Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Forty Miles of Fun

We had the best ride today, it was a beautiful sunny (unfortunately windy) warmish day. After a slow run yesterday it felt great to jump on my bike and go fast!Cory’s bike all ready to go, I have nicknamed it princess because he is so nice to it 🙂
We started out at Frog Hollow Park (how cute is that name) and headed south on the Platte River trail for 20 miles and turned around at Chatfield reservoir.
Turn around point. Everything is so brown here, I miss green mossy Oregon. I know that riding in the rain isn’t fun but moving from the rain forest to the desert is difficult.

All in all it was a great and productive weekend, hope you all had a good one!

20 miles at Bear Creek Lake

Yesterday Cory and I were set on running our 20 miler on the Highline Canal Trail. We like this trail, it’s fairly flat and has a soft surface.

Highline Canal from our 18 mile run
I was dreading running 20 there mainly because we have ran so much on it. So last minute we decided to go to Bear Creek Lake Park and run loops.Trying to pretend that I feel strong before starting out.
There are many different path’s to run. On our first loops was just a bit under 5 miles everything felt pretty good and we stopped at the car for Gatorade and a bathroom break.The second and third loop we ran the opposite direction and ran a slightly different way. By the end of the second loop I had pretty bad blister pain so stopped at the car for a band-aid and a change of socks. At the second car stop I ate a few potato chips, I couldn’t help it, they looked so good and salty. I felt fine after eating them so I am happy to know that I can stomach solid foods on long runs. We shared the trails with many horses and mountain bikers.
I was feeling pretty good until mile about mile 14 when my hips and knees started to hurt.

My legs continued to hurt until we got back to the car at mile 16. We headed out for a 2 mile out and back and amazingly my legs stopped hurting, admittedly I was running pretty slow at this point. We got back to our car at 20 miles exactly. We had planned on taking a natural ice bath in the creek but we were running late so we just took the time to soak our aching feet before rushing home. Sometimes I forget how much harder it is to run on trails than flat paths.

I feel really good about having 20 miles under my belt and hope things don’t fall apart on race day, I am a bit nervous that the marathon is on all pavement.

The worst thing about the run was being rushed afterward. We had plans in the evening and had to rush home and get ready without our normal ice bath rituals. Obviously I am more sore today then I would like because of this. We had planned a 45 mile bike ride today, but it may drop down to 40 miles because of our sore legs and losing an hour. Happy Sunday!

New Tri Kit

I just put in my order for my Rocky Mountain Tri Club race kit. I can’t wait to get it and race in it this year! Cory got one too so we will look extra tri-dorky together but we are dorks so that’s ok.Women’s tri top

The picture is of the men’s shorts, the women’s look the same but are shorter with a five and a half inch inseam.

I also got a club swim suit, it says RMTC on the butt, nothing like strategic placement for advertisements.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday night. Mine consists of grocery shopping (to get a jump on weekend chores), carb loading for my 20 miler tomorrow and planning the rest of our weekends activities (including a 45 mile bike ride, and watching a rugby game).

Big Decisions

A few weeks ago I asked for advice about whether I should do an ironman this year or not. Almost everyone said do it. I have finally made my decision that I will do an Ironman and I have decided that my first one will be Iornman Coeur d’Alene………2012.

I am sad that I won’t be training for a full this year but after weighing my options I feel that June 2012 will be the best time to become an ironman. Some of the main reasons are that we want to landscape our front and back yard this year and if we are training for a full we won’t have the time, money or energy to landscape. We also want to focus on trail running and completing a few 50k trail races this summer. I like the idea of an early season ironman next year as well so we can continue trail running next year and possibly riding our IM fitness through a 50 miler???

With that decided we have added to our spring/summer race line up. The next race will be the Spring Boulder Half Marathon.
I love the design! We have also added at least one 50k, Cory has agreed to run the Devil Mountain trail race on October 1st. I am still trying to talk him into the North Fork 50k in July. It is only a few weeks after our half ironman but I think we can pull it off.

I have no idea how to train for ultramarathons, especially hilly trail races. But I love the idea of spending hot summer days up in the mountains running for hours out in the wilderness.

So our training marches for our first full marathon and half ironman:
Monday: 13.1 mile run
Tuesday: am 60 minute bike (on trainer) pm 6 mile run (1 mile warm-up and cool down with 8 by 400 at 85% max with 400 recovery)
Wednesday: am 1900 swim (300 WU, 6×50 drills, 8×100 main set, 6×50 drills, 200 CD), pm yoga
Thursday: 90 min spin class straight to a 3 mile run
Friday: 6 mile tempo run with an easy 1600 m easy swim
Saturday: 20 mile run (YIKES)
Sunday: 45 mile flat bike ride

Another big decision I have made lately is to give up eating meat. I should qualify that I do still eat some fish infrequently, there is debate on if fish is meat or not. For me it’s not about the definition but about what feels authentic for me. When I would eat land based animals I would just ignore that it was an animal, but when I saw a pig, cow, bison, turkey, etc. I would feel so bad that they were dying so that I could eat. I would not go look a cow in the eye and decide to eat it so I feel I should not eat a hamburger. I would however grab a fishing pole, catch a fish, cook it and eat it, so eating fish/sea food feels authentic for me. I want to finish by saying that I don’t judge anyone for their dietary choices, I just couldn’t ignore that my eating habits were not inline with my values.

Have you made any big decisions in your life recently? Happy Thursday everyone!

Bad Blogger

I have been a bad blogger, it’s been so long since I have posted AND I haven’t been reading other people’s blogs either.I have been working, training, eating and sleeping…and that is it. We are down seven people at work so everyone has been working like crazy. We are getting ready to hire for our open positions but I am committed to being more balanced because working 60+ hour weeks and having no me time is draining me. So to jump back into posting I will start with something easy and fun….the ABCs!

A~Age: 30

B~ Bed Size: Queen

C~Chore you hate: Dishes

D~Dogs: three! Daisy-Chihuahua, Winston-Pug, Bailey-Boxer
*the Golden Retriever is Colby my brother’s very sweet dog

E~Essential Start your Day Item: COFFEE!

F~Favorite Color: hard to choose but green, purple and yellow are top picks

G~Gold or Silver: lately it’s been rose gold

H~Height: 5’7.5″

I~Instruments you play: None now but I used to play the piano and the flute

J~Job Title: Manager of Youth and Teacher Programs

K~Kids: Not sure yet, check back in a few years…clock is ticking

L~Live: Colorado

M~Mom’s Name: Cathy

N~Nicknames: Bethy

O~Overnight Hospital Stays: Never, I am very lucky.

P~Pet Peeve: Rude people

Q~Quote from a Movie: Hey, I’ll tell you what. You can get a good look at a butcher’s ass by sticking your head up there. But, wouldn’t you rather to take his word for it? Tommy Boy

R~Right or Left Handed: Right

S~Siblings: Older brother, Erik

T~Time you wake up: 4:10 on weekdays, 6-7am (no alarm) on weekends

U~Underwear: Important but should not be visible.

V~Vegetable you Dislike: Cauliflower, it smells like farts to me

W~What Makes You Late: Other people mainly I HATE being late.

X~X-rays You’ve had Done: Too many to count, my doctos joke that I will glow in the dark.

Y~Yummy Food you Make: Cupcakes.

Z~Zoo Animal Favorite: So hard to pick, I work in a zoo and love all animals. It is my life’s passion to work on conservation projects and educate people about conserving our environment and the animals that share the world with us. I am so lucky that my job allows me to do this. This is a long winded answer so I will end by saying I have a soft spot for African Lions.

Stomach Cramps

For the last few evenings I have had stomach cramps, I talked it over with Cory and we ruled out lady issues, food related discomfort and exercise related soreness. Last night Cory suggested that a lack of electrolytes might be causing my discomfort so we stopped and picked up some gatorade. After drinking half a bottle I was feeling much better and within a half and hour my cramps were completely gone. I didn’t think I had been working out that hard this week so I was relying on just water and not taking in any nutrition with electrolytes. But on reflection all of my workouts have been at least 90 minutes in a warm gym. Lesson learned, I need to be taking in electrolytes even during the week for my short workouts.

Have you ever had these issues? I have heard of people taking salt tabs but I don’t know much about it, I have relied on gatorade so far. Today I am branching out and trying nuun on my 50 mile bike ride.

nuun ready to goWinston wants to try it too
I will let you know how I like it. Happy Saturday =)

Bloggy Recipes

Last week Aimee from I Tri To Be Me posted a yummy looking recipe for Vegetarian Korma. My hubby loves Indian food so I decided to give it a try, to see the recipe check out her post here. It turned out great, we both loved it and will definitively add it to our regular rotation. I made mine with sweet potatoes and quinoa, we both agreed it would be better with rice. Cory also made fresh naan, which was really good.To continue the trend I want to share Cory’s recipe for whole wheat pizza with fig, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette reduction.
You can putt any topping you want on the crust but this is a fun new one for us. You do need a sourdough starter to make this crust

Crust Ingredients

  • 230 g (1 Cup) sourdough starter
  • 100 g (~1 Cup) whole wheat flour
  • 12 g (1 tbls) vital wheat gluten
  • 2 Tbls purified water
  • 1 Tbls olive oil
  • 1/2 Tsp salt
  • 1 Tbls dried oregano
  • 5 Cloves or garlic minced coarsely

Crust Directions

  1. Feed starter and set out on counter the night before.
  2. Mix together all the ingredients and knead for about ten minutes.
  3. Spray a medium sized bowl with oil and flour and allow dough to double in size, about two hours.
  4. When dough has risen, preheat oven to its hottest temperature. While the oven is heating, roll out dough on floured counter. Place desired toppings on pizza.
  5. Once oven is hot, use a pizza peel to place the pizza on hot stone and cook until crust is cooked completely and cheese is melted, about ten minutes.

Reduction Ingredients

  • 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup dried figs

Reduction Directions

  1. In heavy non-reactive (stainless steal or enameled cast iron) sauce pan over low heat cook figs and vinegar until liquid is halved. making sure to ventilate well. Stir frequently and make sure to not let the liquid boil.
  2. Carefully puree figs and vinegar with immersion mixer.
  3. Allow to cool.

** For toppings we used the Reduction as sauce and added about a 1/4 cup of blue cheese and walnuts.

Snowman Stampede Race Report

Yesterday I ran the Snowman Stampede 10 mile race in Littleton Colorado. This was the third part of the Winter Distance Series, that consisted of three races one in December, January and February. For each race you can choose between two different lengths. The December race has a 5k and 10k, January has a 5mi and 10mi and February has a 5mi and 10mi option as well.

I like this series, it keeps me racing during the “off” months and a lengths I don’t race a lot. You can run the races individually (last year I only ran Snowman Stampede) or save money by singing up for all three. If you sign up for the series you can choose from the short (5k, 5mi,5mi) mid (5k, 5mi, 10mi) or long lengths (10k, 10mi, 10mi). I ran the mid distance because I liked that the length changed each time. The races all run along the Platte River Trail south of Denver, for the shorter races this was fine because they started early and weren’t on the trail for very long. For the 10 mile race it became an issue. Because the races didn’t start until 10am and were on the trail for much longer cyclist and other trail users were on the trail as well. This became a problem when poor cyclist were trying to pass the hundreds of runners and calling to pass on the left but the runners either couldn’t hear because of their headphones or just wouldn’t move over. I think one of the most popular bike paths in Denver might not be the best choice for a race especially on a warm, sunny day in February.

It was a beautiful day and I had a good(ish) race. My legs were not completely fresh still after our 16 miler on Monday and the last few milers were definitely slowed by the quarter sized blister on the bottom of my foot (want to see pictures, I seriously took some). I am ok with my time of 1:35:56 with an average of 9:35 minute miles. Cory did GREAT with a time of 1:14:something and a 7:24 minute mile (how did he get SO fast)

Even though I am not super happy about my time I did go back to see what I ran the 5 mile portion of this race in last year and found that my pace this year for a 10 mile was faster than last years 5 mile pace (9:42 mm) so I am getting faster and I am happy about that.

The swag for these races isn’t spectacular, for the first two races we received cotton t-shirts but for the last one we got a cute tech shirt. Overall I think these races are well ran and nice to do in the winter months.

Pure Bliss

I have today off from work and it is pure bliss! Monday is a work holiday but I will be working so I am taking today off instead and it is so nice. I plan on catching up on some blogs that I love and haven’t had time for, doing some laundry and continuing to listen to Born To Run (I downloaded it from the public library, yay for free audio books!)
I am really enjoying this book, in graduate school I took a human evolution class, and while we didn’t learn about the evolution of running I can see the argument that we are meant to be running people. Have you read this book? If not I highly recommend it, be aware that it does delve into human evolution and I know that is a controversial issue.

Have you ever heard of eating chia seeds, (you know, like cha-cha-cha-Chia!)** consuming Britney Chia is not recommended.

Eating Chia seeds was mentioned in the book and I am now really interested in them as a nutrition source. I haven’t heard of anyone consuming them but I hope to get some this weekend and do some research on how to prepare them, maybe in a green monster?

I have a 10 mile race tomorrow so no structured workout today other than a walk with my dogs when my hubby gets home from work.

Happy blissful Friday everyone!

Boston Changes

I read a lot of blogs of fast runners, of runners who have or will qualify for the Boston Marathon (EMZ, Shut Up and Run, Skinny Runner, Run With Jill, Hungry Runnner Girl, Amanda from Runninghood, Etc.). I am a slow runner, I don’t think I will ever be fast although I am getting faster. I am running my first marathon this May and my main goal is to finish in less than 5 hours (my not so super secret goal is to finish around 4:20, I have been running my long runs at an average of 10:40 ish) So when I saw this article saying that Boston was lowering their qualifying times I was only slightly interested. Sure I would like to qualify for Boston one day but it’s just not on my radar. I did look up my qualifying time 3:35 ( that means around 8:12 mm), I could pull that off for a 5k but not a marathon. Bottom line is that for me 5 minutes isn’t going to stop me from qualifying, more like an hour will. But for those who it does effect, what do you think? Did you think BQing was too easy, or are your chances now shot?

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