Best SAG Stop Ever

We're in Las Vegas for the weekend which wraps up a few weeks of travel for us. Today we met up with some other TNT alumni and decided to go for an 8 mile walk. Instead we went 11 miles, but we did have a great SAG stop with big, tasty Margaritas.

Yum.

Just Blame The Dog

There are about 6 posts that I need to write - about mentoring for TNT's Peak Performance team (which is awesome), about the trip to Tucson, and about a bunch of other stuff.

For now, I'll tell you about my new workout mat. On Monday night the TNT training session is an hour of core work. Remember when old skool aerobic classes would finish with 5 minutes of torture abs? It's like that, only much more intense and it goes for a solid hour.

To soften the workout, I treated myself to a new extra cushy workout mat. My old mat is a thin yoga mat and it doesn't really soften much. Today was my first workout on my super-cushioned mat and at first all was good. Then, depending on the exercise, when I moved around the mat made a sort of flatulent sound. Lift, poot, lift, poot. It's tough enough to do the abdominal workout without laughing at faux-farts.

I'm not sure how I'm going to explain this problem when I return it to the store tomorrow.

On The Road Again

We're driving to Tucson for Steve's bike race. Well, Steve's driving; I don't text and drive. A drive East on Interstate 8 only means one thing to me: Sonic Drive-In. I've missed you my beloved Diet Cherry Limeade made with Real Limes and Diet Cherry Syrup and Extra Cherries.

Dear Southern California Cyclists;

Hey cyclists, did you hear that there's a new metric century ride on December 6?

The ride is the Milestone Challenge and benefits San Diego endurance athlete Skip Gleavey. This summer, Skip was in cycling accident which has left him paralyzed below the waist. Proceeds from the Milestone Challenge will go to help cover his health care costs during his rehabilitation.

Skip has completed marathons, century rides and triathlons. He did those events while recovering from heart surgery and Stage 4 Lymphoma. Now he needs to conquer another challenge - life after a devastating accident.

The ride will be a typically beautiful Southern California course starting in Solana Beach and going up the Pacific coast.

Cyclists and San Diegans. It's time to do a race for one of our own.

Ride
Donate
Volunteer

Canceled

Canceled due to air quality conditions created by the wildfires. Let me share with you this nugget of the wisdom from Bull Durham.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains a wildfire sweeps through and the race gets canceled. Think about that for a while.
- Ebby Calvin LaLoosh

Stay Safe

Steve and I got to Pasadena after a pretty stressful, traffic-filled drive. I spent about a hour on the road wondering where all these people were going on a Saturday afternoon. Then I looked at the sunset and thought - hey that's smoke. Damn. Wildfires.

We made it in the nick of time to pick up my race number. Most of the fitness expo was already closed. When I picked up my number they said to check the website at 4 am. They may need to cancel the race due to poor air quality.

It would be sad to cancel the race, but it might be for the best. No one wants to have a race that's dangerous to the participants or spectators. Between the heat and the air quality, perhaps another day will be safer. When it comes right down to it - a race is relatively unimportant in comparison to the big events in life like the damage the fires can do.

Hopefully, the fires will be quickly extinguished with minimal damage and injury.

URGENT EVENT UPDATE!

We are in consultation with air-quality experts, as well as health and fire officials, to determine if last-minute adjustments to our event must be made as a result of fires burning locally. If the event must be cancelled due to poor air quality, this determination will be made at 4:00 a.m., and all persons who are signed up for our newsletter will receive a notification to this effect. We thank you for your support and patience.

Groundhog Day Race

It never changes. My race is Sunday. What makes me miserable in a race? Heat. Exactly how many races do I need to do in sweltering temperatures?

Let's read this warning from today's final pre-race newsletter email.

Pasadena Marathon

Final Pre-event Newsletter

RACE DAY TEMPERATURE ADVISORY

Unseasonably high temperatures expected for this weekend can present some Race Day dangers which we are taking very seriously, and we implore our participants to do so as well.

The forecast is for 90°F weather. In case you've missed tearing a few pages from the old calendar - it's November. The average high in Pasadena is 74°F; the record high: 90°F (1949). Yep, I'll be doing a half marathon in heat that Pasadena hasn't seen in November in 60 years.

One day I'm just going to get it over with and do a race on the surface of the sun.

Peak Performance Training Log

A brand new training log. This one is for the next 12 weeks which is my first season as a TNT mentor.

February 1 - February 7
Not my most consistent week, but a good transition week between sessions.
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Surf City Half Marathon	Surf City Half Marathon	Good race, boring course
Monday	Rest	-	-
Tuesday	Lift	-	Ankle swollen.
Wednesday	Run	-	Ankle still swollen. Rx Rest.
Thursday	Lift	30 minutes conditioning	-
Friday	Rest	30 minutes conditioning	-
Saturday	Run 5 Miles	-	-
-
January 25 - January 31
I was sick and I had a sprained ankle
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Carlsbad Half Marathon	-	Sprained my ankle
Monday	Power Hour	Rest	-
Tuesday	Rest	-	-
Wednesday	Power Hour	Sick	-
Thursday	Power Hour	Sick	-
Friday	Power Hour	Sick	-
Saturday	Rest	-	-
-
January 18 - January 24
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	RNR Phoenix	-	-
Monday	Power Hour /TNT Core	-	-
Tuesday	Power Hour /3 Miles	-	-
Wednesday	Power Hour /Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	-	-
Thursday	Power Hour /5 Miles	-	-
Friday	Power Hour	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	-	-
-
January 11 - January 17
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	Power Hour /TNT Core	-	-
Tuesday	Power Hour /3 Miles	-	-
Wednesday	Power Hour /Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	-	-
Thursday	Power Hour /5 Miles	-	-
Friday	Power Hour	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	-	-
-
January 4 - January 10
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	Power Hour /TNT Core	-	-
Tuesday	Power Hour /3 Miles	-	-
Wednesday	Power Hour /Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	-	-
Thursday	Power Hour /5 Miles	-	-
Friday	Power Hour	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	-	-
-
-
December 28 - January 3
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Vacation	-	-
Monday	Vacation	-	-
Tuesday	Vacation	-	-
Wednesday	Rest	-	-
Thursday	Rest	-	-
Friday	5 Miles	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	-	-
-
-
December 21 - December 27
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	Rest	-	-
Tuesday	Rest	-	-
Wednesday	Rest	-	-
Thursday	Rest	-	-
Friday	Rest	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	-	-
-
-
-
December 14 - December 20
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	White Rock Half Marathon	-	Plantar Fasciae are mean
Monday	TNT Core	Core	-
Tuesday	3.3 Miles	-	-
Wednesday	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	SFB Class	-
Thursday	5 Miles	-	-
Friday	Rest	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	Velocity	-
-
December 7 - December 13
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	TNT Core	Core	-
Tuesday	Rese	-	-.
Wednesday	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	SFB Class	-
Thursday	Rest	-	-
Friday	Rest	-	-
Saturday	Rest	-	-
-
-
November 30 - December 6
-
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	TNT Core	Core	Wow, my abs are crying. That inchworm thing is a killer
Tuesday	3 Miles	3.2 Miles	Laurel St. I cranked it.
Wednesday	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	SFB Class	-
Thursday	5 Miles Intervals	5.3 Miles	-
Friday	Rest	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	Velocity	-
-
-
November 23 - November 29
Not bad - especially considering we spent the weekend in Las Vegas.
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	TNT Core	TNT Core	Oh, ouch
Tuesday	Rest	-	-
Wednesday	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	Who knows 27 kinds of squats? I do.
Thursday	Rest	Rest	-
Friday	Rest	Rest	-
Saturday	6 Miles	11 Miles	Good. Jay is fast, but I tried to keep his pace.
-
-
November 16 - November 22
Canceled race. Lucky for me, because my feet were in bad shape.
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Pasadena Half	-	Canceled. Darn.
Monday	TNT Core	TNT Core	-
Tuesday	Rest	-	-
Wednesday	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	-
Thursday	Rest	-	-
Friday	Rest	-	-
Saturday	Velocity	Velocity	-
-
-
November 9 - November 15
Resting up for the Pasadena Half Marathon while starting TNT.
Day	Goal	Actual	Notes
Sunday	Rest	-	-
Monday	Pool, TNT Core	Pool, TNT Core	Wow, that was a burner of a workout
Tuesday	Ballet Barre	Ballet Barre	-
Wednesday	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	Strength, Flexibility and Balance Class	Strength, Flexibility and PULL UPS
Thursday	Swim	Rest	-
Friday	Rest	Core Class	-
Saturday	Velocity	Velocity	-
-

Updates

After a day of tests the pet emergency room vets were completely confounded by what was wrong with Toby. I took him home and he stumped us all by getting better on his own.

My bout with the croup is almost complete. Other than a lingering cough, I'm good. It's still a bummer since that cough/cold kept me pretty well out of cardio activities and I'm really worried about the half marathon this weekend. Ah, well. I guess I'll suffer on through it.

I did my first TNT Peak Performance Team workout last night. One hour - all core - all the time. That's a full hour of abdominals with only quick breaks for back. Yikes. My abadabas were screaming for mercy.

More Family Fun

I'm mostly better and now my beloved cat Toby is sick. I'm here the pet ER waiting for the blood work and x-rays.

The pet emergency room is one of the saddest, loneliest places.

Sick

I'm sick wth a hacking cough that feels like I'm tearing away one smoldering hunk of lung at a time. This sucks.

As Chris Rock says, more tussin!