Santa Monica - Day 3

I'm only feeling moderately fascinating today - possibly because after yesterday's Bob and Arnold and Usher and Rudy's Barber Shop shenanigans, today I am back to the grind. You know, typical hours of hard training that 5-second-attention-span-Courtenay finds tedious to write about unless something special happens, for example an antelope sighting or a string of 5 butterfly strokes in a row (haven't blogged about this one because it hasn't happened!) or a nice photo.

I have chalked up none of the above during today's training.

But, I have had lots of time to think about a couple of potentially interesting subjects. First being a continuation of my Loren-esque review of my various models of Brooks shoes. Last time I posted on this topic, I was bitching about UPS and also talking about how the Brooks Adrenaline 7 fit. Well, since that time, I have received and tested out 2 additional models of Brooks shoes.

On Monday I did a tempo run in the Axiom 2. It was my first run in them, and I don't yet have an opinion either way about the performance of the shoe - there might be a little too much heel but I'll give them another try this weekend and see.

Today I did my long run in the "luxurious materials" of the Infiniti. It was my second run in them, and I love them. I am going to return my Adrenalines, because I think the Infiniti is a much better shoe. There is less height discrepancy between the heel and forefoot, and from the beginning to the end of the run, I hardly noticed the shoe was there. By comparison, the Adrenaline feels too high in the heel and too low in the forefoot, and my arches start to hurt about an hour into my runs with the Adrenalines.

Anyhow, I know that the Adrenaline is a really popular shoe, and also several people have commented on my blog that they use that shoe, so I thought this might be helpful information.

On to my second thought topic worth sharing... My High School Alumnae Magazine!! Apparently last year I forgot to write in (really I just avoided it because I didn't want someone to write me back and hit me up for $$ for the stupid Annual Fund), so Paula told me yesterday that our Class News Agent asked her to write in with an update on me, but since she'd probably just say I am a cat-sitter living in Salt Lake City or some equivalent untruth, I volunteered to write my own update.

O.K. this blog is long enough and my bum is sore from typing on the floor, so I am going to go play with Bob and tell him I Love Him and later today I'll do a multiple-choice selection of possible alumnae magazine entries for Ms. Courtenay L. Brown (aak! i see a problem already! i am not a mrs.!)

Probably For the Best

Today was an "it's probably for the best" sort of day, for a couple of reasons. Meaning, initial freakouts were followed by slightly more mature and introspective "oh, right, phew" moments.

Reason one is fairly run-of-the-mill - today we got hit with 5 inches of wet snow and a lot of wind. The power was out at the gym, so the pool and treadmills were inaccessible for my 1 hr swim and 1 hr 20 run... Shortened to a 0 hr swim and a 30 min run outside on my new Yak Trax sneaker things. I intended to do the full run outside, but the winds were at nearly 30 mph with gusts of 60 in places, it was snowing, and while the Yak Trax definitely improved my traction, running in today's snow was like running in deep sand, so I switched over to the cleared pavement in the road, but then I felt like the functionality of my shoes was compromised by the Yak Trax, sorry for the run-on sentence about this run-of-the-mill running story but that's totally what happened. So anyhow with sore ankles, a windswept face, and cold feet, I headed home, leaving this week's long run for tomorrow. I didn't complete my planned hours for the week, but I don't mind the outcome: a little extra rest, and time to drag Greg down to the crazy looking beach and take photos! Can you believe this is Lake Tahoe? It looks like the Pacific Ocean! Maybe I should have tried to do my swim outside too...

Today I also learned that registering for a triathlon is distinctly NOT like registering for a bike race, and should not be approached lackadaisically. I never entered any bike race more than 2 or on rare occasions 3 weeks in advance, but this morning I decided to register for my intended first triathlon of the season, Oceanside 70.3, which is over 2 months away, and it's full! Freakout commenced, because my main goal for the 2008 season is to qualify for my Elite license (tri-speak for Professional, for all you non-geeks out there), and Oceanside is one of the Elite qualifiers.

I felt like such a retard, for a few minutes anyway. But it's actually definitely for the best. For one thing, with all this winter weather we are having, I don't know that I'll feel ready for a half-ironman at the end of March. For another thing, the 70.3 races are run by the Ironman Corporation. I don't really agree with the company's values or philosophies, so I am actually glad not to be giving them any of my money.

Anyhow here are the photos Greg and I snapped of each other at the windy beach during our freezing 30 second visit!

NYC Marathon Yesterday

Yesterday turned out to be a perfect day to declare myself "sick" and stay inside in front of the TV all day.

It started out with the NYC Marathon highlights. Paula Radcliffe took off at 1 mile, shadowed by Gete Wami, and they ran 1-2 the entire way. With a half mile to go it looked like Wami was going to pimp Radcliffe for the win... I found a grainy cell-phone video on YouTube, it's not the best quality but it was still an amazing race to watch!



Then it was time for the Patriots-Colts game. At this time, my resident sports expert informed me that "Randy Moss is like the most talented athlete out there. He is 6'5" and he runs a 4.1 40!" (*sigh* etc.) (and yes I had to ask what that meant). As evidenced by the following clip, which both Resident Expert and TV Experts called pretty much the best catch they'd ever seen:



Plus the Patriots won, and we were rooting for them (for different reasons... mine had to do with Tom Brady being cuter than Peyton Manning, Resident Expert's had to do with tactics and fundamentals and whatnots).

As if that weren't enough goodness coming from the TV, during the other-game-highlights show I saw what is now MY FAVOURITE football moment EVER, courtesy of the Detroit Lions' Shaun Rogers:


I am now totally a football fan.

City Girl Goes Trail Running for Real

(i also unpacked my scanner finally!)

Snugglefishies

I am feeling sorry for myself. Which is annoying because, when I feel sorry for myself, I tend to go buy stuff.

The gory details:

Today I got up way early and drove out to Esparto for an 18 mile TT. Unfortunately the race energy, aero equipment, and prize motivation weren't quite enough to chase away my accumulated tiredness. I gave it my all, but I had to sort of "adjust" my performance goal on the fly.

Oh well.

Also my trainer is the noisiest piece of crapola ever. Sorry to whoever was within hearing range (which I am guessing was about 300 yards), I'd totally forgotten how annoying its squeaking is. The last time I used it was at Cat's Hill!

Anyway, after my TT, I did my run workout along the same road as the course. I figured that driving all the way back to Oakland to run would feel pointless and retarded. This was a rare "good call" on my part... it was nice to do a flat run, it was definitely nice to chat with and wave to some cyclist friends before and during the run, and finishing my workouts for the week at 11:30 a.m. was awesome.

(this is turning into a play by play of my day... but I am leaving some stuff out so please let me know if you'd like further details such as everything I have eaten today and how many loads of laundry I currently have going)

After my run, my car and bike and fancy equipment and about-to-be-relegated-to-the-dumpster trainer and I all headed back to cooler Oakland temps.

I talked on the phone to Greg most of the time. He is in Boulder until Wednesday, he raced this morning and had to pull out during the run because of what seems fairly certainly to be a nerve injury, although he won't be able to confirm this until he gets home and can see a specialist. He sounded upbeat, and grateful to be on the right track towards diagnosing and dealing with a problem he's had for almost a year. For me though, this news just added to my own frustration with myself. I guess I was hoping he'd have good news about his race to counteract my mediocre news, which would then propel me into good-mood-land, which would hopefully last 3 more lonely days until he gets home.

In the long run I know his not-good news will turn into something good, because when the injury is treated and healed he will be back to his strong and speedy self, but today I wanted the short run smiles and congratulations.

Oh, additionally, all this phone yammering meant I missed the In-n-Out exit. I really wanted a milkshake.

SO, taking all of the above blahness into consideration, and combining with it the fact that my mom is on vacation and out of cell phone reach and thus unable to sixth-sense her way into figuring out I am about to do something about which she does NOT approve and thus she'd be unable to CALL me in the midst of said something to deter me from making what she views as a ginormous unfair mistake, anyway considering these things, when I got to Albany I ducked off the freeway, went to the aquarium store, and came home with $160.14 worth of glorious mood-improving STUFF.

It's all set up.

I washed the gravel in the bathtub, I rinsed it 10+ times but two hours later the water is still kinda cloudy.

I have to go back to buy the fish tomorrow or the next day, once the water temperature and the filtration system and the plants are all stabilized.

They had these cool little black and red sharks, and these eel-looking spotted fish, and only one blue betta which cost $20 and which I am really hoping someone buys before I go back so that I am not tempted to get him, he is really pretty.

I am also really hoping this does not turn out as badly as another occasion when my mom was unavailable and I gleefully went out and bought something... That time, though, it was a car.

(Updated) Possible Reasons Why I Tripped And Fell And Subsequently Needed Tegaderm

1. Made sneering sorts of comments about high school girls who were running on the trail and who you can smell a mile away because of the high-school-girl super-aromas of bonne bell and body shop and whatever else they buy after school and slather on themselves.

Bitter old lady never wins.

2. Spent all this time and money on getting back and neck sorted out on Tuesday, subsequently blogged about it, but my wtf blogging about Minneapolis' 100,000 chiropractor offices seems to have gotten back around to me. Meaning: tripping and falling put me back at square-negative-ten in terms of how my back and neck feel. Good thing I already have an appointment for next week!

Kharma likes to slap me in the face sometimes.

3. A couple weeks ago when Greg and I were running together and he did the same trip-and-fall thing in pretty much the same place (although with slightly less skin and blood involved, I must say), a string of I-am-so-coordinated-and-antelope-like-since-I-did-not-trip thoughts went through my head pretty darn fast.

See above comment about kharma.

4. What a klutz. I can't believe I crashed while running. Ha. The last time this happened was the winter of 2000, in Charlottesville, when I didn't let a silly ice storm stop me from training.

5. I took photos of all my wounds when I got home (Greg is at a race and apparently I have nothing better to do than pose for my own camera!), but since the apartment's neutron-bomb-explosion-state-of-"cleanliness" (I have been slacking) seemed to overshadow the blood and dirt and skinlessness of my elbow and hand and leg, I am not posting them.

6. Comments from the peanut gallery regarding running being for nerds, multisport being for total nerds or worse, emails with links to Bento Boxes, etc. etc. are expected... Bring it.


************UPDATE*************

WHO THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY TO SIGN ME UP FOR TEAM IN TRAINING?!

I just got their "Welcome!" email in my inbox.

hmpf.

Cat's Hill

That's me in the shadows on the right...

Cool things from today's race, in no particular order:

* Despite the field being small and the course being headwindy, it was nevertheless an active race

* I picked up 4 primes and 3rd in the race!

* When I filled the tank in my car this morning, the total came to $33.33... this was an accident but I think next Saturday I will aim on getting $11.11 worth of gas, just in case there is some performance correlation going on.

* Karen Brems won for something like the 9th time!?!

* Second time up the eponymous hill, a neighborhood cat ran out onto the road right in the middle of the peloton. Miraculously, none of us ran over it, and it ran off scared but unscathed.



Anyway, as usual Cat's Hill was a blast! I love that downhill into the last corner, it's so much fun. Last year my race ended early with a dropped chain, so I was really pleased to get to race hard the whole time this year.


For some strange reason, this morning I packed my running clothes and sneakers in my race bag. I guess this was another act of fate or something, because I really needed to run on my way home from Cat's Hill. After our race ended, I found out that someone very close to me had to be taken to the hospital today. Teeming with worry, helplessness, and post-race adrenaline and what-if's, I headed to the trails in the Oakland hills to pound it out for half an hour. It was great - 6 p.m. on a Saturday is a wonderful time for a trail run, hardly anyone was out there, and there were definitely no high school cross country posses running four abreast across the whole trail! Plus I love running after riding, my legs seem to open up immediately. Both riding and running put me into meditative states, but something about the constant, solid rhythm of running is better for me when I am upset or agitated. I came home in a great frame of mind, ready for what's next.

Stop the Q-tip when you meet resistance!

Or in this case: stop the activity that is causing gross blood blisters!

But I love running. And it was such a beautiful day for it.

After years of brain-poking via diligent Q-tipping, how much common sense can I really expect in myself?

Goof

I accidentally left my pedals 15 miles down the road yesterday, so instead of riding today I went for a run.

I took my camera.

A nice gentleman offered to take the photo after watching me take a couple of unsuccessful arm-outstretched shots.

But why am I standing like a kindergartener with, um, pants issues?

I need so much help. Cameras turn me into a moron.