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Archive for August, 2013

42 Years Young

Posted in Books, Family life, tagged , on August 29, 2013| 6 Comments »

Yesterday I celebrated my 42nd birthday. It started off the way all good days should, with an awesome, super-sweaty workout at the gym, followed by a protein bar and later, whole foods served on plates. One of those plates included a slice of this birthday blueberry pie:

Blueberry pie

Isn’t that just the most gorgeously wonky lattice top thrown together by me and pin-pricked with forks by 8- and 5-year-old helpers? At any rate the pie tasted delicious (as any pie with $12 worth of organic blueberries had better taste!)

In addition to edible birthday treats, there were many lovely gifts. Among other things, my parents got me this:

I rarely buy books (Cheap! Cheap! Libraries are the best invention ever!) but none of my local libraries carry a copy of Iron War and I’ve wanted to read it for a long time. My sister made me this darling shoulder bag (and when I opened the present, all three of my girls exclaimed, “I want one!”):

crocheted purse

And my husband took my camera in to be fixed so I can stop taking semi-blurry cellphone photos of myself! All in all a great day!

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Saucony Spring Outfit and Gear Review

Posted in Gear, Running, tagged , , , , on August 21, 2013| 2 Comments »

You might recall that last spring I won a Saucony spring trio of running clothes from the lovely ladies at Another Mother Runner.

Saucony spring running outfit

Saucony spring running outfit

I promised to post a picture of me in the gear as soon as I got my act together enough to take a photo of myself. Problem is I was a little too busy actually working out in the gear to take a decent pre-workout photo of myself and it wouldn’t quite be fair to Saucony to take a post-workout photo — trust me! The good news is that I have tested the gear all summer long during marathon training and I love it!

And here's the awesome Saucony spring trio in action! Yes, I put on my new green running shoes to match my green jacket, but I swear I only bought the green shoes because they were the cheapest, not because I care about being matchy-matchy!

And here’s the awesome Saucony spring trio in action! Yes, I put on my new green running shoes to match my green jacket, but I swear I only bought the green shoes because they were the cheapest, not because I care about being matchy-matchy!

Now that I’ve put the gear to the test I can list some things I like about each item:

Saucony Run Lux short-sleeve running shirt: the tailored fit is great, but the thing I like best about this shirt is the bright pink color. I wear this shirt on all my long runs when I am going to be out on the road and need to be as visible as possible to car drivers.

Women’s Ignite Tight Capri (on sale now for $13 in black-on-black sizes XS and M!!): I wear these when I want a little more coverage than my skimpy compression shorts provide. They are comfortable and practical for all sorts of weather. Best thing about them though is the zippered pocket in the back where I can store a key during those shorter runs when I do not wear my fuel belt.

Saucony Transcendence Jacket: Fortunately I haven’t had to wear this windbreaker/rain jacket in any bad weather here in Southern California but I anticipate wearing it more often this fall. I love that it’s lightweight yet functional, and it has thumb holes in the sleeves. My 11-year-old saw me in it yesterday and begged to me to let her wear it, so you know it has the cute factor going for it!

Thanks again Saucony and Another Mother Runner!

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Summer Miles and Fall Goals

Posted in Biking, Marathon, Miles Log, Running, Strength training, Swimming, tagged , on August 21, 2013| 10 Comments »

When last I wrote, I had just finished my second full marathon, the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon, in 3:57:29 (marathon recap Part I and Part II), and signed up for my third full marathon in Long Beach this coming October.

Since then, while I haven’t been blogging, I have been swimming, biking and running and I’ve got the miles to prove it!

May, June and July Miles

Swim: 2.75, 4 and 2 miles for a total of 3.86 hours in 10 workouts

Bike: 54.47, 97.97 and 111.17 miles in 17.87 hours in 20 workouts

Run: 110.32, 73.16, 110.4 miles (interesting to me that the mileage went down in June as I recovered from the May marathon, then picked right back up in July as I started training for the next marathon) for a total of 49.93 hours in 36 workouts

Strength training: 1.65 hours, 2.9 hours, 2 hours in a total of 24 workouts (an average of 2 per week).

Add in a few other amazing workouts hiking, kayaking, and even stand-up paddleboarding (LOVE IT)!

With the kids out of school for the summer I logged a lot of miles at the gym while the kids stayed in the gym day care. That explains the bump up in the bike mileage as I cranked out mile after mile on the gym stationary bike while I listened to audiobooks and/or played backgammon on the bike computer.

I also had the opportunity to travel all over the country this summer and I took full advantage of it to run in Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco, and the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains.

Random Summer Photo

This view was my reward for running 20 miles along the trail by Crystal Springs Reservoir in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains in San Mateo County, California

This view was my reward for running 20 miles along the trail by Crystal Springs Reservoir in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains in San Mateo County, California

Fall Goals

Right now I’m in my ninth week of marathon training for Long Beach. Seven and a half more weeks to go until the marathon on October 13th! Training is going exceptionally well. Yesterday I cranked out two 7:11 miles in my speed workout followed by 2 800m repeats at 8.6 miles per hour. My goals for the marathon are simply to improve my fueling strategy and beat my PR of 3:57:29.

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