Walk This Way

With my new job, I'm commuting from San Diego to Los Angeles more frequently.  The only sensible way to do that is via the train.  Something about being from the East Coast makes me love public transportation.  Even when I lived in car-centric Texas, I rode the train from Dallas to my job in Fort Worth.

After I disembark from the train, I have to walk about a mile in my business shoes.  (Usually with that annoying Sheena Easton Morning Train song stuck in my head.) I could take a second pair of shoes, but it seems like such a hassle.  Instead, I bought myself some nice wedges and I do the walk in those.  I've always assumed wedges weren't very comfy.  When we were kids, my grandmother bought my sister an extremely heavy pair of wedge shoes.  After of day of those shoes weighing down her legs she came home and solemnly told my mom she had polio.  I'm not sure how my sister picked polio, but my mom still laughs that my sister said that.

All that back story to say, yesterday I was walking to the train and tripped in my supposedly-comfortable wedge shoe.  I twisted my ankle something fierce.

Damn.  No running for me this weekend.

My Secret (Stupid) Plan

Last week, I got this idea. What if I ran 18 miles last Saturday and 21 miles this Saturday. Then I'd upgrade from the half marathon to the full marathon in Las Vegas in December. Neat!

Admittedly, last Saturday wasn't the ideal time for an extra long run. We had house guests for the weekend and Saturday afternoon we were hosting a barbecue at our place. I had all the major pre-party work completed and Steve stepped up to do all the day-of-party details. While I headed out for a run, Steve, his brother and his cousin spent the morning setting up tables and chairs on the patio and picking up food and ice.

Of course, I didn't mention the "Upgrade to Full Marathon" plan to Steve. We've both done the full marathon. He knows, and I know, that I wouldn't be well prepared with just one 18 mile and one 21 mile run. I'd be prepared, but not well prepared. With the consistency of my training base, I could probably do a (very ouchy) full marathon today.

During my run on Saturday at about mile 11, it finally hit me. This is not the way I want to run races. It's not enough for me to just finish; I want to run strong. Yes, I could do the full marathon. It would not be fun and I wouldn't run well, but I could do it.

And that was the end of the "Upgrade to Full Marathon" plan. I ran 16 miles and went home to a fabulous family and a yummy barbecue.

Someone Who Gets Me!

Frazz explains why lots of us feel compelled to do endurance events.

So This Is Off Season

My Century Ride is 6 months from now.  Vineman Triathlon 8 is months from now.  The ultramarathon is 12 months away. I have a half marathon in a few weeks, but that's at my current training level.  This is the first time in three years I haven't had a big event looming in my immediate future. To my great shock, I'm having an off-season.  I've never had an off-season.  I'm sort of at a loss.

I'm trying to figure out a training schedule.  Oh, and I changed jobs so my entire life schedule has changed too.  I'm just trying to figure it out.  Right now, here's the plan.

Monday: Double Spin Class
Tuesday: Swim
Wednesday: Track run
Thursday: Conditioning
Saturday: Long run

It's lots of new stuff. I've never done track training, but everyone tells me it'll make me much faster. My adventures in spin class have been few and far between, but two hours of high calorie burn can't hurt me.

Off season.  It's harder than I expected.

I'm In!

Registration for the Vineman Half Ironman opened last night at midnight. I stayed up way past my bedtime to make sure I could get a spot in the race. I'm registered! I'm in! I'm going to do a half Iron Man.

Here's the funny part. As I got into bed, Steve asked if I was registered. I giddily told him yes, I was. And then I asked, "Hey, should I register you too?" After some discussion, he decided he'd register too. Steve's reserving the right to pull out by the March deadline. His training goals for next year were focused on endurance cycling. He'll need to see how triathlon training fits into the mix, but if he decides to go for it, he's got a spot in the race.

I'm in! And I've got a training buddy!