Girls on the Run Tea!

Last Saturday my mom and I hosted a small fundraiser tea for the Puget Sound Chapter of Girls on the Run (http://www.girlsrun.org/ Seattle) (http://www.girlsontherun.org/ national). We had a small crowd of about 20 women and tons of yummy deserts and tea. When the event started everyone just kind of mingled and got to know each other. We invited the director of the chapter to come and speak about the program and answer any questions. She also had one of the coaches come to talk about what the curriculum is like and what they do on a weekly basis. It was great, many of the women there either didn't know about the organization or wanted to know more.

We just heard back from the director today and we raised $1800 for GOTR Puget Sound! Yay! Not bad for a small turnout. We are planning on doing the event next year and hopefully we will have a bigger turnout. The director was ecstatic about the money raised for GOTR!!

The director told a great story of one school that doesn't even have the girls families pay for attending the program. Most of the families live in low-income areas and can't afford to pay. New Balance is a sponsor and was generous enough to donate new pairs of shoes to all the girls at this particular site. The coach received a crash course in shoe fitting and was able to size the girls. She ordered them and handed them out to the girls. They were so happy to have new shoes they wouldn't even wear them home, they kept them at school so they could be kept clean and no one would take them. Here is a video of the "New Shoe Experience!"

Today I Will...

Be going on a 50 mile bike ride. If I don't write it down, I won't do it. I will be updating later today with a re-cap of my solo LOOOOOOONG ride.

Do you solo, coach, or group??

I wanted to go on a 60 mile bike ride today... it ended up being 37 miles. I was all alone, by the end I really needed a push because I was done pushing myself. I was hungry and it was getting late and I was just done. I think if I had my friends along the ride with me it would have been easily attainable. Strength in numbers right??

So as I was riding I was thinking of asking you guys how you train.

Are you lucky enough to have a personal coach?

Are you part of a club and are able to go on group rides, runs or swims?

Do you only train solo?

Do you train mostly solo but have group rides or runs on occasion?

What do you think works best for you?

If you are solo do you think you would get better if you trained with a group?

I know lots of questions but it would be interesting to see how everyone trains and how it works for them.

I was able to take a few pictures this afternoon on my ride. It was a beautiful Seattle day. NO RAIN!!!!! YAY! So I had to take some pictures of it!.

Races, Races, Races!!!

I love finding and signing up for new races. I signed up for three more races for the summer, and probably no more because my bank account is sure taking a beating, sometimes I wonder why it's so expensive? These entry fees I am sure leave out a whole section of people who would love to race but can't because of the cost :(

Summer Race Schedule:

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, June 6th. One of my dear, dear friends from middle school and high school was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, she was 27. So young! She is in remission and healthy thankfully! Last year I did the 5k and then met up with her to walk. I will be doing the same this year. It should be a fun event!

Subaru Women's Triathlon Series, July 11: This will be the third time I will do this sprint race. It's a great one! Great support, smaller than say a Danskin race. I really hope to PR in this again! This race benefits Ovarian Cancer research.

Chelanman Multisport Weekend, 70.3: This will be the big one! Not sure what I got myself into with this! I know I will finish, just not sure how or when! I've been working hard but probably should be working harder, I have a little over a month left to train. It's really scaring me!

Lake Stevens Olympic Triathlon, September 11: My cousin told me about this race and I thought why not? He said he was interested in doing the sprint, it would be his first! Hopefully he will sign up, it would be fun to have him there!

That's all for now unless I miraculously make more money or there is a fantastic race I can't live without doing!

Happy Training and Racing!

Here We Go Again!! Marathon Number 2!!!

After a VERY difficult first marathon including tears the last two miles my mom and I have decided to give it another try! When I finished the first time I swore I would never do another, well here we are again! The race will take place Thanksgiving weekend, so we have plenty of time to get ready! This year I will be running more during the week instead of once and then a long run on the weekend. Yeah, that wasn't smart!

In the meantime I have the half-ironman to train for. Everything is going well despite not being on the bike as much as I would like. I think I may just have to do some riding in the rain. It will make me tougher... right??

Happy Training!

T-30 Swim

Yesterday was a crappy weather day; rain, fog and cold. I am a fair-weather bike rider for sure, so no bike ride for me. I wanted to get in a very long bike ride, but not in that kind of weather. So I decided to hit the pool. My pool workouts have been very sparse as my running and biking need more of my attention than swimming.

I decided I wanted to see what my 100 yard pace was for a long timed swim and a great way to do that was to swim constantly for 30 minutes. I was a little worried that someone would join me in my lane and screw up my time and make me slow down, the pool at the Y is like that when you swim in the afternoon. But I was blessed with my own lane for my entire workout.

I started with a very easy warm-up , 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull, 200 kick. After the warm-up I started my swim. I started cautiously because I wanted to make sure I could do this without stopping. I was able to pick up my pace the last part of the swim because I felt great! I finished strong with 200o yards which is a 1:30 per 100 yard pace. I was pretty happy with that pace given I am not at the pool very often. This set is able to tell me what my pace should be when I do interval workouts and long swims. There is definitely room for improvement but it's OK if I continue not to swim as much as I thought I would need to.

Today, I was able to finally go on a short ride 19 mile ride and I ended with a 15 minute run. First brick workout in a long time, I actually felt fine, I probably could have kept running! That's a good sign I guess!

Happy Training!

Half Marathon and 5k!

Well, I have been super busy with work and training lately that I haven't blogged in quite awhile.

Two weeks ago I signed myself up for the Kirkland half marathon on Mother's day morning. I signed up a week before. I wanted to see how I would do given the fact I have been running a lot but my distances are pretty short, about 7 miles.

I showed up to the race without my usual entourage; mom and husband. I was all by myself, I really missed them :( I had no clue how hilly this half was going to be. The first 6 miles were all up hill and the last half there were quite a few shorter steeper hills. I didn't PR but I had the same time as my last half marathon which was all flat. So in my mind I think I would have done great if this course was flat! I had a great time and finished and felt good about where I stand in terms of my half marathon.

Girls on the Run 5k! This race was so fun! It is the culminating experience for girls who have been part of this program. It was an untimed race but I brought along my watch to get an unofficial time. There were so many kids at the start it was impossible to go fast so my mom and I decided to take it easy, the race wasn't for us! It was so neat to hear all of the encouraging words from the coaches to the girls they were coaching. That was the best part!

I ended up beating my mom at the end. I tricked her. I told her to go ahead of me and then I caught up to her at the finish and passed her! Sneaky, sneaky me!

I'm trying to think of a swimming tip of the week, it's been awhile. Any ideas or things you want to know??

Happy training!