Surf City 5K

And yes, I was wearing my Columbia Memorial pin (which looks just like the second patch down on the left in the link). If I'd had more time, I might have basted the patch to my pants leg. 2454 out of 2508 in the 5K; 1584 out of 1621 women in the 5K; 1:04:01 chip time.

This event was actually worse than last year's, even taking into account last year's sideways rain. Our gorgeous Santa Ana conditions turned into morning low clouds and fog, which brought the temps down quite a bit until the marine layer started burning off. Short-sleeved shirt, shorts, my cycling tights, my cycling windbreaker (which quickly became too much). Horrendous traffic, which led to me being so late that my gun time was nearly 1.5 hours! I really do wish I'd ridden my bike from the parking to the starting line area; all told, I walked nearly 5 miles today, with 3.1 of that being the event itself. So I walked the whole thing, rather than trying any of that faster-than-a-walk-slower-than-a-jog motion that Melissa (I missed you, gf!!) calls a wog. And have you ever tried walking on a center divider? Those concrete imitation bricks are dangerous! But I had to try to stay out of the way of the half-marathoners, who started about 10 minutes after I crossed the start line for the 5K. As far as I can tell, the shuttle stops depicted on the website were purely fictional.

I had one other friend participating in this event, Cindi from our Local Needlework Shop.

Another Catch-Up Post

2008, Week 47
Monday, November 17: Home treadmill for 1.8 miles.
Tuesday, November 18: Home treadmill for 1.81miles.
Wednesday, November 19: Home treadmill for 2.151 miles.
Thursday, November 20: Home treadmill for 1.801 miles.
Friday, November 21: Rest day.
Saturday, November 22: Home treadmill for 2.029 miles.
Sunday, November 23: Home treadmill for 1.0 mile; bike ride for 35.5 miles.

2008, Week 48
Monday, November 24: Home treadmill for 1.282 miles.
Tuesday, November 25: Nothing. Karma cold.
Wednesday, November 26: Nothing.
Thursday, November 27: Nothing.
Friday, November 28: Nothing.
Saturday, November 29: Bike ride for 3.67 miles.
Sunday, November 30: Bike ride for 15.21 miles.

2008, Week 49
Monday, December 1: Nothing.
Tuesday, December 2: Home treadmill for .83 miles.
Wednesday, December 3: Nothing.
Thursday, December 4: Bike ride for 13.19 miles.
Friday, December 5: Nothing.
Saturday, December 6: Bike ride for 21.16 miles.
Sunday, December 7: Home treadmill for 1.505 miles; bike ride for 23.95 miles.

2008, Week 50
Monday, December 8: Home treadmill for 1.808 miles.
Tuesday, December 9: Home treadmill for 1.41 miles; bike ride for 5.23 miles.
Wednesday, December 10: Bike ride for 20.08 miles.
Thursday, December 11: Bike ride for 21.01 miles.
Friday, December 12: Home treadmill for 1.375 miles; elliptical for 3.88 miles.
Saturday, December 13: Nothing.
Sunday, December 14: Make Room for Santa 5K for 3.5 miles.

2008, Week 51
Monday, December 15: Elliptical for 3.63 miles.
Tuesday, December 16: Home treadmill for 1.276 miles.
Wednesday, December 17: Home treadmill for 1.414 miles; elliptical for 2.44 miles; full strength-training circuit.
Thursday, December 18: Home treadmill for 1.8 miles; 1 hour of Pilates; elliptical for 1.83 miles.
Friday, December 19: Home treadmill for 1.8 miles.
Saturday, December 20: Home treadmill for 1.756 miles.
Sunday, December 21: Combined home treadmill and walking a flatted bike: 3.118 miles; bike ride for 20.43 miles.

Total Distance since November 16: 234.51
Distance from Bag End: 3889.437
Distance to Minas Tirith: 139.563

Falling Behind Again

I had the Make Room for Santa 5K this morning, and while I didn't PR, I'm feeling pretty good about the event. After all, I spent something like 4 of the last 6 weeks sick and unable to do much training. It was freaking cold out there! When I turned on the windshield washer option on the wipers to clear the dew from the windshield, the washer fluid froze!

ETA: That 58:30 was "gun" time. Had I realized before the start of the event that it wasn't chip-timed, I might have tried to remember to take my HRM, which IIRC has a stop watch function. But then, I think my brain was frozen, since I remembered to grab a jacket but completely forgot my arm warmers!

2008, Week Forty-One

Monday, October 6: Home treadmill for 1.601 miles; bike ride for 2.61 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Tuesday, October 7: No walk today because I had to be at work really early. After-work bike ride for 10.18 miles; no after-work Y visit
Wednesday, October 8: Home treadmill for 1.917 miles; bike ride for 6.14 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Thursday, October 9: Home treadmill for 2.003 miles; bike ride for 6.21 miles; no after-work Y visit.
Friday, October 10: Home treadmill for 2.010 miles; bike ride for 5.44 miles; no Y visit.
Saturday, October 11: Home treadmill for 3.302 miles; no bike ride; no Y visit.
Sunday, October 12: No walk today; bike ride for 40.62 miles; no Y visit.

Total distance for the week: 82.033
Distance from Bag End: 3470.5
Arrived in Minas Tirith with Gandalf and Pippin, then popped back to Isengard to journey to Minas Tirith with Merry.
Distance to Minas Tirith: 558.5

Left work earlier than usual on Monday because I had to be at work 5+ hours earlier than usual on Tuesday, so that's why no Y visit on Monday and no walk on Tuesday. Having my schedule whomped like that threw me off the whole week, and I just kept going straight home from work and hitting the sack earlier than usual. It's also been really windy these last few days, and that's made the rides less than their usual pleasure, which is the reason I skipped the Saturday ride. At least I did well for the Kick the Couch 5K, going a bit past 5K, although the time isn't all that great. But then, I wasn't doing it for the time, just the distance. The wind has been pretty cold, so this morning I pulled on my cycle tights and discovered the fit isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I wore them for the whole ride today, although I did finally take off my windbreaker. I think I'll be able to use them for the Surf City 5K, too, if it's cold like this year's was.

It's also looking like we won't be doing that Tri after all.

2008, Week Thirty

Monday, July 21: Home treadmill for 1.301 miles; morning bike ride for 15.78 miles; post-work stop at the Y for 2.28 miles on the elliptical.
Tuesday, July 22: Home treadmill for 1.357 miles; but when I got to the park this morning for my ride, I discovered a very flat rear tire. Went to the gym and spent 40 minutes on the elliptical, for 2.52 miles; the post-work visit to the Y was spent on strength training.
Wednesday, July 23: Home treadmill for 1.40 miles; no ride today because the bike is in the shop (and things were so hectic in the afternoon that I couldn’t get away to pick it up); no pre-work visit to the Y because I had to be at work early because the morning guy had to take a day off for personal stuff; post-work trip to the Y was spent on the elliptical, for 2.88 miles.
Thursday, July 24: Home treadmill for 1.401 miles; picked up the bike from the shop, but not early enough to find a place to ride before work; post-work stop at the Y for strength training (UBWO, plus the two hip machines).
Friday, July 25: Home treadmill for 1.251 miles; morning bike ride (yay!!!!!!!!) for 14.88 miles. No visit to the Y because I don’t finish up at work early enough on Fridays to get there.
Saturday, July 26: City of Cypress 5K today with Melissa. And even with the early (7:30) start, the heat and humidity were nearly unbearable. While at the water stop, I chatted briefly with a family out on their front lawn, and jokingly asked one of them if they had “any more of that coffee.” He said they had plenty; was there anything in particular I wanted? I laughed and said the song I was listening to at the time was “Wildwood Weed,” and the whole family laughed. The Big Stick Popsicles were a wonderful “prize” and I was tempted to grab a second one. But I’d had to ask for help getting the wrapper off the first one—my hands were so slippery! Anyway, I came in 490 out of 492 listed on the results page, with a chip time of 57:05, and 17th in my Division. My pedometer said I covered a total of 3.9 miles, including all the walking before and after the actual event. That’s an improvement for me by a full minute. And congratulations to Melissa for her new PR!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, July 27: Home treadmill for 1.503 miles; no bike ride; no visit to the Y. Kept driving around to different stores and just never stopped for a ride nor got to the gym.

Total distance for the week: 50.282
Distance from Bag End: 2831.048
Distance to Isengard: 102.952

2008, Weeks 23, 24, and 25

Finally taking the time to get caught up, since it's too darned hot for much of anything else.
Monday, June 2: home treadmill for 0.83 mile; morning bike ride for 14.34 miles.
Tuesday, June 3: home treadmill for 0.91 mile; morning bike ride for 13.03 miles.
Wednesday, June 4: morning bike ride for 14.35 miles.
Thursday, June 5: morning bike ride for 10.95 miles.
Friday, June 6: morning bike ride for 15.25 miles.
Saturday, June7: home treadmill for 0.5 mile; morning bike ride for 17.78 miles.
Sunday, June 8: walking around the LA River Ride venue for 0.75 mile; LA River Ride for 50.96 miles.
Monday, June 9: rest day.
Tuesday, June 10: went to the gym and used the upper-body machines.
Wednesday, June 11: bike in shop; went to the gym and did a 5K (3.10 miles) on the elliptical.
Thursday, June 12: morning bike ride for 10.19 miles.
Friday, June 13: morning bike ride for 15.55 miles.
Saturday, June 14: Downtown Anaheim 5K, 3.9 miles.
Sunday, June 15: morning bike ride for 18.46 miles.
Monday, June 16: morning bike ride for 10.74 miles.
Tuesday, June 17: morning bike ride for 13.35 miles.
Wednesday, June 18: morning bike ride for 16.086 miles.
Thursday, June 19: morning bike ride for 15.47 miles.
Friday, June 20: morning bike ride for 15.26 miles.
Saturday, June 21: morning bike ride for 10.12 miles.
Sunday, June 22: rest day.

Total miles for the 3 weeks: 271.67
Distance from Bag End: 2410.86
Distance to Minas Tirith: 168.14

Goals for the next week: get back on the home treadmill regularly! Gotta do this, because I've signed up for the City of Cypress 5K on July 26. Get the new guy at work ready to be turned loose so that I can get back to the gym!

Race Update

I looked through all the results for several minutes, making sure I'd found the highest numbers in both Overall and Female listings. It's kinda hard to believe there were fewer than 800 people in this event, but 788 is the highest number I found. Anyway, 378 out of 388 females, 765 out of 772 Overall, and 6/6 out of Females 55-59. Melissa, who's been at this longer than I have, fared better. She also found, and forwarded to me, a really dreadful picture of me at the River Ride last Sunday. No, I'm not going to share that one; you'll have to hunt it down yourself. My Chip Time was 58:07.0, which is about 4.5 minutes faster than my Stubble Time. Which, I think, isn't too shabby for someone who doesn't really train for these events.

Well, I'm off for a ride before it gets too hot. I also have one more errand to run for a cross stitch project.

Nearly Two Weeks Behind!

Yikes! But my BFF-N spent last weekend in the hospital with some cardiac issues, so even though I didn't pass up any bike rides, I did decide that spending some time with her was more important than posting an update.

Briefly: last Sunday was the LA River Ride, so I now have completed an official Half-Century (50 miles) bike ride! Thank goodness it wasn't a race, because I'm just not a fast rider. I also had an extended break with 18 miles remaining when I had a couple of guys at one of the Pit Stops make some adjustments to my rear wheel and rear brake after I had a spoke break. Monday became a total rest day, then Tuesday I made it to the gym for some upper-body work before stopping at the bike shop. Wednesday, with the bike still in the shop, I again stopped at the gym for some cardio on the elliptical, which made me realize just how much I miss those after-work stops at the gym!! I sure hope the new new guy at work learns the job faster than the old new guy (the one who was—ahem—"released" from service Thursday). Do you realize that with the URI at the end of April/beginning of May and with training people at work, I went very nearly an entire month without getting anywhere near the Y!!

And today was the Downtown Anaheim 5K with my dear friend Melissa, who came close to her personal best in spite of the health hazards of holding an event on city streets only partly closed off to auto traffic. My own unofficial ("gun") time was a fraction under 59 minutes, a personal best for me and my first finish in under a full hour! I even got in a few seconds of what she calls "wogging," which is not quite jogging, but a bit beyond walking. Not too shabby, considering that I hadn't actually done any training for this event and have been quite the slacker with respect to getting out of bed and onto the treadmill!

2008, Week Fifteen

A flop when it comes to the morning treadmill time, as well as elliptical time. But I did get in two weight training days and a couple of good walks on concrete after work. And while I probably should have spent time on the treadmill, I also felt it was important to try to get plenty of rest this week, too. I tried to make up, at least a little, for that with the longer walks outdoors on concrete and asphalt. The bike has also been more comfortable with the changes that were made—this latest saddle plus the raised handlebars and the smaller grips (even though my hands aren’t really all that small).
Monday, April 7: The only day this week with morning treadmill time, for 1.05 miles; then the morning bike ride, for 10.66 miles; and the Cybex circuit at the Y on the way home.
Tuesday, April 8: Morning bike ride for 10.87 miles, then a 1.81miles walk around the lake at Cerritos Regional Park on the way home from work.
Wednesday, April 9: Morning bike ride for 11.19 miles, then the Cybex circuit at the Y.
Thursday, April 10: Morning bike ride for 11.01 miles, then a 2.38 mile walk around Cerritos Regional Park after work.
Friday, April 11: Bike ride only, on the way to work, for 11.41 miles.
Saturday, April 12: This was my rest day. Not even a bike ride today!
Sunday, April 13: The Coaster Run 5K! This event wasn’t chip timed, but I did Shave My 5K, by around 5 minutes. My gun time at Surf City was 1:09:something IIRC and my time for this event was 1:04:37.

Total mileage this week: 63.88
Miles from Bag End: 1635.32
Miles to Isengard: 157.68

These last couple of weeks I’ve been gearing my exercise toward preparation for the 5K, but this week I’ll probably go back to the mixed efforts of the recent past: home treadmill, bike rides, and the after-work gym time alternating between strength training on the Cybex machines and time on the elliptical. And try to get in at least one good long (45-60 minutes) walk outdoors each week, too.

I'm Think...

…I'm ready. Picked up my packet and goodie bag (one of those nice reuseable bags like they sell at grocery stores, instead of the wasteful plastic things we got at Surf City*) at the mall today. Got the bib pinned to the shirt. Pants are hemmed up, so I won't be tripping over too-long pants. Alarm is set for plenty of time to get up, get dressed, and have a bit of breakfast (a granola bar and a glass of milk, and maybe a banana if I remember to buy one while I'm out later today). Still need to put a fresher (as in "nearer to fully charged") battery in the MP3 player. The tee-shirt is a regular cotton tee, not a tech shirt, but a nice one nonetheless. The only "exercise" I've had today is walking from the van into the mall for the packet pickup and back to the van and an errand to the local Orange Despot store. No exercise/workout/training type walking since Thursday night after work. Not even a bike ride today!


*which I'll admit came in handy for bagging up wet clothes!

Registered!

Got one of my tax returns, so I've been busy this morning registering for a couple of events. I'm now officially obligated to the Tour de Sewer bike ride and the Coaster Run 5K to benefit the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park. Links are in the Upcoming Events section over there on the left. But a warning to those of you who want to participate in the Coaster Run: the website link takes you to last year's event, so go to Active.com and search on Coaster Run for this year's registration.

Now off to buy some biking wear. ETA: A plain blue cycling jersey and a pair of plain ol' padded shorts.

2205/2265

Which means, of course, I wasn’t quite dead last! We started the race cold and wet and finished it colder and wetter. But we finished the first annual Surf City Marathon/Half-Marathon/5K. I came in 1357 of 1398 women in the 5K, 2205 out of 2265 overall in the 5K, and 66th in Females 55-59 (don’t know how many there were in that age group). Not such a bad showing for a waddling first-timer. 1:02:40, which is faster than I felt I was going.

All things considered, the first half wasn’t so bad—northbound on PCH from Main St (very near the former location of the renowned Golden Bear) to just past Golden West—with the rain and wind coming in toward the left butt cheek. Of course, when we made the turn to head back past the oilfields into town, we were bucking a headwind with the salty rain pouring into our right eyes. Melissa’s iPod tracking chip thingy decided it didn’t like the cold and wet, so we don’t know how far we walked from the shuttle stop to the staging area and then from the finish line (south of the pier) back to the shuttle stop. Somewhere between half and three-quarters of a mile for the shuttle-stop-to-staging-area jaunt, then around half a mile from the finish line to the shuttle stop.

I’m exhausted, my legs and feet hurt, my body didn’t like the hotel bed. But I had a blast!! Our stitching friend Nancy is planning to join us at the event at Knott’s. And all healing thoughts directed to Terri so she can continue training!!

Too bad the Y closes so early on Sundays. I wouldn’t have minded spending a little time parboiling myself in the jacuzzi. And maybe tomorrow I'll have the energy to post the weekly report.