Tuesday Rambling

I have a lot of little things on my mind, none that deserve a full post, so here goes:

1500
I crossed the 1500 mile mark for the year sometime last week.  I also crossed the 1500 mile mark on my Specialized Vita that I got in March of last year.  Cycling miles add up quickly.  Unfortunately, my running miles have been on the low side the past couple months.  I've had IT band issues that make anything over 3 miles really painful.  I miss being able to go out for a medium/long run but I really want this to go away, so I'm trying to be patient and smart.

McBRAAM
Les and Lance have now ridden over 1,000 on their cross-country cycling trip.  They are making their way to Texas today - state #4!  I am continually amazed at how well they are doing.  They are loosely following America By Bicycle's Fast America South route.  They have already made one change - Friday's ride was 144 miles, Saturday was to be a rest day, followed by about 135 miles on Sunday.  They chose to split Sunday's ride in half, making Saturday and Sunday "short" rides of just under 70 miles each.  Les said as long as their bodies and the weather holds they really don't want to spend a full day hanging out at a hotel.

I'm really enjoying their trip from afar!  It's been amazing to see their progress and I'm glad everyday when I hear from Les that another ride is complete.  He is super upbeat.  They will have stories to tell for the rest of their lives.  Les has been the primary writer of the blog so far and he really is that entertaining in real life. 

Coming up on October 21st is the annual University of Tennessee vs. Alabama college football game.  This year it takes place in Tuscaloosa.  Les and Lance are both Tennessee boys, their parents and sister still live there.  If they stay on schedule, they will be riding in to Tuscaloosa that weekend.  They won't be wearing their UT cycling jerseys!

Pumpkin Muffins
About a month ago I had to go to Fresno for the funeral of a former boss.  I was asked to speak and decided to go up the night before to see my sister and her family.  I baked a batch of pumpkin muffins, took half with me and left the other half at home.  When I came home, a mere 24 hours later, they were all gone!  While I was at the grocery store today, I decided to pick up the ingredients for another batch.  I spotted a Devil's Food cake mix and decided to make chocolate pumpkin muffins instead.  They definitely don't have as strong of a pumpkin flavor, but they are still good.

Pumpkin or Spice Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) OR
1 15 oz. can Sweet potatoes in light syrup
1/2 cup Almond milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325.
Grease cupcake pans.  Puree sweet potatoes in the blender for about 30 seconds.  Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix, milk, and pumpkin or sweet potatoes) and pour in prepared pans.  Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 18 muffins
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 15 oz. can Pumpkin
1/2 cup Almond milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325.
Grease cupcake pans.  Mix ingredients (no egg or oil, just the cake mix, pumpkin and milk) and pour in prepared pans.  Bake according to mix instructions for cupcakes, using the full amount of time (approximately 25 minutes).

All of these are very dense muffins.  The spice cake mix is slightly higher in calories, each muffin is about 150 calories, while the chocolate are slightly under 100.  Not bad for a quick snack or addition to breakfast. If I was going for Wife of the Year, I'd Fed Ex some of these to Texas or Oklahoma...

Fall Running
This is the one time of year that I start getting a little run envy.  People across the country start talking about cooler temps, morning runs that are glorious, and needing an extra layer.  I know that I am spoiled because I can run outside all winter, but my least favorite is our current weather pattern.  Our temperatures are moderate, but Santa Ana winds are blowing and our current humidity is 10%.  We have a tree down in our front yard from yesterday's winds.  With my cranky IT band, I'd rather be on my bike, but when the wind is over 20 mph I'm a little afraid of being blown right off the bike!  If we didn't have weather, what would we complain about?

1,000 Miles

I hit the 1,000 mile mark for the year this morning!  It's always exciting to see that number.  The breakdown by month:

January: 189.44
February: 156.30
March: 118.12
April: 162.06
May: 165.54
June: 170.64
Partial July: 44.36

Total: 1,006.46

Breakdown by activity:

Running:  405.27
Walking:  101.04
Cycling:  500.15

Almost identical numbers on my feet vs. on my bike!

I had an amazing run this morning.  We are still on Oahu so I headed up Tantalus.  I ended up running my third fastest on the entire 10 mile loop and my second fastest on the second half which is all downhill.  Strava also gave me my third best 5k!  It's funny - I'm not training for anything but I'm running strong these days.  Pressure free running = getting the joy back.

We're just past halfway, how is 2017 treating you?


Quick edit:  If you are a Strava user, check out Relive.  The site has been providing 3D videos of rides for quite some time but now they're also doing runs.  Here is my run from this morning: https://www.relive.cc/view/1075721591

Testing My Endurance

I've been without any goals lately.  Doing lots of running and riding but without a lot of purpose.  I have been working on riding with a higher cadence and I'm definitely seeing improvement in my riding, but that's about it.  I went for a ride Sunday morning and while I was out I wondered if I could hit 100 miles in a week.  Since my longest ride ever is about 40 miles this meant getting up and doing something every morning...

Sunday - rode 11.34 miles
Sunday morning is my favorite time to ride.  So few cars are out.  I had planned to ride at least 20 miles.  I got a flat tire instead!  I was really close to home so I decided to just walk the bike home.
Walked .66 miles
Week to date: 12.00

Monday - ran 6.44 miles
WTD: 18.44

Tuesday - rode 12.61 miles
I had trail run planned for Wednesday, so I went for an easy spin.  I surprised myself with a couple of really nice PRs, even took a 5th overall on the final segment leading to our house!
WTD: 31.05

Wednesday - Ran 9.77
This was the toughest trail run I have ever done.  I typically go 7 miles on the trail, occasionally I've gone as far as 8 miles, but that's it.  The extra miles gave me 600' of climbing in about 1.5 miles, which also meant 600' of descending.  It was steep - over 15% in some places.  I had to walk quite a bit because I really didn't want to lose my footing and go down.   Les was on his mountain bike and turned around before he caught me - he didn't think I would go as high up as I did.  Things are really drying out and turning brown around here - all the pictures in this post are from the trail.
WTD:  40.82

Thursday - Rode 12.29
My legs were SO sore!  Les rode with me and we took it really easy.
WTD:  52.11

Friday - Walked 5.55
I had planned a 7ish mile run but my knees had other ideas.  They were still really achy from Wednesday's trail adventure.
WTD:  58.66

I went to bed Friday night knowing I had a big ride ahead of me to hit my 100 mile goal...

Saturday - Rode 22.41 miles
My legs were worn out.  I knew 100 miles was out of reach, but I wanted to get in a good ride. I think if I had done an easy 10 miler on Wednesday instead of the trail run the rest of the week would have gone better and I might have hit 100 miles, but it was still a great week!
WTD:  81.07

Total miles
2 walks - 6.21
2 runs - 16.21
4 rides - 58.65
Total - 81.07

April Wrap Up (Weeks 16 &17/52)

Happy May Day!  2017 continues to move at the speed of life...

Mid April was not kind to me.  The hormone monster reared its ugly head with hot flashes/night sweats.  They weren't as bad as I've experienced in the past, but the night sweats lead to insomnia, which lead to a very tired runner.  We flew home from Hawaii on the 19th and insomnia combined with jet lag really knocked me for a loop!  My long run on the 22nd ended up being only 8 miles that felt like I was running through sand the entire time.

Some of our roses

I turned a corner this past week and for the most part started sleeping (and feeling) better.  I went for a trail run on Wednesday and ended up having my second best time for the entire 7 mile out and back.  I'm a big fan of the saying, "Comparison is the thief of joy," but sometimes it's good to compare how far you've come and see improvement.  My 53 year old self is still keeping up with PRs I set three and four years ago. I was also thrilled with my 39 mile bike ride on Thursday.  It was my longest ride to date and we had a great time.

Post trail run socks

Our hills are quickly losing their green, but there is still evidence of all the rain we received this year.  I am allergic to something that is blooming!  I'm pretty sure whatever it is, it hasn't bloomed in about a decade because I've been coughing and sneezing up a storm.  We also had pretty strong winds for several days to keep things stirred up. But I keep moving forward.

Picture in March

Same hill, five weeks later...

Totals for April:
Running: 82.95
Walking  18.45
Cycling 60.66
Total:  162.06

And that's my April!  How was yours?  Do you have seasonal allergies? 

Three Things Thursday ~ 1st Quarter Wrap Up

We're almost through the first week of April, but I wanted to recap how the first quarter of this year went:

1.  Running
My focus for January was to build my endurance.  February I wanted to focus on hills and I completed the Strava climbing challenge for the month with over 6500' of climbing .  I also found out that I had won a free entry to the Utah Valley Marathon!  That puts my running in focus until June 10th.  I've completed all my long runs so far and my legs are feeling good.  I've continued to cross train on the bike and still really love it.

I don't always eat dessert, but when I do...

2.  Nutrition and Health
My second January focus was to decrease sugar.  I went the entire month without dessert and felt better than I had in about six months.  We are now allowing ourselves one dessert a week and sometimes we don't even have that.  I'll always love sugar, but my body doesn't love it nearly as much.  My anxiety/heart palpitations have been completely absent and I feel pretty strongly that sugar was a large contributor to those issues.  Bonus:  I lost 12 pounds in the first 3 months of the year!

3.  Gear
I've got over 60 miles on my new Brooks running shoes and I'm very happy with them.  My iPod shuffle finally died completely about a month ago after refusing to shuffle for months.  Since my new phone has a ton of memory I decided to just use it for my running tunes but hated the long earbud chords constantly getting caught in my equally long hair.  I finally broke down and bought the Yurbuds Inspire 500.  I've taken them on several long runs, they are comfortable and stay in.  They got the "sweat test" this morning, we are back in Hawaii and I ran 9 miles with them in without any problems.  While I'm talking about gear, I just want to say how much I still love my Suunto Ambit2.  I have had it for almost four years and it is so solid.  It's a little on the big side, but I love all the screens that are completely customizable.  I have the screens set up differently for running, cycling, walking or intervals.  Good gear isn't necessary for good running but it sure is fun!

Total distance for Q1:
Running: 202.72
Cycling 207.79
Walking 53.35
Total: 463.86

How was your first quarter?

CA Riding, HI Running (Week 7/52)

Sunday - Rode 9.40 miles
I knew I would be off the bike for the rest of February so I decided to go for back to back rides.

Monday - Rode 12.20 miles
I'm glad I did not have back to back crashes!

Tuesday - Travel day
I was excited to learn that I won a free entry to the Utah Valley Marathon.

Wednesday - Walked 1.20 miles

Thursday - Ran 4.81 miles +0 elevation
The weather when we arrived on the island was pretty unpleasant.  Kona Winds bring a stillness that is hard to describe, the air feels heavy and there is just no movement.
Also walked 3.35 miles

Friday - Ran 8.91 miles +345' elevation
I ran the Diamond Head loop with extra credit by running up Pokapahu, the road the leads into the crater. I really suffered through this run.  In spite of drinking plenty of water and taking Endurolytes, my left calf kept cramping.

Saturday - Walked 3.3 miles
I had big plans for Sunday so I took it easy on Saturday.

February Run Climbing Challenge Progress:  998 meters/3,274 feet - 49% complete
This number changed drastically this morning - I ran Tantalus for an additional 1,557 feet bringing my progress up to 74%, but that's for next week's recap!

Total
Running 13.72
Walking 7.85
Cycling  21.60
Total  43.17

Although we aren't in California, it continues to rain.  The total for our city is now 18.5 inches for the season, just a little less than the past two seasons combined!  We haven't received a drop of rain since we've been in Hawaii, which is due to the Kona winds.  That is suppose to be changing in the next couple days with a "cold front" bringing lows in the 60s.  Pretty sure that would be heat wave in Montana!

How was your week?  What's the weather like?

January Recap

 

Instead of goals for the year, I chose two areas to work on for the month of January.  I am happy with how they both went:

Running ~ Increase Endurance
I ran 9 times for a total of 61.6 miles, walked 4 times for 12.13 miles, and cycled 9 times for 115.71 miles for a total of 189.44 miles.  My long run for the month was 10 miles.  This is the highest January I have had since 2011, a solid month, especially with all the rain we received (over 7" for the month.)

Les and I went for a trail ride this morning and I was pleasantly surprised at how strong I was.  Riding on the trainer has forced me to work on keeping a high cadence.  I did that for the entire ride today and had my 18th best time of 104 tries on the 3.4 mile climb that is the heart of the trail.  (Thank you, Strava for those details!)  For the first time in several years the creek is flowing and we had three water crossings.  I know I've been smiling when there's mud on my teeth.

Mother Nature has been having major mood swings around here.  Last Sunday we got about 2" of rain.  Things dried out and the temps dropped on Tuesday:

Winds started kicking up over the weekend and this was Sunday:

I'll take the cold over the wind any day.

Health ~ Decrease Sugar Intake

After a Fall/Holiday season filled with sugar and more sugar, I knew my body needed a break.  I haven't cut sugar out completely as far as what is found in our foods, but I haven't had a single dessert all month.  That is a big win for me.  Bonus is I haven't had any anxiety attacks/heart palpitations like I had been having the past few months. 

I'm thinking about my February Focus and will blog about it on Friday.

How was your January?  What is February looking like for you?

Recovery Week, New Phones, and More Rain (Wk 3/52)

After two high mileage weeks my legs really needed a break.  I put in about 40 miles last week from Thursday to Saturday and I don't quite have the endurance for that.

Sunday - Walked 3.01 miles
During church on Sunday we noticed that something was wrong with Les' iPhone.  With our travel schedules that is something we can't live without so Monday turned into a research mission.

Monday - Rode 10.56 miles
Les and I have had iPhones for years.  We don't upgrade often, as long as they worked we were happy.  My iPhone 4 was about 3 1/2 years old.  There was a bit of a sticker shock as we started researching our options.  We visited the Apple store, the Verizon store, Best Buy and finally went to Costco.  A very long story short - we switched from AT&T to Verizon, saving $15 a month for the same plan, and got two Galaxy J3 phones free from a promotion that Costco had going.  We are super happy with the decision and are already enjoying the Android experience.  We're really not anti Apple, but they did not give us a compelling reason to stick with them.  The phones came with 16GB of internal storage but Les was able to get SD cards with an additional 128 GB and install them on our phones himself.  Our biggest challenge is getting our music from iTunes to Google Play.  How about them (non) apples?!

Tuesday - Rested

Wednesday - Walked 5.03 miles
This started out as a run but my knees were cranky.  I think they were just a little worn out.  Every time I started to run they hurt so I opted for a long walk.

Thursday - Rested
It was raining again so I was happy with a second rest day for this week.

Friday - Rode 12.53 miles
It was pouring on Friday so I did another session on the trainer.  I did what is called an FTP test which is a whole post on its own that I need to write.  Our rainfall for Friday was over an inch and we have now received over 11 inches since the beginning of this season (July 1-June 30) and we now have more rain for the season than we have had in any of the past six seasons.

Saturday - Ran 7.01 miles
There's nothing better than the morning after rain in So Cal.  It was a cool 40 degrees and the skies were clear blue.  My knees were fine and it was a great way to finish off the week.

Total
Running 7.01
Walking 8.04
Cycling 23.09
Total 38.14

How was your week?
What kind of mobile phone do you carry?  Any apps I might be missing?

Rain, Wind and a Double Digit Run (Week 2/52)

And just like that we are through the first two weeks of the year.  This was my 2 runs/3 rides week.  We've had some more rain which is great for the state, but it adds some challenges for cycling.  I will run after the rain, but am hesitant to ride on wet roads.

Sunday - Rode 13.01 miles
This was my only outdoor ride this week.

Monday - Walked 2.04 miles
It started raining just as I stepped onto our driveway.

Tuesday - Ran 7.04 miles
I beat the rain by about 15 minutes this time.  Our hills are turning green.

Wednesday - Rest day
It was raining steadily.  According to USAToday the drought is over in Northern California.  We live in Southern California, just north of Los Angeles, in the county that is still dark red (exceptional.)  We've received over 3" of rain this month and nearly 9" since July 1st so we're hopeful.

Thursday - Rode 11.83 miles
It was raining again so I opted for the trainer in the garage.  Les has a power trainer and uses TrainerRoad for his workouts.  I rode for an hour and was surprised at how quickly it went due to the changing power numbers.

Friday - Ran 10.02 miles
This was my first double digit run since October 1st!  It wasn't fast but my focus for January is endurance so that's all that mattered.  It was cool and clear with a beautiful full moon.

Saturday - Rode 16.84 miles
After my Friday run the weather took an ugly turn - Santa Ana winds started kicking up.  We are under a high wind warning, which means gusts of up to 45 mph in the passes and canyons.  I was pretty sure when I went to bed Friday night that I would not be riding outside.  Les set me up for a 90 minute trainer session and again I was really surprised at how quickly it went.  There were two 23 minute interval sessions with a 20 minute rest between and about 10 minutes warmup and cool down.  I'm hoping these bike interval sessions will help me with running speed.

Total
Running 17.06
Walking 2.04
Cycling 41.68
Total 60.78

This is the highest mileage I have had in a very long time.  My legs are a little sore today, which actually feels good!

2017: Week 1/52

I had a great first week of the year!  I pulled out my old friend determination and hit the streets.  I was so ready to see 2016 gone that I was in bed before 10:00 on New Year's Eve.

Sunday - Ran 6.21 miles

Monday - Rode 17.5 miles

Tuesday - Walked 2.06 miles

Wednesday - Ran 7.50 miles
This was a trail run.  It was on the trail that I decided I needed to focus on endurance for the year.  The great thing about this trail is it is an out and back so it was a great way to kick off endurance training.  I went farther up the trail than I had in months.

Thursday - Rested
I was rained out and didn't mind a bit.

Friday - Ran 7.79 miles
I noticed a new park in the neighborhood.  I was thrilled until I didn't see a drinking fountain or bathroom.  I guess it's to save money, but it's so annoying.  There are probably a dozen parks that I run by that do not have any water or facilities.  The two that do are always locked until after 7:00 a.m.  I've gotten really spoiled in Hawaii - all the parks have full facilities.

Saturday - Rode 11.79
We got some more rain so I tried out Les' new trainer.  I made this hard by doing multiple intervals, pushing my power numbers to over 150 watts seven times.  The evidence was the puddle of sweat on the garage floor!

Total
Running 21.50
Walking 2.06
Cycling 29.29
Total 52.85

How was week one for you?

2016: A Tale of Two Years

2016 feels like two different years to me.  The first half I was going strong.  Six weeks into the year I did a reality check and I was consistently faster than I had been 12 months earlier.  I was getting Strava PRs like crazy.  We were living mostly in Hawaii, but I seemed to adjust pretty quickly to the heat and humidity.

In March I got my Hawaiian bike, Vita.  She and I spent many miles together.

Things continued going great into the Spring.  I ran the Ford Island Bridge 10k in April and the Bill Beauchamp 10k in May where I got 2nd in my age group.

We spent the last 2 weeks of May in Europe, which included mountain biking Mt. Etna and tons of walking and carbo loading.

Sometime during the summer I felt like someone drained all the energy out of my body.  In August I started training for the Honolulu Marathon.  I never ran more than 10 miles in the approximately 8 weeks that I "trained" for it.  Things were just off.  I had some knee pain, but I think I let it get to me more than it really was.  I limped along and probably could have recovered, but mentally I wasn't there.  I finally decided not to run the marathon and the relief I felt told me it was the right decision.

I had my annual physical this month and all my labs came back normal.  While this is good news, it's a little disheartening knowing the only thing wrong with me is that I am a 52 year old woman (ha!)  I have had some heart palpitations (no pain or dizziness, just extremely fast beating,) but my EKG showed no heart damage or previous heart attack.  My doctor felt this is hormone related (add it to the list.)  I'm doing my best to keep track of when these happen (which include during a bike ride, sitting at dinner, and during church.) 

My total miles for the year are lower than they have been in about a decade.  I am officially closing the book on 2016.  Tomorrow everything resets.  When I wake up I will have zero miles, the same as every January 1st.

Are you ready for a new start?  I sure am!

A Trail Ride that Summed Up 2016

Les and I are back on Oahu for our eighth and final trip of 2016.  We are staying in Waikiki since we moved out of our Hawaii Kai rental at the end of October.  I love being in the heart of this city for a few weeks but I wouldn't want to live here full time.  The Honolulu Marathon is Sunday and I'll have a full post after the marathon once I've processed how I feel about not running it.

We wanted to go for a mountain bike ride on our final morning at home.  We headed out and were on the trail after about a mile.  About a mile up the trail things started to feel a little off.  I could barely get up a short climb.  I told Les to stop for a minute and...

Yep, a flat tire!  Les is great at changing flats so I figured we'd be on our way in no time.  Except the pump that belongs in my bike bag was in Hawaii...

Once we realized that I wouldn't be riding anymore, Les said he would ride home to get the car.  I started walking my bike to the trail head to wait for him.

Les drove up and we loaded my bike in the car.  This is when things went really south.  Our car would not start.  After several minutes, Les decided he would run home to get our other car since I was still in cycling shoes.  When he got back, we tried getting our car to start, still with no luck.  We finally called our insurance for a tow (free up to 25 miles.)  I was ready to drive our drive-able car home when Les tried to get our car to start one more time and it finally did!

Running at Ala Moana park - he kills me on the bike, but I get revenge on the run!

We still have no idea what was wrong with the car.  We drove it again later in the day with no problems.  That's how I've been lately - some days I get up and have a great run, while other days I can't seem to get started.  I'm hoping 2017 will be better.

Cycling for Runners

I think I've mentioned a few times here how little I've been running this summer.  I've stayed active by riding my bike.  I've ridden almost twice as many miles as I've run this year.  So when I started marathon training last week, especially my first interval session, I was pretty sure my running would be way off.  But it wasn't.

While I was riding on Thursday, I started wondering.  My riding here in Hawaii is different than what I had done in California.  I have a mountain bike in California so I do lots of climbing.  My hybrid here climbs good but I also do a lot of flat riding.  Flat riding = moving the legs a lot faster.  I Googled "cycling for runners" and the first article was from Competitor.com, "Start Cycling to Become a Better Runner."  You can read the entire article, but here are some highlights:

Petra Kilian-Gehring, coach and co-owner of Speed Cycling in Madison, Wis., says the biggest benefit runners can get from road biking is the ability to do more work with less stress on the body.  I can attest to this after last year's marathon.  I consistently cross trained on the bike, made it to the start line injury free, and had a seven minute PR.

Try to find a mostly flat or mildly rolling section of road for these workouts (avoid steep hills at all costs!), which allows for a balance of moderate resistance and a quick cadence of around 90 RPM. “Since a runner should take around 180 steps per minute, when you get on the bike 90 RPM is replicating that cadence,” Kilian-Gehring says.  This describes the riding I've been doing here in Hawaii to a T.

Although bike intervals can contribute greatly to running fitness, nothing can replace the specificity of running workouts. “You still need to engage the running muscles and build up the body’s running structure,” Kilian-Gehring says. By adding biking into your running regimen, you’re able to build fitness without wrecking your legs. This translates into bumping up not only strength, but also that anaerobic threshold, allowing you to run faster, longer.  Run faster, longer?  I think that's something we all want to do.

I put this theory to the test again this week.  I bike commuted with Les yesterday - 13 miles in about an hour.  I told Les I wanted to keep it really easy since I had intervals today.  On my way home, I was solo and into the wind.  I kept an eye on my heart rate and did my best to keep it about 120-125.  I averaged 122 for the bulk of that part of the ride - a 4.5 mile stretch of flat highway.

I got up this morning with intervals on the schedule.  I thought I had programmed my watch correctly but I hadn't.  Since my plan was 3x400/2x600/2x400 I knew using what was on my watch wasn't going to work.  I thought about just doing a steady run.  I warmed up for 2 miles, then restarted my watch because it was beeping constantly.  I ran for another mile or so and decided to do speed bursts, known in the running world as fartleks.  They don't have a set time or distance.  I did a total of 11 fartleks ranging from 17 to 58 seconds.  I tried not to look at my watch, I just ran as fast as I could until I started fading.  I averaged 6:43 for 30 seconds and again for 23 seconds.  My longest interval was 55 seconds at 7:35.

I've seen it many times - if you want to become a better run, you must run.  I was surprised and happy with these speed bursts today and the confirmation that cycling is making me a better runner!

How do you do speed work?  Fartleks, intervals, other or none?
How much cycling or other cross training do you do?