Hiking the Pleasanton Ridge

Nick and I both had a 2 hour hike on our training calendars this past Sunday so we headed to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park.  Nick said you could run over a marathon here and never cross the same trail.  Here are some pics I captured.

A spider web tunnel

Baby cows

I nicely asked this cow to "come here"

And she did.  She was totally posing for the camera.

I wanted to pet her, but Nick advised against it.

The ridge runs along the 680, which makes for a very pretty commute.

My boo

Pleasanton/Dublin to the northeast

Despite the Bay Area being as crowded as it is, I'm so appreciative a 10 minute drive within city limits can  let me talk to free-roaming cows and enjoy such beautiful views.

Dose of Reality

I've been thinking a lot about my lack of training for Lavaman and what I'm going to do about it.  My worst case scenario is that I will go to Lavaman, it will hurt, I will finish, and it will scare the bejeezus out of me that I will push everything aside to train for Vineman.  So I've just been floating along on this fairy tale for a few weeks....


My schedule was busy last year.  It included being gone for hours every Saturday and Sunday at a team workout.  And, it included a very stressful work situation.  This year, my stress levels are much much lower (without that pressure of Ironman), but I don't remember ever being so busy with so many scheduled appointments.  I had a minor freak out and listed all of the things that are invading my life right now.  Nick said, "Some thing has to give and maybe it should be training."  To which I replied, "Well, it basically already is."


I spent a lot of last year saying, "no" or "not now."  A lot of things queued up.  Things that were on hold for over a year.  I got a hall pass named Ironman that allowed me to neglect other commitments.  And now that backlog has to be worked through.  Between being a chapter advisor at Santa Clara U, Treasurer for the alumni chapter (really trying to find a replacement here), a board member for Women In Trade, traveling every other week for work, commuting back and forth to Dublin when I am home, attempting to move to Dublin, dealing with what to do with my house, and then all of the appointments with photographers, florists, caterers, dress shops, etc., I'm lucky if I get in three workouts a week.  And, it is pretty much just the bike or strength because those are most convenient and efficient in this time-crunched schedule.  


This past weekend, Sedonia asked if anyone wanted to ride the Silverado Trail.  Nick had coaching commitments in the East Bay, I knew I needed to ride, and there was a place in Napa that was trying to set me up for a "cake tasting" which I kept putting off because I really had no time to go to Napa.  It was a trifecta.  I didn't need to ride the entire 55 miles the IMCDA folks were doing so I set out for 45 miles/3 hours.  I hadn't ridden more than 20 miles since November.  I figured 45 miles would be a piece of cake.  I felt fine.  The weather was great.  Napa is always beautiful.  But after 2 hours, I was ready to be done.  I came to the conclusion that a 2 hour bike ride is the optimal ride.  Luckily, that last hour was occupied by riding with Tony Bologna for a few miles and then Sedonia for the rest of the way.  


Thinking I felt great, I wanted to do a quick 10 min run after the ride.  The pain in my psoas and upper glutes during that puny 10 minute run was enough to scare the bejeezus out of me.  I had to walk every 30 seconds.  And, now that I have had that dose of reality, I have to figure out what I can give.  The wedding vendor stuff is almost all behind us, which will be a big help.  And, in seven days, I get to be home for two weeks, which will give me easy access to a pool and bike.  I am not looking to "race" in Lavaman because this really is just for fun and a vacation (we're not even bringing our own bikes).  But, if I'm going to enjoy it, I need to be doing a lot more than I am now so the pain is "normal" race pain and not, "Holy crap, what the eff is going on" kind of pain.


These next seven days are going to be pretty futile when it comes to workouts.  But after this stretch is over, I have 4 weeks before Lavaman.  My coach says it is time for Stella to get her groove back.  I sure hope so.

From the Change Tent to the Dressing Room

One of the skills of triathlon is the ability to change from the swim to the bike or the bike to run with an elevated heart rate.  For Ironman, I knew I was changing my bottoms (as a back-of-the-packer, I chose comfort over speed since it was going to be such a long day) and I enlisted Sedonia's help a few times to practice my swim to bike change.  Lucky for me, she ended up being in the Women's Change Tent and got to help me dress at IMAZ.

Since my bridal party is all over the country, it seemed appropriate to ask Sedonia to accompany me dress shopping.  She texted, "Let's just hope the dressing room at the store is less chaotic than the changing tent in Arizona."  


In true triathlon fashion, she showed up with a "Special Needs" bag complete with electrolytes, water (because clear and copious is good), candy, kleenex, Wet Ones, Goldfish, champagne (because Mama Yosh said it was time to celebrate), Laffy Taffy (for the jokes of course) and lip balm (because every Special Needs bag needs lip balm).  There was also a self-inflating whoopee cushion, which really served no purpose other than providing lots of entertainment.