Three Things Thursday

1. I came home last night, after work, and....

CROSS TRAINED.

25 minutes of arms (with weights, what), 15 min core pilates, and 10 minutes easy yoga. I use an app on my phone with a variety of tabata-style workouts, by Skimble. I'm cheap so I have only the free access, but there's a paid access option too, with more options. For me, these are fine - I'm not invested enough to pay money for an app, when I have tons of other options available to me.

I always forget that I really like doing this stuff when I do it. Dumb, me.


2. We have been hunting for a new place recently, and have come across some real gems in our search.

Did you know rentals in OC (and other parts of SoCal) often don't incldue a refrigerator?

Listed among "features" of a LOT of places are things like, "Sidewalks" and "Curbs" and "Paved Roads". What. You guys, that is not a FEATURE in OC. That's, like, normal existence.

We'll likely be moving out of our current neighborhood, which is good/bad. Good because it's super expensive, our rent has gone up AGAIN, and we'll save a boatload by moving out of the area. We've done a lot of research on the surrounding areas and schools, and think we've narrowed it down to a few communities. Bad because moving is just a giant pain in the ass, and I hate it. Also, everywhere we're looking at is hilly hilly hilly - good for my running/bad for pain levels?

Anyway.

3. This is the truth. The whole truth.



BONUS! This, too, is the truth.

 

 

Happy Thrusday!

This one time, I ran on vacation. PFTW

Weekend of Gluttony had some pretty horrifying results when I weighed in this morning, despite doing 2 workouts on a 3-day vacation.

A few months ago, we booked a quickie 3-day Memorial Day weekend cruise out of SoCal with the kids - I love cruises, but I wasn't sure how the girls would like it. We gave them an option of a road trip again (like we did last year to Big Sur and San Francisco), camping, or cruising, and they picked cruising.

For me, this is ideal, because there's a finite amount of planning that you can do with a cruise - you pretty much have a limited number of options. I have a tendency to plan plan plan overplan plan obsessively, so this gives my OCD issues some relief.

Carnival isn't super fancy or anything, but it's a decent produt at a decent price point, and we had fun.

Marissa (#2) and Gabby spent a lot of time wanting to go back to Camp Carnival, and #1 - brace yourselves - wanted to hang out with The H and me a lot. She went to shows with us, hung out on deck with us, and was generally adorable and un-14-year-old-ish. I know my days of this are numbered, so we took advantage of it while it lasts.

 

....and then there's this.... Oh, fickle.

Our options out of SoCal are pretty limited - for the weekend we needed to book, there was only the 3-day sailing on Inspiration to Ensenada. I've done this cruise before with a friend a few years ago, and I've been on this class of ship twice before, so it was comfortable. It's not the newest, fanciest ship around, but it's easy to navigate, and not so giant that it feels overwhelming.

she was STARVING. The H thought this was hilarious.

Ensenada isn't my favorite port... We wandered around for a few hours, but spent most of the day back on the ship.

Apparently, it was EXHAUSTING for the girls.

I made them all get dressed up for Elegant Night. Gabby didn't want to leave our window.

 

 The weather on our only sea day, Sunday, was less than ideal - overcast, windy, and cold. COLD.

 



In a shocking turn of events, I had two REALLY GREAT runs while on board. I am thinking my treadmill hatred is directed only towards the new treadmills in my gym, and not all treadmills universally?? Madness.

 

Or maybe it was the view? The view didn't hurt.

4 faaaast tempo miles on Saturday, and 3.5 easy miles Sunday - I really felt good, and intended to run further, but our weather was ROUGH, and it's shockingly hard to balance on a treadmill when the boat is rocking. Instead of just heading back to bed, I followed that with WEIGHTS. I know, I barely even know who I am.

I'm not sure what got into me, but I was up both days and at the gym by 6:30. Fascinating.

I also booked a room on the lowest deck, with the intentions of walking up the stairs all weekend. Did you know, it's a LOT of stairs from the 4th deck to the 12th, where the gym is? Or from the 4th deck, to the 10th where all the FOOD is??? My legs have never been so exhausted.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to undo the damage done by Weekend of Gluttony.

This is probably not ideal refueling for a 9am breakfast post-workout.

What? We had free drink coupons that had to be used....

I really, really love cruising.

FYI, if you're in the market, I booked this cruise and my last through Destiny Cruise Travel - Debbi is remarkably patient and did not shun me when I changed my mind a million times before booking. Highly recommend!

*****************************************************************************

PFTW!

Last week:
Tuesday: 3.5 crappy miles
Saturday: 4 miles, tempo fast!
Sunday: 3.5 okay miles, weights

This week....
Monday: Yoga/stretching {as in, I already did this!}
Tuesday: 4 miles "easy" {hold on to your hats, I RAN THIS MORNING. It was not good}
Wednesday: Yoga/Cross training
Thursday: 4-5 hills
Friday: rest
Saturday: long {I for REAL need a long run, since I'm running a half marathon in 18 days...}
Sunday: Cross training

#NotEatingAllTheThings - week 2-3.5

I am planning on a Weekend of Gluttony starting at noon today, so I postponed my weigh-in to today.

And I'm up 0.5lbs.

I know this is likely just a normal fluctuation and water weight and it's that time of the month and blah blah. But it's pretty annoying and a little discouraging to see that number go up when I'm being very careful.

Annoying, I say!

I'm going to confess that I haven't followed my work-out plan this week, either, which I'm sure hasn't helped (my waistline nor my mood....) - I ran 3.5 lame ass miles on Tuesday, and just didn't finish, and didn't try again. I started yoga one night, but got 3 minutes in and turned it off. So.... There's that.

Of note this week:
I THINK I'm less starving than I was last week. I don't think I quite believe Madison's claims that your stomach will shrink; I think it has more to do with my lack of exercise the last 5 days.

Sometimes, I make a salad SO GIANT I get tired of eating before I'm done. What.

I think I'm eating too many carbs (GASP!) for the amount of running I'm doing. Which is, not much - my loose SFM training plan calls for a peak of 26 miles/week. And at the rate I'm completely KILLING this plan (as in, not at all), I will likely scale that back.

This game is dumb. I'm intrigued to see the results after Weekend of Gluttony. But I'm hard-pressed to feel motivated when I think of all the delicious things I passed on in the last 10 days....



Whatever, game.

Hiking and "trail" running in Irvine - PFTW

Last week....
Tuesday: 4 miles easy (actually, 4 miles with stupid fartleks because I was bored on the treadmill)
Wednesday: 4 miles with hills and it was hard and terrible
Saturday: 3 mile hike
Sunday: 8 miles on trails PLUS 40 minutes total body conditioning. {this was EXHAUSTING}

This week...
Monday: easy yoga
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: cross train
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: ehhhhh
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: cross?

***************************************************************************

On Saturday, Gabby asked to go hiking! We originally planned on hiking Laurel Canyon in Laguna Coast, but she's the slowest human ever in the morning, and by the time we left the house at 8:30, both the Laurel Canyon and Nix parking areas were packed full.

We ended up at the James Dilley Greenbelt Preserve across the street, and did a moderate, 3 mile loop to Barbara's Lake.

From the parking area ($3 parking fee, payable by card or cash), we took the Canyon Trail, to Edison, to Barbara's Lake, and Lake trail back to our car. It was slow going, because Gabby suddenly is obsessed with collecting every rock she sees, but she loved it.

If you love this, I have 15 more just like it.....

Super easy, moderate hill to the ridgeline, and only one steep-ish part.

There's some poison oak in the canyon, so just be aware.

They had a foot print guide and a poop guide available at the trailhead, so there was a lot of watching out....

The lake was not particularly exciting, but kind of pretty.

Super fun, and pretty easy for the kids. Try it.

On Sunday, I decided to do my "long" run outside (shocking, I know). I haven't been feeling the treadmill love lately, and I really liked being back on the dirt Saturday, so I hit an 8 mile loop from my house. The first 2-2.5 miles are paved trail, not particularly scenic, running alongside the 405 freeway.

At Shady Canyon and Quail Hill, where the dirt trail starts, there's a pretty rough hill, not particularly steep, but almost a mile long. After that, it's some pleasant rollers for about 2 miles, then into a residential neighborhood (Turtle Ridge), and back to my neighborhood.

I hesitate to call it "trail", because really, it's just a route that's partially unpaved. But, there are some good climbs, and I'm really surprised at how good I felt.

The views are not bad, too....

It's so hard living here.

#NotEatingAllTheThings - Week 2

This pretty much sums up my love for #NotEatingAllTheThings Challenge.

This was actually week 2 of the experiment - my week 1 recap is here - but since I forgot to even weigh in WHEN I STARTED (because I'm DUMB), this is the first measurable week.

And since I'm down 2.2lbs, I am calling it a moderate success. In actuality, I'm now at just about where I was MONTHS ago, before I became the laziest runner ever. So... I guess at least I undid that damage?

Some of the things I enjoyed this week include....

I am taking things VERY moderately, and still enjoyed some treats - a light frap, a tiny cupcake, cookie cake, a beer, some creme brulee (okay, a LOT of creme brulee - I bought it when I went out with #2, to share it, and turns out she doesn't like creme brulee. I'm not sure how that's even a thing, it seems like an impossibility, not liking creme brulee....).

So, considering all of the above, I'm pretty pleased. I suppose it's not as terrible as I'm pretending it is, but it has been a really long time since I've had to pay any attention - I maintained this exact weight for almost a year when actually marathon training. The weight gain would probably explain at least some of the general suckiness of the Eugene training. You know, in addition to the NOT RUNNING parts.

I plan on keeping up with the experiment for at least another 10 days, and then I'll re-evaluate after Memorial Day weekend.

******************************************************************************

In unrelated news, I managed to find a pair of ORIGINAL PURE FLOWS. On Saturday, when we were at the mall for NINE HOURS to get our van repaired, I wandered into Sport Chalet. And while they did not have my size in stock, they checked inventory, and a store down the street DID show my size.

As soon as we got the car back, we headed straight there - and lo and behold, there is my beautiful original Pure Flow, size 7.5, resting in a display!

It took several employees, a manager, and 20 minutes, but they found the mate, and my feet can run happy again. Phew. My last pair of Flow's are on their last leg (no pun), so I am extra grateful for this.

This is what happy looks like.

Gabby was bummed that they are not purple, so we are no longer matchy matchy shoe twins - and she was NOT hearing it when I showed her the purple soles.

Kid, tell Brooks all about your disappointment, because I'm sad, too.

Plan for the Week - 5 weeks to SFM

Going into Eugene, I clearly had some training exhaustion going on. Not that I was over-trained, just that I was.... over it. All of it.

Truth be told, I wasn't really excited about running, and slacked on my training, which made running harder, which made me unexcited to run.... in a circle.

I get a wicked case of race-envy, and ended up running 5 marathons in the last 11 months. Maybe that was too much for me.

So, in an effort to enjoy running and training again, I decided to actively recover/rebuild my base after Eugene. I don't have a goal for SFM, but it would be nice to not feel like I'm dying. I've pretty much jumped back into training after every race for the last year, so - as an experiment - I took one week totally off, and am building back in very slowly.

Good news, I feel great?

Last week....
Monday: nothing

Tuesday: 4 miles easy, strength
This was actually harder on me than I thought, which is LAME because my "strength" was just a 15 minute circuit. I felt it for days. What.

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 4 miles easy

Friday: rest

Saturday: accidental rest
I intended to do 3 miles easy, but a quick 2 hour car repair turned into a 9 hour death march through the mall while a billion expensive things had to get done to our car. No running, plenty of mall wandering.

Sunday: "long" run
5 miles, easy easy easy pace.

Lessons from the week: ummm I didn't hate it? That's pretty promising. While I do miss all of the eating I could do when running 18 miles in one shot, I am kind of digging the shorter mileage and all the freeeeee time. Also of note, in my current state, 10:45ish seems to be my current "easy" pace. So... there's that? I know no one cares about your pace, but maybe I'll want to know this information some day? Eh.

This week:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 4 easy
Wednesday: strength - arms, yoga?
Thursday: 5 miles, hills
Friday: strength
Saturday: 3 miles and/or yoga
Sunday: 7-8 easy


Happy mother's day?

Photo Friday

Dear #2...

 

 

 

Happy birthday, kid. You're one of my top 3 most favorites.

 

 



Three Things Thursday - PCRF Reaching for the Cure 5k Recap

1. Hyperbole and a Half is BACK!!!!! Man, that's exciting.

2. As Becka posted Tuesday, we are in week 2 of the #NotEatingAllTheThings Challenge.

While I was very busy the last several months NOT training for Eugene Marathon, I was also very busy eating everything I ever wanted.

The good news is, that according to the scale, I didn't gain much. Less than 5 lbs, I'd guess (I'm guessing because I don't really weigh myself frequently, I'm just going by the numbers I remember last, and where I was yesterday).

The bad news is, watching what you eat is NOT FUN, and it's especially NOT FUN when you're doing it in an effort to lose weight, and not just being weird.

I can't think of anything less exciting than posting what I eat daily, so instead of sharing all of that information with the internet machine, twitter, and instagram, B and I have been texting pictures to each other, to keep us in line.

It is as sad and lame as you'd expect. Here, I'll share some of that joy.

Yeah.

3. Reaching for the Cure 5k!

This year, I made the smart call to drop down to the 5k, in the name of "Eugene Recovery". The forecast was for cool temps and cloudy skies, though, and I resisted this change until the very last second - really, I didn't switch my distance until Sunday morning at 6:45am.

I love the back of the bibs!! Look at all that info!

The half starts at 7am, and the 5k a bit after at 7:15.

Heeeeeey, speedy Pam!

Sheila and the kidlets joined us for the 5k, in their Team Gab shirts :D

Two water stations for the 5k! (Thanks, volunteers!)

Reach for a Cure, indeed!

left turn for the 5k.......

There's a quick out and back, then on to the river path towards the finish.

Oh, the river path. My nemesis.

Haaaaa.

Oh, hey, I'm almost done!

Not quite a PR day, but they look like they had fun, right?!

As part of the fundraising, the Doubletree Irvine hosts accomodations for the VIP runners who raise above $1,500. It's a great property, they have always been inredibly nice, and even though the race start is less than 4 miles from my front door, I love staying there the night before.

After I finished the 5k (in a not-speedy-but-surprising-time-for-easy-effort) in 32:14, I walked back to the hotel to pick up the kids, and then back down to the finish line to watch for Pam, Madison, and The H (remember last year, when he said he would never, ever run a half marathon again? Ha).

At our VIP pasta dinner Saturday night, the girls were gifted with matching training shirts. They have been part of my training with PCRF from day one, and I love that PCRF thought of them, too.

Heeeeeey, Pam!

Gabby's teacher ran the half! Hi, Mrs. A!

And I'm the worst human at spectating - Gab's teacher had to get my attention, and so did Madison - I was watching for both, but totally missed them. I'm lame.

The tiny yellow speedy person is M.

The H looks super smiley, but he told me he was bummed he didn't do better than last year.

To give this some perspective, last year, he trained fairly intensively, and finished in 2:02ish. This year, he took basically the last 3-4 weeks pretty much off, and finished in 2:03:41.

Shut up, you.

So, overall, I loved th 5k. It was SO MUCH FUN running easy, enjoying the course, and then getting to spectate for the half??? SO MUCH FUN.

I was a little sad when we got our medals....

But then I got to go to the beer tent, so I guess it evens out.

Add caption

And, like the last two years, Gab loooooved this bouncing thing.

Obviously, this race means a lot to us, and I will likely run it going forward.

In my unbiased opinion, it's a really well organized event, and the family expo afterwards cannot be beat. It is FREE to enter, the bouncy things are FREE, there were samples of Weinerschnitzel, Jamba Juice, Juice it Up, Pop Chips, and other stuff. Face painting. Petting zoos. Balloon animals. Tons of stuff.

There is a 5k run, 5k walk, 10k run, and the half marathon - all are really reasonably priced.

And, most most most importantly, the VIP Fundraising team this year raised almost $60,000 for pediatric cancer research - that's $200,000 over the last three years, since we started.

The event overall this year came in at almost $650,000 for pediatric cancer research.

Reaching for a cure, indeed.