Trickle trickle

A few more donations have come in.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Thanks to you also who are unable to contribute but have sent me a personal note anyway.  Those are always appreciated.

I still have a few more efforts on that front to do.  Corporate donations, hit up my Linked-In friends, and fill in the gaps of bad emails addresses.  If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Tapering...

Who said anything about tapering?  So NOT exercising has been harder than exercising.  Case in point, my 45 minute run on  Thursday, while only 30 minutes on foot, turned into an hour long BRICK.  Since my previous bike/run was interrupted, I decided to try again.  This time 30 minutes each, and each with a pretty decent effort.  Again, no jello legs.  So I was pretty please.

I have slacked on the swimming lately, which is partially due to the congesting I'm having.  I wouldn't say I have a full blown cold after all though.

Today I have a 5 mile run planned, and hopefully a leisurely biek ride tomorrow.

And this coming week... I will work very hard... on NOT working hard.

Updates

A few small updates.  I'm catching a cold.  I've run through them before, so as long as it doesn't turn into something worse I should be okay.  But it's not the best timing since the Half Marathon is less than two weeks away.  I'm excited that my friend Gerry is also running the race.  Also, it will be the first race that my girls will be there to see e.

The jersey's are in production now.  So they should arrive soon. Crossing my fingers that they arrive in time for the Half, but they are not actually expected until after that--but at least well before the Tri.

And then finally, I've also started my fundraising in earnest now.  I started off with a few close friends and family, but have now opened that up to just about everyone.  I still have my work colleagues to hit up, but that's a bit more complicated because of the matching donations.  So that will come after a bit more research.

I'm off to take my vitamins!

Long, Long, Long

Today was my last long run--17 miles--before the Half Marathon in two weeks.  In fact, it's the longest I've run in over a decade.  And the longest I have to do until at least September.

It was okay--almost didn't happen.  It's been raining all week, and this was the first break long enough to go outside.  As a result though, it was a bit sticky.  And I had missed a run due to the rain, sick kid, and work stuff--so I was feeling a bit creaky and it took me a long time to get in a zone.  In the end, it didn't feel great, but it's done.  A lot better than my crap swim yesterday.  Also, no new blisters.  I'll be sore tomorrow (heck, I'm a bit sore now).

There were a few interesting parts to the run.  I had to do an extra loop in the park to make the mileage I needed.  The trip out to the zoo is no longer long enough (14 miles).  I took the extra time in the west end of the Park, which I like much better than the other half.  More lakes--lots fewer people.  Also got to run by the Bison three times as a result, and they were right up in front one of the times--I've never seen that.  Also cool, was that because of the storms and standing water, the Great Highway was closed in large sections.  Lots of people were taking advantage of it and biking and running right on the highway.  And speaking of standing water, there was a new "lake" in the Park.  Marx Meadow had flooded so badly that it was basically a new pond.  I saw kids walking into it in their rain boots and it coming almost to the top of their boots.

Anyway, now it's time to taper.  No long and no hard runs until the race.  I've learned my lesson this week though--four days to too long to go between runs.

Downs and Ups

I've lost another teammate, so we're down to just 3 racers.  I am putting in the jersey order today though, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Also, I got my first donation!  Let's hope that prime's the pot and more are on their way.

First saddle time in a while

I'm trying to stay focussed on the Half Marathon, but I've been sneaking in some cross-training.  Today I had a nice 15 mile ride.  Took some time to practice transition T1 and T2 work--need more practice there.

Speaking of the Half, I did my last speed work yesterday, 10.5 miles at race pace.  With that pace I should come in around 1:40, which is 5 minutes faster than my goal, and 20 faster than my last Half Marathon in October.  And, it puts me on pace for a 3:20 Marathon...which would be an entire hour faster than my Big Sur Marathon 10 years ago.  There must be something to that adage about getting better at endurance the older you get.

Let the money roll in ;)

I've sent my first official requests for donations.  I have to tell you this feels so awkward to me. I never really participated in most of the school fund raising efforts, selling magazines for schools trips, etc. as a kid.  With one exception--I was required to go along with an effort for the marching band in high school.  I think it was called Tag Day(??).  On the hottest day of the year , we all had to get dressed up in our marching uniforms, and go around the neighborhoods of Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax Virginia, and go door to door begging for money.  Wool uniforms in August--torture!  It was truly one of the most humiliating experiences I've ever had to do.

My only justification, is that I am connected to this cause.  I know these people--they are good friends of mine.  And I just can't say enough about what they've gone through and the heartbreak of losing their daughter.  This is my way of contributing.

Team--

My team took a hit yesterday.  Sadly my Wood friends made a major change in their lives (bought a new house) and that has thrown their plans to compete off track.  Good luck to them on the new house.  We'll try to move on without them. :)

BRICK

I'm still really focussed on the upcoming Half Marathon, but I've been getting a little itchy.  Hence the swim yesterday, and the BRICK workout today.  This is another first, I'd never done a formal Bike/Run workout.  My bike got cut short because they wanted to clean the room (spinning bike at the Y)--but I still got enough in and had a good run afterwards.  I'll do more of these, but probably not for a while.

I swam a mile!

I have never doe this before.  This is about 4 times longer than I have ever swam, and 4 times longer than my race.  Having a lane to yourself makes a huge difference. Basically after a few laps, I just zoned out and 45 laters I was done.  Yep, awfully slow.  Anyway, now that I can do the distance, I still have to work on speed, and open-water.

Other Races

In addition to the Vineman Sprint Tri, I actually have a few more races planned for the year.  I'm being ambitious and have not only planned my first triathlon ever, but am jumping up a league and have an Olympic distance event planned next.  In the meantime, I've got my second Half Marathon coming up in 4 weeks--I'm considering it a training event for the tri.  I also hope to come in around 1:45, which would beat my previous best of 1:59 last October.  Then this October, I plan on repeating the Healdsburg Half.


Feb 7
Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon

Apr 17
Vineman Sprint Triathlon

July 10
San Francisco Olympic Triathlon at Treasure Island

Oct 30
Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon

Vineman

I am doing my first triathlon on April 17, 2010, the Vineman Showdown


Originally it was just an opportunity to try something new.  But when my friend CJ was diagnosed with a brain tumor, it became an opportunity do something for her.  You can read more about her story at CJSTUF.ORG.


I am now recruiting friends to do the Tri with me.  We'll race as Team CJ, and I will be raising money for CJ's Thumbs Up Foundation.  I'll be posting updates on fundraising efforts and my training.


So far, these people have committed to the race:



Jenny Pretare Wood
Philip Wood
Tim Pollard
Laurie Matheson
Victoria Ramirez

I have also created some triathlon jerseys for the team, that should look like this:

For anyone that wants to donate or join the team, please let me know.


James Staudte