Getting ready for my trip!

(Monday, 23 February)
Looking over my logs for the last few weeks, I decided that I probably could use a day off to regroup. So, I did fun stuff with my mom, who's visiting for a few days.

(Tuesday, 24 February)
Same deal today... I actually meant to do a run but just didn't get around to it. No biggie! I did see the last men's basketball game of the season, which was surprising because it seemed like the season just started.

(Wednesday, 25 February)
JStan is in town visiting for grad school, so that was totally sweet. I ran by myself on the grass a bit (did about 10 minutes barefoot, as well as some drills like me and Peter were talking about on my trip last week). Then Jessica and I did Lacy the long way, which was really pleasant just to chat and hang out. When we lifted I got to feel proud that I was lifting with her, because she is so freaking strong. I mean she is like wild-animal buff. Amazing.

(Thursday, 26 February)
I ran with Clara on the track. I pulled a Susan where I just told her what each interval was as we were about to do it, and that how long the workout went on depended on how fast she was running, so not to worry about conserving anything. At Mark's suggestion, I gave her plenty of rest (jog a lap and then walk a little bit until her HR got down). I tried to stress the mental aspect - visualizing what you were going to do, and also that it's important to practice feeling confident and positive throughout the entire workout, because you need that practice as reinforcement for racing. Here's what we did:

(note mostly negative splits, this was on purpose.)
1500: 1.44, 3.02 (I missed this one, so this is the middle 700), 1.34 = 6.21
1200: 1.40, 1.41, 1.35 = 4.56
1000: 48, 1.35, 1.33 = 3.56
600: 45, 1.27 = 2.12

So, in hindsight, it wasn't a super long workout (4.3k) but I think the quality was good and consistent, so hopefully I gave her a confidence boost without destroying her legs! I think she felt good about it and I talked with Scott afterward and he seemed really pleased.

Also, I brought the cowbell and I had Bob ring it every time we were going into a last lap on an interval. It was awesome. Afterward he asked me if I'd ever thought about going into coaching because he thought I was good at it!

(Friday, 27 February)
Today I got tons of hip new clothes because Susan's cleaning out her closet... yes! After rummaging through her stuff, I drove to the RB and did the trail there - otter pop and then down the arroyo for a bit. When I came back I did some stuff on the grass, and then some drills and a few strides like Peter and I talked about. His method: accelerate up to top speed, run ~10 steps at top speed/intensity, then practice relaxing to maintain that velocity as long as possible without putting in any more energy. It's supposed to help with efficiency. I liked it!

(Saturday, 29 February)
Epic ride day. I'm starting to think about how much I'm going to miss my bike while I'm gone, so I thought I should put in some miles before I hit the road. I left relatively early and then rode up 39/EF/GMR/GRR to Baldy Village. I had spent the ride getting up the courage to make an attempt at the ski lifts, so when I got there I decided to just roll through without thinking about it too much. It was a really strange experience to have so much snow on the ground, but have it be pretty warm! I was very, very grateful for my lower gears on the Waterford than the previous ascent on Jamaal (36/27?) with Megumi back in '07 (it feels like yesterday!).

Anyways, that extra low gear meant I could keep my HR down below 190 (it was upper 180s) on the switchbacks, so I was happy, and I didn't have to take breaks like last time. Actually, I made it all the way to the top without stopping! (48 minutes from the post office). I just concentrated on staying calm, relaxed, and going as slow as I possibly could. The last 1200 or so from where it gets really steep was quite difficult, especially because some guys in the snow yelled at me that it was a lot farther and then laughed. I must have looked pretty bad. I was wheezing a little bit at the top, and my HR was 198. I had some peanut butter cups and then went down to watch the Rossi Relays. The descent was a lot better than before too, me thinks my bike handling skills are better now. Gmap-pedometer said this was only 65 miles, but I'm rounding up to 70 because I think it was a 70 mile effort. :) There was also about 7k ft of climbing.... 5:30 from my place to the CMS track.

I also had a close call with a coyote that was in the road on East Fork - but I scared him off by yipping really loud. It worked perfectly.

(Sunday, 1 March)
Ran easy around the hood on my new shoes. They felt pretty normal, I didn't notice that they were lighter necessarily, but most of my feelings were dominated by my queasy stomach and general crappy feeling. It was worth it for a fun night with my Gina and Sairyann last night! I can't wait for us to go to Thailand together!