Walk before Run

My foot or Plantar problem seems to be getting better. I stress it and it hurts, but then it feels ok later fairly quickly. Not gone, but ok. So I thought about running when Ceselie, Denise, Nicole, Anita, Bridgette, Stephanie, etc all went running after swim-spin on Saturday, but I went and did the ski machine for 10 minutes instead. At coffee they said they ran 1.5 to 2 miles and that's how far they were going to run next week too, just to get the legs used to running after the bike. So maybe next week I'll go with them and try a short run. To test whether that would work, I decided to walk 2 miles, so I took Spenser, my dog, and went to the Springwater trail and did 2.6 miles. It hurt while doing it, but as soon as I got in the Jeep my foot stopped hurting and back to just the small dull pain that's been normal. Not a good experiment because it did hurt while walking and running is probably harder on it. Have to do more walks next week and see.

During the walk a young couple came by on roller skates with a small beagle on a leash who looked like he was having a blast. Naturally the beagle stopped to sniff Spenser and the guy said his name and gave a tug on the leash at the same time the beagle turned to bound after them. A great picture if I'd had my camera ready, the beagle flew about three feet and came down running- still as happy as can be. The last week it has been clear blue skies and 43-53 for a couple hours at mid-day, but a cold wind most of the time and 30's at night.
Oh yeah- signed up for the Lake Stevens half ironman on July 8th! $175 plus mandatory insurance and a sign-up fee made it $200. Never heard of mandatory insurance before. My OBRA (Oregon Bike Racing Assoc.) number came in the mail and they had a big letter about liability and having your own insurance- I think someone around here sued a race organizer and won?

Core Work

Tonight I did a new class at the gym. Ceselie (pronounced Cecilia) who I train with started a new leg, abs, and back class that combines what we did after track and core work. I have been battling Plantar for a month now and had been babying it. Saturday I had to work and walked all over the base and was on my feet all day- my foot really hurt. Iced, Adviled and put inserts in my combat boots and it was better Sunday and was just a little painful today, so I went to Ceselie's class. We did jump steps and slides using a raised board, then lunges with weights and various other running build ups- my Plantar was screaming, but i could tell it would be incredibly helpful if I weren't hurt. The second half-hour is core. We did ball squats- holding yourself against a wall with the ball and squatting. At one point she said go lower and the "f" word popped out of me as I went lower and 8 or 9 people heard me, I apologized and was very embarrassed, I never cuss in public. Liz from track was beside me and said "it's ok, we were all thinking it." Later we were laying with the ball between the legs with the legs raised and Ceselie said to raise the hips- I couldn't do it. My core must be extremely weak, need to really work on it.
My plantar is still hurting, but I iced as soon as I got home- tomorrow at spin-swim I'll find out if it's getting better and needs to be worked or if I set myself back by weeks. I'm hoping for it needing to be worked after a month of babying.
During the snow days we had, I finally did something I'd been thinking of for years. I took 5 years of school pictures for the kids and matched them up and hung them climbing up my entryway steps. It looks ok in the picture, but in real life it turned out better than i had imagined it would look.

Hopefully I can get back to posting running adventures one of these days.

Portland X-Country Ski

Here in Portland we only get snow in town once or twice a year at the most. This morning what was forecast as a dusting turned into a lot of snow. Somewhere around 2-3 inches which for most places would be nothing, but we don't use salt here (very glad they don't- hate that stuff) so the roads are all snarled. My work canceled swing shift so I don't have to go out in it. So I took my dog Spencer for a walk and saw someone cross-country skiing and thought I'd try it. I had a shoulder injury last year, so it's been 2 years since I've skied. Took awhile to clip in because it'd been so long and I skied out my driveway and up the street until Spenser who was tied up started barking like crazy because he couldn't see me anymore. Turned around and went back. Stats: .1 mile 0 elevation gain.
Unfortunately this hurts the workout schedule but it should only be one day.

Vancouver Lake Ride

The last few days have been absolutely beautiful out, as long as you are looking out a window. 33-35 as highs is just way too cold. Hearing about temperatures elsewhere, wow it's cold all over the place. Anyway, my friend Kevin was going on a bike ride with a couple of guys from the gym, so I invited myself along. My bike is hanging on the ceiling of the spin room at the club since I spin 3 times a week- it's easier to leave it there. Had to drive to the club and get my bike and Kevin's pedals. He was going to test ride a guy's Kestrel that is the same model as a frame Kevin is thinking of buying.
Got to Vancouver lake at 1:30 and met Doug and Gorden and started out. Even with several layers- it was COLD! My Jeep said 31 at the lake. We just did an out and back around the lake roads, very similar to the Jack Frost Time Trial route coming up in February. Cruised along not going fast or slow. Haven't ridden outside since November, it was nice to be out, but I was starving (forgot to eat lunch) and cold. Gordon was riding a Merlin bike, he said it was from the mid 90's, still looked perfect. They're made of Titanium and one model is over $10,000 new, his wasn't that model, but still very nice. Kevin really liked the Kestrel although it's a tri frame and he wasn't used to that position. I got to try my new aerobars on the road, they were a little tiny bit unsteady, I'll have to move them in off the tape, I have them too wide. Ended up doing 17.03 miles at a 16.2 average.
Being very hungry I stopped at the first place I saw in downtown Vancouver and it was a small Thai place. They didn't have Pra Ram, so I asked and the girl turned to her mom and asked and the mom said" I can make just for you". So I had very good Pra Ram that wasn't on the menu.
Forgot to get a picture at the lake, so I took a picture of Mt Hood from the Vancouver side near the gym on the way to hang my bike back up.

2007 goals

2007 GOALS

1. Half Marathon
2. Half Ironman
3. Sub 8 minute pace in a 5K
4. Sub 50 minute 10K
5. Do a road race and stay with the peleton
6. Finish in the top 3 or win a PIR race
7. At least 10 triathlons
8. 3 county highpoints
9. 2008- Full Ironman!!!

I wrote these back before I got roped into doing a full ironman this year, so #9 changes to 2007 full ironman!
Still haven't tried to run yet (3rd week), but I'm doing spin-swim on Tuesday and Thursday now that swim lessons are over. The lessons along with Saturday's very hard swim-spin have combined to make me a faster swimmer by a little bit. We'll see this race season by how much.

Tagged

A-Available or Single? Single, available
B-Best Friend? Kevin, Steve and Lynn. Started hiking with Kevin over 10 years ago, now we race and train together. Steve and Lynn have been my friends since shortly after moving to Oregon and survived my divorce as friends. We do all our holidays together.
C-Cake or Pie? Marionberry pie.
D-Drink of choice? Diet Pepsi.
E- Essential Item? My treking poles? Even they aren’t essential, I have a stick that I used for hiking and would scribe a gash for each hike until I bought the hiking poles.
F-Favorite color? Blue
G-Gummi Bears or worms? Neither, too old for super sweet stuff.
H-Hometown? Battle Creek, Michigan
I-Indulgence? Chai Tea Latte
J-January or February? February...first bike race of the year!
K-Kids & names? Jeffrey & Debbie
L-Life is incomplete without? Kids
M-Marriage Date? Married for 17 years, divorced for 8 (holy cow has it been that long?) years.
N-Number of siblings? 3 one older brother and sister (twins) and one younger brother. Yes, I'm a middle child.
O-Oranges or Apples? Apples
P-Phobias/Fears? My children’s safety.
Q-Favorite Quote? “Anyway" The paradoxial commandments, too long to list here.
R-Reason to smile? Being alive, healthy, and living in Oregon!
S-Season? Summer
T-Tag three people
U-Unknown fact about me I played trumpet from 6th grade on, first chair of course.
V-Veggie I hate Tomatos by themselves, love them in salads and on sandwhiches.
W-Worst Habit? None? Guess I need some feedback.
X-X-rays you've had? Nothing unusual, dental, back, shoulder, foot, knee.
Y-Your favorite food? Pra Ram, with a good peanut sauce or Subway Salmon sandwhich (only one Subway in town still making it).
Z-Zodiac? Aries

2006 Race Results

Name Location Type Place Overall Time
Cherry Pie Bike Race Harrisburg Bike 30/33 1:10:00
Jack Frost Time Trial Vancouver, WA Bike 76/80: 277/324 0:36:18
Red Lizard 5-Miler Lake Oswego Run 10/11; 106/181 0:46:32
Bridge 2 Bridge 10K Portland Run 22/36; 281/629 0:54:08
Beaver Freezer Corvallis Triathlon 10/16; 125/318 1:20:21
Estacada Time Trial Estacada Bike 4/8; 108/138 0:30:00
PIR Bike Race 4/18 Portland Bike 42/44 0:29:10
Hawthorne Farms Tri Hillsboro Triathlon 4/8; 82/171 1:24:43
Canby Tri Canby Triathlon 7/12; 60/199 1:19:31
Onionman Tri Walla-Walla, WA Triathlon 18/19; 159/199 3:07:41
PIR Bike Race 5/30 Portland Bike 32/33 0:32:25
Run For The Roses Sherwood Run 15/17; 81/122 0:56:19
PIR Bike Race 6/6 Portland Bike 15/26 0:29:30
Solstice Run Oregon City Run 9/12; 65/150 0:25:53
Pacific Crest Tri Sunriver Triathlon 24/30; 340/490 3:29:10
Hagg Lake Tri Forest Grove Triathlon 15/15; 172/183 3:26:29
PIR Bike Race 7/11 Portland Bike 20/20 0:31:48
Midsummer Tri Portland Triathlon 12/18; 145/225 1:32:36
Apple Capital Tri Wenatchee, WA Triathlon 5/5; 75/78 3:09:10
PIR Bike Race 8/21 Portland Bike 0:36:30
VBC Time Trial Vancouver, WA Bike 0:28:29
PIR Bike Race 8/29 Portland Bike 10/11; 0:29:47
VBC Time Trial Vancouver, WA Bike 0:28:27
Aluminum Man Tri The Dalles Triathlon 7/8; 63/115 1:36:49
Race for the Cure Portland Run 0:25:55
Best Dam Run- 10K Estacada Run 14/16; 104/199 0:53:12
Columbia Bridge- 10K Astoria Run 198/609; 24/35 0:51:57
Run For The Cheetah Portland Run 6/8; 86/214 0:44:25
Run Like Hell Portland Run 10/21; 135/565 0:26:25
Pier Park 8K Portland Run 30/33; 85/90 0:46:16

Tried several different ways to get this to turn out right. Oh well, hard to read but this is last year's races.
Yesterday I woke up for swim-spin and my foot didn't hurt for the first time in 2 weeks, so I stood when everyone stood during spinning and no pain. Everyone went for a short run after spin, so I went to the ski machine to simulate running without the pounding for 15 minutes. At minute 14 my foot started twinging. Maybe another week to be safe- plantar facia can be deadly to my racing year so I'll be patient.
Week's totals- 8100 meters swimming, 3.25 hours spinning, 0 running, 1 hour weights, 1 hour yoga.

Sharky Swim

This morning (830) I did the Sharky swim, an annual event at the LaCamas club I go to. 5000 meters continuously, sort of. We had 5 people per lane and did pulls of 100 meters out front, so every 500 meters you got a few seconds rest as you waited for everyone to go by and jumped back on the back. The Ironman Florida group and the masters swimmers had the first few lanes. Our tri group had the next two lanes. Then others in the last couple lanes. We started out and I was in the back to start. I felt great for the first 1500 and around 2000 it started to get hard. The longest I had ever swam before was 2200 meters, so at 2500 I was in new territory. Around 3000 meters I wanted to quit, but kept going anyway. At 4000 meters, I went on autopilot with no thoughts other than counting and moving my arms and pushing off at each end. Suddenly Cecilia says there's only 400 more and we sped up and it was over. 5000 meters!
In my lane I'm the guy in the red wetsuit, Julie is to my right leaning over, Jan is in the corner looking away from the camera, Cecilia (track coach) is laughing and stretching, and Gloria is the one without a wetsuit on the far right.