Bye 2009, Thanks for the Fun!

2009 was a year full of many great things. I'm not going to recap, it's all in the blog. Here are some random numbers for you:

• 496,987 meters swam (308 miles)
• 8,403 miles biked
• 1,652 miles run
• ?? hours spent laughing in convenience stores when riding with friends
• 0 injuries
  

Sunrise at the pool this morning.

Bring on 2010 - I hope yours is great!

A Blustery Ride

Kevin and I thought climbing Palomar instead of riding our trainers sounded like a great idea. And it was. The climb was beautiful. It was 54 F at the base and 35 F at the top. It started drizzling about 500 feet before the top, but nothing terrible.

Descending was another story. Sleet, wind, rain, numb fingers - those five words pretty much sum it up. I stopped several times because I was shaking so bad I thought I might crash off a cliff.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. A friend to ride with, hot cider that tasted amazing afterward, and some thank goodness we have heaters moments. Cedric made his first Palomar climb in classic winter fashion.

Swim Week Recap

My "Swim Week" is now over. My arms are still attached. I actually enjoyed most of the swims. Toward the end I was really pretty tired of hopping in the pool 2x/day, but overall it wasn't bad.

We're going to do this again in three weeks. Except next time = more meters. Oh joy!!

I have new motivation for learning to swim. My friend LB told me if I swim 27:59 or faster at CA 70.3 he'll buy me coffee all year. We had a similar bet last year at Wildflower, and it worked. My swim PR is 29:30, so I've got a bit of work...

Here are some notes from swim week:

• I swam freestyle & IM.
  
• Swimming butterfly twice in one day was not as hard as I expected.
• My arms were not sore last week. They are sore this week.
• My hair did not turn green.
• I think swimming while semi-tired somehow taught me to be more efficient because on the hard days, I was still making all the sets.
• I ended up with 21,000 meters for the week.
• I am thankful the pool closes on Christmas Day!
  

Post-Christmas Ride

I am lucky in that when we visit Steven's parents, I get to run on some amazing trails and take my bike. New scenery is always welcome.

There are orange groves galore. Sorry for the blurriness, my photo-on-the-go skills are not always up to par.

Some of the views are incredible. I rode past snow-covered peaks. The far hills in this photo were my trail-running adventure in the morning.

When I first went by this house I laughed out loud. I'm not really a pink-house kinda girl. But then I actually stopped and came back to take a picture. They have GNOMES!!!! There were four total - I put some red arrows on the photo so you can see them better.

Christmas in Photos

I grew up in a small town that put out lumineria out on Christmas Eve. It's beautiful and to this day it's one of my favorite things about Christmas.

I had some help opening presents this year.

My nephew is not yet 2 and he has good taste in cars!

It's amazing the shots you can come up with when given a camera and a bit of free time . . .

Merry Christmas!

On the way to a great family Christmas dinner . . .


Cedric went on his first Christmas bike ride this morning. We both got frost bite on our fingers, but it was a gorgeous morning - well worth the cold. Happy Christmas blog friends!!

LIVE your Life!

It was 31 degrees when I hopped in the pool this morning. It would have been way easier to stay in bed. But a bunch of other crazy people showed up to swim, and this made it fun. This is why I show up day after day for more swim-bike-run. For the experiences along the way.

A friend recently emailed me this quote:

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming whooooo hooooo . . . . what a ride!

THIS is how I want to live my life. 110%!

Swim Week

This week is Christmas. And swim week. I will be staring at the black line on the bottom and the lane line a lot this week.

In an effort to turn me into a fish, coach ordered up a lot of swimming. I did not swim in high school. I never swam 2-a-days. Sure, I went to the pool a lot in the summer - but to jump off the diving board and play Marco-Polo. I basically started swimming a few years ago.

This week each day I will be in the pool at 6am and again at noon for masters. Thank goodness the pool is closed on Christmas so I can reattach my arms!

Cooooooookies!

Chocolate-Peanut-Butter Goodness

Notice the improvised rolling pin.

This green blob turned into beautiful trees thanks to Julie.

I think this picture is blurry because Kin'dra was laughing so hard when she took it.

A Good Day

Today was one of those days where living in Southern California was everything most people probably imagine it to be. It was in the 70s on my ride. The air was so dry and clear I could see details on Catalina Island, rather than a blob of an island off the coast.

Post-ride included chai latte. Again, a bigger drink than Cedric = goodness in a mug.

After lunch there was a bit of antique browsing. This always leaves me laughing. Thankfully I don't always purchase everything I find funny. But I do believe this Walrus would have made a great addition to our kitchen.

I have a run and a birthday party left for the day. Hopefully after one or both of these I may need to upgrade the day from good to great.

Thankful Friday

In no particular order, today I am thankful for:

1. Fast boys that let me chase them while running.
   
2. A supportive family with a sense of humor.
3. Plenty to eat, a roof over my head and way too many clothes.
4. My friends at the pool who believe I can swim in a faster lane. And keep encouraging me even after my arms fall off.
5. Coffee, chocolate and fresh vegetables - not necessarily eaten together.
6. My job.
7. Those little whispy white clouds on a blue sky background.
8. Color in everything. Can you imagine a Black & White world? BORING!
   
9. Health.
10. A Yak Stack - seriously, how funny is that?!
    

Jared Andrew Schorr is a crazy-talented artist who cuts lots of things out of paper to create amazing artwork! Check out his other work here.

Balance

I really love my busy life. Training, work, fun, etc. I want to do it all. That being said, there are days when I would pay big money for some time. Time to do nothing. Time to sit still or take a small nap. I've gone to the coffee shop before and been jealous of the people sitting and doing nothing. How do they have time for this? But the truth is the way I spend my time is completely my choice. I am the only one who can find the balance that works for me.

My trainer workout this morning was less than amazing. I cut it short and went out to the garden to see how plants were faring the cold nights. I picked our first orange ever off the tree.

My broccoli may have gotten somewhat out of control in the last month. But that being said - it is still producing edible broccoli, so I'll take it. Hope you are enjoying the craziness that sometimes is the Holidays!

Transport

The other day on my ride to work I saw a guy flying downhill in a red one of these:


I was bummed we were not traveling in the same direction or stopped at a light together so I could get a quick tour of his fancy soapbox car.

I am trying not to sink at work or in the pool this month. Today at the pool when I started to whine inside my head about how hard the workout was and how I was sure the person leading our lane was trying to make me implode - you know, the standard OH POOR ME syndrome - I transported my mind elsewhere and tried to just focus on pulling water. Amazingly it worked.

Christmas Cactus

I had never heard of a Christmas Cactus until we bought our house and it came with one. Most of the year this plant is well, kind of ugly. It just looks like a boring semi-green cactus. I almost threw it out the first year we had it. But then every year in December, right around Christmas no less - it gets beautiful flowers on it!

In training news I've been swimming IM at the pool. I am proud to announce I can now do 25m of butterfly without drowning! I have been told this will help my freestyle. If not, at least it is good for putting my heart rate through the roof and leaving me gasping for air while clinging to the gutter as my lane mates chat about what a beautiful day it is. All while breathing normally.

Why I Like to Commute by Bike

1. The bike lane is always wide open. I also enjoy saying (in my head!) HAHA Suckers! as I fly past the long line of cars stuck in traffic.
   
2. Hot coffee tastes better after a cold bike commute.
3. Wave at a fellow cyclist at 7am and they will wave back. They might even say "Nice morning!" Wave at a fellow car commuter and they will think you are crazy.
4. Jumping in the pool at 6am when it is 40 degrees on deck feels like a hot tub if I've just biked up a big hill. It feels like the arctic if I just got out of a warm car.
5. I might get the chance to race on the way to work!
6. The trees, grass, flowers, clouds all look better from my bike than my car. Probably because I am forced to slow down and notice them more.
7. I can almost do a track stand at a light on my bike.
   
8. I also sometimes almost fall over - most likely providing a lot of laughs for car commuters!
   
9. I do not have to go to the gas station as often.
10. I get to ride my bike more.

Rain, Trains, More Rain

I awoke to this. As a testament to how much I hate my trainer, I hoped I would get lucky and the green blob would miss me while riding my bike.

Kevin and Mike also hate their trainers and joined in for the fun.

Three hours later we had only gotten rained on once!

After the ride, it was off to the annual train show. Steven likes trains. I enjoy the layouts. And people watching. As long as I have eaten before we go, everyone has a great time. And no, we don't dress up in conductor outfits. But that would be awesome!!

This caboose was really pretty neat. In about an hour I'm heading out for a run. The radar map looks about how it did at 6am. I've got friends to join me on the run too. Bring on more rain!

Morning

I am a morning person. This morning started at 5am on the evil contraption that keeps a bike in it's non-natural upright position without going forward. At 60rpm. I turned on the Christmas lights and let the DVR roll, but didn't spend much time watching. There was a battle with the power meter, trying to push the watts up, then just keep them from plummeting.

Give me a mountain to climb any day and I will take it over the trainer. My hill for today's workout was Palomar. It was 29 on the mountain when I climbed on the bike in my living room. This fact made me like the evil trainer only slightly.

As I climbed off the bike dripping buckets of sweat, Steven sat on the couch wrapped in a blanket drinking his espresso. Ahhhhh, morning!

On my Run Commute . . .

I got to see the sun rise over the hills.

And the results of our recent storm putting all the fall leaves in the gutter.

Snowmen without real snow.

And palm tree ornaments.

I've been asked several times how I carry everything to work when I run commute. Basically, I only carry my phone. I keep some extra clothes at work. And as long as I plan ahead a little, it works out nicely. There have been rare days when I thought I had clothes at work. And was wrong. That always makes for a long day wearing sweaty spandex.

Rainy Day Swimming

Cedric could not be convinced to jump into the pool on this rainy Monday. Today was his first introduction to rainy swims. He hung out under the starting block during most of practice. Only when it got light out did he venture over to the edge of the pool.

There is nothing better than swimming in the rain if you ask me. Especially a good downpour. After practice we got some underwater video of my swim stroke. "Oh my" is all I have to say on that topic.

Dad's Marathon Update

Start of the race was a chilly 28 degrees. My Dad went through the half in 1:31. Final time was 3:12. A great race! The hamstring tightened up a bit at mile 24. It was not sub-3, but don't worry - there are many more marathons to be run! Thanks for cheering for my Dad!

Gooooo Dad!

My Dad and I ran our first marathon at Chicago in 1996. It took us 4:14 to cross the finish line. We wore cotton t-shirts and didn't know anything about taking GU while running. Somewhere along the way we learned a few things.

As we got a little faster and found a love for running, we both dreamed of breaking 3 hours. Between the two of us, my Dad has come the closest with a 3:02.

On Sunday my Dad will race the Cal International Marathon with his sights set on 2:59. He's fought a few injuries and will toe the line with compression shorts and kinesio tape galore. But don't let that fool you - he is FAST. I can't keep up with him at track right now.

I'm doing a long run on Sunday, then racing home to track online. His name is Ken Bauer if you want to track too!

Magic Little Lights

There is something magical about this time of year. I chased Jeffrey around tonight on a run, which was fun between gasps for air. The first part of a hard run is always the hardest for me - I think of it as my little heart needing to stretch itself out. Once this happens it's not so bad.

So many houses had twinkling lights up. I ran home along the water and took in the still night air and the feeling that everything will be a little more festive for a few weeks.

Steven and I put up our tiny tree. We've actually never had a "real" Christmas tree. Our 2-footer seems to do the trick, although it doesn't smell nice and pine-treeish. Enter candles. Happy December!

Back to Base

Training started again this week. For the first time since Kona I put on the heartrate monitor, got on the tri-bike and set my alarm clock. I was ready for all of the above except maybe the alarm clock.

Coach gave me my plan. Only half of it is in German. I am excited to see what I can do this year. We have some time to build base (lots of long, lower heart rate miles) before my first race in January - the Carlsbad 1/2 Marathon.

Back on the bike on the hill this little roadrunner ran out in front of me. I wonder how they get so fast!?

Golf

Kevin, Ian and I have spent hours together riding bikes. We could ride bikes in our sleep. So it was decided as our off-season comes to a close, we would mix things up and play golf.

The experienced 2-Day, 54-Hole Golf Champions were kind enough to grace us with their presence. Yeah - they have shirts to prove their awesomeness!!

Notice that Steven's shirt says "Champion."

And Jeffrey's shirt . . . does not.

These are my amazing skills chipping out of the ditch. Somehow Ian, Kevin and I finished only 2 strokes apart. Count on a rematch next year.