Another Year...

another age group.

It's not like I am all that great in all that I do, but I feel like at some point, there won't be many people in my age group as I get older. At 50 I think that the hopes of actually placing in my age group will still have to wait until I'm WAY older than I am now...

Example: for my most recent race I would have to be in my 70s to place...and it would be an automatic win as there were no 70-ish aged women who were running - THIS year. With my luck, once I reach that age group there will be all sorts of other 70-ish aged women "running."

Sigh...

January So Far...

(Click to Expand)

So my Holiday Running Streak did not pan out and I had to quit 10 days into the streak. THEN I thought I would start a 2014 Running Streak and that ended after one day - I know, that's going backwards...

Today I am happy to report that I have maintained a running streak since January 13 and feel pretty good most days. I don't push it too much on the days that I'm not doing a training run and I think that helps to keep things somewhat balanced. In fact, I can tell that since I have started up again, I feel SO comfortable! Getting into my rhythm is happening sooner than when I just ran according to my training plan and I feel good longer into each run before I feel like I need to take a walk break.

My ultimate goal is to see how many days I can run in 2014...so far so good. Half of January is a good start!

I might need new shoes more often this year...

Gotta add to the "collection"

Half Marathon Training Week #2

Now that I have signed up for my first Half Marathon...I had to get serious and come up with a training plan. Actually, I think I may have figured out a plan first and then registered for the run.

The first 5 runs are 2 miles each so, I haven't had much to write about. In the middle of July I did happen to tweak my back, just enough that walking was very uncomfortable and running not even an option. That won me a week of no activity. On top of no activity I had a couple of intense visits to the Chiropractor. So, I tweaked my back on a Friday and did nothing until the following Thursday. That morning I felt pretty good and decided that I would test out running and how my back felt. No PROBLEMS!

That was encouraging as I would be starting my training the following Monday..and here I am, Run #2 in Week 2. Tomorrow will be the fifth 2 mile run and Saturday I jump up to 3 miles. I'm excited...finally progressing upwards.

Week two will end and then I have 18 more weeks of training. The real challenge will be to keep myself as injury free as possible and to continue making better nutrition choices and try to figure out what to do for cross-training. We are going to try plyometrics later this week and see how that works out. I think it will be good - we'll do a couple of days a week to start.

The other thing that I have been doing is helping my friend Mary with beginning running. The point of her running originally was for her son (who needs to be able to run a mile in middle school), but she said that she would benefit too. We have gotten together a few times and it will be slow, but she is working at it and I'm proud of her. The last time we got together I gave her a choice of where we would meet and how much she would run and walk. I may go ahead and let her do that again this week, it's always nice to have some control over something that is very difficult.

So, I'm excited about training for my Half and helping a friend get into running. I am hoping that she will get to the point that it is enjoyable...and I'm going to cheer her on as long as she let's me.

Just Itchin'

I've been dealing with a little backpain for a few days. My last run was last week on Thursday and I've been sidelined since then.

Now that my back is nearly back to normal I can feel the urge to lace up my shoes and get out there again! Which is good since I have a training plan for my first Half Marathon that starts on Monday!!!

If I don't end up on my bike tomorrow morning I'll be doing a quick run just to check out how my back feels. Possibly a trip to the track for a nice and easy...sloooow run.

Never thought that I would miss running this much. I hardly miss my bike, but at the same time I do. Still hoping to get out and do a time trial this season...we'll see.

Half Crazy

I did it.

I am officially registered for my first Half Marathon.

I'm a little scared, but excited.

Training starts on July 29!

We'll see how things go...

2012 Challenge

Okay...so we are already in April and I'm thinking challenges. I'm slow - leave me alone!

So, I was surfing around for a picture to post here and as I was going through the photos on Google Images the following pic caught my eye...

Let's face it, I like the word Challenge - granted my last effort kind of flopped, the whole, I think I'll try to run a half-marathon didn't happen - the reality is that running isn't my everyday passion, but that's a different post.

Three years ago I challenged my self to do a DUATHLON and did it. Also, in the same year I decided to that I wanted to RIDE A CENTURY. When you think about it just one crazy hard event in a year is not enough...which reminds me, Robin and I did the ALL WOMENS EVENT that same year as well. Oh...that was the year that we got our first taste of TIME TRIALING (thanks Vancouver Bicycle Club).

Oh yes, I better get back on track here...

So I'm looking around for a picture and find the one above and the word Challenge just gets me a little curious. Of course I have to check out what this craziness could be...it's basically a fundraising thing in the UK where participants choose their activity of choice or several activities and cover 2012 KM - I'm guessing in a certain time period, like a year, maybe? That's like 1250.198 miles...a long ways to go if you are an average-don't-do-much-in-the-way-of-exercise type person.

So starting today, April 5, 2012 I'm going to make it my CHALLENGE to do at least 2012 KM or 1250.198 miles this year doing running, riding, swimming and other miscellaneous equipment that measures distance. With there being 271 days left in 2012 that equals 4.61 miles a day. That's doable right? We'll I guess that will be determined.

I'm already half way done with my daily quota...just need another 2.52 miles to be done for the day. This morning I got into the pool, hopped on the elliptical and then the bike! This might be a quick ride around the neighborhood deal just to get it done!

With this fun new challenge for the year, I'll try to post here more often with my daily activity and what thoughts I may have had during those activities...hopefully.

WHY do I have to like Challenges?

Why I push myself

This week I was visiting with our LifePak Tech/Rep about cycling and my quest to train for a Duathlon. He seemed interested in hearing more about the du - I may have him hooked on the idea we'll see if he's at Blue Lake on June 13.

Anyway, we were discussing cycling in general and how we each enjoy riding so much and as often as possible. Then he asked why I decided to do a duathlon and I had to think about it for a second - my reply was pretty simple - to improve my physical condition, to push myself to do more on my bike and to run more. I set the goals to get better, simple as that. It has been quite a process getting to this point.

For a couple of years I spent a lot of time just riding my bike and enjoying the freedom that comes with it not to mention the health benefits. After a couple of years which coincided with the last two or three of my chemo treatments I decided I wanted to do organized events. Not to race or anything, but to get used to riding with other people and to watch other people handle their bikes in different situations. Okay, so I wasn't thinking that so much in the beginning, but that is what I ended up doing. Although, I know that it was an opportunity to push myself a little toward the end of my treatments, to feel better physically and to help me keep a good attitude with all the cancer stuff I had gone thru up to that point, which was the summer of 2005.

Another year or two go by and we are participating in more cycling events and logging lots of miles, but somehow it was not totally fulfilling - so I started bike commuting like crazy last summer. That was for two reason - 1. I'm not that much of a fan of driving. 2. Gas prices were getting out of hand. So 2008 was the year of the bike. Not only did we ride a lot I challenged myself to train for the Livestrong Challenge 5K that was at the end of June. Training for that started in the middle of March, not much time, but enough to realize that I quitting would be plan ol' stupid after putting in so much time into running, an activity I have not totally embraced yet. At the end of last cycling season I felt so good and it was the product of setting the goals and my aversion to driving that got me to that point.

Now that I was hooked I started thinking about a new goal and what we could do to better our physical condition and the idea for the Duathlon popped up and I immediately was excited. Even more so now since I have a few friends at work that will be participating as well which will make the event that much more fun!

So I ride a bike not just for the sake of riding anymore...I ride with purpose and with the determination to do better than the day before. There is nothing like a goal to really get your attention. The Duathlon is June 13 and ready or not I'm going to participate. Since this is my first Du, my goal this year is to just finish. Next year I will go for time...I'm psyched!

New Shoes, Treadmill and other tidbits...

Man, what a weekend! Friday night we went to Fit Right Northwest and I got my shoes and Tom had his gait analysis done...and he got shoes too!

I managed to pack my running clothes and new shoes for our trip to Seattle (thought I could at least run on the treadmill at the hotel). Treadmill, ugh...not too bad though. I got two miles in, a much needed workout. Although the day before we spent pretty much the WHOLE day walking. Qwest Field is quite a distance away from Pike Place Market! It was a good day though. Anyway, I thought that I would be bored, but the display on the treadmill that thing is FILLED with all sorts of information for my puny little brain, so I spent the half hour just mesmerized with the changing numbers and my BPM. There really was no time to get bored, but it was a little slow going. My goal was to run 30 minutes and hopefully get two slow miles in. I did it so and my shoes were awesome!

Training Plan
Today I printed off a training plan (which is free on the Runner's World website) to get to a 10K distance. I'll have to use a lot of treadmill time to get down my pace for a 14 minute mile and then try to get used to pace so I don't try to do TOO much. I hope to start training after we return from our trip - that's the plan at this point. I have over six months to train for the Duathlon - but my main concern is the running of course. I know that I can ride so that's not a problem, anyone could ride 12 miles pretty quick if they need to. I just see the second 5K being very slow. As long as I finish I'll be happy with that.

WHY DU?
WHY would I do a Duathlon? That question has come up more than once. I had to think about it because I have been having thoughts of doing one for a little while. The main reason is because I think it would be fun. The serious reason...because I can.

The way a person goes thru cancer treatments really says something about that person. My cancer wasn't as devastating as others, but the treatments certainly were not that easy. The radiation even though it was painless, it caused a fair amount of fatigue, which surprised me. I had radiation to my HEAD! I still don't understand that...oh wait, I had 1/2 doses of chemotherapy to go along with that, so that probably didn't help. I was a little tired after six weeks of daily doses of radiation and chemotherapy. The chemo was a regimen of 5 days a week every 4th week - ugh. That was plain harsh on my stomach since my chemo was in pill form. That went on for 12 months...that's a long time! The pills just made me feel sick to my stomach and eating was not a fun activity at that time either. So just getting thru the day was my job. That's not to say that it was like that all the time - I got out and still did fun stuff, but the fun days were limited by how I felt. If I felt crummy I would rest, felt down I would ride to raise my spirits and if I felt good I would do long rides (anything longer than 5 miles). So being a cancer patient taught me to just deal with stuff as it came along and to take care of myself as well as possible. My attitude about my health changed during my treatment days and I decided that I wanted to take better care of myself.

This year was a year the biggest change - my decision to have MRIs done every six months. That was a decision that I made back in January, but only after my appointment with my oncologist at that time. When my quarterly MRI came around again I had already decided to start training for my first 5K. My MRI results came back good, yet again, so it was hard to say "Yeah, I want to keep doing this every 3 months..." The plan was changed and it was the best decision I have ever made!

This summer has been the best summer yet...did a couple of 5K's for fun, rode a bunch of organized rides, did a lot of bike commuting and I started thinking of a new challenge a few weeks ago. This is my goal for 2009 to complete a Duathlon and get some of my friends to suffer along with me.

My new goal is significant because 2009 will be 5 years since my diagnosis and so much has happened in 5 years - no more tumor, treatments etc, less MRIs and doctor appointments, less stress overall - MORE happiness and fun! I will never stop having regular check-ups, but that's something I can live with.

Cancer Free is a phrase we never talk about...I'm a healthy happy survivor!

Already planning for 2009

I have been wanting to do a Duathlon for a couple of years now. Since Tom and I successfully trained for and ran the LIVESTRONG 5K AND did the Mt Hood Jazz 5K run, I am pretty confident that I can do a DU in 2009. More specifically a sprint du. The Duathlon I'm looking to do is the Blue Lake Duathlon next June. 5K run, 12 mile ride, 5K run.

Admittedly, I have slacked off quite a bit from my running. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I LOVE to ride. Another reason I have slacked off is because I have been experiencing some foot pain. So I'll be making a date with a podiatrist to see what is going on with my foot. Hopefully the problem isn't major otherwise it will be a while longer before this Du happens...ooh, that's not good thinking...only positive thoughts!

The purpose of setting up THIS blog is to hold myself accountable to my training and if ANYONE is reading this hopefully I'll get some encouragement! If I want to be consistent with posting updates I have to actually do some training. This should do it - I hope!

Here's looking forward to a new adventure!