Sweating and Loving It

Got another bike ride in the books. Woke up at 5:45 am (which is what time I need to wake up for school starting in a week) and decided to get my workout over with. I was a bit nervous since it was 25 miles and included some hills.

I headed out from my home in San Jose. Unfortunately, I have to ride through 10 miles of gross urban traffic before getting to the scenic foothills. I live in the valley, apparently. Although my ride started out easy and flat, I somehow got stuck behind 2 garbage trucks. It was trash day in south San Jose. Not only did I have to swerve around haphazardly placed garbage cans but the smell of rotten food and other jetsam and flotsam made me extremely nauseous. I think the truck actually had decaying corpses in it; the smell was that bad. I felt the urge to vomit, and slowed, downshifted, and breathed deeply for several minutes until the feeling passed.

Finally, I reached Hicks Road and began riding through the foothills between Los Gatos and Almaden Quicksilver Park. Shade blanketed me and the morning dew still clung to the trees. I immediately felt a cool mist refreshing my skin, legs, and spirit. By the time the climbing began, I was ready. I found a steady but slow pace and settled in as I climbed. In the lowest gear, I struggled to get up the hills but knew I was strong enough to make it. I focused on each pedal stroke and my mind escaped in each pause and rest between rotation. There was nothing else except push....rest....push...rest. It was glorious, relaxing freedom. My skin shined with a thin coat of sweat, and I realized I felt the best I had felt in months. I always feel the most amazing when I work out. It's wonderful to be strong enough to finally enjoy each workout.

The rest of the ride was smooth. I zipped down the downhills and, back in town, the uphills felt like tiny bumps. I practiced pedaling uphill in a higher gear and practiced spinning at high rpms on the downs. My legs felt heavy with muscle and strong.

I have 1 week left until school begins. Now, I have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. Yay for morning workouts!

Building Fitness and Self-Improvement

Over the past 6 weeks, I have suddenly resumed working out regularly. I even signed sprint, and olympic triathlon! I have many transitions over the summer, and I feel my old self finally coming back.

I've been going through a lot lately. Seems like I say that a lot. My saving grace is that I've been working out consistently. With all the turmoil spinning around me and inside my head, my workouts are a constant, comforting lifeline that I can always rely on to lead me in the right direction. That's all I can say right now. It's purposely vague. For all the gory details, well, you will just have to wait for the book...

I'm starting to get a base back. It took 4 solid weeks of running 3x/week, suffering through each workout, taking walk breaks, and being humble, before my running legs came back. I'm still slow and have many miles to build but I can now run 4-6 miles at a steady pace comfortably without needing to stop. I can finally run for mental peace and active meditation again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Swimming has been coming back a little faster. I can swim a mile in the pool without stopping...slowly, but pretty close to my old base pace. I will be tested in two weeks when I have to swim 3/4 of a mile in the open ocean. The Pacific up here is so much colder, and the waves are much bigger. I will need to practice...

Biking has gone very well. I don't know what my pace is because I've purposely failed to replace the batteries in my cyclometer. I'm riding 25 miles on road and even throwing some mountain biking in. My training goals are just to have fun and resume fitness for mental health purposes right now. Since I suffered such a long burn-out, I want to come back into endurance training slowly and with a different (less competitive) focus this time around.

I definitely need new running shoes! My old Brooks Adrenaline model has been replaced with a completely different model that doesn't work with my orthotics. I did a trail run at Rancho San Antonio Park and got a little excited. I felt so good, that I accidentally ran 8 miles, besides the horrible pain in my toes when they pounded the toe box on the downhill. I ignored the pain because, well, that's what I do. My toenails have since been a gorgeous deep violet that I'm thinking of marketing as "Black-and-Blue". I painted the rest of my nails blue to match. No chipping and it lasts for weeks!

On my next run, I decided to take my favorite running partner, Juneau, along with me. She always smiles when we run and jogs when I talk walk breaks. She always pushes the pace. Whenever I'm suffering, I just look at her happy face, and it takes the pain away. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to the bushes that jutted out into the sidewalk, narrowing our path. With a car parked to my left and Juneau to my right, there was simply not enough room for both of us at the same time. She leaped left, directly under my knees, causing me to fall H.A.R.D. on the sidewalk. I sprained my right hand and tore a lot of skin off my right knee. Hey, at least I have cool battle scars to show off. 

one day later














I will continue to transform myself by being active every day (or almost every day--I'm going to listen to my body). Stay tuned for motivating updates!

South Bay Roadie Ride

I am still working out regularly, suffering through each one. Today's workout was a road ride. Since my workouts have been slow and tedious, I wasn't expecting much. I decided to ride from the house to make it easy. Unfortunately, it takes 7 to 8 miles to get to somewhere cool from San Jo. Even though it's been hot, I felt good. Zipped down the road on Pandora and, surprisingly, quickly settled into a comfortable pace. Maybe walking the dogs around the block first had helped me warm up.

I couldn't believe how quickly the miles flew by. It was hot, and I am out of shape, yet this ride felt easy. Of course, I pulled a little trick on myself--I took the batteries out of my computer so I have no idea how fast I was going. That way, I would avoid negativity drills. I reached Hicks Road and began climbing. The climbing was hard, very hard. However, I was still able to settle in and find a pace.

Very soon, I was winding my way through Los Gatos and Saratoga. I felt great, and the tough hills were behind me. I was amused at a couple of male cyclists who hammered past me, only to pull off at the top to drink water as I passed them again, slow and steady. I wove Pandora through crowds of pedestrians, bikes, and cars around the Saratoga Village, avoiding a huge weekend festival. Soon, I was headed home again. I still can't believe how quickly the 22 miles went by. I feel great and even followed it up with some core and upper body weights.

I am pinching myself. This is the first workout that has felt fun and "easy", relatively speaking. It makes sense that it would be a bike ride and not a run (although running is my favorite). I can't underestimate the thousands of miles I put into the road bike years ago for my IM training. Is there such thing as muscle memory? I guess I'm going to find out. I'll keep you posted.

Top blog of 2012? Just discovered this!

I just discovered a website that nominated my blog as one of the best of 2012. I am so flattered. I really needed that!

http://www.triathlontrainingschedule.org/top-125-triathlon-blogs

Phoenix Rising

I'm coming back after being on the couch for 4 years. It's been 3 weeks of workouts--mostly 3-4 mile runs with some bikes and swims sprinkled in. No goals right now except to find a sustainable pace. I've decided to revive the blog since journaling about my workouts helped motivate me in the past. Read and enjoy if you want.

Last few runs have been a sufferfest. Not being able to eat or sleep doesn't help. Neither does the 90 degree San Jose weather. I've been escaping to the local redwoods for relief. It is somewhat cooler, and I love the solace of the trail but the hills are humbling. I basically walk up them, knowing as long as my heart rate is up, I'm getting the benefit. But it's hard to quiet the drill sergeant in my head. He yells nasty insults at me when I walk. Then, I get to the top of the climb. Turn around. And I get to run down the entire hill. During that time, there are moments of peaceful bliss that remind me I should keep doing this. It may take 6-8 weeks before it starts to feel easy. I remember this. But I keep on doing it, knowing every bad workout will pave the way to many future ecstatic ones.

The photo shows me running at Big Basin State Park. The Bay Area has so many fantastic trails! Time to start exploring!