Cross Training at the gym

Ick is all I have to say. Ok, and boring too. Alright, I'll stop complaining after this: I don't like it.
Here's a description of the gym I e-mailed a friend earlier in the week:
I go to the icky gym filled with icky people that stare at themselves in the mirrors and stare at everyone else too. The gym where everyone's sweat intermingles on all the equipment that looks like it's never cleaned properly or disinfected. The place where people sit and stare at TV screens while they go through the motions of cycling and/or use the elliptical machines. The place where no one talks to each other and where no one looks friendly. The place where my husband and I go and sit next to each other while I stare at the digital time pass away one second at a time and where my husband ignores me and watches TV.

I'm more of group/class person. I want someone to talk to. If I'm going to workout out alone I rather workout at home, which is something I do. But I really need the stationary bike and the elliptical so I have to go the gym.
My husband will talk to me if I ask but he has his little routine of plugging in and going about his business. It works for him and I'll let him be. I just have to figure out my own routine. Perhaps it's time to dust off my iPod.
The gym and cross training isn't all that bad, I guess. Cycling uses my legs in a completely different manner and it was hard. My first non-running cardio workout was last Sunday and I grew tired and hot after 15 minutes. I mustered enough strength and managed to cycle for a total of 30 minutes. Today I cycled for 45 minutes and felt great. I jumped onto the elliptical machine right after for 30 minutes. The elliptical gave me a great workout. It was a great psuedo run. My heart rate was up and it didn't hurt my knee! It also made me sweat like I was really running while cycling made me warm and I barely broke a sweat. To quote my husband, "you look bored...you need to up your resistance." I'll wait to see what my physical therapist says later this week.

Sawyer Camp Trail

I know I haven't updated my blog in over a week but here it is. The team ran this last Saturday on Dec. 20th and it sadly became my last run with the winter team. I'll let you read about it.

Sawyer Camp Trail was absolutely beautiful Saturday morning. The gods stopped the rains to allow us to run along Crystal Springs Reservoir with calmness and ease. Yes it was cold, yes it was foggy but the fog yielded spectacular views of the lake and the redwoods trees and oaks as the fog dissipated making for a smoky effect along the lake edges.

The sun warmed us all made us all feel alive and well whenever the light penetrated the canopies and moss hanging from the trees. The sun, the trees, the lake and the singing birds definitely kept me going when I wanted to stop but stop I did. My knee really started to act up at mile 2.5. I had to stop a couple of times to stretch and warm up that I told my mentor Debra and her mentee Sam to run ahead without me. By the time I caught up with them I knew I could not run any further. I knew at that moment I would not be able to run in the Napa Valley Marathon. It was at that moment that nature took care of me and did not allow me to feel sorry for myself. There's always another marathon after Napa, with cross training and therapy my knee will heal and I will PR at my next marathon. Also, there is summer season where I will become a mentor.

With that I will no longer write about my training but of my recovery efforts. Of cross training at the gym with my husband, my doctor visits, and if allowed the manning the water stop/aid stations for the remainder of winter season. Team in Training can't get rid of me that easy!

See you at the water stops!

Big baby?

Alright, tonight was track Tuesday and the team did ladders, a speed and pace training technique, which the team ran in the freezing cold. It was 44 degrees! More on that later. The team ran somewhere between 2.5 to 4 miles, depending on the wave. First they ran 400 meters at a 10K pace, so pretty fast. Second they ran 800 meters at a half marathon pace, a tad slower than the first lap. Third they ran 1200 meters at a marathon pace, a lot slower than the first lap at a comfortable level. I walked 2.5 miles along with my gimp friend Arianna with wave 1 and 2 hence "the team ran..."
Sigh, so my knee started to feel a tad funny after the first two laps of the warm up run. Just to be safe I stopped running and performed my dynamic stretches and walked the rest of the session. Arianna and I were extremely envious of everyone running on the track tonight. I soooo want to run but I can't. I want my knee to fully heal before heading out.
The little ache I feel during running is something I only feel during running. I don't feel it when I'm standing, walking or sitting, which is a good thing. I don't want to be in any more pain...actually I don't want to be in any pain. (It did hurt whenever I did any of those things the first couple of days after the injury occurred. I was limping for two days!) Again, when it starts to hurt I stop. I feel like I'm acting like a big baby about it all but I don't want to aggravate it so I'll keep with the walking for now. The only problem with walking is I don't get as warm as the runners and had to keep all three layers on. Yep, it was that cold folks. 44 degrees!
Running two laps I can feel how out of shape I am. I was breathing a bit hard and it's been two weeks since I last ran. I have to keep up my with my cardio so I've joined a gym to cycle and perhaps take a spin class. Fun fun.
Stay warm, wear a beanie and gloves on the trails!

Bitterly cold buddy run

It was a great crisp 40 degree dark morning when I arrived at Campbell park today. Man, it was cold. Everyone had pants or leggings on, except for Coach Tim, and everyone had hats and warm jackets. We were all bouncing around to keep warm when Tori stepped up and sarcastically said, "awww, don't you all look cute all bundled up." Yes, we all looked cute this morning.
Sigh, so I began running and felt fine. One mile in I had to stop to stretch. I couldn't reach mile two and began walking. That's when I spotted Tori running back. I hailed her down and walked a mile with her. Not wanting to drag her down with me she ran the last mile in. Tori's awesome for walking with me.
Steve is also awesome. He walked me in at the last stretch and gave me the low down on his injuries and others as they trained for their first and second marathons. We just have to slow down to heal and know that aches and pains will come and go. Certain ones we can push through and others require more time, but we all heal. Hmm, I want mine to go away now.
Well, because my knee is still bothering me I will skip this weekend's run. I don't want to but I think I have to. I'm still icing and rolling and stretching, which has helped out a lot, but I'll give my knee some more time to heal before track.
79 days left till Napa!

Yay, hill repeats...I mean 30 minute walk

So, I went to see my doctor Monday and he told me to continue my routine of icing, heating, rolling and stretching. Oh, and to take my Aleve twice a day. Yay, I paid someone to tell me to do what I've been doing so far. It is nice to know what I've been doing has helped.
Yeah, my knee feels a lot better but still feels a little funny. But it did hurt a hell of a lot going down hill Sunday so I skipped hill repeats tonight. I stayed behind at the track with the gimp group which was led by our lovely in training co-captain Meghan.
This is great, the track lights, you know the really big bright lights around the field, was turned off about an hour early. It wasn't too bad because only the gimps were on the track but when a certain S.S. tried turning the lights back on she turned on the sprinklers instead. Not a big deal if you think about it except that we do our core work in the field! Ai-yai-yai, that's when the rest of the team came back for core and were greeted by a dark wet track. But not to worry, Coach Kris came and turned on the lights. The lights finally warmed up and turned on half way through our core workout. Eh, that's OK we found a dry patch and worked out there.
Of course this was followed by a Hang With The Gang (HWTG) at CB Hannigans, our friendly neighborhood pub where we all hang to drink, eat, and be merry.
Take care.

Owie!

I'm feeling blue. My knee was feeling a lot better since Tuesday night and after e-mailing Coach Kris over the weekend we decided that I should attempt to run my 10 miles this weekend. Run but if knee starts to hurts then stop running and walk back to the start is what she told me. Unfortunately I could not run with the group yesterday but I did go out today with the make-up run group held by Troy and Corina. I started the run with Arianna and Beth. A mile in I felt tired, two miles in my knee started to feel dull and achy, by mile three I was out. I mean I stopped running at mile three but still walked three miles back to my car.
I'm really super bummed about it. I wanted to cry but realized there's no reason for that. I will heal and I will run again soon. I just have to keep things slow for now, keep icing my knee, and keep rolling and stretching. Just to make sure that everything is OK I will make an appointment to see the doctor tomorrow. I want to be able to run the Napa Valley Marathon. If not, there's always another marathon and there's always Napa in 2010.
At least I was able to enjoy the autumn beauty of Campbell Park. Normally I run past everything and snap photos during my walking breaks but not today. This time I had plenty of time to take many pictures.
This is my favorite of the bunch. This photo was taken near the three mile mark where I decided to stop running. I love how the sun illuminated this tree as it rose for the day. I guess spotting this tree prevented me from crying and gave me hope for my running future. It also gave me the strength and endurance to walk back to my car.
Happy running.

New Wave

I'm soo excited. The wave list just came out and I've been moved up a wave. Last season I was in wave 4 and now I'm in wave 5!!! That's the second to the fastest group! OK, I'm not as fast wave 6 people like Captains Rich, Mike Z. or Meghan just to mention a few, but I did improve my time by three minutes.
Now I just need to keep my knees and feet in good condition. My knee no longer hurts. I've been icing it and did not run today. I've sent an e-mail to my coach to see how I far I should run and how slow to run this weekend. I hope I get to run.
Here's a picture Mike Z. took of me at track last week. He has, or had, a hard time taking pictures of people running. He would point, focus, click and the person would be gone leaving behind an empty photo. I of course was teasing him and he snapped this. Thanks Mike.

5K Time Trial

Today at track we ran 5K to determine the wave we will be placed in, also to figure out our pace for our race. So my 5K time came out to be 28:26-that's a pace of 9:10 a mile! According to this I should be able to fulfill my time goal of 4 hours and 30 minutes for my marathon, maybe I'll run it a little faster. Maybe even 4:20...we'll see. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it!
I didn't push myself as hard as I could today because I wanted to see what a nice comfortable pace would be timed at. I was pleasantly surprised and will run a bit harder to see what I'm capable of, but there's a problem, my knee is aching.
I noticed it after dinner at CB Hannigens when I stood up to leave. It felt a little funny at the end of my run but it didn't hurt until a couple of hours later. I've iced it, heated it, and iced it again. It's feeling a lot better now but we'll see how it is tomorrow. I'll e-mail my coaches tomorrow. Until I can see them I'll keep off my feet and take it easy.
Oh, I had a bake sale at work yesterday and another one today after track. I baked oatmeal cookies and made just over $100! I'm thinking I can do this a couple of more times after track. Everyone's hungry after track and oatmeal cookies are a great quick snack. What do you think?
Go Team!!!

Relays

Whew! Tonight we ran relays on the track. We ran 400 meters 12 times-that's 3 miles! My partner was Robert, a new participant this season. He's training for the Kaiser Half in San Francisco.
Of course after our track work out Coach Kirs leads us in our post run stretches and core workout. I don't think she works us out long enough, but that's just me. I will tell her that we should do more reps of everything but I don't think that will go over well with other people. (Yep, I was that kid that always reminded the teacher to give the class our homework assignment.)
Surprisingly it wasn't that cold tonight. Lot's of people were in shorts but not me. I had my beanie, my long sleeved running shirt, jacket, and running pants-well running capri pants. I did get warm after the warm up run and a couple of laps that I took off my jacket and beanie. The only sucky thing about a relay in the cold is getting a chill waiting for your partner. I was constantly taking my jacket on and taking it off. I get cold very easily.
All in all it was a great workout and I can't wait till next week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Guadalupe Park Trail

It was a chilly 43 degrees this morning when I arrived at the LLS and TNT office parking lot.The sun was peeking up from behind the tall trees. The TNTers huddled around in groups for warmth and some evern wrapped themselves in towels.
So, today I ran 8 miles along the beautiful Guadalupe Park Trail in down town San Jose. We ran through the Guadalupe rose garden just north of down town, down along the trickling river into downtown right by the Shark tank pass Paolo's and the Center for the Performing Arts (the cake building home to the San Jose Ballet), and by Deer Meadow at the Children's Discovery Museum up the freeway 280! Then we turned back to the start only we passed the start to get in a total of 8 miles.
As I was running I ran into two new participants, Felicia and Claudia. They were interested in doing a run-walk and I being an alumni have my watch and intervals going already and asked them to join me. Running info-I do interval runs which means I run for five minutes and walk one minute. I am not as tired at the end and can go a longer distance by doing interval runs. Felicia and Claudia were a little suspicious about it but wanted to try it-they've heard so many good things about from the clinic Coach Tim gave the previous Saturday. The ladies really appreciated the minute walks during the last two miles. It's really going to help them when they run their marathon and mine.
At the end of the run we had a great potluck, check out the spread in the slideshow. Everyone enjoyed the recovery drink someone brought for us all, chocolate milk for those of you who don't know.
Overall it was a great run. A little bit chilly, ok a lot chilly in the morning because I was freezing my butt off, but as the sun came up it warmed really nicely. Let's hope all my long distance runs are like this throughout the winter season. Ah, let's wish really hard that it will be because I'm not looking forward to running in the rain.
See you Tuesday night after track!

Countdown to Napa

Morning Buddy Run

Wow! A total of 15 people showed up for our 6 am buddy run at Campbell Park! That's the largest group I've seen since joining TNT! From left to right they are: Debra (my winter season mentor), Victoria (my summer season mentor), Luisa, Brian, Rakhee, Steve, Julie, me, Coach Tim right behind me, Janine, Andria, Bruce, Arianna, and John. Tanja is always camera shy in the morning and took the photo. Yup, it was cold this morning and dark. The funny things you see on a couple of runners heads are headlamps to light our path.
Most of the group ran 4 miles today. Yup, 4 miles really early in the morning. It gets up heart pumping, our minds going, and prepares us for the day. It also wakes up all the kinks in our bodies and we hear some groans and moans and som teasing complaints along the way like these from Coach Tim, "My knee hurts, why does it hurt Steve? Why doesn't it hurt other times Steve?" I'll take a picture of Coach Tim next time so you'll understand what I mean.
Kinks. My kink is plantar fasciitis. It's not really a kink but a pain I'm feeling on my right foot stretching from the heel to the ball inside the arch. I've been massaging it, icing it, and rolling it over a frozen water/rubbing alcohol mixture and it has improved dramatically. My foot no longer screams at me when I wake up in the morning but has a dull pain when I first step on to it; it's improved. During this morning run it felt bad enough to slow me down. As soon as I reached the end, or near the end, I started walking until Coach Tim encouraged me to slap his hand at the end. As soon as I slapped it I sat down and pulled off my shoe rubbing my arch.
Coach Tim sat next to me and explained what plantar fasciitis is and things I can do to heal it like being brutal to my foot and rolling it over a golf ball. Yeah, sounds like fun. The main cause of my plantar fasciitis was wearing the wrong shoes. I've learned my lesson and bought proper shoes. I'll be using them on Saturday.
So, as we stood up Coach Tim, and the other runners, noticed that we left wet butt prints on the concrete. Needless to say his was huge and mine was small and cute. Sorry folks, I really didn't want to take a picture of that. I hope you don't mind.
See you on the trails.

Track Tuesday-Circuit Training

This was my first track of the winter season at Los Gatos High School and the first workout was circuit training. This is a workout that combines running with strength exercises. It's hardcore. Just look at how tired my mentor Debra and I are, not to mention our lovely glow at 55 degrees.
So the team ran 200 meters and reached the first strength training station and do three different kinds of toe walks-one set of 20 each; ran another 200 meter, basically to the other end of the track to the second strength training station to drop and do 10 push ups; run and do heel walks; run and do planks; run and do 15 lunges on each leg. You get the drift. So we did side planks for 30 seconds on each side, 15 leg raises, 15 stepping side squats on both sides, 15 clams for each leg, 15 stationary squats, 30 crunches, 20 grapevines for each side, 40 second bridge, 15 stationary runner for each leg, and finally the rope climber for a set of 15! Whew! That was great! What? Do it again?!!! Ok. But remember, we ran 200 meters at a comfortably hard pace between each station. Comfortably hard? That sounds like an oxymoron but it means running at a somewhat hard but manageable conversation pace. Debra will surely disagree with me and refused to do round two with me.
Well, Debra and I didn't do the entire series because of time constraints but we made it up to leg raises! With the warm up run and the running in between the strength training I ran a total of 3 3/4 miles.
After the track workout Coach Kris led us all in static stretches to lengthen our muscles after pounding them. It was much needed relief. Once we were done with our stretches the team gathered in to listen, and to keep warm, to Honoree Patti speak about her battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. She is now in remission and strong She ran track with us! Track ended with a loud Go Team!
But wait, there's more. A large group of us then went to CB Hannegan's in downtown Los Gatos for Hang with the Gang. We talked, ate and knocked back a few making it the perfect ending to a great workout.

It's begun

Hi everyone!

Well, in case you haven't heard yet I am training for my second marathon with Team in Training. So this blog is where I'll post all my experiences, photos, and running log.

I loved my first experience with TNT that I became hooked! The coaches, the mentors, the captains, all the running we do and the best part of it is saving lives! Raising money that will go to cancer research, specifically blood related cancer. 75% of all donations go directly to research and patient financial aid! And your donation is 100% tax-deductible!

Like the title states, my training has begun. I've ran a total of 20 miles so far-it's only been two weeks! Tomorrow, that's Tuesday, I have my first track workout at Los Gatos High School. We'll be doing circuits! A circuit workout consists of running a lap followed by a strength or core strength exercise. We'll do that for 2 to 4 miles. I can't wait!