Off season

When I first started all of this triathlon training madness, I didn’t understand those athletes who didn’t want to stop training/take some time off. I loved the off-season and embraced it whole-heartedly. Lay on the couch instead of training in cold/wet weather? You betcha! I’m your girl. Eventually, I learned to not stop training altogether in the off season, as starting from scratch in the spring was a real pain in the ass (and the legs and the arms… ) so I would just scale it way back, but I still had no problem with that. This year, I finally understand my Type-A brethren, as I’m now totally paranoid about losing all of the hard-won fitness I’ve gained this year and feeling lost without having training that I should be doing.

So now I’m trying to come up with an off-season plan. Something that’s unstructured enough to avoid burning out (a very big possibility for me) but still can yield some results. I really need to improve my run, so that’s first on the list. I’m thinking that I’ll casually train for the Seattle half marathon at the end of November and then do a February Marathon with M (and possibly T, if he can stay uninjured.) I’m very much looking forward to marathon training with M & T – it will be a nice change of pace from all of the solo long run training I did for Ironman. Plus, it will help me build a humongous run base, which will help me greatly when I do start up tri-training later in the spring.

Thrown into the mix will be some swimming, some Pilates/Yoga classes and going back to weights/the gym, once the weather starts getting crappy again, (pretty much any day now… ) The biggest challenge of course will be to stop eating like I’m training for Ironman, which is going to be tough. So, you can look forward to lots of blogging about running with some dog stories thrown in here and there to spice things up. Viva la off-season!

Mind over matter and all that jazz

This week has been a challenging one, motivation-wise. For whatever reason, I just haven’t been feeling the desire to train and this weekend’s long rides were particularly tough. So, T agreed to go out for a ride with me for company and motivation. He was even willing to do a long ride, so I plotted out a 75 mile ride – challenging but doable. Unfortunately, we got a later start than intended and it wasn’t until 1:30 until we were on the road. Most of this was because T. had to work and it took longer to drive to the ride start than anticipated, but there was a small amount of tomfoolery as well.

At the park where we parked the car, we came across this awesome piece of playground equipment, it’s basically a swing on a zip line/cable thing with a tire at the end:

(Embrace the dorkdom, that’s my motto.) After all of the fooling around, we hit the road. Unfortunately, mapmyride.com is a filthy lying website, because the first five miles were ridiculously hilly. Even T was huffing and puffing up some of them, until we hit the mother of all hills that caused both of us to have to stop and walk up lest we topple over. T was brave (stupid) enough to start riding again at some point, so he reached the top before me and was resting in the shade of a tree by the time I wheezed my way up there. The view was almost worth it…

It all looks very innocent and whatnot, but that street is evil I tells you, EVIL! T was definitely not feeling the love for the ride and was honestly nervous about being able to climb back up those hills on the return trip, but we pressed on. After about an hour or so, we happened upon this pretty park in Everett:

My camera still hates T:

We talked it over and decided that it would be better to turn around and cut the ride short rather than turning it into an all out suffer-fest. Our new plan was to stop for coffee if we saw some place nice and possibly try to find an alternative to the craptacular hills on the way home.

We headed back and decided to go down to the town of Mukilteo, a really cute little harbor town next to a ferry line. We looked at the historic lighthouse:

And stopped for ice cream:

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. We traded horrible hills for riding along busy roads (most of which had a bike lane) but the trade-off seemed worth it. Before long we’d made it back to the car and headed for home. T was totally wiped out, so we made a simple dinner and crashed on the couch. There was some serious competition for the couch though:

But nothing that a little snuggling couldn’t cure. Even though it wasn’t the workout I should have been doing, it was a fun ride and nice to spend some quality time with T.

Memory lane

As I mentioned in this post, my friend M is training for her first triathlon. As with any new endeavor, there have been a lot of highs and lows, including having to find a new race when the one she was originally training for got rescheduled to September. So, we went from the beginner-friendly, all women’s Trek to the relatively unknown quantity of Seafair.

It’s been really interesting working with M through this journey. Some of the milestones I remember well: the elation of the first successful ride in clip-in pedals, the longest swim, etc. Her enthusiasm for the increased fitness and new skills energizes my spirits and training. Some things I’d forgotten about, the anxiety that open water can bring. On Sunday, M had her first “open-water freakout” and the loss of confidence that always brings. I struggled with these same issues when I was starting out, so I know all too well how she’s feeling.

But to her credit, she’s coming back strong. We’ve spent the last two evenings in open water, first at Green Lake and then at Cottage Lake and each time she’s faced down her fears and gotten out there. Everyone feels afraid, but not everyone faces down that fear and sets out to conquer it, and M is doing just that. I’m both impressed and extremely proud of her. I know she’s going to kick ass and take names.

Goodbye, Gunn Ranch

We couldn’t think of a better way to bid adieu to the ranch than a little run down the dirt road. M had orchestrated this excellent plan that we’d run down the hill and then get someone to come pick us up, so we didn’t have to run back up. Bryan graciously agreed to be our sherpa and a group of us headed out. It’s still hard for this city girl to wrap her mind around this long expanse of empty dirt road:

We started all together, but eventually everyone found their pace: Jennifer way out front, Heather & Timmion running together, and M & I ran together. I had to stop and take a picture of the view:

But eventually we got down to business and finished our run. It was a nice gradual downhill, so it felt nice and easy. At the end, we had to stop and take pictures. Here’s M, looking fierce:

And me, goofing around:

And being a little less silly…

We finished our run and Bryan picked us up right on schedule. After a flurry of breakfast eating, showering and packing up, people started heading out. M & I managed to cram all of our crap into the car and hit the road around noon with the plan to poke around in Winthrop before we hit the road. And boy, was I glad we did because Winthrop is a gold-mine of amusing photo opportunities, starting with this guy:

Winthrop is a really cute little town that has all of these Western facades on all of the buildings:

We stopped to have our fortunes told by this ol’ miner:

We found this great gift shop that we knew was awesome from the first sight of this awesome cross-eyed cougar:

I mean, there was some spectacular merchandise to be had:

I also really enjoyed this mural:

After our tour of historic Winthrop, we headed for home. We’d mapped out a different route home, so that we could take in some new scenery. For the most part, it was very pleasant but unexpectedly we hit some traffic. Really baffling traffic, we’d sit without moving for 15-20 minutes and then it would be totally gone. Rinse and repeat. After an hour or so of this, punchiness set in and we started taking pictures of some of the amusing things we’d see from the car window. Here are the highlights, hillbillies burning trash in an oil barrel:

Sunbleached nativity scene:

And this weird town where two different churches had been converted into hippie shops:

But eventually traffic lightened and we made our way home, to regale the husbands with our adventures. Excellent Memorial Day weekend, many thanks to Erin & Timmion for inviting us.

The big swim

Sunday’s plans called for some swim action. We’d gotten a lake recommendation from one of Erin’s friends who’d joined us for dinner the night before, so we headed for Lake Patterson, about five miles away. Usually my Memorial Day weekend swims are just me or if I’m lucky, me and T, so it was really nice to have a big group to swim with. Plus, this was M’s first open water swim practice, so it was exciting to be a part of that and I was glad that she had other people in the water, so it wasn’t just two freaks in wetsuits amidst all of the fishermen.

The lake was really nice, with no jet skis or motorboats, just some kayakers and a few fishermen:

Timmion had a long-sleeved wetsuit that she was planning to sell on Craigslist, but which fit M perfectly. Plus, she looks disgustingly awesome in it:

It was very good that she had the long-sleeved wetsuit, because that water was COLD! Here’s M & I, freezing in the lake:

My mission for M was to just get comfortable being in the lake, in the wetsuit and not worry about how much/how fast/how far she was swimming. So, after spending a little time with her and making sure she was okay, I set off to swim for the other side and imagine my surprise when, a far ways from shore, I looked up to see M waiting for me so that she could swim in with me, which was pretty impressive. She did awesome, and I was very proud of her.

After our swim, some of us headed back into town and a group of us headed for the Sun Mountain Lodge for a little lunch. The lodge is pretty and overlooks the lake and valley. There was some “interesting” decor in the lodge, including this hallway of horror:

and this wild turkey:

Erin & David were kind enough to pose in front of the boar and javelina section:

But my very favorite was this giant stuffed bison by the front door:

After our lovely lunch, we headed home. I still had another bike ride and a short run on my schedule, as did M so we hatched an elaborate plan for her to meet up with me at the end of my ride, then we would ride together for the length of her ride and then run together. Erin, Timmion and I were planning to ride together on the same route that David & I had done the day before, so I figured I’d just turn back a little early and meet up with M.

The first part of the plan went fine, we headed out and I tried to keep up with Erin & Timmion, but my legs were really feeling the previous days ride. But I hung in there and we had a nice ride together and everyone agreed that it was a beautiful ride. Eventually, I had to turn back to meet M and they kept going. M and I were having a nice ride when we happened upon a familiar duo on the side of the road. Turned out Erin had a flat, but had a tube and was masterfully changing it, so after stopping briefly, we kept on.

We hit our turnaround point and headed back to the car. After a little while we noticed a familiar figure walking along the road. Poor Erin had gotten ANOTHER flat and because she had smaller wheels on her bike than I do, my spare would do her no good. Timmion had ridden ahead to her car, but it was much further away than M’s, so M and I hurried back to her car to rescue Erin. It was quite a comedy of errors as we tried to get Erin’s bike onto my rack (it wouldn’t fit) and then stuffed it into M’s backseat with Erin. Then hurried back to try to intercept Timmion. Our timing was impeccible, we caught up with Timmion just as she was leaving the parking lot. So, the run was cancelled in favor of a rescue effort, but it was a worthy cause.

Our final evening was filled with delicious food, good wine, some spirited bouts of Apples to Apples and CatchPhrase and was a great way to end such a wonderful weekend.

Gunn Ranch – day one

We were up pretty early in the morning. During the night, our last arrivals Jenn & Bryan, (plus their dogs Greta and Tyr) had arrived, so we had beautiful dogs to meet. (Photo taken later in the day, they were much more awake when we first met them, but just as adorable… )

Most of the group was headed into town to take part in a local 5/10k, but M & I had opted out, choosing to do our run on the dirt road outside the ranch. I mean, how can you resist this:

M was raring to go:

Because of all of the warnings about snakes in the house’s guest-info booklet, M and I stuck to the middle of the road and kept a vigilant eye out for snakes. The road was pretty much non-stop up for the whole way, but the view was worth it:

M shot this picture of me before the turnaround point:

When we got back to the house, the others still weren’t back. Jenn had left some cinnamon rolls that just needed to be put into the oven, so we decided to get those started. And holy crap, they were AMAZING!!!

M, who doesn’t like cinnamon rolls, licked her plate clean:

(All right, maybe that shot was staged, but the enjoyment level was the same)

It took a little while, but people started getting back to the house. There was a sizable difference between the arrival times of group one & group two, which turned out to be because Timmion had won her age group in the 5k:

She got a really cool ceramic mug as a prize, which we were all pretty jealous of. Next year, look out Mazama 5k! After a bit of hanging out, we started to get organized for the next round of activities.

I had a 3-hour ride on my schedule, which David offered to do with me. M & Timmion were going to do a shorter ride and scope out a nearby state park for swimming possibilities. Here’s M being a badass cyclist:

The route David & I took was a little different than we’d originally planned, but it turned out to be beautiful. A quiet state road along a river, one of the more beautiful rides I’ve done in a while. I spent most of the ride out thinking that my legs were totally dead and that I was the slowest cyclist ever. I’d wanted to do a 45 mile ride in the time frame, and the road ended at exactly 22.5 miles. but we had done the first leg in about an hour and 50 minutes. Gulp. But at the turnaround, I did get a chance to snap a few pictures:

Gorgeous! And the best part is that after we turned around, it turned out we’d been doing a ton of climbing. I don’t think I even had to pedal for the first 7 miles, it was glorious. We had some pick-up trucks hooting and hollering at us, but by and large the road was empty and the riding was fine.

Arrival at the Gunn Ranch

After our adventures in driving, which included a lengthy drive on some remote dirt roads, we arrived at the Gunn Ranch. The scenery was spectacular and the house itself was amazing:

(Photo Courtesy of M)

Inside was comfortable and lovely, with all sorts of really amazing photos of the owners’ travels and adventures. There were all sorts of sweet little touches:

There was a really cool breakfast nook:

And an awesome back porch, complete with dinner bell:

And these awesome “Princess Bride” paintings:

M was in photog heaven, snapping photos in every direction, so I decided to turn the tables on her:

Before long, everyone had arrived and food preparation/hanging out ensued:

Erin & David brought their “his & hers” blenders for margaritas:

A bit later, one of the blenders was running on it’s own. So, we pronounced it haunted and Erin was in charge of exorcising it. (Too many margaritas? Perhaps… )

The food was fantastic all weekend, so you can look forward to hearing more about that, but dinner of fish/veggie tacos was awesome. This was shaping up to be a pretty amazing weekend…

New recruit

So, it’s finally happened. I’ve infected my friend M with the triathlon virus. Come July 5th, M and I will be doing the first Seattle Trek Women’s Triathlon. I know M is nervous if she’ll be ready in time (a feeling I can well relate to with IM Canada on the horizon… ) but I’m confident I can get her prepared and that she’s going to have a blast. We went to an informational meeting last night to find out more info about the race (and get the 20 dollar discount on the entry fee!)

I’m very excited to do the race with M. I think she’s going to kick ass and have a great time.

A farewell to tri-camp

Last night’s margaritas left us all a little sluggish this morning. Dawn was definitely feeling the worst of us, but no one was exactly chipper. Audrey, Sally & I headed for Devil’s Punchbowl for a last little run/hike before the long day of sitting ahead. The trail was empty and lovely:

None of us felt like running, so we decided to to just hike as briskly as we could for an hour. It was nice to be outside and the fresh air made us all feel better. Then it was time to head back and get ready to hit the road. Audrey was nice enough to give me a ride to my friend Lisa’s for a quick visit before my plane left, so we said our good-byes and headed for L.A. It was a great weekend of training, and as always I met some great ladies. It was good to get back on the bike and in the pool and I feel ready to take on my training.

Training in Margaritaville

The weather was warmer this morning, which made everyone happier. A few of us wanted to do a second swim, but unfortunately the Palmdale pools were closed on Saturday (such a waste of a beautiful pool… ) so we decided to drive to Santa Clarita to use theirs. It was a long way, but the facilities turned out to be really nice. I must say, I’d swim a lot more often if our pools looked like this:

Even with the clouds rolling in, it was still really lovely to swim here:

After our swim, we headed back to camp for a quick lunch and then a bike ride. The winds had kicked up by then, so it was definitely challenging at times. Sally & I did a 90 minute ride, while Audrey did a longer, more challenging one. (She’s completely badass… )

After the ride, it was time to take the bike apart and start gathering up all my crap in preparation for leaving tomorrow. Kylie, who came to camp the first year that I did, had come up for the evening with her adorable dog Gracie. She chatted with Dawn & I while we took our bikes apart and packed them up, while her dog played with Nelson. Soon it was time for dinner and Monty’s fabulous margaritas.

Things started off well:

But eventually things got a little silly, as the evening wore on. Here’s Audrey’s margarita dance:

Sally telling us a story:

Cathy & Dawn:

Say Cheese!

It was a good time, though perhaps a few too many margaritas were consumed. They were good though! But eventually the evening wound down and we all headed off to bed. Party on, ladies!