The quinceañera

This past Sunday was the Asics LA Marathon. It was my eighth time running this race and fifteenth marathon overall. It was a whirlwind of a week, facilitating a college planning seminar, coordinating my SRLA team to visit the LA Marathon Expo, meet the marathon elites on Friday morning, and try to figure out where I was going to fit in 14.2 workout from the CrossFit Open. With insane weeks like the last one, I try to stop thinking about how much needs to be done and just do it.

I was relatively happy with the attendance at the college seminar considering not many parents attend evening events. The parents had tons of questions about planning for the future, and I love being a part of it. I love sharing information with them and helping parents navigate the complicated system of college planning. I don't really love spending the evening at work instead of at the gym, but I am willing to compromise for something as important as college planning. 

The whirlwind week kept me busy from thinking about the marathon and what was to come in the next workout for the Open. I made plans to complete the workout on Thursday, whatever was in store for the workout. The workouts are released on Thursday at 5pm and we have until Monday at 5pm to complete the workout. There was no way that I would have the energy to complete the WOD on Monday and I wasn't about to put any weight over my head on Saturday. My only shot was on Thursday. When I watched the announcement on my phone while I was at the last SRLA practice with my runners, I started to freak out. Overhead Squats at 65# and Chest to Bar pullups. Two movements that I have not yet conquered but have come close!

I haven't worked on OHS since December and I just recently started working on pull ups without a resistance band. I messaged my coach and he talked me down from my panic attack and made me feel confident in my abilities and reminded me that I was running a marathon on Sunday, and that should be my focus.

I ended up hitting 10 squats, more than I have ever done at that weight. Plus, I was so close at getting a chest to bar pull up for the first time, ever. With practice, I think I'll get it pretty soon. It is amazing what registering for the Open has done for me. I have hit more goals in the last two weeks than in the 8 months of training CrossFit.

Friday, my runners had the rare opportunity to meet the elite runners, running the LA Marathon. We were chosen last year for this event, too. I'm convinced that it's because I am active on social media and I would tweet and post about the event. I did. We cheered, they jogged and got autographs from their role models. The morning in the park was relaxing and it was a great way to spend the time with a few of my runners.





In the afternoon, the team boarded a school bus and traveled to the Expo to pick up our t-shirts, bibs and other goodies. I have tried to make it a point to give the high school runners the complete experience of training for a marathon. The expo is part of the experience. We even went to "carbo-load" together at Souplantation.



I ended the day with a a hot tub soak and good conversation with my friend Missy. I didn't have to think about the marathon because I was so busy on Friday. I didn't think about running 26.2 miles much, even though everything that I did on Friday revolved around the marathon.



Not so much on Saturday. I couldn't stop thinking about the race, strategizing about the course, thinking about my pace, wondering how I was going to keep cool since Saturday was already warm. I was a mess. By the afternoon, I started to drink some herbal tea to calm my nerves. Even though everyone kept telling me that I got this and that I'm a pro at this stuff, I still get nervous. I still can't sleep. I still worry about getting hurt. I am still a basket case. 

Everything on Sunday morning went well. All of our students arrived to the school on time and the bus departed the school with plenty of time. We got to the starting line at Dodger Stadium with plenty of time to hit the pre-race food before they ran out and to use the toilets before the lines started to form. Then we waited. Stretched. Started. The race felt great. I was in good spirits and thought that I could go faster than usual. So I did for 20 miles of the race. I met Missy near mile 20 and she sprayed me down with a water bottle she brought with her. I was really starting to feel the 80 degree heat at that time. I needed to keep my body temperature down.



More than the water, the spirit and support she gave really helped to push me even through the heat. Another spectator was giving out ice that I gratefully took and shoved in my cap to keep my head cool. I let some ice melt in my hand while I ran. I remembered to keep my extremities cool so that my body temperature would stay down; I had this race in the bag! 

I was so excited to finish the race way past my anticipated finish time...until unbearable pain struck my calf. Both calves actually. It felt like daggers to my legs! Talk about frustrating.  I hobbled into the finish line, found the medic, got ice and walked to meet the rest of SRLA at Santa Monica High School. It took me nearly 40 minutes to walk the mile back. I thought that I did something terrible to my legs. When I finally found the SRLA doctor, she asked me a ton of questions about the pain, she started to massage my calves and explained that it was only a cramp and nothing serious. If I wasn't crying in pain from her massage, I would have told her that it was serious enough for me to slow down during the run! Since I changed my birthday on Facebook to March 9th like I said that I would, I had several people wishing me well, which really boosted my spirits before my phone died. 

I didn't PR this race, but I didn't feel as bad as I did during the Long Beach race. It was a finish. That was all that I was happy with on Sunday. Now to get ready for this week's 14.3 workout and marathon #16 (sometime in the near future). 

Double Unders and Bison Balls

Last year, I accomplished my marathon goal of breaking five hours, three times.  I thought about adding more speed work training to the marathon work so that I could run a faster marathon, but I seem to be happy with where I am, training wise. I am going into my fifteenth marathon in exactly one week from today. I did change up some of my training by adding more weights and strength speed work on top of my regular running.  I am a wreck about it. I can't stop wondering whether I put in enough miles or if I trained hard enough. In the last few months, I drastically cut back in running and in making attempts to lift more weight at the CrossFit box. I suffered a hamstring strain and my masseuse told me that my muscles needed a rest, so I took some.



In the last month, I finally accomplished kipping pull ups without the aid of a resistance band. I am still slow at them, but after eight months of working, I did it. I even completed the benchmark girls workout "Fran" without assistance (or as we call it, RX). I finished in 12 minutes and 47 seconds and I couldn't have been more proud of myself.  That score will most certainly will not make it to the CrossFit Games like the woman in the video, but it will make into my PR notebook and for now, that's good enough.



For those of you that recall, one of the first benchmark workouts that I completed was Fran, with a 25 pound barbell and jumping pull ups. As scaled back as one could possibly be. At that time, it was humbling, considering that I had completed multiple marathons before stepping foot in a gym and "thought" I was pretty strong.



Completing Fran RX alongside another box mate that also "RX'ed" was a huge confidence booster....that is until the first workout was posted for the CrossFit Games: 14.1.



Our task: AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) 30 Double Unders and 15 Snatches.  My two nemesis because they are two very technical movements that I could get better with practicing the technique every day.  




I'd rather go for a run. 



There are plenty of movements that I have yet to grasp in CrossFit.  Double Unders seem to be the most challenging of the "easy" stuff. In 10 minutes, I completed 118 reps and had plenty of reminders on my arm to show me that I still don't know how to do a proper double under with the jump rope.  Those whiplashes are still sore, two days later.



I was both proud of and embarrassed with myself.

Other people on our team wanted to redo the workout to see if they could get a better score, or more reps completed. I thought about it, and despite the energy and positive encouragement from my box mates, chose otherwise.



I posted my score online and earned another heaping slice of humble pie and a reality check on where I am in the context of the CrossFit world with regards to double-unders and snatching:

...and that's not everyone reporting their scores yet.



Taking this as a metaphor, I see that there will be plenty of things in my life that I can do better by working on technique, and it will come with time and practice. This challenge of signing up for the Open will teach me about how to have patience with myself and my abilities. And maybe in future WOD's, kick ass, too.



Today, I made bison balls, thanks to my good friends at the Honest Bison.



I was having Carolyn come over for a quick visit and I had just thawed my ground bison and wondered what I could do with it without simply making burgers. Balls! In honor or one of my favorite movements in CrossFit: WALL BALLS!



Bison Balls (not paleo): 

1 lb ground bison (of course from the Honest Bison)

2 eggs, whipped

1 cup bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic minced

1/3 cup chives, finely chopped

1 tbsp oregano

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese



Mixed well (with your hands) until everything is well blended. Create small balls, roll them in your hand until they are nice and round. Make sure they are as tightly packed as possible



Heat a pan (Medium heat) of EVOO and place them in the pan, let them brown and rotate them to get all "sides" brown. Remove when all sides are brown.



I added a tzatziki sauce to them, thanks to a box mate that has found many paleo recipes:



3/4 cup coconut milk yogurt

1tbsp fresh lemon juice

1tbsp fresh dill

1tsp fresh mint (I added waaaay more than she did)

1 minced clove garlic (I added 2)

1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp salt



Mix it all in a food processor/blender/whatever you have to mix it all well.  The color may be a bit off since the recipe calls for coconut milk yogurt and it's a bit more transparent than traditional Greek yogurt, but it is freakin' tasty-paleo tasty!!



The mac and cheese is from a recipe previously posted.



I may not be great at mastering double unders quite yet, but I can still throw down in the kitchen.  Baby steps.

Jesus Year

I thought I would be excited when I finally looked into the mirror after 33 years to see a few wrinkles. I have been looking forward to the time where I sorta look older than the teenager that I have looked like my whole adult life.



But when I saw myself in the mirror today, I just looked exhausted. I don't have crows feet, but the furrow between my eyebrows is nice and chiseled, just like everyone said would hapen. My forehead has a nice fault line through it from too much raised eyebrows. Those "wrinkles" look more for someone either always angry or constantly thinking about...whatever.



So much for wishful thinking.

People keep telling me that I'm going to be happy when I get older that I look so young. I've been hearing that phrase since I turned 21 and even when I fake getting happy for getting carded and am very "flattered" when I get carded at bars (or to get into rated R movies), I still think it's super annoying and wish that I looked a little older. Still waiting for the time when I am thankful for looking younger! The grass is always greener on the other side, I guess.



Another thing that I noticed especially this week: I find myself "needing" my sunglasses so much more often, not because they are cool, but because everything seems so freaking bright now. Seriously, who turned up the light in the world? I have a difficult time staring at my computer screen for long periods of time. I used to be able to program classes all day and go home feeling slightly weird and needing a break from any kind of monitor. Now, I go an hour on my blue screen and then need a break.



My body requires much more prep work before heading in to hard core workouts or training sessions. I have this false assumption that I think I can sprint like I did in high school (or jump like I once did).



I learned that lesson the hard way as I winced away during a sprinting warm up two weeks ago with a strained hamstring. My knees used to hurt when I weighed more, but thanks to poor form on a lift earlier in the month, I had a week long of pain in my knee while running, or what many call "Runners Knee." Foam roller, ibuprofin, marathon stick, and stretching have become very important to me, much more important than I previously put attention on.

Don't get me wrong, I will never make excuses for where I am in my fitness. I think I am much more fit now than I ever have been in my life. I may have been fast in high school, but I was super lazy and burned out from 13 years of competition. Now, I at least love going to the box and lifting weights. I love going out to run with my kiddos on Sunday morning and I love waking up early to walk/jog with my dogs.

Three weeks ago, I was super excited to see what 2014 had in store for me, it is both the year of the horse (on the Chinese calendar) and my Jesus year. This means that I "should" be making unremitting efforts to improve myself this year and perform a "miracle" in some way. I was super motivated, and then I caught a snag in training with a strained hamstring, then caught a nasty flu that knocked me into bed for three straight days. Talk about putting everything on hold. So tomorrow, on my birthday, I'll be heading to my first wod in two weeks. I am looking forward to working out and making more gains in my fitness this year, eventually and progressively throughout the year.



Yes, I did mention that it is my birthday. I used to get super excited about celebrating another year of life. Now, celebrating at this time of year just feels wrong considering last week was the anniversary of my niece passing. I haven't wanted to celebrate or even care to acknowledge anything exciting this week, knowing that it's not a very happy time. Plus on a completely different argument, what is the excitement of living another year? I didn't break a record today nor did anything spectacular happen. I was just born today many moons ago. And I'm alive.

I am tempted to just tell people that my birthday is on the day of the LA Marathon and it would give them more of an incentive to go out and watch me run. This day will also give people a reason to actually cheer for me when I need it most during the year. Yea, maybe that's what I'll do.

I signed up for a pretty awesome delivery service from Nature Box. I initially thought that $20 for snacks was expensive and unnecessary. While it is pricey, especially for those on a limited income, this first box has some pretty tasty (and healthy) snacks. I love that there are few ingredients in each bag of snacks and there is a variety to choose from. On the website, I can check off if I have food preferences and limitations (which they would help modify what is delivered to me). I got $10 off the first box, thanks to a coupon I found online so the first order only cost me $10.

 The other thing I wanted to point out is that while we may be able to get snacks that are less expensive at the grocery store, we don't always know what goes into the process of making the snacks and I often cannot read the ingredients (because I'm not a chemist and I can't read some of these chemicals listed). I feel more comfortable knowing what I am putting into my body, even if it is a bit more expensive.

Well, here I go....into year 33....positive thoughts can commence!