Anyhooo… I’m 2 weeks out from the Napa Valley Marathon. March 7, 2010. Training is going “eh”. I will finish the race, but I have no expectations for my goal or finish time.

Two weeks later… L.A. Marathon. So that’s going to be interesting to see how it goes running two marathons two weeks apart. March 21, 2010.

After that, my plan was mostly triathlons for the rest of the year. But, looking at my availability, I am really not able to get to one until July. So, I will focus my training on triathlon after March. But I will do some running races until I can get some actual triathlons into my schedule.

Here is my tentative schedule for this year (2010):

• Feb. 7 (Sun) – Surf City Half Marathon – (done)
• March 7 (Sun) – Napa Valley Marathon
• March 21 (Sun) – L.A. Marathon
• April 10 (Sat) – Seal Beach 5K – Family Run. Chris, Jenny and I.
• May 8 (Sat) – Xterra Malibu Trail Run – maybe. maybe not. Have done this event before.
• June 5 (Sat) – Fontana Days Half Marathon – Running for sure. maybe a PR?
• July 4th – some 5K race? Not sure which one …
• July 18 (Sun) – Strawberry Fields Tri – for sure. Sprint or Oly? Not sure.
• Aug. 14 (Sat) – Hansen Dam Tri – Highly Likely. Did this last year. Date is a guess. The website is not updated for this year yet.
• Sept. 11/12 (Sat/Sun) – Malibu Triathlon. Oly on the 11th. Sprint on the 12th. Not sure which.
• Oct. 10 (Sun) – OC Triathlon in Mission Viejo – possibly? maybe not.
• Nov. 8 (Sun) – Catalina Triathlon – Chris says he’s going to do this too. I had a lot of fun at this event last year.
• Nov 23 (Thu) – some Turkey Trot … again…not sure which one…

You may notice, from my previous post in 2009, that I left the Ragnar Relay off. I have already taken off time from work for the Surf City Half Marathon, the Napa Marathon, the L.A. Marathon and I will probably have to take off time for the Catalina Tri. I don’t want all my vacation days to be for races. So…decided to give Ragnar a miss this year. Maybe next year. (Anyhow, my daughter Kaitlin is graduating from college this year…have to save some days off from work for that!)

For the past 3 years I’ve done the Huntington Beach 5K on the Fourth of July. May do that one again, but there are certainly other possibilities. Probably won’t be trying for a PR this year, though, given the proposed race schedule.

Also, we’ve done the Dana Point Turkey Trot for the past 3 years, also. But that event is really crowed and… dunno…might do a different one this year.

Pose of the Month: Squat Pose

Here is a video from their company that explains the idea:

It is a good video but one thing that is funny about this video is they run in barefeet and then tell you to put shoes on to help you run as though you were barefooted. Why not just run barefooted if that’s so good for you? I know, I know, some people have concerns about that too. I just think it’s kind of a funny point in the video.

Well, I bought a pair of these Newton shoes on Wednesday and just took them out for a short run today.

I got mine at TriLab in Santa Monica. I have a friend who bought some there who said the salesguy who helped her wasn’t very knowledgeable about the shoes and couldn’t really advise her on them. Well, I must have lucked out, because I got a pretty knowledgeable sales guy and he recommended I get the stability trainers.

I am already a forefoot runner. I don’t know if I’ve ever been a heel striker. Maybe. But in the last year or so I’ve been very certain I’m a forefoot runner, partly because of my pace, but also paying attention to the fact that my feet do hit the ground under my hips, not out in front of me. I’ve also played around a bit in the last several months with the Vibram FiveFingers and a bit of barefoot running, which also require forefoot strike in order to avoid injuries.

When I tried the shoes on at the store the salesguy confirmed that I am a forefoot runner and that I have good running form. The shoes do feel funny at first walking around in them, due to the “lugs” under the ball of the foot. It’s kind of odd to run on them and think about making that part of the shoe hit the ground first when you initially start running in them.

But after my 2.4 mile run this morning, I have to say that I don’t find that I run that differently in them than in my other shoes. It’s probably because I’m already a forefoot runner. I do appreciate that the heel doesn’t seem to get in the way. After running in my FiveFingers I would find that then switching to shoes the heel was so huge and it  felt hard to land on the ball of the foot because the heel of regular running shoes are so built up. I don’t get that with the Newton’s, so that is certainly a good thing. Also the finishing and lining inside of the Newton’s is very soft. I ran with no socks today and it felt absolutely fine. I’m trying to get to a “no sock” style if possible to save time on triathlon transitions.

Also, after the run this morning, walking in the shoes feels less odd. I don’t seem to be noticing the lugs under the forefoot as much. The running also became more mindless and automatic. I guess I’m just landing in them how I’m supposed to. Feels right.

Wednesday night I did a few short sprints (about 50 yards each?) and did feel it in my adductors, and I wondered if that was due to the Newton’s or due to the fact that I’d already run 10 miles earlier in the day. Not sure.

So people want to know if these shoes are worth the money. Because they are super pricy (almost double what I’ve been paying for shoes). It’s really hard to answer that at this time, having barely tried them out. But my impression is that if you are not having any issues with your running form or injuries arising from form and if you already run pretty fast, then these shoes aren’t going to help you much. However, if you have injuries and form issues (meaning injuries resulting from your running form style) and if you are looking to possibly speed up, if you are naturally a heel-striker (bad) and want to change to forefoot running (good) then these shoes might be worth it for you, if you are not willing to try and learn to run in the Vibram FiveFingers or barefoot.

I will give more feedback on them as time progresses and I get to know them better.

In my race schedule for this season, I had picked to do the Oxnard Splash-n-Dash on Sept. 13th. But I didn’t realize when I picked that (which I have not yet registered for) that it is a 1 hr 45 min drive from my house. Yikes. Such a long drive for a relatively short race. I was going to do the long course (1000 meter swim followed by the 4 mile run).

I looked for alternate events that have an ocean swim on a weekend between now and November when I’m not working or already doing another race. Kinda tough. Iron Man & Half Iron Man distances are too much for me right now!

But look at this: Mermaid Tri in Santa Cruz on Sept. 27th. Instead of Oxnard Splash-N-Dash Sept. 13th. Is it crazy to drive 5-6 hours on Saturday for a Sunday race? And then pretty much drive right back home? And if I drive that far, I’d want to do their Olympic Distance course, not the Sprint distance. Am I up for an Olympic Distance for my 3rd triathlon? What if we stay overnight on Sunday and drive back at the crack of dawn on Monday. My 7th grade daughter would miss school. That is wrong and bad. I shouldn’t take her out of a day of school for my race. Sigh. But I want to. Don’t want to drive right back on Sunday.

Also, my older daughter goes to UC Santa Cruz, so we would get to see her (if briefly) that weekend if we drive up. Hmmmmm.

So…

1. Which event? Oxnard Splash-n-Dash Sept 13th (“local” but pretty far) or Santa Cruz all women Mermaid Tri Sept 27th?
2. Am I nuts to do Olympic? I can already swim 1.5km and running a 10K is nothing. Just have to up my bike mileage which is pretty low right now (max dist of 15 miles).
3. Take my daughter out of school Monday or drive our butts right back on Sunday?

I should be able to make these kind of decisions myself… I guess I really just want to do Santa Cruz but driving 5.5 hours up and back Sat/Sun just seems like such a drag. Boo!

Not to worry. I did a 6 mile bike ride yesterday. And today I did my own triathlon: 1500 meter ocean swim in 45 minutes; 3 mile run in 23 minutes; later in the day 14.8 mile bike in 1 hr 6 minutes on a hilly course. Tomorrow I will swim laps at the pool.

Anyhow, I do need to sign up for events and put together some more training. And I’ve finalized my events up through March 2010. Here they are:

Aug. 2, 2009 (Sun) 5K Paws for Cause

Aug. 16, 2009 (Sun) Hansen Dam Triathlon

Sep. 13, 2009 (Sun) Oxnard Splash-n-Dash (I think the long course)

new -> Sep. 27, 2009 (Sun) Mighty Mermaid Triathlon Santa Cruz (olympic distance)

Oct. 11, 2009 (Sun) Long Beach Half Marathon (completes my California Dreaming award)

Nov. 7, 2009 (Sat) Catalina Triathlon

Nov. 26, 2009 (Thu) 10K Turkey Trot at Dana Point

Feb. 7, 2010 (Sun) Surf City Half Marathon – I think I have to do this every year. I’m a legacy runner for this race.

Mar. 7, 2010 (Sun) Napa Valley Marathon

Mar. 21, 2010 (Sun) Los Angeles Marathon

Apr 23-34 (Fri-Sat) Ragnar Relay L.A. (Santa Barbara to Dana Point)

OK, so I have to get my credit card out and start registering for some of these. And tomorrow I’m going to have to hunker down and start writing my training schedule for at least through November 2009. That is always so much work.

So, from no events to 9 events. Really, though, I’ve been thinking about most of these for a long time. Just hadn’t committed to the registration and written out my training plans. Working on it, working on it!

In May I did do several runs in my Five Fingers, even switching to running exclusively in them. I did short runs of about 4-6 miles twice a week, and longer runs of 8-13 miles once a week. I ran a 5K race in them in June. I thought I would be able to do my July 4th 5K in them.

Problem was that I started having some pains in the top of my right foot again. I do not believe this was from the Five Fingers. This was a pre-existing issue I’d had since February, that seemed to have gone away but then came back. This was an issue I developed before I’d ever bought my Five Fingers or even considered barefoot running.

In order to resolve my pains in the top of my right foot, I went back to my chiropractor a couple of times, switched back to running in my New Balance 769s for the added cushioning, and tied my shoes so there was no pressure along the top of the right mid-foot. It seems to be cured now for the last few weeks, so I’m returning to running in my Five Fingers again, but slowly.

When I first started in the Five Fingers I went in rather aggressively and I did get quite a number of blisters and calluses. Even though I’ve taken a few weeks off from the Five Fingers, the calluses are still pretty much there, except in two spots on my right foot where they peeled off.

I really enjoy running in the Five Fingers. I’m still trying to decide if it is better for me or not than my “running shoes”. Jury is still out and still making up my mind. But I do think I need to proceed more slowly with this transition.

The Five Fingers are comfortable on my feet, and I don’t have any trouble with adjusting my gait to accomodate the lack of cushioning. You do need to make sure to land mid-foot or forefoot, because you can’t land on your heel without hurting yourself. The Five Fingers actually make my stride seem more effortless and I run faster than I realize in them. After running in the Five Fingers and then switching back to “running shoes” the shoes feel like such boats. I feel like I have less control in them.

Today I did a short 10-minute run in bare feet for a distance of 1 mile. This is really slow for me. I found the sidewalk much rougher than I expected and the asphalt also. I ran on grass for a short bit, and found that delightful. Yesterday I ran about a quarter mile barefoot on the hardpack sand at the beach, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I’ve run barefoot on the beach many times in the past. That doesn’t seem to require a transition for me, at least for short distances of a mile or less.

Well, after today’s short 1-miler barefoot on sidewalk and asphalt, it does look like I have developed a new blister on the second toe of my right foot. Hmm. This is part of the penalty for barefoot running, I think. Maybe I could have gone a shorter distance, but…

Here are some resources for running either barefoot or with Vibram Five Fingers or with a mid-foot strike:

To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes | Wired Science | Wired.com

No shoes? No problem! – The Globe and Mail

Also, check out the book Born To Run by Chris McDougall and the blog and podcast Brandon’s Marathon. Episode 50 of Brandon’s Marathon podcast will be featuring an interview with Chris McDougall and is due out next week.

Also, check out the Barefoot Running forum at RunnersWorld.com forums.

Me on the left & Nina (Twitter friend) on the right at Santa Monica Ocean Swim.

So I bought an xTerra Vortex 3 last Friday, June 26, 2009. And I was eager to try it out. Wanted to make sure it fit properly and was easy to move around and swim in it. So I planned to go to Huntington State Beach on Monday and get in a short ocean swim.

The original plan was to hit the beach before noon, short swim, picnic lunch with Jenny on the beach, play and relaxation time before heading home. Unfortunately, due to a comedy of errors, we didn’t actually get to Huntington until 3 PM. I talked to the Life Guard briefly, put my wetsuit on, and ventured out.

In watching the surf before I suited up, the breakers hadn’t looked too large to me. So about 20 minutes later I was wading into the surf. Life guard had said water temp was 62˚. It didn’t feel cold to me at all, especially with the suit on. Waves still looked ok, and I proceeded out to my chest. I felt the cold water coming through the suit at the zipper on the back. Just interesting, not a problem. Kept going and got out past most of the breakers. But there was one row left to get past, and they seemed pretty big. I was not comfy with it. I decided to go back in and try ocean swimming in my suit another day.

I did feel good about the suit, though. It fit nicely and I was able to move easily in the water. Arms didn’t feel restricted. In fact, while I was trying to get out past the waves, I didn’t even think about the suit at all. I wasn’t even aware of it or that I was wearing it. The waves had my full attention. The suit does feel a bit loose around the lower legs when the water comes in, but I think that is OK. It’s kind of interesting how the suit expands/stretches and adjust on you when it gets wet.

Jenny and I did stay at the beach for another hour just relaxing and playing in the sand, but it was getting cold and windy and unpleasant. So we left a bit after 5 pm and met up with the hubby for dinner. I considered the ocean experience a success, even though I didn’t actually swim. Baby steps. I will just keep at this until I’m comfortable and good at it.

Well, through the magic of Twitter I found a friend who lives in the L.A. area and belongs to the L.A. Tri Club. She convinced me to come out on Wed. morning July 1st for an open water swim at Santa Monica Beach. Wow. I had to get there at 6 am. Left my house just after 5 am for the drive. Was worried about traffic, but I think I got lucky and made it in only 45 minutes. This swim is attended by over 100 members & guests of the L.A. Tri Club. It is a regular weekly event. The surf conditions were pretty decent that morning. Not as calm as ideal, but not too bad.

I really liked being with a group. I stayed towards the back and entered the water after most other people. But it was good to be going in with others. The waves weren’t too high, but still…it gave me confidence to see other people successfully going through the waves. Made me say to myself, “If they can do this, so can I.” So I dove right in, jumped through the waves, and headed out.

The swim we were doing is described as a triangle. There is a buoy 250 meters from the shore which is one point of the triangle. Two cones are placed on the beach about 100 yards apart for the other two points. Start at one cone, swim out on a slant to the buoy, swim from the buoy in to shore to the other cone, then run to the first cone. This completes the circuit. Do one circuit or more.

Well, I was swimming out there, and most of the other swimmers were faster. I was getting left behind. And my goggles were letting water in. So I was fidgeting with them. It seemed like I still had breakers to get over, but I guess not. It was just a decent sized rolling swell. And I couldn’t see the buoy any more. I could follow the other swimmers. But I couldn’t see how far I needed to go…my goal. It seemed so far away. I thought, “Maybe this is enough for today. I can just turn around now and get out.” But when I looked behind me I saw that I was quite far from shore. At least halfway to the buoy for sure. Oh, what the heck. I might as well just finish and swim to the buoy.

So I kept going. Mind you, I hadn’t even really broken in to freestyle yet. I wasn’t very big on putting my face in the water. The goggles weren’t working very well and I was afraid of losing a contact lens. And the water is very salty. Tastes bad. I was dog paddling, breast stroking, side stroking, back stroking. And mostly keeping the head up. I guess I put it down 2 or 3 times on the way out to the buoy, but not for long.

Eventually I saw the buoy and the current had pushed me past it. I thought, “Gosh, I’m not even going to go around the buoy. Bummer.” Then I decided the heck with that, I certainly WAS going to go around the buoy. So I had to swim back and around it. There was a club member treading water out there with a waterproof camera. He said some encouraging things to me and I told him this was my first time swimming out to an ocean buoy. He said it was too bad the conditions weren’t very good. I was kind of surprised. I didn’t think it was that bad.

And around the buoy and back towards shore. I did try freestyle a couple of times, and put my face down in the water briefly. But again, the goggles just weren’t working right for me. I decided backstroke was OK and mostly backstroked it in. Getting in past the breakers wasn’t too hard. Overall a success. I wasn’t panicked during this swim like during my triathlon and I felt like I could possibly do another circuit. But I decided not to. I decided to stop at one this time. Next time I’ll do two.

Afterwards I waited and said good-bye to Nina (my Twitter friend) and her husband and then I did a five mile run along the shore. I went up past the Santa Monica Pier. Last time I was there was when I did the Santa Monica 10K Classic in April 2006.

Anyhow, this whole experience was so positive, and I want to do it again. So I joined the L.A. Tri Club that afternoon. I am planning to attend a number of their training events. I’ve RSVP’d for next Wednesday’s “Ocean 101” and I hope that this Sunday I will go out and do their “Chicken of the Sea” swim. I figure I gotta just keep doing this and the more I do it the more comfortable I’ll become and I’ll get pretty good at it.

Jenny at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas after Wetsuit Purchase

So I’ve been going back and forth over the whole wetsuit thing for a while now. To buy one or not? Finally decided to buy one. Then which one to buy? And how to buy? Or to rent? 

Basically, I plan to do enough tris that rental costs would add up quickly and be more than a purchase price. Plus I want to have the suit available to me for practice and to become comfortable in it. And even though I have a few friends who’ve done a number of tris with no suit, I have so many people encouraging me to get one not just for warmth, but for bouyancy as well, that I decided to go ahead and buy.

Early in June someone on Twitter posted a sale link to xTerraWetsuits. Half price deal on some of their popular, top-of-the-line suits (sale ends June 29, 2009 but it looks like they’ll be having additional promos in July). I was infatuated really with the Vortex 3 full suit. But afraid to order online without trying on.

Me in my New Wetsuit - not the most flattering but...

Friends on Facebook and Twitter encouraged me to go to a local shop and try wetsuits on, rather than order online. So I did go to a local bike shop on Wednesday and try on some wetsuits. Quite an adventure.

Still, enamored with the Vortex 3, I looked on their site and saw they did have walk-in hours at their San Diego location. So an expedition for Friday was planned, to drive down there, try suits on, and if I liked, buy one. There was an investment of time (about 3.5 hours in freeway traffice all told for the day), but got a suit that I like and I know it fits and a good price. I’m happy with the results.

We left the house a bit after 11 am on Friday June 26th  and made it to their offices before 1 pm. They were really helpful and nice. The one thing I regret is that I made a fingernail tear in my new suit just trying it on, and I was incredulous as I was being SOOOO careful. But the employee said it is very easy to make these. I got some instructions and materials for patching it and it is already patched.

We left there at 1:30 pm with a new suit, got gas and headed back north. Jenny was with me, and we stopped at Giovanni’s on the 101 Hwy for lunch  in Encinitas and then spent some time at the beach there before getting back in the car to power the rest of the way home.

Moonlight Beach in Encinitas where we stopped after lunch

Since I’ve written the above I’ve already been to the beach twice with my wetsuit and tried it out. Will have to write about that next…

So today I went to the San Dimas location of Incycle Bikes. I called first to ask if I could come in to try on wetsuits, and they said, “Sure.”

When I walked in I was asked if I needed help by the same guy I’d talked to on the phone. He sized me up visually and decided I should wear an xsmall. Which kind of surprised me, because based on my weight and height I usually seem to be at the top of the size small range, almost into medium, in the sizing charts I checked online. Another lady in the shop, who apparently specializes in wetsuit fitting, agreed strongly that I would need xsmall because the small would have too much room in the arm area because I’m so thin (not really). So they gave me an XS in the Zoot Synergy and directed me to a fitting room to try it on.

I had worn my tri top and shorts, since I figured I should wear what I was most likely to have on under the wetsuit in a real event. Thank goodness, because these wetsuits are so tight there’s really no room for anything else on underneath! They also gave me a plastic bag, like the grocery stores use, to put over my foot and hands as I was pushing them through the legs and sleeves, so that it would slide through more easily. Apparently one would usually apply Body Glide liberally all over before attempting to don a wetsuit. In lieu of Body Glide, use a plastic bag.

Well, I tried my darndest to get that xsmall suit on. I pulled and stretched the legs, trying to get them up my calves, over my knees. I must’ve spent at least 10-15 minutes just trying to get the darn legs on. But it became clear to me after massaging and tweaking and stretching and pulling, that the crotch of that suit was never going to reach my body’s crotch in a million years. The suit-crotch remained steadfastly a good 4 inches below my body-crotch.

In the meantime I’m expecting the guy to return to the dressing room with a size small, as he’d said he would look for one. I also was becoming disappointed thinking they must not have a small or the guy had forgotten about me, since he hadn’t returned to the dressing room yet.

By now I’m also sweating and getting perspiration marks on my top between the boobs and in the small of my back, from wrestling with this darn suit, trying to be good and follow recommendations from those “in the know” and make it get on me like they said it should because they believed it was the right size. Well I finally gave up and went to look for the guy.

He did have another suit for me to try on. The Zoot Fusion in size MSH which he said was Medium Small. OK. I was able to get this one on without near as much wrestling (some). And zipped. I emerged from the dressing room. “Do I get a prize for getting it on?” I asked. So the guy says this fits me much better and is the size I would wear, and is the next size up from the xsmall I had tried on (which was a different style). Their rental rates are $25/day (for 24 hour period) and rental can be applied to purchase price of a new suit. They also sell used ones at the end of the season.

Well, I took the second suit off, it was quite damp inside from my wrestling workout. These things do NOT breathe (as you would expect) and so I couldn’t help but perspire in addition to whatever sweat I’d already worked up from wrestling. So I gave them back to the guy inside out and said, “Uh, they’re a little damp. It’s kind of a workout to get them on.”

Anyhow, he was nice and helpful. However, I look up the sizing chart online and see that actually there is another size in between the xsmall I tried and what I was  finally able to get on. Turns out MSH is really Medium Short, and that there is a Small size in between MSH and XS. Hmmm.

Anyhooo…tomorrow I’m going to drive down to San Diego and see if I can try on in person the Xterra suit that I was ogling at such a decent sale price. Only if I feel 100% totally positive about that suit will I buy it. If I have any doubts, I will pass and do something else. I can still check out suits at some other local Tri shops such as Onetri.com in Santa Ana, and there’s a tri shop in Redondo Beach and one in Irvine. And also wetsuitrentals.com to consider. I guess I don’t have to rush it. Take my time and get something that I know is right and that I’ll be happy with.

You know you’re a triathlete when….