Last night I had my first opportunity to ride on the back of a motorcycle. Not a full on Harley or anything, just a Honda sport bike. And I loved it! I know I wasn't the best passenger ever- but I definitely wasn't the worst. I think my problem was that I'm used to being on my bicycle where I'm in charge, where I watch the corners and judge my own braking and speed. Instead, I was on the back, slipping back on my seat every time we accelerated and trying not to crash into my chauffeur every time he braked.
Although, the first time I got on my Cervelo (and subsequently every time it's been awhile) I got nervous. Like I'd never ridden a bicycle before in my life. So, after the ride I got a pat on the back and a "good job and don't worry, you'll get more comfortable as we ride more" At least I didn't get a "heck no! you're never going out again!" So, I consider it a complete success.
And afterwards, we washed my car. Lovely.
I do hate to admit though, I skipped my workout last night for that. And I'm skipping again tonight to meet some friends for drinks at Green Lake. A local hot spot when the sun starts shining.
At least I'm making up for it tomorrow morning. Early. With an 18 to 20 mile run.
Yesterday morning I met with a nutrionist. Just wasn't feeling that I'm fueling or recovering correctly. I'll have more on that this weekend.
5/29/09
5/27/09
more POWER
I've decided I really need more strength and power in my legs. So, I'm back to the heavy weights.
Last weekend I went for a 16.5 mile run Saturday morning and then dragged my roomie down to Lake WA with me for a 'swim' Basically, I got into the water and complained about how cold it was for a few minutes before taking a few strokes. Standing up and then complaining again. I didn't last long.
That night I was so tired that we just hung out on the couch watching basketball with a few beers. Lovely.
Sunday morning I headed up to Lake Stevens to ride the trail and part of the Half Ironman course. That's when I decided my legs are wimpy. I climbed one little hill about 30 miles in and wow, my legs were burning!!!
Great weekend for workouts though- a stretch of beautiful weather in Seattle. It's supposed to be around 70 or higher for at least the next ten days! Yay, maybe the nice weather will even last through my birthday and my first tri of the season. Fingers crossed!
Last weekend I went for a 16.5 mile run Saturday morning and then dragged my roomie down to Lake WA with me for a 'swim' Basically, I got into the water and complained about how cold it was for a few minutes before taking a few strokes. Standing up and then complaining again. I didn't last long.
That night I was so tired that we just hung out on the couch watching basketball with a few beers. Lovely.
Sunday morning I headed up to Lake Stevens to ride the trail and part of the Half Ironman course. That's when I decided my legs are wimpy. I climbed one little hill about 30 miles in and wow, my legs were burning!!!
Great weekend for workouts though- a stretch of beautiful weather in Seattle. It's supposed to be around 70 or higher for at least the next ten days! Yay, maybe the nice weather will even last through my birthday and my first tri of the season. Fingers crossed!
5/19/09
sunscreen is your FRIEND
Disclaimer: 9 times out of 10 I wear sunscreen when I go out for a run if a nice warm day (yes, I know I should wear it in the winter too)
However, Sunday morning I was feeling the effects of a really good Saturday night. I mean, REALLY good night. Anyway, I got home and decided that I'd take out my P2C for an hour long ride. It was warm, after noon and I was in a hurry. As soon as I got down to the trail and started riding I remembered that I forgot sunscreen. I decided that it wasn't going to be a major issue and kept riding. Well, see below for the horrifying consequences and really, the picture does no justice to the actual coloring. (please ignore my love handles):
However, Sunday morning I was feeling the effects of a really good Saturday night. I mean, REALLY good night. Anyway, I got home and decided that I'd take out my P2C for an hour long ride. It was warm, after noon and I was in a hurry. As soon as I got down to the trail and started riding I remembered that I forgot sunscreen. I decided that it wasn't going to be a major issue and kept riding. Well, see below for the horrifying consequences and really, the picture does no justice to the actual coloring. (please ignore my love handles):
Yup. Good times. I was back for another BBQ at the same location on Sunday night as I was Saturday and they have now taken back my nickname of "Casper" Not exactly the way I wanted to lose the name. Oh well, Sunday night was also a wonderful night. Possibly the best weekend of the year thus far.
Anyway, today is Tuesday and I stayed home from work. Just felt kinda blah this morning. My feeling and mood was probably egged on by the crappy day here. After several days of sunshine- back to grey clouds and rain in Seattle. Oh well, it makes us that much happier for sunny days.
Oh! And I just found out where I'll be as a volunteer at Ironman CDA this summer. I've been put on finish line t-shirts. Everyone kept telling me to try to get somewhere that I'd be done early, but really? What's more rewarding than being right there at the finish line? I'm so excited!
5/17/09
how does one fix a flat?
Yesterday morning I got up early for a bike ride. It was still a bit chilly so after eating breakfast I hung out watching some TV for a bit. Around nine I finally dragged myself off the couch and finished gathering up all my necessary stuff. I grabbed my bike, checked my tired-and wouldn't you know. My rear tire was flat! I haven't had a flat in almost two years, and silly me, I never actually practice changing them (bad idea). I ask my roommate for some help getting the chain off. And because he's such a great guy he sits in the hallway by the front door with me. I think he was more or less there to laugh at me. But it never hurts to get some practice with this stuff, even if he was mostly just watching. Needless to say. It went badly. For the life of me I couldn't get the tire levers to actually remove the tire. We couldn't find a hole in the tube, so we replaced it and we're going to check out the old one this week in the bathtub. Anyway, after about twenty minutes of my lackluster technical abilities I finally had the tube replaced and the wheel back on. My hands were covered in dirt and grease, as were my legs. I even had grease on the back of my arm. I have no idea how it got there.
Needless to say, I was now not looking forward to riding- even though the day was beautiful. I was now worrying that I'd get a pinch flat, so I rode around the neighborhood for a few minutes. Everything seemed good, so I headed out to find some hills. About three miles in, I was on a slow steady climb and I sucked down a bug and it got stuck in the back of my throat. There I am, on a narrow shoulder on a climb, with cars whizzing by me on the left and I'm choking. Not just coughing, but that panicky cough where you can't get breath. And then it hits me, drink something dummy!
And now all I could think of is what else could go wrong on this day?? Luckily nothing! It was a nice easy 33 miles. I wore enough sunscreen so that I'm only slowly getting a tan. Well, that was yesterday. Today, I completely forgot sunscreen. I was out for only an hour, but I left later in the day. Yup. It's pretty obvious. Oh well. Last night I walked into a BBQ wearing shorts and I was greeted with "What's up Casper?" and "Holy white legs!" and then of course the remarks of "Aren't' you a runner? Don't' you wear shorts year round?" Punks!
Oh well, it's finally summer weather in Seattle and I'm going to take pride in my Casper legs.
Needless to say, I was now not looking forward to riding- even though the day was beautiful. I was now worrying that I'd get a pinch flat, so I rode around the neighborhood for a few minutes. Everything seemed good, so I headed out to find some hills. About three miles in, I was on a slow steady climb and I sucked down a bug and it got stuck in the back of my throat. There I am, on a narrow shoulder on a climb, with cars whizzing by me on the left and I'm choking. Not just coughing, but that panicky cough where you can't get breath. And then it hits me, drink something dummy!
And now all I could think of is what else could go wrong on this day?? Luckily nothing! It was a nice easy 33 miles. I wore enough sunscreen so that I'm only slowly getting a tan. Well, that was yesterday. Today, I completely forgot sunscreen. I was out for only an hour, but I left later in the day. Yup. It's pretty obvious. Oh well. Last night I walked into a BBQ wearing shorts and I was greeted with "What's up Casper?" and "Holy white legs!" and then of course the remarks of "Aren't' you a runner? Don't' you wear shorts year round?" Punks!
Oh well, it's finally summer weather in Seattle and I'm going to take pride in my Casper legs.
5/16/09
oh sunny day!
It's such a lovely day and I have nothing better to do right now than to sit on my balcony and watch my cat explore- so I might as well post about my ride today.
First of all- the things I had to write about before.
1) I was out running in my neighborhood the other day, less than a mile into a 3.5 mile loop that takes me around the grocery store. I was running on the shoulder of a pretty busy road and ahead I see a cyclist coming towards me. Then I realized- it's not a bicyclist- it's a unicyclist! Fabulous! Except, as he passes by me, I see that both of his knees are bloodied. Awww
2) I'm a moron. I went for a ride last Sunday and since I didn't want to deal with my hill on the way back I drive the couple miles to a trail head of the trail that runs around Lake Washington. I venture off the trail into the next couple towns and basically have a great ride. As I return to the parking lot, I see my roommate leaving so we chat for a minute. I then change my shoes, put my bike on my roof, finish my second water bottle, check my cell phone and hop in the car and drive away. About halfway home it hits me that I didn't put my front wheel in my car!!! U-TURN!!! Get out of my way you slow drivers! I go flying back to the parking lot and there in the middle of the spot I had been parked in- my front wheel. A few people laugh as I jump out of my car and grab it. Oops!
3) My awesome friends. So, there's three people at work that I've been running with and "convinced" to run a half marathon. It didn't really take too much. So, I found and modified some training programs to fit their schedules. We've been running together and I've been giving them advice and stories about races and kind of letting them know what they might expect. The other day I get a meeting invite from one of them. And at 4:30- suddenly they're all in my cubicle. "Um. hi guys" And basically they tell me that they wanted to say thanks for keeping them motivated and getting them to do this and all that good stuff. And Jacque pulls a huge gift bag out. Immediately I start blushing. They got me a hooded sweatshirt that says "Coach" on the front left chest, and across the back says "Coach Caldara" How cute are they. They're always saying "Coach, how far are we running today" "Is this a good idea Coach?" and such. It's become such a joke that I just started almost talking third person "Coach doesn't think you should run if your knee is sore" Stuff like that. They almost made me cry. Seriously.
And tomorrow I will post about my ride today. It started terribly. Got worse and then ended wonderfully!
First of all- the things I had to write about before.
1) I was out running in my neighborhood the other day, less than a mile into a 3.5 mile loop that takes me around the grocery store. I was running on the shoulder of a pretty busy road and ahead I see a cyclist coming towards me. Then I realized- it's not a bicyclist- it's a unicyclist! Fabulous! Except, as he passes by me, I see that both of his knees are bloodied. Awww
2) I'm a moron. I went for a ride last Sunday and since I didn't want to deal with my hill on the way back I drive the couple miles to a trail head of the trail that runs around Lake Washington. I venture off the trail into the next couple towns and basically have a great ride. As I return to the parking lot, I see my roommate leaving so we chat for a minute. I then change my shoes, put my bike on my roof, finish my second water bottle, check my cell phone and hop in the car and drive away. About halfway home it hits me that I didn't put my front wheel in my car!!! U-TURN!!! Get out of my way you slow drivers! I go flying back to the parking lot and there in the middle of the spot I had been parked in- my front wheel. A few people laugh as I jump out of my car and grab it. Oops!
3) My awesome friends. So, there's three people at work that I've been running with and "convinced" to run a half marathon. It didn't really take too much. So, I found and modified some training programs to fit their schedules. We've been running together and I've been giving them advice and stories about races and kind of letting them know what they might expect. The other day I get a meeting invite from one of them. And at 4:30- suddenly they're all in my cubicle. "Um. hi guys" And basically they tell me that they wanted to say thanks for keeping them motivated and getting them to do this and all that good stuff. And Jacque pulls a huge gift bag out. Immediately I start blushing. They got me a hooded sweatshirt that says "Coach" on the front left chest, and across the back says "Coach Caldara" How cute are they. They're always saying "Coach, how far are we running today" "Is this a good idea Coach?" and such. It's become such a joke that I just started almost talking third person "Coach doesn't think you should run if your knee is sore" Stuff like that. They almost made me cry. Seriously.
And tomorrow I will post about my ride today. It started terribly. Got worse and then ended wonderfully!
lapcat-laptop
I'm sitting here on a gorgeous Saturday morning (watching terrible teen movies on TV) with both my cat and my laptop on my lap. Yes, my cat thinks he's a laptop. I'm kind of jealous that he can just crawl wherever he wants and fall asleep. That's pretty much all I want to do right now- curl up in my bed or on the couch or wherever and just sleep. Just no motivation. I'm barely even motivated to write- even though a lot of stuff has been going on.
So, here's what I need to talk about in my next post:
unicycle
missing front wheel
my awesome friends/future half-marathoners
And now, I'm going to go slide into some spandex and head out for a ride. It's a bit chilly- but it's better than the rain the other day I rode to work in!
So, here's what I need to talk about in my next post:
unicycle
missing front wheel
my awesome friends/future half-marathoners
And now, I'm going to go slide into some spandex and head out for a ride. It's a bit chilly- but it's better than the rain the other day I rode to work in!
5/10/09
Pittsburgh review
First of all, I got to listen to Bill Rodgers (Boston Billy) speak at the Expo for a little bit on Friday. My sister later called my mom to tell her that I was like a little kid excited about Santa, staring at him from the audience like he was a rock star. Well, he is!!
Okay, so Sunday morning I woke up at 4:30- after hardly sleeping at all the night before. My sister, bro-in-law and the kids got up right after I did and we were actually pulled out of the driveway by 5am, which was the goal. I only at a banana and part of a Cliff bar at the house, and then munched on fruit snacks and drank water in the car. We were downtown and parked before 5:30. There was literally no traffic. Nothing at all like the Seattle marathon. So, we had two hours to kill. Ouch. We wandered around a little bit and took some pictures by the Philips Respironics sign. Of course, I was wearing my BC gear!
I finally went to check my gear around 6:30 and then hit up the porta-potties. OMG. I have never stood in line for a bathroom for so long. I probably got in line at 6:45 or 6:50 and when the race started at 7:30, I was just finishing up. So, needless to say, I didn’t get a chance to warm up or stretch. Not good.
But, I was there, it was a pretty warm day, and there was nothing else to do but run through this strange city, without my iPod. (When I crossed the chip mats, I happen to look to my left and saw Bill Rodgers- I kind of contemplated running over to him and shaking his hand, but thought better of it).
Overall, the course was pretty good. It was crowded of course for about the first two miles and then spread out nicely. However, around mile 3, both of my IT bands and my right knee started aching so badly that I thought I would have to drop out. So, I didn’t get to look around as much as I wanted to, I was focusing on gritting my teeth and not stepping in any potholes. It definitely wasn’t a tough course for a half, a few rollers, but nothing any Seattleite couldn’t handle. :)
It started raining on me around mile 10 or 11- by that point I was having to walk some to save my poor knees. The wind was coming in pretty good, so after I crossed the third bridge and I only had less than a mile to I had to stop and put my arm warmers back on.
It was my second best half marathon time, but I was still pretty disappointed with it. Oh well.
Okay, so Sunday morning I woke up at 4:30- after hardly sleeping at all the night before. My sister, bro-in-law and the kids got up right after I did and we were actually pulled out of the driveway by 5am, which was the goal. I only at a banana and part of a Cliff bar at the house, and then munched on fruit snacks and drank water in the car. We were downtown and parked before 5:30. There was literally no traffic. Nothing at all like the Seattle marathon. So, we had two hours to kill. Ouch. We wandered around a little bit and took some pictures by the Philips Respironics sign. Of course, I was wearing my BC gear!
I finally went to check my gear around 6:30 and then hit up the porta-potties. OMG. I have never stood in line for a bathroom for so long. I probably got in line at 6:45 or 6:50 and when the race started at 7:30, I was just finishing up. So, needless to say, I didn’t get a chance to warm up or stretch. Not good.
But, I was there, it was a pretty warm day, and there was nothing else to do but run through this strange city, without my iPod. (When I crossed the chip mats, I happen to look to my left and saw Bill Rodgers- I kind of contemplated running over to him and shaking his hand, but thought better of it).
Overall, the course was pretty good. It was crowded of course for about the first two miles and then spread out nicely. However, around mile 3, both of my IT bands and my right knee started aching so badly that I thought I would have to drop out. So, I didn’t get to look around as much as I wanted to, I was focusing on gritting my teeth and not stepping in any potholes. It definitely wasn’t a tough course for a half, a few rollers, but nothing any Seattleite couldn’t handle. :)
It started raining on me around mile 10 or 11- by that point I was having to walk some to save my poor knees. The wind was coming in pretty good, so after I crossed the third bridge and I only had less than a mile to I had to stop and put my arm warmers back on.
It was my second best half marathon time, but I was still pretty disappointed with it. Oh well.
5/7/09
i'm slacking!
Okay, so I ran the Pittsburgh Half Marathon four days ago- and I have yet to post my race report/review. But- I will. I promise. I have plenty to say!
5/2/09
5/1/09
navigational morons
Well, I'm ready for the run on Sunday. As ready as I will be I guess. I'm still so jet-lagged that I didn't get a run in today. I slept in until about 8:30 at which point I got up and had some yogurt with Emily. When I finally looked outside, it was pouring! Like, Seattle downpour! Yuck.
So, instead, I hung out with my nieces this morning. We watched the Curious George movie- twice. After my b-i-l headed to work, my sister and I got the kids ready and headed downtown. Okay, so I've only been downtown into Pittsburgh once before. And my sister is terrible with directions and doesn't drive in the city. We checked the map and figured "Convention Center" piece of cake. Take one of the bridges right into downtown and there will be signs. Well, downtown Pitt is not easily navigated. For me at least. We wound up going the wrong way at first with comments of "really? it's a big building, there will be signs! for the center AND the run!" Finally, we found it, parked and the kids were of course fast asleep. Emily slept through the entire thing. Lilly woke up and batted her eyelashes at everyone. I was so excited, I got to listen to Bill Rodgers speak for a bit. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him, and we got overly lost on the way to Fleet Feet Sports so I didn't get to see him there either. Bummer.
However, I did pick up a pair of compression leg sleeves. Not sure I'll wear them on Sunday, but I'm at least excited to wear them on the flight home on Tuesday and see if this helps with the ridiculous swelling I experience when I fly. Cankles! I get serious cankles!!
Anyway, hoping to get a run in tomorrow morning before we head back downtown. We want to get a better idea of the parking situation since my sis and I are complete navigational morons.
So, instead, I hung out with my nieces this morning. We watched the Curious George movie- twice. After my b-i-l headed to work, my sister and I got the kids ready and headed downtown. Okay, so I've only been downtown into Pittsburgh once before. And my sister is terrible with directions and doesn't drive in the city. We checked the map and figured "Convention Center" piece of cake. Take one of the bridges right into downtown and there will be signs. Well, downtown Pitt is not easily navigated. For me at least. We wound up going the wrong way at first with comments of "really? it's a big building, there will be signs! for the center AND the run!" Finally, we found it, parked and the kids were of course fast asleep. Emily slept through the entire thing. Lilly woke up and batted her eyelashes at everyone. I was so excited, I got to listen to Bill Rodgers speak for a bit. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet him, and we got overly lost on the way to Fleet Feet Sports so I didn't get to see him there either. Bummer.
However, I did pick up a pair of compression leg sleeves. Not sure I'll wear them on Sunday, but I'm at least excited to wear them on the flight home on Tuesday and see if this helps with the ridiculous swelling I experience when I fly. Cankles! I get serious cankles!!
Anyway, hoping to get a run in tomorrow morning before we head back downtown. We want to get a better idea of the parking situation since my sis and I are complete navigational morons.
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