Disneyland Half Marathon

Disneyland! Sunday morning I crawled out of bed at 4am to run the Disneyland Half with my cousin Jimmy and friend Linh. I dressed up as Tink and Linh was Snow White. Jimmy was amused but did not feel left out. Haha. Except for having to wake up crazy early the race was probably the most fun you could have while running 13 miles. The first 3 miles were through Disney and California Adventures. It was my first time there so it was pretty magical. There is nothing like it. I can't describe it, you kind of have to be there.

I tried to get as many photos with characters as possible, without having to wait to long or waste too much time. I got a picture with Hook, but didn't see my fav princess, Ariel. Oh well next time maybe. I wish the run hadn't been so crowded. 27,000 people did the run. But I guess that's what you get when you want to run inside the most magical place on Earth.

I thought I would hang up my running shoes after this, but maybe not. I feel pretty ok today and it was a pretty cool run. Who knows, I guess I won't rule out the idea if it comes up again. But no more full marathons. Hellz to the no.

Du the Bear Duathlon

Sunday was my first try at a real USAT (USA Triathlon) race. It was a duathlon held at bear creek park (2 mile run - 10 mile bike - 2 mile run). Not a charity ride where I can go slow or fast at my own leisure. I needed to try to go fast all the time, and I needed to pace myself so that I could finish the whole thing. It was a beautiful day, no wind and about 65 degrees the whole morning.

Results:
Run 1 - 17:20 for a 8:40 mile
T1 - 1:18
Bike - 34:07 for a 17.6 mph pace
T2 - 1:17
Run 2 - 18:00 for a 9:00 mile

Overall I had about a time of 1:12:03.
I ranked 184 overall and 2nd in the 20-24yr age group.

Better than I expected, so I feel good.

The runs were the hard part. I never really practiced going as fast as I could for 2 miles. I am not really a runner, but of course that is where the half of my race was so I should have practiced and maybe my time would have been a little better. During the second run I just had chest pain and heavy breathing the whole way. But then the sprint finish was like cake. I guess I didn't push myself enough?

I was really fortunate on the ride. There was hardly any wind so I got a great ride time. My calves started to cramp up within the last 2 miles, which has never happened to me before. I was kind of scared they would totally cramp and I wouldn't be able to finish but getting off the bike helped.

I realize better now that my pedal stroke is uneven because now my right butt cheek and my left quad are sore. But nothing else. haha.

Can't wait til the next race. Gotta start swimming so I can do a tri!

New Feet!

I caved. I've been wanting these shoes for a long time. They were sold out almost everywhere (of the color I wanted anyway) since June or July. Then the manager at Fleet Feet Rice Village called me and said we got a shipment. And all of a sudden I was walking out of the store in them. haha.

Why? I hate shoes. I don't wear shoes in the house. I love flip flops. I only own shoes for protection from falling objects and the cold. Oh and for looking pretty, but that's a girl thing.

I'm really happy this barefooting phenomenon is taking over. I remember hanging out at my friend's apartment one day and running barefoot on her treadmill. It felt great! I felt like I could run forever. Now I can be practically barefoot everywhere I go. The floor does not have to be devoid of rocks and rough things. I am liberated!

So I've been able to run a little in them and use them for general every day walking. At the end of the day my toes will be tired and my hip will start to hurt, but my knees have been generally fine. I am pleasantly surprised. Maybe my knees will get better in general.

13.1 + 27 = TIRED

This morning I got up at 430am to go run Angie's Half Crazy. grumble. WHY did I sign up for a race that starts at 7am that is an hrs drive away? Never again. Well, probably again sometime, but next time I will convince other people to go with me. It would have been more fun that way.

Anyway, I am proud to say that I was able to run the whole time! Save for a few Gatorade stops. Before today I'd never run more than 3 miles without walking. I think it was easy this time because there were so many people around me and I could pace with them which helped A LOT.

So my run was like this:

Mile 2 - agh I want to be done already! why did I sign up for this?
Mile 4 - ok time to pop in the music and clear my head.
Mile 6 - hey I think I actually like running, this is pretty cool
Mile 8 - knee painnnnn, running sucks!
Mile 9 - Hip pain, aaarggg
Mile 10 - OK! only 5k more to go!
Mile 12 - where is the finish!? I want to finish! go body go!
Mile 13.1 - yay! where's the food?

I haven't seen the results, but I think I finished around 2hrs and 17 mins. Slow but steady.

After that I came home, ate lots of pasta and called up Phillip to go riding. I didn't get any real time to be on my bike yesterday cause of the rain and other things I had to do. So I really wanted to get in some time to figure out what needed to be adjusted before the MS150. I went about 27 miles at a 13mph avg pace. Now I'm tired as hell. and my butt is sore.

Need to adjust my cleats, and the arch is slightly off and is getting to me. also need a shorter stem. being on the bars is good, but being in the hoods is a reach.

Workout Log

After work went to Memorial park and got in 6 miles at a slow pace. Hopefully the half won't be too painful. my new kicks are amazing! My feet were totally fine after the run and I had minimal join pain. YES. completely worth it. Thanks Nike.

Pick Up the Pace

Trying to get ready for my half marathon on the 11th, so today after work I went to Memorial Park to attempt 9 miles. Kind of ambitious, since I've only been working out on the weekends and only 3 miles at a time. So I left myself room for walking and essentially took my time. 1hr and 50mins total. Pretty slow for 9 miles, but atleast it gave me a good idea of what it's like to run/be on my feet for longer than 30 mins. By then of it, my feet were in pain. I have been using my loud purple and yellow cross trainers. They are really light and were really cheap when I got them, but crap I won't be able to run 13 miles on pavement in those. I would have blisters starting at mile 3. By the 7th mile I was already feeling every rock on that path. Ouchies.


So I think a trip to Luke's Locker is in order today. I had been wanting to get a nice pair of running shoes because I typically have knee problems but was putting it off cause they are expensive. But you know they say to spend money on your shoe and your mattress cause you spend the all day in those.

On another note, got my Accenture BP MS150 Team jersey today!

I'm getting excited for this. I'm ready. Training has been fun and totally worth it. Now all I need is my bike.

Sunday Runs with Janice - Memorial Park

JPai and I have done a pretty good job keeping up with our weekly Sunday morning runs. I think it deserves it's own post now along side my Conocophillips posts. Also what's cool is we try a new trail every Sunday. This week was Memorial Park. We had planned to go to the back trails where mountain bikers go, but the Houston Bayou Art Festival was going on so we just kept to the 3 mile loop. I ended up doing 4 miles cause we got separated in parking. I feel ok now. Just during sucks. Not sure how I'm gonna handle the Half Marathon on April 11th. rawr. I gotta kick up the training this week.

Tour de Houston

This morning's weather proved to be cold as ass and quite windy, so I decided to go for the 40 mile route instead of braving the 70 miler. That is a decision I am quite happy with. Picked up Teresa, and we made our way over to City Hall for the start. The first 24 miles were COLD and WINDY. Pushed us back pretty easily and on top of that we had multiple stops for traffic lights, so we couldn't use our momentum at those points. Drafted Andy at some points. That helped. Overall the wind made for a pretty tiring ride, but an awesome tailwind on the way home. Fell over at one of the lights on my elbow. No scrapes, maybe a bruise.

Didn't really keep track of time and forgot to reset my bike computer so there's no knowing what my average was. Oh well. It was cool riding through downtown and San Felipe. Wish it would have been warmer, less windy, and on a new bike. But what can you do? Just take what the world gives you, get angry and then get even.

Afterward I ate some pasta and went running at Terry Hershey with JPai. It was a good change from riding TH, and hoofing up those hills instead of flat running was different. Probably did 2-2.5 miles? No anger there. Just really tired.

Workout Log

3 miles around Hermann Park w/ J-pai. Lots of new things to see there, check it out.





On a mental note, I felt like I lost my will to run as I have been lazy about running during the week. Also during our run this morn, I felt kind of bleh and wondered if signing up for the Half Marathon in April was a mistake. But I mentioned Terry Hershey Park being 13 miles and Janice was like "That's like a half marathon, we can do that!" And immediately, I thought...Hey! We totally can! After a few mins I came to and said, maybe we can try 4 miles next week instead of 13...haha...but I have to say I think her initiative and optimism brought me back to where I should mentally be.

Thanks, J-pai.

Workout Log

Went for a run today with J.Pai at the Rice outer loop. Good run. 33mins. Previous to, I had Ramen noodles for lunch and I felt pretty ok during the run. Ha. You can't always eat healthy. Happiness is just as important. That is why cookies were invented.

After hung out with little bro and then went to the gym for some weight lifting and resistance training.

Good Weekend

For those of you that keep up with my blog, yes I did post date the last three posts. I have been pretty busy this weekend so I didn't have time to write until now. If you don't feel like reading them, don't worry. I really like having this blog cause it helps me keep track of my progress and thoughts; I don't expect people to read it, though it makes me feel good to know people enjoy my writing. Anyway, to save you time I can give you a quick run down of my workout weekend through short phrases and adjectives.

Here we go.

Friday
Ran. 2 miles.
Banana.
Good.

Saturday
Hip Hop Class. Awesome.
Banana.
Ran 6 miles. Paced slow.
Abs hurt. =(
Apple.
Pasta lunch.
Pasta dinner.

Sunday
Oatmeal.
ConocoPhillips Training ride. 37 miles.
Fig newtons, regular pretzels, animal crackers and peanut butter filled pretzels. Yum.
Fish and bread lunch.
Tired. Nap. Yay.

Hip to the Hop

So I planned to do the 5k Rodeo Run this morn, but I flaked out cause I didn't want to pay and felt that I would be too out of shape since I hadn't worked out much this whole month. Plus I've never actually done a full 5k without stopping to walk, and I didn't want to look like a wuss in front of 13,000 Houstonians.

Instead I decided to take the one free Saturday morning and go to the Houston Metropolitan Dance company and take this Hip-Hop class I've been dying to try. Thanks to Alec for recommending the MET. The instructor was hilarious. He was an effeminate man with a small lisp and a get-it-done-and-have-fun attitude. It made the class all the more fun. At the beginning we did this intense core workout, so now it hurts to sneeze. And he did go really fast so that was good in that I think it makes the class challenging, but I didn't have time to perfect the steps. Plus everyone was pretty much focused on themselves and trying to get it right so you didn't really have to worry about looking like a fool cause no one was paying attention. Once these ConocoPhillips Training rides end, I'll have to go back...because hip hop is awesome. Then maybe one day I'll be able to do this. Haha.
After that I made my way to Rice and ran the outer loop. 32.06 minutes. No stopping. woohoo. I actually paced myself. haha. This is good I think it will help me in my overall ability to pace. I made sure to leave energy cause I wanted to run the steps in the football stadium to get a good quad workout. No dice. Some guy kicked me out, so I just ran another loop. This time I ran it the way I like to, which is GO FAST for about 300 meters or so then walk until I feel better, then GO AGAIN. Horrible way to run, I know but I think it came from the way I bike - cause it's easy to coast on a bike. You don't always have to be pedaling. Anyway, I'm breaking the habit so yay.

Reset

So after I wrote that post, I think I got out some of those lingering emotions, tried to put aside the sad and decided to get off the slump. I started by going to HEB and buying myself some fresh fruit and other healthy snacks. Yay. For some reason a walk through the grocery store always relaxes and refreshes me. And buying food adds to the fun.

The next day I got to get out of work early, so I took the time to go workout at the gym. While there they convinced me to take advantage of the deal they were having. Awesome, cause I cut my monthly payment in half. Had to sign up for another yr, but I think it's worth it cause I don't see myself not going to the gym. It's great for their classes, and it's a good for when the weather is ugly or cold. Plus I have the nationwide deal and Bally's has pretty good coverage in all the major cities.

Had a good workout with my new Sansa Clip. That music really did make my time on the treadmill go fast. Logged 2 miles and then just jumped from machine to machine.

Good start to a good weekend.

Memorial Park Runs

Last week Sajida, Asha and I started doing the 3 mile loop at Memorial park, which has been great because you feel so accomplished after running a real 3 miles and not on some random treadmill. Anyway, last week my running mates were still getting started so we'd do 3 miles in about 50 mins and then some random abs stuff and I would go for another round. I seem to average 35 mins one round.

Today I did about 4 miles. 1 mile while waiting for Asha and then we did 3 miles in about 40 mins. Pretty good, she bumped up her pace by 10 mins in one week.

Will try to go out tomorrow, but I don't think I can manage running, LIFE and a trip to REI all in one night so I will have to decide which things to do.

Snowboarding soon! I need to pack.