Thursday, April 30, 2009

Enough about me...

Time to check in on Lola, and yup, the verdict is "cute as ever".


This is the half of her toy snake that is still intact. Let's just say that the head half suffered a more painful demise.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I proclaim myself "more awesome than expected"

14.5 miles, baby! That is how much I ran last Sunday! AND they were hilly miles, to boot.

So that is officially the most I have ever (and probably will ever) run in my life. I did it in about 2 hours and 40 mins, which means that I was doing 11-minute miles, which considering the length and hilly-ness of the route, I think is pretty decent. It was a freakishly hot day in SF, so I actually waded into the bay afterward to cool off. My dog, also went into the bay, and proceeded to wreak havoc by chasing the swimmers, who had to swim her back to shore because she was being so naughty. But that's beside the point. Let's focus on what's important here: I of little athletic endowment ran 14.5 miles! Yep. I'm pretty pleased with myself.

I also did a pretty tough bike ride on Saturday (the day before the run of glory). 60 miles through Marin, and about 4700 feet of climbing. It was a beautiful day, and we biked through Nicasio, Point Reyes, and then up the back of Mt. Tam, and along the "Seven Sisters" (hills that traverse the side of Tam).


Look! I am not dead-last! There are others behind me.


That weekend of extreme biking and running were part of "peak week" - my hardest week of training, two weeks before the actual race. From here on out, I taper down my workouts and rest a bit before the actual race. And I am supposed to eat a lot of carbs and salt. Awesome! I can totally get with that program.

The other, less fortunate consequence of peak week was that I got a sinus infection :( Apparently riding around all day in the pollen-rich countryside, with allergens assaulting your nose can clog up your sinuses and trigger an infection. Stupid sinuses! I felt pretty crappy for a couple of days, but then I went to the doc and he gave me antibiotics and now I am feeling oh-so-much better already. Yay for science!

So that's pretty much it until race day, which is rapidly approaching. Until then, I'll be "tapering" on my couch, with a bag of chips and some gatorade.