.  Yes, it is 2 weeks before yours and I am running more than twice you today, in the rain, because I am nuts, and I don't want to hurt in Boston, and want to finish like I belong there.  I have no doubt that he will finish his marathon, especially after I got home and consulted the plan I used for my first marathon.  It called out running 7 that day for a race date of the Derby.  I am using a more agressive plan, that is all.  When I got to the place where I wanted to restart my loop, he really couldn't believe that I was doing it again, but I did.  The second loop wasn't as bad as I feared.  We had a couple big hills, and I didn't get lost.  I was able to talk to a few other runners because it took me through some of the parks.  There was a 4 mile race there today, and I saw a lot of unhappy wet runners, as well as some happier ones, but everyone was soaked.  I chicked a few people, and felt pretty good for most of the run.  My stomach felt a bit funny each time right before I took a gu, so I was a bit worried to take it, but in the end, I was glad I did.  Perhaps this funny feeling was hunger?  I was glad I didn't have any stomach issues because it was so stinking miserable out, and with it being a new route to me, I wasn't really sure where I could find a bathroom or more water.  I know where they are in the park, but the route didn't take me by them, and then I would risk getting lost.  I have gotten lost in the park before, which also made me concerned.  I was so wet when I got back to the shop.  It felt so nice to be inside and not being rained on.  I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to shower and change there, change there, or just go home.  I would have to go back outside to the car to get clothes, so I opted to just go home. 

It was a great run.  My Garmin had me at exactly a 9min/mile pace, which is great for hills, rain, and unfamiliar territory.  However, I felt really sad.  I still have no one to run with.  One of my new landshark f/b friends said it was because no one can keep up with me, and I don't think that is true at all.  I mean, I am not a great runner by any means.  This tri club is so huge, I can't believe that I haven't yet been able to connect with the fast people.  Maybe some of it is my own fault for not trying out new group runs more often.  I was able to run with the group for a short time, but the only girl didn't want to run with us.  My 17 mile run last year was the one where the weather was bad, and I asked Cristina the night before to run with me, and she said yes.  She wasn't even training for anything.  When I showed up and the weather totally sucked, we did 12, and then I almost quit.  She didn't let me.  I miss that, and thought of her a ton on my run.  The guys were probably sick of hearing about her.  I almost called her while running, except it was so wet that I knew my old phone would not survive being removed from its ziploc.  I can't wait we can race again together!

We have also all been really tired lately.  Keira and Soren aren't eating a ton, and it is making me nervous for them.  I, on the other hand, have been eating way too much.  All of this training just makes me super hungry, and I am not selecting the best choices all the time.  The gym is running yet another promotion for free personal training, so I entered.  I really hope, for everyone else's sake, that I do not win.  It is a weight loss contest.  While I don't have a ton to lose, my weight was UP THERE today.  WHOA, and I know part of it was all the salt I had over the weekend, and that I made an exceptional batch of sugar cookies.  The last couple of times I made them, I didn't think they turned out the best, but this time, DANG!  I ate WAY too many of those bad boys.  I only wish I could weigh in AFTER our upcoming ski trip, and not before.   It is going to be really hard to eat well out there, but at least I will be skiing, and using different muscles.  I could use the break from the rest of my training.  I have 19 miles on the schedule for this Saturday, since I am switching our week of skiing to a recovery step back week.  Hopefully that is an OK thing.  It means 3 weeks of building instead of 2, but then I get a whole week off of the daily grind.  Skiing will be hard and tiring, but it will be fun too.   Hopefully we come back more rested and with no more additional ailments! 

I hope everyone else has a great week!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Happy Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day!  We had some fabulous weather today.  Honestly, I hope the rest of winter is like today.  I could totally handle 6 more weeks of 57 degree highs!


Today, we ran 8 outside.  We took the path on Commerce Parkway.  It is only 3 miles long, so I ran back one mile.  We had a meltdown that I expected when I turned back around to make our current point the halfway point.  He did OK though.  It felt awesome to be outside!

Yesterday, Soren and I were able to get out on a stroller run. Yeah for first stroller run of the year being in February! It wasn't the best. Soren was pretty tired, and was not happy to be going to the gym AFTER the stroller run. By Wednesday, he is usually pretty worn out. He complained quite a bit on our 4 mile run. 


Finally, I wanted to share this post written by a facebook friend.  My neighbor invited to me join a group called FAN, Fitness Accountability Network. Basically, it is a group of locals who post fitness goals weekly and report on how they are doing.  It is a place for encouragement and answers.  Matt, who is the organizer, wrote this post on Groundhog Day.  Don't make your workout routine be like Bill Murray! 
http://www.gymoptional.com/2011/09/20/avoid-fitness-plateaus-by-modeling-yourself-after-bill-murray/