Run workout and Playlist

Posted on by Sandy

Ran today with H. It was 10 minute warmup, then run 8 minutes, walk 2, for an hour (then warm down). Also Strength workout (same as before)

H said he didn’t mind if I ran in my headset, which he knows helps me gut it out. I hadn’t set up a Playlist though, so the Playlist was just chronologically backward, the last songs I downloaded, which were:

The Time Of My Life, David Cook (courtesy of Erin at TriNReality)
Whatcha Say, Jason Derulo
Pursuit, Ka/Cirque de Soleil
When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Great Big Sea
Move, Shake, Drop Remix, DJ Laz, Flo Rida & Casely
Ice Cream Paint Job, Dorrough
Scar That Never Heals, Jeremy Fisher
My Sharona, The Knack
Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out, Mayer Hawthorne
Pony, Far
Everything You Want, Vertical Horizon
Rise Up, Diane Birch
Love Shack, The B-52s
I and Love and You, The Avett Brothers (Pole Danced to this last week. GREAT song for it.)
Everybody Knows, Elizabeth and the Catapult
She’s Got The (Who-Hoo), Sugar Ray

My learning from that? At LEAST pick a song and put the “Genius” on the iPod. Not a very motivating set, and way too eclectic. But it was nice to run with H – reminds me of when we were training for the Big Sur Marathon. That also started with him laughing at my shuffling and walking next to me. But I finished, and so did he. I just wish he wouldn’t laugh so hard…Have written to Simon (the running coach) and my Mentor about the fact that I feel like CRAP for the first 30 minutes, then at about 40, I feel FINE. My BPM is right in there about the same (in the 142-155 range, which is a bit high but not awful like it was last week) – but at 40 minutes I suddenly feel cheery, my pace picked up (H was actually jogging, not walking fast next to me), I could talk, etc. Something’s up. I will let you know what Simon Says!

Off to pack for a jaunt into the Foothills…or Calistoga…or Clear Lake…or somewhere. We’re bringing the bikes – H cleaned up his road bike last night. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Rest Day but if H wants to bike with me, I am willing. I’ll just trade it out sometime else. Hopefully we can be home soon enough to swim on Tuesday night – otherwise I will just shuffle stuff around I guess.

Dear Coach Helen…

Posted on by Sandy

DSCF6180

[this is a note I just sent to Coach Helen, cc’ing, of course, Head Coach Dave. With respect to what I just blogged about – the fact Coach Dave said I had to have “stiffer shoes.”]

Dear Coach Helen:

As you know I want to be sure I do well on the Ironman, and I was concerned today during the bike. You know I’m already afraid of clipless pedals, but then I was afraid I had the wrong bendy shoes and didn’t want to let Coach Dave down. He really cares a lot about the team and wants the best for us.

Do you think these shoes would work better? I know they are a lot less flexible and I am just not sure. You are the expert.

Warmest,
Sandy (“Shep”) Shepard

DSCF6179DSCF6181

DSCF6182


Bike Training, Swim, Iron University

Posted on by Sandy

with bike galsToday was another coached workout – we did bike drills, a LOT of swimming, and then learned more about the bike. It was at Redwood High, where I went to high school. W-O-W, the school is beyond gorgeous now. Landscaping, HUGE pool, the works. W-O-W.

fixing trainerFirst we did drills on a “trainer.” The last time I had a “bike trainer” was 20 years ago – and it was basically a flywheel on a stand. The funniest part is that I only gave that thing to charity about a year ago. I dragged it around all this time – now here I am needing a trainer again! Coach Mike is going to loan me one of the fancy-schmancy ones – the photo on the right is Coach Mike and Coach Tony from LLS putting the trainer together.

In our bike training (that’s me, far left in the photo above), we did things like how to pick a dropped chain up while still riding, cornering drills, stopping on a dime, and the like. I did OK with this. I do still have good bike handling drills from the years doing traithlons in the past. OK, and I will totally admit, the new women’s bike shorts are AWESOME. Coach Dave was right. You gotta have’em. I purchased a swim parka on eBay, and the guy found out I was TNT and threw in the bike shorts, and even a TNT bike jersey (from ’98). Thank you, Henry! You rock!

I had something happen though that I’m going to put in another post. I’m the only person on the team who is not using clipless pedals – they freak me out because I had an accident in them. (You can see my very sexy “tuck pants into sock” combo in the above photo.) The head coach, Dave, told me today that I really had to find another shoe then besides the running shoes I was using – because their sole wasn’t really stiff enough. I mentioned to one of the other Coaches, Helen, that I wondered whether my pole dancing shoes would fit the bill as I didn’t have anything else but the running shoes, flip flops, loafers, and pole shoes. She thought that’d be perfect.

So I’m going to post those pictures next.

Next, we got changed for our swim workout. When I was at Redwood, there was a “regular” pool, about 5 lanes I think, and then a diving pool. They’ve converted the entire area, and now it’s one big pool with like 20 lanes. It’s a SHOCK. It also has bathrooms on the inside of the pool, and some hot showers outside. No more having to run from the locker room out to the pool, in complete view from the parking lot. 🙂

I was going to post the swim workout here, but the one on Training Peaks doesn’t match what we did. We did a lot of drills; we wound up covering (if at least the mileage in Training Peaks is correct) 2350 yards. The drills included “closed fist” swimming (which I actually rather liked) and the ‘counting your strokes’ exercise from last week. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Now granted, I’m not kicking, but my strokes were like 25 (counting both left and right hand) for a length of the pool. Other folks are at like 14, 15. I don’t get it. Left shoulder still hurts as well – I think it’s an overuse injury from pole dancing which just sucks. I haven’t really done that much in class for months – and it’s still not 100%. We were in the pool for about an hour and a half.

hydratingOK yeah, I know, how sexy is this photo – me drinking swamp water (a/k/a InnerLight AlkaBlast, Prime pH and Super Greens combo, suggested by Coach Stu Mittleman) with my sunglasses on and my goggles on the top of my head!

I worked out a little too hard I think – I felt actually sick at the end of the workout (as in throwing up sick). I even tried to keep hydrated during the swim, taking sips between the exercises. I did not actually throw up, but close. I think because I am SO out of shape, I need to really start doing some sort of food replacement, supplement, what-have-you sooner than perhaps other folks. I also need to hydrate more on the bike, “even if you’re ‘just’ on a trainer,” as Coach Doug reminded us.

Had fun today! The team is so great. Every one of them. AND I found out I get Coach Margaret from Napa as my Mentor! I am STOKED. I REALLY like her. She’s just one of those people that you meet, you know, you instantly like them? That’s how it was when I met her at the Kickoff in Berkeley, in fact. She’s a little older (not as old as I am though I don’t think, but still, not 24), and is a real hard-core athlete in a nice way. She’s doing Ironman British Columbia. She’s the sort of person that I aspire to be!

Swim Day (with Playlist) and Run Day

Posted on by Sandy

OK I really should have taken photos. Next time. I am SURE there will be MANY “next times”! Just picture here a drowned rat grrl from running, and a swim workout with a flashlight on it!

I did the swim workout at about 7:00 p.m. yesterday, because I had a meeting from 3:00 to 6:00 that wound up being WORTHLESS. I was not happy – I got very ‘bouncy legged’ about it but didn’t want to leave and be rude. It was up in Petaluma, so I had gone all the way up from San Rafael…not so happy. I had brought my swim stuff though, and so H and I met at the JCC. He did his standard cardio/crosstrainer and some weights, I did the swim. Under the stars! That’s the photo I wish I’d taken – my training page, in the ziplock, and the flashlight, lying on the pool deck! I was just barely able to see the workout,  so didn’t need the flashlight – it was pretty funny though. I forgot how bright the pool would be with the lights inside (duh!) The pool was nice and warm, it was the running out to and coming “from” that was not so pleasant. Consoled myself with a nice Steam after!

Here is the Ze Playlist for the swim:

Cold Hearted Snake, Paula Abdul
Check On It, Destiny’s Child
Paper and Fire, John Cougar Mellencamp
Valerie, this is a mix, not sure who did it (techno-ish beat, Steve Winwood song)
She’s Ugly From The Front, Lyle Lovett
Hung Up (Live), Madonna
Torn, Natalie Imbruglia
Don’t Say You Love Me, Natalie Imbruglia
Brass In Pocket, Pretenders
Message of Love, Pretenders
Let’s Go Crazy, Prince
Controversy, Prince

And below is Ze Workout. I tried to look up on YouTube what the various drills looked like (DPS and SAR). Dave Scott has some podcasts out there, and wow, he looks the same as he did 20 years ago! It’s funny – I learned to swim and bike and run (and really “train”) from Dave Scott’s book. I never had any coaches – wish we’d had YouTube back then, I would have loved to have really “seen” what he was talking about, in motion! DPS is basically counting your strokes per length of the pool. If you can keep track of how much time a length takes you, and then how many strokes it takes you, you can figure out your strokes per minute, and all that jazz. I really wasn’t able to read all my notes by the light of the moon (smile), and so I forgot to try to keep track of the times for the laps. I’m not so good juggling it all in my head, anyway – I imagine we will do that tomorrow in our Coached Training. Be that as it may, I wound up with 14 “cycles” (e.g., counting only left arm in) per length of the pool. Very consistently. Not sure of the time it took, though.  For the SAR, there were two different ways to “stop” the arm – one was at the hip (elbow high), one was at the shoulder. The hip one was OK, the shoulder one hurt my shoulder (as did the CatchUp drills, still). So I sort of bagged it in favor of just swimming. Sedonia had said we could just swim anyway (since she hadn’t shown us the drills), so I didn’t feel that bad. Did the whole thing in 48 minutes, which doesn’t seem so bad since it says it should take 60 (and I’m not kicking). The kicking drills, which are sort of just “easy” are hard for me because I just don’t kick in the pool! It’s funny. They wipe me out!

Swim Workout:

Warmup
300 EZ
3×50 25 kick on back/25 free    RI    10″ (RI means “rest interval”)
3×50 25 Catch Up (CU)/25 free    RI    10″
3×50 25 scull/25 free    RI    10″

Pyramid:
100 Distance per Stroke (DPS)    RI    15″
200 Breathing every 3    RI    20″
300 Slow Arm Recovery (SAR)    RI    30″
200 Breathing every 3    RI    20″
100 Distance per Stroke (DPS)    RI    15″

Cool Down    100 EZ
Total                1750 – THIS IS ONLY 10 YARDS SHY OF A MILE! Whoot! Whoot!

Run Workout:

Today was a run workout. I read it wrong – it was supposed to be another run for 5 minutes, walk for 1 minute, go for 42 minutes gig. I actually thought it was run for 8, walk for 1, then couldn’t figure out how the math didn’t work out at 42 minutes (duh). I had it all set to run with Sharyn, but after my 7:00-8:30 meeting and then my 9:00-11:00 meeting, it was HOWLING with wind and rain. I texted Sharyn and said “No Can Do” and she wrote back “Oh Yes You Can” – she already was at my house, with her “foul weather gear” on. So, I did. Actually it worked out great – the rain let up when we were about 1/4 of the way done, and the wind cut down. (We did have a tiny bit of hail in there for good measure.) Again – wish I had the camera – 2 very soggy girls and a very soggy dog trotting through San Rafael. She was GREAT for me to run with, because we can chat and catch up, but also because she really will run at any speed and I don’t feel “bad” about being so slow. She’s so happy I’m back exercising again… I feel almost guilty at how relieved she is. Of course we’ve been friends since Massage School in 2002, so she really HAS seen me MUCH more fit. After being at my peak in 2006, of course I quit and took a job in the city to try to make more $ – that lasted all of about 6 months but in that time I had gained 30 lbs and all of it toxic fat, due to the stress. Then never lost it.

She keeps raiding my closet for clothes that used to fit me back then, that I don’t even have a prayer of wearing now. It’s amazing when I realize that she and I are (were) EXACTLY the same size – the clothes I keep loaning her out fit her like a glove, and I can’t even approach them. But silly to just have them hanging there. I really do plan to get back into them – though right now, I’m indulging a serious carb craving.

After a meeting with my CPA (not good at all – $ is really, really bad), my last meeting of the day was with a gal who bailed on our meeting last time – and she bailed on me AGAIN!!!! So I sat at the nice cafe and had a mocha and a bagel with cream cheese and honey AND a gingersnap cookie (fresh and warm). I know, really bad. I will cut back on this – I just feel so virtuous doing things like going out in the pouring rain that I am indulging myself in things I wouldn’t even dream of otherwise. I’m giving myself until the end of the year to Get Over It – but that’s my trade. If I do all the workouts, I can have whatever I feel like, until December 31st.

Okie dokie, have been really off the computer for 2 days now, and H wants to get away for Sunday through Tuesday. So I have to regroup and get some things done – especially as I have training starting at 0-dark-00 tomorrow with the group. At least this time it’s in Marin, so I don’t have to drive so far.

Tennessee Valley Run with Paula

Posted on by Sandy

fenceToday we were to do Strength Training (I think), and then do another Run/Walk combo for about 40 minutes (5 min/1 min). It was a “buddy run,” and Paula, another lawyer I’d met at the Kickoff, and I met at Tennessee Valley.

Paula is an old hand at this – she actually did the Lavaman Triathlon with Team in Training last season. I HAD told her that I was a VERY slow runner, and she said that was OK. She generally paces at about 9 minutes – I’m at 14-1/2.

I got there a bit early, so I did the Strength Training before she arrived. What a gorgeous day! Here are a few photos of my strength training “set up” that I thought you might enjoy.

I’m not quite sure that I am on the right “page” with some of the workout stuff. I thought that the Strength Training was supposed to be yesterday, so I did it.  Then the email that listed the Run workout said at the end “And do the Strength workout.” So I did it again. Hmmmmm. I will admit though, it was a lot more fun doing it outside, and then lying my mat on the grass to do the side bridges and stuff! I think doing it 2 days in a row is not right, though.

Paula got there after I’d finished the Strength workout, and off we went. She’s great! She actually is originally from Atlanta, and has been here for a year and a half. She and her husband are both attorneys, and he was given a good gig out here in San Francisco. She really misses Atlanta though. I had to smile, since my husband wants to invest in the Atlanta area! Such great luck – my running buddy turns out to be FROM Atlanta!

DSCF6173We ran from the parking lot, and I know she was really just “jogging” with me. We did the 5 minute/1 minute thing as best we could – we would get chatting, or I would get out of breath, and so we sort of did what we (I) could. The area is so pretty out in Tennessee Valley. We are so lucky to live in Marin! In fact, this morning I was out taking photographs for my adopted grandson Caleb’s school when I took the dog on a hike – and that really brought into focus how gorgeous our area is.

We got down to the beach, and I had Paula snap a photo of me there. There are 2 ways to go ‘down to the beach” at Tennessee Valley, the easy (flat) way, or the hard way. She asked if I wanted to do the easy way on the way out or the way back – stupidly, I picked on the way out. Oh Lord, when we got to that hill on the way back, I was really flagging! I got about 1/3 of the way up it and said I had to walk – she jogged next to me until I could catch my breath when we were back on the flats. She definitely was helping me with “Atta Girls”! Once we got over the top we ran a bit more, but I felt really out of gas. She let me walk definitely longer than a minute…I thought ( hoped?) that we were done, but NO! She said I had one more run left in me. We were already at the 40 minute mark, but we hadn’t made it back to the parking lot – so I started shufflin’ my feet again.

I saw a bench “approaching in the distance” and figured that is what I would aim for. I was not totally sure I would actually make it, but I had it as a goal. When we were probably about 50 yards away, Paula said, “How about we stop at the bench?” I must have been sending out heavy “BENCH BENCH BENCH” signals that she picked up on!

DSCF6176After the run, I actually was lucky enough to have a facial that my mom had given me as a present – what a perfect end to the day! I nearly fell into deep, snoring sleep right there on the table! I think that a day that includes a mile hill hike with the dog, an hour of strength training at pole dancing and then dancing, and then MORE Strength training and also Running is a bit much. As Coach Dave said, “More is NOT More!” I know that, though it’s hard for me to figure out how to be sure I do what I’m “supposed” to do. I can’t not walk the dog. I like going to pole class. I really liked the buddy run with Paula. I guess maybe combining the Run with the dog walk is the way to go – but then I lose the buddy part. Hmmmmm! It’s all a process!

Now, it’s like 6:30 p.m. and I’m ready for bed (smile). Ah yes, I remember what training is all about….

Strength and Bike/Cadence workout plus Playlist; Louisville Ironman link!

Posted on by Sandy

First of all – if you’d like information on what I’m going to do next year, here is the link for a TV presentation of the 2009 Louisville Ironman. This will show on Thursday. OK, maybe I shouldn’t watch, I’m already signed up!

Today, I tried a trick that Iron Mel mentioned to me when we were carpooling to the weekend workouts. She said to do the Strength Training FIRST, so as to not be completely knackered after the “main” workout. So that’s what I did. Duh! It was SO MUCH better! I will put both the Strength Workout and the Bike/Cadence Workout at the end of the post, for those who are interested, and my experiences with them. Most folks seem more interested in my Playlists, so here we go!

Playlist for Today:

When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Great Big Sea – courtesy of Erin at Tri N Reality – I LOVE THIS SONG! I put this into “Genius” and this is what I got:
Scar That Never Heals, Jeremy Fisher – this was courtesy of Kelownagurl – I love that Genius “found it next” because I love this song too
The Authority Song, John Cougar Mellencamp
Solsbury Hill (Live), Peter Gabriel – I actually was at the concert at which this was recorded, pretty cool
What I Like About You, The Romantics
Space Lord, Monster Magnet
Crazy On You (Live), Heart – I saw Heart when they came on stage and said “We have a song we wrote last night,” and it was “Barracuda” 🙂
Last Train To Clarksville, The Monkees – Guilty Pleasure Guilty Pleasure
Blaze of Glory, Jon Bon Jovi
Cryin’, Aerosmith
Free Ride, Edgar Winter
Ramblin’ Man, Allman Brothers
The Guide, Borne
We’re An American Band, Grand Funk Railroad
Zaar, Peter Gabriel (from The Last Temptation Of Christ soundtrack)
Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’, Journey
Love Me Like A Man (Live), Bonnie Raitt
The Stoke, Billy Squier
Kashmir, Led Zeppelin

Strength Training Was:

4×10 ea single leg squat: I did this off of what looked like a stool an elephant stands on (how prophetic) at the gym. Had to hold the wall.

4×10 ea split squat: Wow this is not my favorite. Had to hold onto the counter

2x standing horizontal cable row: I pretty much like this one. Feels good on my shoulders. Did this on a machine with 15 lbs.

2x overhead squat: The idea is to keep your hands @/behind your ears, & stretch out the shoulders. Could barely squat, but felt good on my arms.

4x 10 ea single leg row: This is standing on one leg, rowing with the opposite hand. Used the same cable machine, but no weight. BAD balance!

4x 10 ea single leg rotations w/touch: You’re supposed to stand on one leg and touch the opposite hand to the floor outside the opposite foot. HA HA HA. I can reach the outside of the opposite knee, and I’m still falling over and touching down for balance.

4 sets 30 secs Hamstring Bridging: This is making a “bridge” (shoulders down, butt up) – not hard. Did it for 60 secs on the last 2.

30 secs each side Side Plank: Did this on knees and elbow – didn’t feel so bad. Still not strong enough to do it on “feet” instead of knees.

45 secs Plank: Felt really strong and was on a good song, so did this for 60 secs. Ooooo-rah 🙂

Bicycle/Cadence Drills:

I did this on the stationary bike. It shows your RPMs, as well as heart rate, miles you have gone, all that jazz. Warmup for 10 minutes, instructions said “on middle-middle rings,” I did it at Level 6. Then the instructions say “stay in big ring up front shift to 3rd largest ring in back.” I figured I would put it at Level 7. Then you do a steady RPM of 80 for 5 minutes, then 85 for 5, 90 for 5, and finally 95 for 5. I did that at Level 7. Then, the instructions say “switch to the 5th from smallest in back, should be noticeably harder gear than the first set.” I put it on Level 9. It was the same drill – 80 RPM for 5 minutes, then 85 for 5, 90 for 5, and 95 for 5. By the time I had completed 85 RPM for 5 minutes at Level 9 on the bike, I was up at 190 BPM. That is SERIOUSLY stroke range. I am so far outside of the way that Stu Mittleman tells us to train (e.g., don’t pant, don’t get to the point where you have a fixed focus, etc.) that it’s ridiculous. My “range” from the tests that Stu ran is 142 on average. I haven’t hit that except speeding by it on the way up. I’m “averaging” more like 165. I think I blogged about this before – H and I figure that this has GOT to be working my heart and expanding it in a big way, but I’m WAY outside of my aerobic zone, and totally anaerobic. Not quite sure what to do there. I personally switched back down to L6, and did the 90 RPM/5 minutes and 95 RPM/5 minutes there,  then did the cool down at the same Level 6 for 10 minutes, at 80 RPM (which felt fine and right). This totaled 1 hour and 15 miles.

OK, so that’s only FIFTEEN miles. These were my gremlin thoughts on the bike:

At 33 minutes: I am SO OVER THIS. I am going to quit. No one is watching. Just get off the damned bike.

At 42 minutes: What the heck. This isn’t so bad.

At 59 minutes: GET ME OFF THIS BIKE! I AM SO DONE!

When I left the gym, I realized I had NO idea where my car was. Since I’ve been to the gym THREE DAYS IN A ROW training (!!!!), my “memory” of where I thought the car was was all out of whack. THAT cracked me up. A month ago, I would have TOTALLY been able to find my car, because “on average” I got to the gym like once a MONTH (for a nice steam…) (laugh). What a change! Guilty Pleasure, had a gigantic handmade dark chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon (and a bottle of water) on the way home. I wonder if coconut macaroons (and of course Snack Pack chocolate pudding) are Ironman fare? Hmmmmm…..

Ironman Movie, Stats/Maps for Louisiana Ironman, Remembrances from Previous Races

Posted on by Sandy

First of all, check this out

Pretty exciting, eh? Many folks who are considering sponsoring me through a tax-deductible donation on my fundraising website are curious what each of the miles “mean” for Ironman Louisville. This is the best I can find out (especially with respect to the times that you need to meet to not be “chipped” – have your ankle chip taken away and thereby be out of the race):

swim courseSWIM COURSE: “The Swim Course is a point to point swim; set in a time trial fashion (athlete position is first come first serve, one at a time).  Athletes will jump off the dock at Tumbleweed Southwest Grill to start the event, finishing at the Great Lawn. The swim course will close 2 hours, 20 minutes after the final athlete enters the water. Utilizing a unique time-trial start, the final athlete is projected to enter the water by 7:45 a.m.” So what this seems to mean is GET IN THE WATER EARLY! I can’t figure out if they will “personally” chip you if you don’t finish the swim in a certain amount of time – seems that’s not the case. But they WILL chip you if you are the last swimmer, and don’t do it in 2 hours, 20 minutes. Checkin is at 5:00 – Pros start getting in the water at 6:50, Age Groupers at 7:00. So basically they get all the Age Groupers in the water in 45 minutes. It says ARRIVE EARLY – yeah, no doubt.

bike courseBIKE: “Athletes will be required to reach the 61-mile mark on the bike course (located at the intersection of State Road 42 and KY-393) and start the second loop by 2:15 p.m. Athletes have until 6 p.m. to reach the transition area at the completion of the 112-mile course.” So again, getting in early in the swim is KEY! Obviously “Mile 61” would be a good mile to sponsor on the fundraising – as that’s one of the “if you are not here by this time, you are out” miles. OK and what the HELL is an elevation chart doing in the middle of the Bike Course Picture? I thought this was a FLAT RACE? I’ve been duped! 🙂


run courseRUN: “Athletes will be required to reach mile 14 on the run course (located on Muhammad Ali Drive just prior to the second loop) by 9:15 p.m. and complete the marathon course by midnight.” So there you go – once again, that would mean “Mile 14” would be a good mile to sponsor on fundraising as it’s a “get chipped” mile.
I know that you can’t actually read the “turn here, turn here” directions on either the Run or the Bike maps that I’m inserting – but it’s more by way of just seeing the course. This will also give you an idea of where you might want to sponsor a Mile! If you’d like more information and specifics about what is at each mile (heck, I’m a Virgo, as a Sponsor I would probably be gettin’ it down to “Yeah, the mile with the Exxon station on the corner, SHE will remember THAT”), then click here – it has all the turn-by-turn specifics.

Thanks again, Sponsors! I’m going to make up a list so that I remember each and every one of you, at your specific mile. I’m very excited about that. When I ran the Big Sur Marathon (in 2002 – my last race!), I had folks in my office make me up little “envelopes” of Accelerade/Endurox powder, and decorate the envelopes. That way when I pulled one out of my pack to pour into the water, it had decorations all over it for me to smile at. (I tore the corner off the bottom and that made a little “funnel” to get the powder into the water.) I also had folks send me little “tokens” to keep me going, also in small envelopes (different color). I asked folks to send them to me, so that I could open them along the run. I had a Canadian coin and story from a fellow marathoner in Canada that I met online; a small feather blessed by a shaman; a tiny portrait from a friend/photographer of an orchid, to bring me “Peace,” etc. It was such a wonderful experience. I just remembered it – I might just do that again!


Swim Workout & Playlist; My Favorite Comment from the Weekend

Posted on by Sandy

Today was another Swim workout, and I decided to do the “Group 2″ workout to see how it would go. That workout was:

WarmUp    300 EZ
3×50 25 kick on back/25 free    RI 10″
3×50 25 Catch Up (CU)/25 free    RI 10″
3×50 25 scull/25 free RI    10″

3x

25 kick back    RI 10″
25 side kick (SK)    RI 10″
25 3 switches (3SW)    RI 10″
25 Body Balance Roll (BBR)    RI 10”

This was supposed to take an hour – it took 40 minutes. So I threw in a 300 warmdown. Then I was up to 48 minutes. I couldn’t remember what a “scull” was or a “Body Balance Roll,” so for the scull I did sculling with my hands (feet pointed backwards, sculling by pushing my hands by my sides through the water), and for the BBR I just did more of the 3 switches. I have to look them up. The CU drill hurt my left shoulder for some reason.

LOVE my Otterbox…this was my Swim Workout Playlist:

Beautiful Day, U2

Womanizer, Britney Spears

Breakin’ Dishes, Rihanna

Standing There, The Creatures

Untouched, The Veronicas

Little Bitty Pretty One (Live), The Doobie Brothers

When I Grow Up, The Pussycat Dolls

Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu, Johnny Rivers

Reelin’ In The Years, Steely Dan (how appropriate (laugh))

China Grove, The Doobie Brothers

Little Willy, Sweet

Free Ride, Edgar Winter

Sort of eclectic, but it was fun to work out to.

And now, for my favorite comment of the past weekend. I remembered it when I was swimming and thought I should put it down here. During the Run “marker” set, I was still pretty cold, and Coach Simon was out there in shorts, standing around and not moving (and giving us our times). As I was running up to him, I said “Aren’t you cold?” I expected him to say something like, well, “No,” or “I’m okay,” or whatever. Instead he said, in all seriousness, “Oh no, I don’t shave” (motioning to his legs). For some reason, that just cracked me up and kept me going for the next couple of laps around the track, smiling. ONLY an avid marathoner dot dot dot.

Time to make dinner – I was starving after the swim workout and got 1/2 an egg salad sandwich, a 100 cal bag of Kettle Chips (not worth it – taste was bland but they were crunchy!), and a banana and a bottle of water. Gotta plan a little better.

Why We Are Doing This: Peter Warmerdam

Posted on by Sandy

2441034_1_20091112Another friend claimed by a cancer that I am running to cure: Peter Warmerdam.

On November 7th, Peter passed away suddenly after a most courageous battle with Leukemia. He will be remembered as a man of faith, integrity, and spirit, who loved his family deeply. He is survived by: his son Matthew Warmerdam and Wife Amy; daughter Amy Warmerdam; grandson Eben Traywick; son Jonathan Warmerdam and wife Paige; daughter in spirit Katherine Sullivan and family; the mother of his children Sara Bardoni and her husband David. Brothers Leo Warmerdam And Wife Patricia; Ted Warmerdam and wife Joanne. Six sisters Ann Smorrenburg Thea Van de Mortel and Husband Joe; Connie Luiten; Betty Verger and husband Burt; Ada Van Ryn; Yvonne Van Lewen and Husband Jack; and 54 Nephews And Nieces.

I did not know Peter “personally” but only through the dancing community. Let’s cure this damned thing, and leave more wonderful men for us all to cut the rug with.

This entry was posted in: Health