Endurance Turtle A journey through this turtles triathlon adventures

Tomorrow I am taking the day off from work, I love work…don’t get me wrong…but sometimes it is nice to have a day off when everyone else is working because no one is breathing down your neck. So what am I going to do you ask?

1. Sleep in, probably till 8…which is later for me…
2. Drive out and pick up my disc covered wheel for my bike.
3. Go to Sears in Hastings Ranch and pick up a bundt pan for little mini bundts. 
4. Go to the Rose Bowl and do a reverse brick: This will consist of me parking very close to transition and basically doing a run through for the race on Saturday, March 20th.
5. Eat
6. One thing that I would like to do is go on a little hike and bring my camera. We have had some nice winds here and I think I could get some great pictures. So if I have time I will go to Brand park and bring my camera and tripod.
7. If I have time, I would like to bake something…not sure what though.
8. Then date night with Georgie, might throw in a couple beers with dinner

I might be trying to shove too much in one day…but that is how I roll! If I can’t do something I won’t be butt hurt…I still have the rest of the weekend.

What are you doing this weekend? Any cool training rides or runs that you can’t wait for?

Big FAIL!

I got all dressed up and went home.

Awesome.

Actually, turned out to be a fairly good idea. You see, on Sunday I toppled over on my bike because i am retarded. I was coming into a stop, and I usually clip out my right foot first. This time I decided, in my wonderful wisdom, to click out my left foot. Well, when I finally came to a stop I didn’t lean the right way and I went down. Got a little scraped up on my knee, but got back up. The last couple of days my lower back has been killing me, and this morning I came to the conclusion it was because I fell and probably tweaked my back a bit. I had PT today and I am feeling better. So if I would have run I probably would have screwed up my back even more. And I also would not have been able to make this:

Lemon Dream Pound Cake, that I refuse to eat. Why you ask?

2 1/2 sticks of butter, 3 cups of sugar, 6 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream, and a crap load of flour. I think I know why they call it a pound cake now…

I also screwed up a bit, even though I sprayed the crap out of the pan part of the top got stuck. So I just evened out the part that “was removed” and used some garnishments to make it look a little better. It tastes wonderful (i ate what was in the pan)…just isn’t as pretty as I would like. It would have also been better if I could have covered up the whole top with thick gooey icing, but the recipe calls for a glaze. Some cakes have all the luck!

Today I got 5 oranges from a co-worker who has a tree, so I will make the same cake but replace all the parts that say “lemon” with the oranges. This time i might use grease and flour for the pan, I think that pound cake might be a bit too much for poor Pam.

So, back in December at the Pasadena Triathlon Club End of Year party I won a couple of things:

# 1  - A personal Chi Running lesson from Steve Mackel

#2 – Aero Disc wheel covers (here is a picture of me very excited about getting the big black discs…)

#3 – This hot guy…his name is George and he came home with me…hopefully it wasn’t because of all the cool stuff I won…

With the Pasadena Triathlon coming up on March 20th, I was ready to cash this stuff in!

So yesterday, George and I did a 2 hour Chi Running session with Steve. He went through all the fundamentals and watched us and we learned how to run up some hills and stuff. Is that the worst summary ever??? If you want to know more, you should schedule a lesson with Steve, going rate is $150 and I have to say it was a GREAT experience and I really want to see what it will do for my running form.

The second item is the areo disc covers, I sort of promised myself I would never use these until I got faster…but being that they were free…screw it! I am going to use them! George got a set too so this week I am going to go out to their shop and have our wheels fit with the wheel disc covers. I will be taking them out for a test ride this weekend (because you never do anything new on race day) and then I will use them for the Pasadena Triathlon. The disc covers are from one of our sponsors www.wheelbuilder.com, they have a bunch of other awesome wheels that I can’t afford but they look very cool!

As for the hot boy, I get to have him for the rest of my life so I cash that in all the time!

I am going to attempt to run today, I am not really feeling it because it looks cold out I know all you east coasters probably want to ring my neck because cold is 57 degrees….But I am also thinking of baking another cake and would like to pick up some more baking supplies as I am REALLY getting into this. So don’t be surprised if you get a bundt cake from me…because I just can’t eat all of them myself. Made this one on Saturday for a friends birthday, Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese frosting:

It was yummy

Lately I have been doing physical therapy for my lower back. I basically have had lower back pain since I hit puberty and it has gotten progressively worse. I finally had enough and had my doctor write me a prescription for PT. Through the Pasadena Triathlon Club, I found a place called CATZ. CATZ works mostly on athletes and gear a lot of their methods to the active person. But I plan to do a whole post on that later….

Anyway, they have me doing a lot of core work and plyometrics and I think it is paying off! One month ago (early on in my physical therapy) I went for a run at the bowl, then I went again this week and I shaved a whole minute off of my pace, check out the stats!

Click on the image to expand-

For my run on March 1st, I actually did an interval run. So I ran for about .8 miles then walked a minute, then ran 4 minutes, then walked 1 minute, etc… By the time I was toward the end of my run I was doing about a 9:50 mile pace when I ran. To me this is AMAZING! I had sort of come to the conclusion that I just wasn’t a runner. And it didn’t matter what I did…I would always suck. I also have to tell you that I didn’t do any actual running between the runs you see above. It was all that core work that really improved my run! So now I am convinced that I need to do even MORE core work and who knows how far I can take this. It would be great if I could get to a point where I am running 10 minute miles with no walking breaks, but I still need to do some more work before I hit that goal.

Running is also my weakest part in triathlons. This is the make or break it point for me when it comes to getting on the podium (for Athena). If I can get better at my running, I know I can really rock some of the courses out there!

In other news, the evil girls are back again:

I am just going to give in now and eat a whole box (because that is what happens anyway). Maybe I will eat so many of them that I throw up and then can’t eat anymore, wait…isn’t that an eating disorder?

Happy Hump Day!

I’ll let you decide…but I am leaning toward just cheap.

You see, I have been searching for a good pair of capri running pants and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, what if I didn’t like them? Ya know? Anyway, I found some today at Ross but they have a logo on them:

I don’t ever plan to run the Boston marathon…unless they have a division for the longest time it takes to do it…then maybe! I sort of feel weird with it on, will people think I did that marathon? Am I misleading people to believe that I am such a fast runner that I actually qualified??? Does that make me a poser?

Then there is the second part of the story, the cheap part:

My capri pants cost $15…versus the $50 they retail for. And I always like ADIDAS because they make their clothes a tad bigger so I fit nicely into a medium. So basically, my capri pants with the Boston Marathon logo were ridiculously cheap and it gave me a low-cost way to test out how I like capri running pants.

I feel a little like a poser, I will just have to stop and tell everyone I see while wearing these capri’s that I did NOT run the 2009 Boston Marathon…but rather that I got them at Ross for hardly anything

And my conclusion on running capri’s is that they are GREAT! They were so comfortable and I never thought about them once (my #1 rule on having something that fits correctly).

For the past two weeks, it has been sunny all week long and then on the weekends it is pouring rain, WTF?

We might be able to get in something on Sunday after church…if we feel ever so motivated :-/

The past few weekends have been horribly busy. Last week I went on wedding overload and got a migraine, I still have 14 more months of this stuff???? This weekend we are going down to San Diego for my cousins wedding then we have to rush back to L.A. because George got me a baking class for the big V day. We will be focusing on baking “romantic reds”, a.k.a. RED VELVET

So Saturday will consist of beer (because that is all my family drinks when they get together) and cake. I am thinking I might have to find the motivation to workout on Sunday.

What do you do when the weather sucks?

And I want a pair of ear buds, so if you go to http://twentysixpointtwoormore.blogspot.com/ you can try to win too!

Life

On Saturday I sang a funeral for a 43 year old woman that past away from a heart attack. She left behind 2 high schooled aged kids and there were hundreds of people there. The worst part about this was that this was not her first heart attack and apparently she was overweight. This was something that was probably completely preventable! I think people really don’t take the gift of life and health very seriously!

Love

We had a low key Valentines Day, I got my yearly pound of chocolate from See’s…wonder if that translates to 1 pound on my body…. George and I also went to dinner with my parents. It was a day with my loved ones, and even though my parents know how to drive me insane, it was nice having them around.

Bike

Yesterday I had to go to the local hardware shop and pick up some paint supplies. I decided I would take my “city cruiser” (old bike I just fixed up). It was a beautiful day out and I really didn’t have a reason to drive my car. I should do this more often!

Paint

After my nice little bike ride, I took my dad to Lowe’s and we picked up some wood for the front steps as well as a ceiling fan. Then, when we got back, I started to paint the guest room. I have 1 wall completely done, 2 walls that need a second coat and the last wall hasn’t even been started yet. But my “Zen” room is really starting to come along and pretty soon I will be able to use it for my exercising as well as some office space.

Thank you Mr. Presidents for the day off (except Bush Jr., he really sucked), I got a lot done and I am still sore from all the work I did.

I am a sucker for a sale, I just can’t say no and it drives George slightly insane. Anyway, I am aware of these shoes they call Salomon. They are trail running shoes and are usually a tad out of my price range for shoes that I am not sure if I would use on a regular basis. So when I saw these shoes on sale at Run With Us, in MY size…well…I got ‘em. They were a cool $30 (retail is $90), which we all know is a great deal on running shoes! Here they are:

I also wore my Drymax trail running socks…which probably wasn’t that necessary since I wasn’t running through streams or anything.

I also like these shoes because the laces are actually a pull system then you tuck the excess in the tongue, and if I ever do a triathlon that requires trail running (like the Iron Girl last year) then I can use these!

Anyway, as with all things I buy, I must do something to use them. So I decided I would go up to Brand Park and head up the trails. I really didn’t know what to expect and was a little nervous that I was doing it alone but everything turned out ok. But I still am strongly considering buying some mace.

I started up one trail and didn’t run for long, since most of the things I was going up looked like this:

Little steep and a little rocky, so I just took my time up it. As I went up one side I started to notice the trail go behind the mountain. And because I was alone and it was dusk, I decided I would stop there. But then I saw this person over the canyon on the other hill going up and thought, hey! I wonder where that goes! So I ran back down the mountain then found my way up the trail that made it to the top of another hill. Here is a picture of me toward the top:

The mountain looked over Glendale and if you squint you can see Downtown Los Angeles over to the left. It was really beautiful up there and I really enjoyed the little hike. I wanted to make it to the top, but I had to head back down because the sun was almost gone. I would like to go back and head up the trail and make it to the top. I have to say that even though I didn’t really run, it is a great way to get your heart rate up because even walking can get tiring. I also want to do a trail race this year, there are two that I am choosing between….The Great Race at Agoura Hills and the XTERRA Malibu Trail Race. I just want to try something different and challenge myself.

If you are in SoCal this weekend, enjoy this awesome weather that we have! 70 degrees and absolutely gorgeous out! I love it here

Note from Kristen: George wanted to do a guest post, so here it is! When reading this remember a few things….. #1 HE IS MINE! hahaha   #2 We are going on 5 years together and we have come to the conclusion that we need to write a book about relationships. Not that we always get it right, but we truly enjoy eachother’s company and have a blast together…so keep an eye out for that book someday #3 I inserted all the photos, just to reference what he was saying. #4 Pull up your trashcan because you will probably need to barf …between the sweet things George says and the WAY cute pictures…you will be done for!

‘Tis the season…of Love!

By George

Valentine’s day is upon us.  Aside from Mother’s Day and a few other celebrated days, this is one of the biggest “greeting card” holidays. For my fiancee Kristen, being Catholic,and I soon to be initiated into the Catholic faith, St. Valentine’s Day means something different for us.  I’m not saying that we still do not get caught up in all the fuss, but we try to keep it in perspective.

So, in keeping it in perspective I propose and encourage the good readers of this blog to do something different for their significant others. It is really quite simple and pays huge dividends.  It is also transcends all holidays, greeting card or not.  And quite possibly might melt a few pounds, trim a few waist lines and improve the libido.

What could it be?

Do something together!

Try it!  Kristen and I have been doing it (together!) as long as we have been dating.  It has taken its shape in various forms but ultimately we have been pretty faithful to doing it together.

So what should you do with your significant?

Firstly, try doing something that the other enjoys a lot.  It’s OK, put yourself out there, you might actually enjoy yourself.  You will never know if you never try.  Kristen and I both enjoy dancing, she definitely enjoys it more than I do since it takes gallons of liquor or a roomful of strangers to get me to wiggle my backside.  But, when we do actually cut a rug together we have a blast, all pretense gets thrown out the window.

George, very liquored up, dancing with me back in 2006

Secondly, try doing something that the both of you have never done before. We tried doing a 5k run together a few years ago.  Both of us were pretty out of shape although I think at the time I was worse off (years of drinking beer and not exercising had finally caught up).  We weren’t all that excited during the run because it hurt, but afterwards we were able to revel together in the sense of accomplishment.  A few years later, we are now doing that with triathlons.

5k in 2007

Thirdly, try doing something together that both of you enjoy the most! This could be anything and everything.  We get our kicks just hanging out together, our date nights.  Other times we really enjoy going wine tasting.  Don’t let that throw you, there are plenty of liquor stores, wine bars and restaurants locally that do wine tasting events.  Some even do food pairings, that is where they will present a full menu along with their recommended wine pairings for you to enjoy while noshing some seriously good eats.  If you are feeling adventurous take a trip to wine country.

Our first wine tasting trip in 2006

Lastly, no matter what, always know that whenever you are doing something with your significant you are doing something with your best friend and the person (I hope) you love most in this world. So every one of those moments should be cherished.  Whether you are baking a cake, running a marathon, training for a triathlon, planning a wedding or kicking your feet up while watching a movie, what makes it special isn’t the act, it is the company that you are with.

Helicopter Flight 2007 - P.S. George is flying

Remind your significant how much you love them on St. Valentine’s day, but never let them doubt how much you love them the rest of the year….

Cheers!

Valentines Day 2009

We are a little over a month out from the Pasadena Triathlon, I registered last week and now I have to get serious. While this is a very fun race to do, and is only a sprint, I want to make sure I do well. So I need to kick up the training! I started last night by running around the bowl, it took me 37 minutes (which is too long) so I need to get my running up to speed (no pun intended…okay…maybe a little one)

This weekend I am going to go over to the bowl and do a reverse brick. I will run around the bowl, then hop on my bike and do a couple of laps. Last year at the Pasadena Tri, when I got off the bike in transition I got a HORRIBLE cramp in my leg and I would like to avoid that this year! I think if I hadn’t been delayed by that cramp, I might have placed. So this year is redemption!

Also, the bike will be outfitted for triathlons now. I took off the tri bars for the winter, so I will put those back on. I also have a new addition this year, and that is the wheel covers that I won at the PTC end of year party! The idea is not to really train in them, but to put them on for race day. For safety’s sake, I will do at least one ride with them on so I know what it feels like. Having disc covers can change how your bike handles if there is any bit of wind. And I don’t want to end up falling…because that would suck.

I also need to get into the pool, it has been a while…However, I am not too concerned with this considering that the swim is only 150 meters which is 3 lengths of the olympic size pool at the Rose Bowl. Last year I did the swim in 4:24, and that was probably mostly running to the pool limping (because of the cramp) and all the people getting in my way at the walls (which I will have a strategy for this year).

So Pasadena Tri goals are:

Run - 30 minutes (way lofty goal!)

Bike - 30 minutes (I think I can hit that)

T2 - 1 minute

Swim - 4 minutes

Total Time – 1:05 or 1:10 (i would be happy with either number!)

Here are last years numbers:

At this point, anything would be an improvement from last year!

Let the training commence!