Girls on the Run

My best friend Heidi volunteers for a great organization called Girls on the Run, which promotes healthy habits and builds self-esteem for pre-teen girls through running. Heidi has seen some girls conquer their self-doubt, weight issues, and bad eating habits through their coached running sessions. She helps a group of about 20 girls between the ages of 9 and 12 up in Northern Virginia, some of whom have never truly exercised in their life outside of PE class if even then. Last year their big race was a 5k, run on a COLD (below 20 with the windchill) February day.

Joe and I are trying to help Maddy find some kind of athletic endeavor that she enjoys--two years ago we tried swim team and softball to no avail, and she's been dancing ballet for over 3 years too but not really enjoying it. So now we're trying running. Today after getting home from school, Maddy asked if we could go for a mile run since she's signed up to run the Komen 5k with us in two weeks. (I know, we're a little late getting started on her training...) She and I suited up, and headed out with Sophie in tow. I guess I should say Sophie headed out with us in tow, that dog loves to run! The first 3/4 mile went so well, I changed our route to my regular 3 mile loop.

Maddy did great! We only walked 3 times, and she made it around the University of Richmond lake--a total of 7/10ths of a mile--without stopping in about 9 minutes. The 3 mile route includes some small hills, and is not the easiest for a purely beginning runner, but she almost ran the entire thing! I'm so proud of her. We talked about the 5k, and how she can walk through the water stops to catch her breath and drink some water or gatorade. She was glad to know she's not expected to run each and every step, and I'm glad she's realized she could cover the distance already. I asked if she would help me during IMFL, by running a bit with me to take my mind off things, and she promised she would. Now if I could only get her to stop being afraid of her bike, I'd have a new TriGirl for Grandison to coach!

And now the exhaustion sets in

Tonight I made it back to Sunday evening TriGirl swim, and during our set of 10 x 100s I was feeling sluggish and very, very tired. I almost demoted myself to the slower lane, but stuck it out, knowing that it wasn't a high-milage (meter-age?) workout. We totalled just 1600 meters, but it felt like I had been swimming, or treading water, or drowning for weeks. I think it's the past few weeks catching up with me.

After my last post, I took a much needed breather and headed up to Northern VA to see friends and meet my friend's possible in-laws. Yet while the bulk of my project was finished, there still was so much to do: trying to print my boards was tedious and with every test print, something that needed fixing popped up. My thesis instructor asked me to tweak my watercolors, which I did on a couple of them, then I ran out of steam. Tuesday was my day to tackle my model, and for some stupid reason I decided to rebuild it from scratch--I was in the studio that night until 4:30 in the morning. Wednesday and Thursday were days devoted to printing my final boards, putting everything up at the gallery, and helping my classmates with their stuff (making models, redoing boards, hanging stuff, etc). I had hoped to take Friday as a day to pamper myself before the openning show with a pedicure or massage, but that didn't happen. I was able to start the partying a bit on Thursday since my training buddies were headed out for drinks. I met them at 3 Monkeys and promptly ordered two mojitos! Classmate Ginny met me there. See below. I guess I had martini's on the brain, thus the neon over my head.

Below is a picture at the gallery opening with husband Joe, and another with fellow TriGirl Maryjo:

Later that night, dancing till 2am (in 3" heels with NO knee issues, surprise surprise) with fellow grad students Veronica, Molly, and Vanessa. Don't ask about that guy on the right in the shot w/ Vanessa.
Tomorrow I will start working on my thesis book, which ideally I'd like to have finished by Wednesday when I defend. It isn't due until May 8th, but it would be nice to have this whole MFA thing ALL truly wrapped up this week. Lots of people have asked, "What next?" After catching up on sleep, putting my house back in working order, and maybe getting that massage, it's training, baby!

The end is in sight!

Just a few minutes ago, I finished up my presentation boards, meaning all I have left to do this week is to tackle my model. That will still be a few days' work, but I feel I can breathe a little easier. Tomorrow will be a break, and tonight I'll go to bed at about 9pm (last night I was in the studio till 3:30am.) Maybe I'll even try to go for a run... Yey!

Four down, two to go...

TriGirl40 wanted to see some of my designs, so I figured since I have no training news to report (other than a 3 mi run today w/ no pain afterwards--making progress on that PT!) I'd post the watercolors I've finished to date for my thesis project presentation due April 25th. They still have some finessing, I just started working w/ this medium a couple of weeks ago...

Sigh...of Relief

Yesterday's MRI showed a much thicker than normal ITB, and no meniscal issues. Yey! So, now let the healing begin. Yoga, PT, biking, swimming--all these are ok. Running, no. But maybe I can convince Kent and Michelle to let me "run" on the elliptical, even if it is boring as all get out.

Speaking of running, my friend Sarah ran today's Monument Ave 10k in my stead, and posted a new PR for me! My goal was to beat last years time, which she did by a whole minute, and I didn't even have to break a sweat. Thank you Sarah, and I'm so glad you had fun.

The remainder of the weekend will be spent hammering out my thesis project floor plan, and getting my Sketch-up model in good shape so next week I can start my renderings. I'll need to have 6-10 good drawings to include on my presentation boards, which go to the printer by the 16th or 17th at the very latest. I'll have a bit of a respite tonight: date night with Joe. The venue tonight is a black tie fundraiser to raise money for MMD (myotonic muscular dsytrophy) research. One of Joey's best friends and classmates lives with MMD, and like Joey's diabetes, it is an everyday, all day disease.

Not a pretty picture

This is my IT band. Nice, huh?

Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?

My husband told me about this lecture last night, and today I watched the condensed version Randy Pausch gave on Oprah. It's long (11 mins), but very worthwhile.
http://www2.oprah.com/videochannel/videochannel_player.jhtml?video=1178&category=31
I hope to live my life as a T-I-double G-er!

The view from the sidelines

I've spent a lot of my life watching from the sidelines. In middle school, I was always one of the last girls asked to dance, and that was only because in the Mexican version of cotillion everyone (even the unpopular kids) had to dance. (For those that don't know, my family was living in Mexico at the time.) I've watched most sports from the bleachers and was usually picked last for a team in PE, never mind the fact that I didn't want to play much since I was deathly afraid of any sport requiring a ball. It wasn't until much later in life that I discovered that sports can be fun, and I can play/do some of them decently. I didn't start running until 2004, and I still have a hate/love relationship with it. (Read on.) But there's no denying that the view from the sidelines is never as good as it is from the floor or field.

Fast forward from middle school to this week. I have been diligent in my phyiscal therapy for IT band issues, putting up with various forms of torture that Kent and Michelle dispense with great enthusiasm. Among these: ice baths, foam rollers, the stick of pain (see photo), Kent's thumbs, various rubber bands, monster walking, and "saddling up" to drag 90lbs on a sled sidestepping down a long hallway. I figured I was doing well, and I had followed their orders not to run for a while. I was a little nervous on the no running front, considering this weekend is the Monument Ave 10k. Last year I PR'd, with a 52:36. At the beginning of this year I was confident I could shave time off that--and was aiming to beat 50mins. So I decided on a trial run. Miles 1-3 felt great. Mile 4 and 4.5 not so good. Then I had to get to school. The four flights of stairs down from the parking garage were downright agony. Uh oh.

This morning I 'fessed up. Kent and Michelle scolded me. Dr. Cutter scolded me, then checked me out. My good knee had more swelling than the bad one, which was clicking in a certain place. He has since ordered an MRI, to make sure it's nothing worse. So now I wait. Luckily I'll have my answer on Friday--do I have worse meniscal issues, or just severe ITB issues? In the meantime, I'll try to be good company for Cyndi and Marit, two serious triathletes who are dealing with their own injury demons, and go cheer on the other TriGirls running this Saturday.

I found a great quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn, who wrote Wherever You Go, There You Are. "No one can listen to your body for you....To grow and heal, you have to take responsibility for listening to it yourself." Hear hear!

Putting my money where my mouth is

As some of you know, for my thesis project I'm designing a restaurant centered around the principles of sustainable agriculture. That is to say, food that is organically and sustainably raised and produced, and local to extend 150 miles from Richmond. Some might say that organic and sustainable are the same, but after reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, he makes a very valid point that there is a significant difference in not just scale, but also footprint, of how the food is raised. If it's true that on average our food travels about 1,300 miles from farm (or factory) to our plate, that distance comes with considerable unseen "costs" that in days of increasinglyt scarce oil, may become unbearable in years to come.

Much of my research started with looking at the slow food movement, and chefs who work to promote "slow" foods and production in their restaurants. Chief among these chefs here in the US is Alice Waters. She has founded a non-profit organization that is looking to promote more healthy eating in public schools in a novel way: by teaching children to grow the food and prepare it, you instill in them an appreciation for their work, and a greater appreciation of the value of digging in the dirt. Several schools in the Berkeley area have implemented this type of program, with the food grown on former playgrounds being incorporated into daily menus.

Other reading on the topic of eating seasonally and locally included Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon. Those two books prompted me to question the quality of the food I was finding in my local Ukrops, Fresh Market, and Kroger supermarkets. Asparagus, blueberries, and grapes available throughout the year, but at what cost? Is it cheaper to buy those grapes knowing they may have been grown with DDT, when you factor in the possible health issues of consuming those pesticides? What about how much it cost to get them here, and what the farm worker was paid to harvest them? These are hard questions, and while my bleeding liberal heart told me to abandon all trips Ukrops, the realistic side of me knew that I couldn't at this point commit myself to eating that way immediately. So I've done the next best thing. I've bought a share of a CSA.

CSA's are wonderful things: you purchase at the beginning of the season a share of a farmer's produce, and I had the option--which I took--of including free-range eggs, chicken, flowers, and goat cheese. (In my book it's worth it for the goat cheese alone!) I found a cooperative of about 3 farms from two neighboring counties, and one outside Charlottesville that delivers on a weekly basis to a local market here in town. While it seemed steep to write a check out in advance for all that food, I know it will be worth it in the long run. I may have to come up with creative ways to get my kids to eat things like beets, but my daughter's budding interest in the culinary arts should give us some good times in the kitchen and improve my nutrition during peak training months. To find a CSA near you, check out LocalHarvest. Bon Appetit.

TriGirls Rock Shamrock!

Many congratulations to the TriGirl half-marathon finishers:
Bethany L - 2:08.51
Caroline P - 1:34.38
Cathy D - 3:57.55
Charlotte M - 2:33.42
Cindy D - 2:04.34
Deanna L - 2:26.20
Deborah M -2:13.44
Dianne S - 2:27.06
Jackie R - 2:04.41
Jill B - 2:09.36
Joan G - 1:58.00
Lynn D - 2:08.27
Margo S - 3:28.20
Mary T - 2:09.33
Mary Beth E - 2:55.51
Megan L - 1:50.52
Melissa F - 2:04.06
Molly W - 2:08.20
Sandee G - 2:14.35
Sharon D - 2:08.34
Teresa D - 3:15.43
Trish P - 2:17:05

And to our marathon finishers:
Patty H - 4:26.31
Prissie N - 4:03.44
Ann N (her 1st!) - 6:26.13
Kate B - 5:03.07
Anna Beth M - 5:03:39
Kate T - 5:01:28

I wish I could have been there with you all!

"Eye on the Prize"

The talk Wednesday night in the locker room after Master's was focused on this weekend's race. I think there are at least 10 TriGirls running various distances, most the half marathon. I will be sitting it out. As other races come up this spring, especially White Lake with over 30 TriGirl and Maramarc folks running, it will be hard to be on the sidelines. I won't be the only one sitting out Shamrock--I just learned of TriGirl Cyndi's diagnosis and won't be alone in my misery. Walking Joey home from school today, I stopped to chat with a neighbor--she's a great athlete, runner, mom, and full-time OB-Gyn. She asked why I'm persuing an Ironman. "It's so hard on your body, and you run the risk of serious injury," she said. But then I talked about the inspiration of my friends, watching them all cross that finish line last year, and she knowingly nodded. "It's out there and you want it," she said then warned me to be careful and listen to my body.

Coach Blake has offered me a new perspective on my position (and now Cyndi's too) being an opportunity, rather than an inconvenience. I can make a very deliberate and careful choice--to keep training, risking worse injury, or to take the time to heal properly and come back stronger. His exact words to me were, "Keep your eye on the prize." And Ironman Florida is my prize. The focus I can afford to give now to my physical therapy, will pay dividends this fall. Yes, Kent (my physical therapist), I will try to back down on the spinning and running....and I promise I will quit when I feel pain.

With spring break ending this weekend, and under orders to take training more easily, I am once again going to be spending all my free time in the studio. Our outside critique last week went well, but there is much refining to do on my design, models still to be finished (or just made), and many, many drawings to produce. On Tuesday I was able to go up to the design center in DC to hear Roger Thomas, the design director for all Wynn hotel properties, talk about his inspirations. The man, like many talented designers, takes a sketch book everywhere. He made the point that even if his sketches aren't perfect, they capture and convey more about the time and place he was, than the actual detail of the object he hoped to draw, enough so that the detail of a stone wall he saw flying by in a car in Italy is transformed into a mosaic wall in a restaurant in Vegas. Later that afternoon, in perusing old pen and ink drawings for sale, one that was smaller than 3" caught my eye. It was a masterful little drawing of the piazza San Marco in Venice, complete with people sitting in a cafe in the foreground and a crowd in front of the arches of the Doge's palace in the distance.

Time and patience....and practice. If I wasn't trying to train for an ironman, I'd want to learn how to draw like that.

Pesky problems

Here it is just one week before the Shamrock half marathon, and due to my sporadic running and attempts to up my milage, my IT band is letting me know that I'm not doing things right. I have a doctor/PT appointment for Wednesday morning--Kent, my therapist who worked with me after my ACL surgery, is warming up his thumbs to work out all that bad juju. Didn't I just post something about him looking forward to seeing me more? Coach Mark agrees that with the larger prize out there this fall, the prudent course of action is to take it easy now, resolve the IT issue and then build back up slowly starting in May.
On a separate note, I've always lamented that despite my swanky bike and wheels, I'm still slow as molasses on the bike--at least when we're cycling outside. Inside I'm FAST. Yeah, right. But I've been trying to use the indoor cycling training to improve my cadence, especially in the higher gears. I was pleased as pie yesterday when Coach Blake commented on a perceived improvement in my cycling. I hope it makes a difference when we get back outside.
Today we start back in the pool with Som. Yey!

Priorities...

This weekend was spent in the studio, finishing floor plans and renderings for our big crit session on Tuesday. Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday I was there late (usually about 1am), Friday night I worked at home until 1:30 after a two hour break for family game and movie night. I have had to revise my plans for the Shamrock half marathon March 16th. If I show up for it, which right now looks doubtful, the goal will be to just finish the thing. My sights for now have to be set on getting through the next two months--April 24th is the opening night of the exhibit showcasing our graduate projects. The following week I defend. Then, I can get back to things like seeing my family, sleeping, and training (in that order).

(Not so) Speedy Gonzalez

A few fellow TriGirls used to say they couldn't swim in the same lane as me. They thought I was one of the "fast" girls. Well, tonight proved them wrong. I had a hard time keeping up with them in the famed Lane o' Dread.
I blame the boobs (more drag, you know).
Coach Karen blames me. She pointed out that many of those now-speedy TriGirls had been showing up for master's quite often--a few even took semi-private lessons with her once a week as well--and had improved quite significantly. I on the other hand, really hadn't been in the water on a regular basis since, oh, September which means I haven't been improving. In March the TriGirls get back in the pool with coach Som (finisher of over 20 ironman races) or coach Annie two nights a week, in addition to the master's class. I think I better teach my husband to cook since it looks like I won't be around at dinner time. I'll be trying to earn back a slot in the Lane o' Dread.

Week in Review

All in all, it wasn't a bad week work-out wise. Swimming on Wednesday went really well. Our swim coach Karen (who won Ironman Canada in 2004) put a quick end to my sandbagging by assigning me to a faster lane. I was able to keep up with the other woman in the lane on the swim sets, but she kept lapping me on the 500m and 300m pull sets. Guess I need to build up my upper body strength again... But I'm not doing so hot on keeping up with the running--I only ran once during the week and paid for it this weekend. I didn't make it to the inaugural TriGirl run on Thursday morning (it was 20 degrees out). After yesterday's 9 miler my knee was hurting so bad I could hardly walk down stairs. Today it's much better, and I can walk around with no pain, but I'm wondering if I'm ramping up my milage too fast. I keep thinking about my physical therapist who worked with me after my ACL surgery. When I told her I had signed up for IMFL, she said it would be nice to see me more often!
I did meet my new TriGirl little sister, who was a real trooper on Saturday and spun with us for a good hour and a half, and then ran about 4 miles. Way to go, Kristen! I'm hoping I can help her develop her running (increasing endurance/distance) if she can reciprocate by getting me to those Thurs morning sessions.

Back in the Swing of Things (and getting my ass kicked)

Saturday was my first long workout since January. The two hour bike wasn't bad. The first 4 miles of the run weren't bad. I was trucking along, with various TriGirls and Maramarc folks for company at intervals along the way. Since it was supposed to be a negative split run, I tried to kick it in for the second half, and ended up totally bonking. I finished the 6 miles in 1:04, with mile 5 taking over 13 minutes. In chatting with coach Mark post run, he helped me realize that the Shamrock half marathon (in 4 weeks) will be a stretch for me, given that I've been sidelined since my surgery on January 16th. But he did help strategize how to approach the rest of my runs so I can at least show up confident that I can complete the distance. First and foremost, I need to build my next two long runs by 2 miles each time, patiently (read SLOWLY) banging out the first few miles to be able to kick it in for those last 2 and finish strong. Secondly, my midweek runs will be very important for building strength and intensity. Half-mile repeats, here I come. With hard work and perseverence, I'm hoping that this will put me in a good position to really race the Monument Ave 10k. I want to beat my 52:30 time from last year!

Vegas, Baby

I confess, I had never been to Vegas before. What a crazy town. People still drinking and gambling at 6am, over the top hotels, latinos handing out flyers advertising cheap prostitutes to anyone and everyone (even us stodgy married folk), expensive shopping for clothes you could only get away with wearing in Vegas, and great food.
We ate very well, stayed at a great (and over the top) hotel, and walked walked and walked some more. That should make up for those 5oz of foie gras I ate at Bouchon. All in all, a very memorable, extended disco-mix birthday extravaganza! Now it's time to get back to work. I did make it back to swimming tonight, and while I'm no more bouyant than I was several weeks ago (contrary to popular opinion), it was nice to share a lane with my TriGirl friends and feel healthy again. On Saturday it's back to spinning and running. Ack!

Surprise!

Last night my husband surprised me with a 40th birthday party with my grad school and trigirl friends in attendence. Molly and Vanessa took me out for bday drinks while Joe and sundry friends prepped the house and organized the food. It was a wonderful way to celebrate, and I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and great friends.

Thank you all!

I was cleared to go back to spinning this week, and so had to this morning drag myself out of bed at 6:15 to get back on the workout wagon. It was painful at first to get into the groove, but at the end of the class, I was so glad I'd gone. Three weeks with no endorphins had made me a grumpy bear.

I guess turning 40 ain't so bad after all....

Spirit of the Triathlon

Last night, a group of TriGirls and some spouses (pardon me, man-candy) attended a special screening of the movie "The Spirit of the Marathon" that chronicles the journey of 6 athletes in their preparation for the 2006 Chicago Marathon. Two of them were elite, world-ranked runners, the rest ranged from Boston-qualifiers to novices just hoping to finish the distance. It was a very well-made documentary, inspirational in that it showed how marathon is such a unique event--one that is not just reserved for the gifted athlete.
Triathlons are the same way--even those famed Ironman events are open to anyone, from elite to joe-blow athletes, willing to put in the training and attempt the distance. Before I started triathlons in 2004, I assumed those events were for reserved for truly "serious" athletes, people that ate, slept, and breathed their sport. Over the past four years, the races I've participated in have included some rare athletic talent, but I'd say the great majority of racers were people like me, just out there to have fun and do their best.
Before 2004, it never occured to me that I could complete a triathlon or marathon--just signing up was a daunting thought. I considered myself in decent shape--I attended the occasional aerobics or body-shaping class, or spent the odd 30 minutes on an elliptical or stair-master machine. But my dear friend Heidi, herself a triathlete, put it in perspective for me, blatantly stating that my cholesterol level of 203 was not healthy and, oh by the way, my ass was getting fat. (My husband and I now refer to it as my frump-mom period.) Another friend in Richmond had finished a sprint tri the year before, so I latched on to the "if she can do it, so can I" mentality and signed up. Luckily for me, I was able to join a great training group and that summer finished my first sprint. One tri was all it took--I had so much fun during my first race, I couldn't imagine just stopping there.
Some of the things I love the most about my sport are the camaraderie of the transition area pre-race (minus the rare schmuck who takes up more than his fair share of space along the bike rack); the way total strangers greet each-other along the course with a "looking strong," "good job," "way to go;" how may pass the 20-something year old in front of you, only to get passed by the 60-year old behind you; and finally how everyone cheers the loudest for the last person into the finish chute (God knows it may be you one day!)

A Workout of a Different Kind...or Walking in New York

So I missed Thursday and Saturday spinning, but instead I walked (and ate and drank) my way through New York City with grad school friends Molly and Vanessa. My quads are still burning from yesterday--we spent the whole day walking through museums (Cooper Hewitt and MoMA), then some shopping on 5th Ave on the way home, and salsa dancing till 2am in the Village. It's a tough life, I know. This morning, from our balcony overlooking Central Park--see the picture--I watched what looked to be about 30,000 people run through the park in what had to be an organized road race. Had I known, I would have packed my running shoes. (But honestly, I couldn't imagine running at 8:30 after getting to bed at 3!) It was an awesome early 40th birthday weekend. On to Vegas with the husband!