Three Thing Thursday...Celebrations

1. Mom and Dad are home! Yea!!!!!! After just shy of 10 weeks in the hospital,  I picked them up at the airport yesterday. It is oh so good to see them back in Denver. While mom will still have some work to do on getting back to full strength she can now do it from her own home.

2. This guy turned 18 yesterday. Wow unbelievable how fast the time goes. 

 Prom this past weekend

Senior picture

3. Not quite as important...I got new shoes! I went with the men's to see if the wider width would be better. So far I think I like them, but I've only got a few miles on them.

 

Glad that’s done....Platte River ½ Marathon Race Report

I’m going to keep this short, none of you want to hear me whine, and I could (and have) believe me.  The race and packet pick up is well organized and smooth, and although this is the 2^nd time I’ve run this race  I’ve yet to participate in any of the finish line festivities. The only positive about my race is that I got to see some friends.

 Jill and I (I was as thrilled to be there as I look)

 

Kathleen , me, Meg 

As you know I went into this race very under trained. Now while some people might have the fitness base to carry them through it...I obviously do not. It hurt. Yes other races hurt, but not like this. Miles 1-5 were not too bad, I have no idea what my times were as I walked out of the house without my Garmin, miles 5-10 were tolerable. Some running some walking, by miles 11-13 I was pretty darn miserable and most of my time was spent walking. The wind had picked up and at times felt like you were being pushed backwards. The temps dropped and there were a few sprinkles here and there. Everything hurt,  I felt like I was dragging my left leg along for the ride, it was kind of a strange sensation.  The last mile was ridiculous. There is a bridge over the highway, while it’s not a huge hill it is a hill, really the only of the course, and the bridge seemed to go on forever and ever,  thank god for the fence on the side of the bridge because the wind gusts were so strong they were literally blowing us over. In the end I achieved a personal worst of 3:02.

The only other thing I have to say is that I will never go into a race of this length feeling so completely under trained. 

Now it is time to get down to business....when I stop hurting.... :)

What's for Dinner? Couscous Confetti Salad

This is not a great photo, but trust me this was really tasty! To make it more of a meal I added chickpeas and it was great! I liked it slightly warm after first mixing the hot couscous and I really liked it cold. I did heat it one time too and didn't care for that as much.

 Couscous Confetti Salad
Makes about 8 1-cup servings
Couscous is pasta from northern Africa that cooks almost instantly and makes a beautiful and flavorful salad. Whole-wheat couscous is sold in natural food stores and some supermarkets.
1 ¹/₂ cups dry whole-wheat couscous
2 cups boiling water
3 - 4 green onions, finely chopped, including tops
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 carrot, grated
1 - 2 cup finely shredded red cabbage
¹/₂ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
¹/₂ cup golden raisins or chopped dried apricots
1 juice of 1 lemon
¹/₄ cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 ¹/₂ teaspoons salt

In a large bowl, combine couscous and boiling water. Stir to mix, then cover and let stand until all the water has been absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Add green onions, bell pepper, carrot, cabbage, parsley, and raisins or apricots.

In a small bowl mix lemon juice, vinegar, oil, curry powder, and salt. Add to salad and toss to mix. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Well...glad I got that out of the way for the year

Yep...I fell over on my bike (and I hope that it is the only time this year!) I tried to make a really sharp turn while maneuvering thought these bumpy things and the next thing you know... boom.  Jill managed to contain most of her laughter while I'm sure being very thankful it wasn't her. It could have been worse, and it didn't stop it from being a beautiful ride and as always a great time. The weather here in Denver has just been crazy warm. 80's both days this weekend! It will be interesting to see what the rest of spring and summer brings us.

Week 2 of 70.3 training brought still no two- a- day workouts, but another week of 6 workouts. 4 - runs,  1- swim and 1 - bike.  Still not where I need to be but luckily there is plenty of time for improvements. I did have more miles running this week than I have since last spring. Although I was close to this mileage at the end of my 70.3 training last year. That is not to say it was good. I had only 17 miles, not near enough with a 1/2 mary in two weeks. Today's "long" run of 7 miles was slow, really slow and in fact was mostly a 2 minute run 1 minute walk.  Lucky for me those I will be doing it with have had as many issues as I and are no better trained. :) I think it will just be a fun run/walk with friends. This weekends "long" run will likely be my last before the 1/2. Not because I need to taper :) but because  I'll be heading to Florida for a long weekend visit with my Mom and Dad. I'm excited to see them and with any luck it will help them to have a different face around  for a few days. Mom seems to be improving slowly but steadily. I'm hoping that this week will bring no setbacks and lots of gains! I told her I would like to see her out of bed and walking some when I get there.

I should have just stayed in bed this year...

Things continue to be a little crazy in my world.  2012 just doesn’t seem to be off to a real great start but I sure hope that’s changing soon! I seem to break most things I touch the last few weeks. From my stove to my car. On the positive side, while still far from close to coming home, mom has had a couple of pretty good days so the more we can string together the better off we will be.

As for week 1 of 70.3 training. Well I wouldn’t say I nailed it but I do feel like I’m back in the routine of training each day. I only missed one day last week, what I didn’t do was get some of the two a days in. So I managed 2 swims – 3 runs and one bike. This week we will work on doubling up a couple of times.

Diet, that too was much improved last week. Not perfect by any means but there was some control there. I actually decided to try to incorporate  some vegetarian days into my diet. I’m not sure why other than that truly I don’t really eat that much meat as it is. I am not ready, and may never be ready to commit to being a vegetarian, I really do like a good hamburger once in awhile, but I thought it would be interesting to see if I miss it. I really didn’t. I went 4 days with no meat and the other 3 I ate at least a little meat. When my older son Josh heard this he threatened to move out if I became a vegetarian....a little bit of an idle threat... especially when he leaves for the Marines in June. I’m going to continue to try for at least 4 meatless days a week. And along that lines I have a really good couscous salad recipe that I made and will try to post later this week, the meat lover son even liked it.

Training for ½ marathon that is coming up on the 15^th of April, that’s right... 3 weeks from yesterday...that has not improved much. I managed to make it 6 miles yesterday. They are 6 of the slowest miles I’ve done in.....well a long time. This has the very real potential of being a personal worst, and my worst was already pretty bad. My first ½ was right at 3 hours, yes I’m slow. I had high hopes of being able to get under 2:30 at this one, I was close last year and prior to the ending of my training mid February I was on track to break 2:30 but those 4 weeks with no running have just left me with what seems like no fitness at all.I'll just keep plugging away and even if I have to walk the whole thing I will be out there doing that 1/2. 

Focus....

There has been no focus in my life recently. And really there is no reason for not getting back in control of my eating and exercise. It has been bad for the last month. Now it is going to stop. I am going to find my focus...maybe that 1/2 marathon in 4 weeks. That Century in 11 weeks or that 70.3 in 20 weeks. 

Today starts my 20 week 70.3 plan.

If it's important to you, you'll find a way. If not...you'll find an excuse.

Thursday Three – Things could be better...but things could be much worse.

1. First off thanks to all for you concern about my Mom. It is turning out to be a very long road. At the end of last week things were going great but then on Sunday Mom started feeling really bad. On Tuesday they decided that she had something called C. Diff which is caused when the antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria but the good. She was feeling very bad for a few days and while she is starting to feel a little better she obviously has not made progress in the strength department. She had been getting up and walking some with the walker but that came to an hault. She also ended up on oxygen and IV’s again. Hopefully she will soon feel strong enough to start walking and exercising again. Good news is that the pneumonia that she went in for is all cleared up. Tomorrow will start week 5 of the hospital adventure. And week 6ish since the left Colorado. Keeping my fingers crossed that they will be able to come home soon!



2. Motivation.....lacking. I’ve gotten some workouts in, but not near what I should. Running is just killing me. I was doing pretty darn good on training for the ½ marathon I have coming up in just about a month, but all that went out the window with being out of town and this darn cold. I’ve been out to run a few times but it feels so hard. My heart rate is much higher than it was, my lungs are not yet clear and my calves especially are very tight. Although I occasionally have this little “thing” in my butt too. It’s not the same place as when I was problems before so I don’t know if it is the same thing or not. Most of the time I don’t even notice it, but occasionally it likes to speak to me.



3. Monday will be 20 weeks until Boulder 70.3. I need to pick a plan and get started. I’m thinking I may just go with the one I used last year from Beginner Triathlete. Overall I thought it was pretty good last year and it’s nice that you can import it to your log and see it all laid out. Maybe this will help with my motivation. Do you have a favorite plan that you use?



Keeping a positive attitude....