Dreamcatchers and Resolutions

On Wednesday, I met with Coach Dave to talk about what we're going to work on for the next 7 months or so.  I enjoyed my time off since IMAZ.  I did not overindulge, but I ate without guilt.  I did some activity, but not much. And I did not feel guilt or angst or bad for lack of workouts.  This guilt-free 5 weeks is quite a large mental accomplishment.  For too many years to even know, I have carried guilt in one way or another every single day about skipping the gym, or eating too much, or not eating enough, or not working out long enough (or hard enough or fast enough), or not getting all my training sessions in, or not getting enough vegetables in, etc.  No matter how well I ate, or what physical activity I did, or if any pounds were lost, there was still always something to feel guilty about.  You'd think I was programmed for guilt and went to parochial school and mass every Sunday.  But I didn't (at least I don't feel guilty about that).  


My company set me up with Nicole, a career coach, last year, to help me address a similar issue at work.  We worked on how I shouldn't feel bad about things I don't want to do or am not excited about learning, even when my coworkers are.  About how I can't do everything.  About learning to say no/not now.  She taught me that it's like building a muscle and I get better and better at it, the more I practice.  I'm doing pretty well with those techniques I learned.  But, I haven't been able to apply that muscle to my personal life.  


After my session with Coach Dave, I thought about how great the last month felt from a state of mind -- To do or not to do, and not feel guilty about my choices.  What a concept.  And, I appreciate what a great guy he is for rolling with my lack of doing.  "How does your swim feel?"  "I haven't been in the water since Ironman." *smile* "OK, we'll get some pool workouts on the calendar soon." 


Two years ago, if I would ever get in a funk, I knew it was my body's way of telling me to get to the gym. All that endorphin-releasing/serotonin secreting stuff is true.  Luckily, I never got that funk this past month, but I do know my body is ready to start moving again  on a regular basis.  And after Wednesday's meeting, my head is finally ready, too.  I actually got excited to start training again.  I'm looking forward to local events like Tierra Bella, my first duathlon, and maybe the Primavera ride.  I think the reason I got excited is because Coach Dave is just so animated talking about all the events.  His energy is contagious.  


Dave works full-time, yet still finds the time to run trails, ride a mountain bikes, compete in races, and coach on the side.  He gives his time to TNT as a coach for the cross-country ski team and will also be coaching a TNT Tri team this spring.  His passion for coaching got him to finally start Dreamcatcher Fitness, in addition to all the other stuff he does.  He's done most of the local races, knows a lot of people, and has a lot of gadgets in that garage of his.  Any ailment, injury, setback you have, he can find an alternative route.  I'm glad I jumped on the opportunity to work with him for those last 3 months of training for Ironman and I look forward to his excitement, advice, and contagious energy over the next 7 months.  I can't say enough good things about him.  He also really likes bacon and thinks gluten is the devil. =) If you're looking for some individual attention and a training plan geared just to you and your schedule, he can help you meet you goals or catch your dream. (And, no, he doesn't know I'm writing this).  


So as the new year approaches and everyone starts working on resolutions (despite that you can make a resolution any day of the year), I know one of mine will be something about weaning off the guilt trips.  About being ok with what I eat or don't eat.  About appreciating that a 30 minute workout in a hotel gym is better than none at all.  About celebrating clothes that fit better even if the scale moves up.  About knowing that despite how much training I missed last year, I still put in a lot of time in the pain cave.  I did enough.  I met my goal and crossed the finish line.  And, with the help of Coach Dave, I will continue to grow, mentally and physically, and meet more goals this year.  

Girl, Interrupted

Just a brief interruption on this training blog to announce that there was a shiny present for me on Christmas Eve.  Nick asked me to marry him.  And, after some crying and hugging, I said yes.  Everyone is asking if I will be getting married in the summer, but the answer is no.  People, we have a Half Ironman to get ready for in July!!!!


I'm making a promise to you and myself that this will be my only post about wedding planning....  So for those of you that have asked questions and my answer was, "We don't know yet," then keep reading.  For everyone else, Happy Tiki might actually want to ride on the road soon, so check back for an update in a few days.


No date set, but it will be in the fall 2012.


What is the silver lining about planning a wedding when you're older?  You've been to so many of them that you know exactly what you want.  I know the Sun Devil is in the details, but after only a few hours of perusing the Internet, we've made several big decisions and know what WE want.  Of course, priority is to find a venue and set a date.  Fortunately, we have a lot of people that love us.  Unfortunately, that means they all want to come.  My family has tentacles with three dads and siblings galore.  Nick is Chinese Thai.  Have you been to an Asian wedding before?  They have 400 people there.  Do we want that?  No.  Even 200 people is a compromise yet hours of research has produced very little results and all of those venues are already reserved.  Yes, there are banquet halls, and hotels, and event centers that will easily accommodate that many people, but that isn't what we want (nor what we want to pay for).  Move it to the winter.  Wait until 2013.  Destination wedding.  No, no, and most likely no.  


There is a magic number that would still give us OUR special day to make that commitment to each other with our best family and friends to share the occasion.  I love my badass brother.  Of course he will be at the wedding and will play a role in it.  But if I need advice or hit a rocky point in my relationship, am I going to call him?  No.  It will be a friend.  If the true spirit of a wedding is to be surrounded by witnesses that will help you share your love and will be there to remind you of that love when things get tough, then where did this obligation come in that families come first? We have to quickly decide if we give up what we want to get everyone there, or we each make the difficult decision to exclude some friends that are a part of our lives, but maybe not as close to as we used to be.  We didn't expect to have to make such difficult decisions straight out of the gate.


Over the past year, there were many instances where I said to Nick, "OK, no more talking about Ironman" or "Let's not talk about training anymore." The same rules will have to be applied about a wedding. We're already tired of it and it's only been 3 days (although that's because I am pushing to get some stuff done now before I start working full-time again next week).  In addition, knowing me, I absolutely will have to set limits on myself that anything wedding related cannot be touched until after the day's training plan is completed.  Period. Unlike Ironman, I actually have a time goal for both Lavaman and Vineman, which means hopefully getting my foot fixed and getting faster. Training for Ironman exhausted me physically and challenged me mentally.  This is going to exhaust me mentally.  Who knows? I might even look forward to workouts just so I don't have to think about the ubiquitous to-do list.  *gasp*

Tiki Goes to the Dish

Happy Tiki is still fighting a cold or virus or possible sinus infection and has been too stubborn to go to the doctor even though it's probably time he did.  Working out just doesn't seem too palatable with a stuffy head and a cough.  But, a walk around the Stanford Dish sounded like a good idea after a lovely breakfast with some friends in town.  It was a nice way to get some fitness in without losing a lung.  


Happy Tiki with Hoover Tower in the background.  Anyone see J. Edgar yet?  It's on the to-do list.

Happy Tiki is pretty "happy" to be in front of the dish because it means he will no longer be out of breath.

Another beautiful December day.  There were lots and lots of cyclists out on Foothill Expwy on the way to/from the The Dish.  Soon.  Very soon.  Happy Tiki will be joining them again.  But, for now, he will enjoy his last week of "leisure" (or maybe zero) workouts.  

Introducing Happy Tiki

Meet Happy Tiki.  He'll be making a lot of appearances over the next 3 months.  He's training for Lavaman, an Olympic distance triathlon on the Big Island, in April.  Last weekend he had his first spinning session with a group of people that started an unofficial team called Lavateam.  

They spun with plastic leis on until the leis got annoying.  A few of them even spun with Santa hats and antlers!

Then they went for a run, but silly Happy Tiki forgot his running shoes (he also forgot his spinning shoes, but luckily another tiki had an extra pair to borrow)!!!  So while the other tikis did a short run, Happy Tiki did some TRX.


And, then it was time for dim sum and to start planning the trip to Kona. 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Now that I'm taking a break from training, I get to enjoy one of my favorite activities of the year -- The Family Giving Tree.  From approximately Dec 13-23 every year, the Family Giving Tree collects over 60,000 gifts from Bay Area companies and organizations to distribute to local agencies supporting families in need.  Sadly, last year, I only made it to the warehouse for a couple of hours.  However, this year, I was able to give a lot more time.  


What makes the Family Giving Tree different?  It gives a gift to the child that wants that specific gift.  If Yesenia wants a Barbie with a convertible car, then that is what we try to give her.  When I lived in Phoenix, there were different giving trees for Salvation Army, the homeless shelter, the women's center, etc. at the various malls.  In the Bay Area, rather than each of those agencies fight for resources, they go to Family Giving Tree, which services over 200 agencies.  It creates a brand that gets PSAs on TV, news coverage, and over 6000 volunteers.  Power is in numbers.


My favorite day is drop-off day.  This is where hundreds of cars and trucks pull up all day long with trunks and truckbeds and backseats full of gifts.  I get my workout in unloading cars, pushing gigantic boxes around, and unloading the boxes into "the pile."  I am always sore the next day!

Then we work on sorting the pile into smaller piles by agency code.  This is a great job for little ones like Girl Scouts.  Family Giving Tree really promotes having children in the warehouse to instill a sense of philanthropy at a young age.  

From there, every child has a number so we "row" the gifts by number.  We find out which child has two gifts (remove the duplicate and put in "The Store" and find which children are missing a gift and "shop" for their desired gift from "The Store").

This past weekend, I twisted the arm of some Iron teammates to come work in the warehouse with me.  

According to Sedonia's calculations we did the equivalent of approximately 700 toe touches.  I did a lot of squatting, too.  And, my hammies were *very* sore by the time I walked out of there that night.

This Little Piggy Hung On For Dear Life

**If you're a podophobia, please skip this entry.

This was the surprise I found one hour after finishing Ironman.  I had no idea there was an even an issue because it did not hurt during the run.  The picture actually looks harmless.  But, it's a blister under the entire toenail, including the front.   

I kept it bandaged for a few days.  After I took the bandage/compression off, all the blood pooled into it and began to look nasty. 

A few days later, it started to lift.  For the past 21 days, I have woken up every morning wondering if my toenail was still there. If something felt funny in my shoe, I would quickly take my foot out and make sure it was intact.  When I came home from work, I was afraid to take my shoes off, thinking I would find a missing toenail.  This morning, when I kicked my slipper off, it must have caught at just the right spot and I had to say goodbye to my first (and hopefully last) lost toenail.  

I know a lot of runners feel it's a badge of honor to lose a toenail.  There are some crazies out there that have permanently removed their toenails for this very problem.  However, I am not a "runner" and I like my feet.  Therefore, I'm not exactly happy about this development.  I'm just grateful it happened during the winter months and not when I'm sporting flip flops and cute sandals every day.    

Anti-gravity Yoga

Earlier this week, I took a class I've been wanting to take for a couple of months, but couldn't find the time -- anti-gravity yoga.  The yoga poses are performed with the assistance of a hammock that is 9ft wide.  If you want to take anti-gravity yoga, you have to be able to trust your body.  As long as you have the hammock wrapped correctly, you will fall or flip into the inversion poses without fail.  My favorite pose was the "bat" -- which was appropriately named.  We hung upside down like a bat and the hammock was wrapped the same way as a bat's wings.  


*I stole these pictures from Google since I didn't take any myself. :)

The class also included some strength training with the hammock (similar to TRX, but even harder).  My back and shoulders were yelling at me the next day (in a good way).

Toward the end of class, the instructor had us in a pose she coined "the strapless dress" for the girls and "the beach towel" for the guys, which was basically just lying on your stomach.  And, then she pushed us for no reason other than to just feel like a kid again swinging back and forth.  I LOVED it!


We ended with the "cocoon", which was basically doing corpse pose in the hammock.  Unfortunately, because we were swinging earlier, the hammock still had a lot of motion, I ended up getting seasick and had to wait it out for 30 minutes before I could drive home.  

This class is one of those where you feel like you need to be in better shape to take it, but you also need to take it more to get in better shape.  Even two weeks after IM, I was still a little tight in certain places and I felt the extra push you get in some of these poses helped open up some of those areas -- especially in my hip flexors.  I would take it again, but next time I'd take a Dramamine first.  

First Post-IM Workout

This past weekend was time for me to finally do some sort of real workout again.  We've walked a bunch since November 20, but nothing I could claim that was a "workout."  It was almost like I was nervous.  I thought about going to the gym and was wondering if I would even remember how to just "go to the gym" anymore (of course I do, but I still wondered).  Nick suggested we go to The Dish because every time we rode our bikes past it I would comment, "I still have never hiked The Dish!"


The Dish is a radio telescope in the Stanford foothills.  

It's used for academic research for the university, but the land is also a recreational area made up of a 4 mile loop for walkers and joggers.  I walked most of it (and panted as I'm still getting over a head cold and can't breathe properly), and just enjoyed the beautiful day.  


On the way out, I noticed we could see downtown San Francisco and downtown Oakland (the city is the unfocused part thanks to an uncooperative camera).

And, on the way back, I could see both cities again to the north and downtown San Jose to the south.  


For those in the Bay area looking for a leisurely walk (or running with some hills and maybe throwing in a few hill repeats) with some nice views, I recommend it.  Prior to IM, I spent a lot of time hiking and jogging Rancho San Antonio, but it's all trails and I would be pretty dirty when I got back in my car.  Although The Dish is much smaller than Rancho, it is a nice alternative because it's 100% paved.  


Training for an Ironman is hard.  Yet, here I was dreading taking that first step to do something again.  How silly is that?  But this little hike (if you can even call it that) was a really nice segue for me to start cross-training in the off season.

What Happens Now?

Last week, a co-worker asked me, "What do you do the first weekend after you finish an Ironman?"


Well, the first weekend was Thankgiving, a 12 hour drive back home, and then hopping on a plane back to LA, so I don't feel I really had much of a weekend.  I ate more than my share of taffy.  I do know that.  Not sure how or why the temporary taffy obsession started, but it's all I wanted those first 7 days after Ironman -- Tangy Taffy, Laffy Taffy, salt water taffy, it didn't matter.  I wanted to chew on sugar.  And am glad I got that out of my system....


I feel like I just had my first weekend. I stayed at home.  I got to drink wine with no guilt or consequences about how it would affect the next day's training.  I got my Christmas tree and decorated it.  I took my Grandma to lunch and worked on a jigsaw puzzle with her.  I had no schedule.  And, it was glorious.  I owned my weekend.


A few weeks ago, the 2012 Ironteam kicked off and when I saw all the FB posts of what they were doing, I realized I didn't miss it.  I loved my experience on that team and the staff, coaches, and teammates helped get me to the finish line.  But I guess it really wasn't until March timeframe that I actually started to enjoy being with the team.  It made me a little sad to think about and I've been trying to analyze why that is.  I think the answer came to me this weekend as I was "owning my weekend" again.  When I joined that team, even though I made the choice to do it, I was probably slightly resentful that I didn't own my weekends anymore.  It is a really backwards thought, since I wanted to be on the team.  It was a sacrifice I made.  In addition, the weather sucked November through February.  I learned how to ride a bike with no feeling in my feet for those first four months.  I think that attributed to my negative feelings as well.  And, while I did enjoy the actual time training those first 4 months because it was a team environment and I laughed and played and met a great group of people, I'm glad that I am not doing it again.  However, I will be volunteering at their big workouts in 2012 and providing the same support to them that I got last year from other volunteers.


A few people have asked me if I am still going to blog.  I have two events the first half of 2012 that I will be training for with some friends.  It won't really be an online journal anymore.  But I'll probably still be posting here and there.  Plus, I'm finally getting to do some activities I kept saying I would do "after IM is over" that I can write about.