Week 7: Put on Your Red Shoes and Dance the Blues

Happy Valentine’s Week everyone!! I hope you all took the chance to spread the love to the important people in your life, and also took care of yourself with a sweaty workout, a healthy home-cooked meal, yoga class, a cheesy movie, some decadent dessert, out with friends, or whatever makes you happy. It’s easy to loathe and worry on “single’s awareness day” but that’s like a rocking chair — it gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you very far! So love yourself and love everyone around you. I personally went for a sweaty run then put my red heels on and went dancing to an 80s cover band called Tainted Love (hence the title of this blog “put on your red shoes and dance the blues”) with Sabine for her birthday. So fun! ❤

Valentine’s “Mystery” Run

On Sunday morning I joined the Golden Gate Triathlon Club (GGTC) for a fun 7 mile trail run starting at a new ice cream store in Mill Valley called Honeymoon (owned by a GGTC member!) and continuing up Mt Tam and back. It was such a fun morning! Basically, along the way our coaches would provide us clues to help us figure out what famous character we were. If you guessed right at the end of the run you get 1 raffle ticket. If you find your “match” (e.g. the Mickey to your Minney) then you get another raffle ticket! My clues were 1) you’re a female, 2) you debuted in 1989, 3) you have blue hair and 4) your husband has a yellow head (or something like that). Marge Simpson!!! Luckily I was running with Mark most of the way and he had very similar clues. So we were Marge and Homer Simpson. Boom, 2 raffle tickets!!

I didn’t win anything but it was a really fun way to get a sweaty workout in and meet other people in the club. Also awesome to see Tim, Suzy and their growing family in their new Mill Valley ‘hood. And also Nick and Oliver at Cafe del Soul!

After the run I went to my favorite Cafe Del Soul for a quinoa, tofu and veggie dish. So good!! Keeping with the theme, they made my dish with love 🙂

Valentine’s Night Run – I Heart SF

After work on Valentine’s Day I decided to do some heart-pounding hill repeats. Oh boy, if you ever want some good hill training, come to Potrero Hill between 17th and 23rd Streets and go up and down Rhode Island and De Haro as many times as you can. It’s a beast of a workout. But the best part? Sweeping views of the city. I love San Francisco and this was one of those pinch me moments where I realized how lucky I am to live in such a diverse, lively, and gorgeous city. Come on over to Potrero sometime for hill repeats, k!?

Starting to Love the Pool!

Hooray! I swam THREE times this week!! That’s more than I’ve done since last July. It may not seem like a massive feat, but for me it is. And 3x/week is something I hope to continue throughout the season. Swimming is by far my weakest sport but I know that consistency is key. But I also know that slogging through thousands of yards using horrible technique is also a bad idea. So my goal right now is just to work on form. Speed and distance will come later. Thanks to my fab TNT coaches for helping me out on this!

Wednesday Track = Happy, Sweaty Family ❤

I love the feeling of sprinting around a track and really pushing your max. It’s pretty awesome knowing you’re getting faster and stronger. But what I love especially about Wednesday night track at Kezar Stadium is seeing so many friends and former teammates. There are several groups that meet there and I’ve had experiences with almost all of the groups. There’s Joe Whelan’s group which is so fun and always concludes with a beer at the pub, there’s the TNT Lavaman team which is full of camaraderie and Jane Fonda’s, there’s GGTC with Duane/Dorette who I will be working with after Wildflower, and then my current team, Summer TNT Wildflower, which is full of whistles and wall sits. Does having a connection with all of these groups mean I have commitment issues? Oh god. Not going there.

On Wednesday we also did a VDOT test which is a number representing the amount of oxygen you consume during a minute of running. After a 2K run around the track, it was determined using some fancy calculations that my VDOT score is 36. Then I look on an even fancier chart to determine which paces I should be running at for various distances. That way you’re using your running time in the most effective way and varying your speed. If you run too fast too often you’ll likely set yourself up for injury (bad news). Here’s a chart in case you’re interested: VDOT Chart

I had a kale smoothie that morning. Yummmmm…

Swim. Bike. Eat. Drink.

Our Coached workout on Saturday was an hour swim plus a very hilly 21 mile bike ride in the East Bay.

We did about 2000 yards of drills in the pool to start. I’m still trying to work on keeping my hips up and rotating my body. I also need to keep working on kicking from my hips (not my knees) and blowing out all the air when my face is in the water.

As for the bike, it felt sooooo good to be back in the saddle. I love cycling outside! I haven’t been on my bike way too long because of the rain and I was so happy to be out there on Saturday. I biked most of the 21 miles with Jason, another Wildflower Long Course athlete. He also had to give a big best man speech that night — hope it went well, Jason! We did a route known as “Pig Farm”. We were definitely out in farmland and saw cows and even an ostrich. It was a pretty challenging ride especially after having just spent an hour in the pool. But these multi-sport days are really important for tri training to get us ready for race day.

That night a group of us went out for drinks on Polk. Definitely fun to get to know people on the team a little better; it’s a great group. Thanks for organizing, Travis!

This Week’s Training Log

Sunday the 16th. Run. 6.6 miles with GGTC at Mt Tam with 951 ft of vertical climb.

Saturday the 15th. Bike. 21.4 miles. 1 hour 37 minute. Pig Farm in East Bay. Hilly.

Saturday the 15th. Swim. 1,975 yards. 1 hour.

Friday the 14th. Run. Valentine’s day hill repeats. 2 miles with 646ft of elevation gain.

Thursday the 13th. Swim. 1500 yards. 43 minutes.

Wednesday the 12th (morning). Crossfit. 120 wall balls, 240 double unders, 30 snatches.

Wednesday the 12th (evening). Run. Track workout at Kezar. 4.8 miles.

Tuesday the 11th. Swim. 1025 yards. Kicking, pull buoy and 15′ continuous.

Monday the 10th. Run. 6.0 miles around Redwood Shores. 52 minutes. 8:41/mile.

Thanks everyone. Swim. Bike. Run. Love. Eat Plants.