The plan....finally

I got this card today from a friend. It isn't my birthday which made it really weird, but my friend apparently has ESP and knows that I am still sick with a stomach bug and that this day may come sooner rather than later. Preferably not at work.



One of my goals this year was to have a plan, and I finally sort of do. I figure if I have until April to pay my 2008 taxes, I have until the end of March to come up with my 2009 plan. It is kind of weird to be planning out an entire season of running races for someone who is not really a runner, but here goes:

Houston Half Marathon - 1/18/09
Houston Med Center 5K - 1/31/09
Diamond Head 8K - 2/8/09
Great Aloha Run - 2/16/09
Memorial 5K - 4/4/09
Radio Center 10K (Mexico City) - 4/26/09
Contra el Cancer 10K - 5/24/09
Sport City 10K - 5/31/09
Bosque de Tlalpan 21K - 6/21/09
Chapultepec Park 10Mile (16.1K) - 7/19/09
San Diego Half Marathon (TBD) - 8/16/09
Mexico City Half Marathon - 8/23/09
NYRR Half Marathon Grand Prix (TBD)- 9/13/09
Nike Run Mexico City 10K - 10/25/09
Houston Turkey Trot 10K - Thanksgiving Day

My goal was to have at least 6 10Kish distances, 4 half marathons, and a marathon, and all that is left is a marathon. If I can make it for the NYC marathon, I will be doing that on November 1st. If I cant my other optiions are: Chicago Marathon (10/11) and the San Antonio Marathon (11/15). Why San Antonio? Because it is at the right time, close to Mexico City, sea level, and I can make a trip back home to Houston on the way. If I do Chicago I still may do the San Antonio half.

Additions that may come are a race in Calgary because I am heading there in July for the stampede (I have to see what a Canadian rodeo has on a Texas one) and I may try and find a race there, if the boyfriend will allow. I also am going to Hawaii for two weeks in May and will do any race that is going on. I hope there is a triathlon and that my week of surfing next week will count as swim training and twice weekly spinning sessions will count as bike training. And I am hoping to run a half marathon with my brother in NYC. Other than that there may be a few 5Ks or 10Ks added here and there depending on what is going on when and where I have to travel for work. Let me know thoughts! Now all I need is a training plan.

Another Obsession

So I have spoke many times about my Zoots obsession, and even though shoes make an outfit, I am also obsessed with Lululemon. If you have looked at race pictures in the past or ever seen me out running, I am head to toe in Lululemon and Zoots. When my sister-in-law and her friends introduced me to their pants about 6 years ago I was hooked. So needless to say one of the things I am most looking forward to next week on the trip home (other than seeing friends and family) is the fact that Honolulu and Houston each have one of these stores:


I get to hit it twice (or maybe three times) in Houston and Honolulu to stock up on all of the newest clothes. And seriously, I get so jealous when I read about all the new things so many of you are wearing that I can barely stand it. If any of you ever get free swag that doesnt fit, you can always send it my way! Every time I am in Houston I beg them to open up a store in Mexico City, but apparently I am not that good of a beggar because they still havent opened one here, which actually is really good on the pocketbook. Chris has even looked into franchising, but they dont do that anymore either so we are stuck with the few trips home that we have to stock up. My mom thinks I am crazy to go there every time I visit, but I have to remind her that you have to look good while exercising, and Lululemon's clothes do the trick. And even though I am on vacation next week and dont usually like to get up early on my days off, I noticed that Lululemon has a runnign group now that I may try and meet up with when I am in town. Sorry to the family who is looking for pictures on this blog - I ran out of battery juice and keep forgetting to charge it. I will do that soon and start posting some more pics. Most likely of me modeling my new gear.

God has a sense of humor

He was listening the other day when I told Chris that it would be nice to lose a couple of lbs before the race next weekend. I do NOT think I am fat, but it is always easier to run with a little less weight. Anyway, come Friday late (around 3AM) I got a stomach bug and spent the next 24 hours in bed. Which happened to be the last 24 hours that Chris was here. At least I get to see him in a week. This means no run today, no training until I can eat again (which I havent been able to do successfully since Friday night) and no getting to far away from a bathroom for extended periods of time. I am drinking lots of fluids so I dont get too dehydrated, but they dont stay in for very long (TMI I know).
in other news I am headed out to put a deposit down on new big apt here. Hopefully everything works out this time and we actually get the place.

Not really a training post

This past Saturday Chris came in town for his first ever trip to Mexico City. I figured he needed to see it before he actually moved here, and so far he loves it. Especially the food. Chris loves tacos, so every meal has pretty much been trying out a new taco. Here are some chicken tacos from last night - I think he took down 7after having already eaten 6 at lunch.



Here we are at Saturday's comida - he had just gotten off the plane and is about three margaritas in. Lunch lasted until about 10PM.

And here are our friends - Erica is my spinning/girl date friend. Her fiance is in the US and so we have lots in common. That is not her fiance though - Tiago was a stand in at lunch.

Hopefully those photos will satisfy my family who keep asking me to post more photos. Now onto the training. Not much has been going on in the running front since Chris has been here and we have had lots to do, but tonight I have a speed workout and spinning class so i am back at it. I also found this great website that has all the running races in Mexico City. I am doing a 10K next weekend (my first ever at altitude). Then the following week I have a run till you puke 4 miler in Houston. It is literally 4 blocks from my mom's house so I can wake up and walk over - I love those races! After that I may actually try to put together a racing plan for 2009 instead of finding races on random websites and signing up for them a week before. Maybe in one of my future posts there will be a plan or at least an attempt at a plan.
Also, I am heading to Hawaii in a week and if I can get the airline to allow me to bring it to Mexico, my tri bike is coming back with me!

I'm debating.....

I have been on active.com three times and filled out all of the information, but never pulled the trigger. It is a lot of money when I still havent really found anywhere to train other than run in the city. But at the same time, it is a year away and I am sure by then I will have found what i need to. There is also an ironman Cancun that I have been thinking about, but Utah seems more fun.

A new feeling

Last night I went to spinning again and had a new word that was repeated over and over again - venga venga! apparently I wasnt going fast enough. Which was true. My friend and I did the lazy spinning last night that most of you dont ever do. We pretended to be working hard but really the resistance was low. And the teacher knew it, so he kept yelling at us to go faster. There were reasons for this - she was sick and i had just completed a sick running workout. I did 5 mile repeats at 7 min pace with a 400 jog in between. Now I know for you runners out there, this is your E pace, but this was a first for me. And for the first time in a long time, my muscles are sore. I was so excited after I ran up and told my mom (who is still visiting me) what I did. Her response? "finally you are back, i am starving and have been waiting forever for you to finish"
So now i have a goal in mind for the 4 mile race I am doing. I want to break 30 minutes. It is a totally new feeling to actually be able to post mile times that I havent done since highschool. I guess that is what happens when you cut out swimming and biking. Faster miles and no more man shoulders. I have no clue about my race fitness since I havent raced in a while, but I have altitude on my side and a guy friend that I am trying to beat. We have a beer bet going, and there is little I wont do for a free beer.

Smoking laws in Mexico

Recently the smoking laws have changed in Mexico and instead of being able to smoke anywhere and everywhere they have put some limits on when it is appropriate for one to light a cancer stick in public. My mom and I went to dinner last night and sat right next to the sign that explained these new laws. The law comes down to 10 basic points, and my favorite is number 8. You cant smoke at babies' parties. Really? They can control that? My mom and I were laughing and the waiter came by and asked us what we were laughing at. We told him and he said "yeah, well it will ruin their lungs". Hmmm interesting, because the restaurant we were at had the smoking section and non smoking section separated by a step, and there were kids within a foot of a cigarette, but I didnt bring that up. This is one of those Mexico things you cant really think about



On the running front, I had a good weekend. I ran an easy 9 miles on sunday and had a tempo run yesterday on the tready. They both felt good, and I was able to hit my normal (read sea level) speeds without too much trouble. I also just signed up for a 4 miler in Houston in April that I will be doing on my way to Hawaii for Mexico Spring Break. I cant wait because 1) i get to wear my new silver zoots in a real race and 2) it will be the first race i will do coming off of 5 weeks in a row living in Mexico with no trips to sea level. If I dont get a PR i am going to rethink this whole running thing.

Suelta suelta!

That is what I heard for an hour last night at my second spinning class. My friend and I tried a new place that was half the price of the other place. It was a very interesting experience once again. The class fills up so you have to sign up days in advance and you can not enter the room until the instructor says so. Then when he is ready to start he calls everyone's name in the order you signed up so you can pick your bike. 15 minutes later than we were supposed to, we started class. The instructor was really good and I am actually glad that the class was a bit short, because I dont think I could have gone anymore (I had done 10x800s right before class and combined with my illness from this week i was tired). The hard part about the class was that the instructor walked around the entire time first asking if you were ok and then when you said Si muy bien he would tell you that you needed to crank up the resistance, spin faster and tighten your stomach (maybe that was just what he said when he came to me). Anyway, it is definitely way harder when the instructor can come around and tell you how tired you look and that you need to kick it up a notch. I definitely got my butt kicked. After the run and spinning class i was worked (funny I used to do that all the time with no problem), but it is great to know that I can work hard in this altitude now. Training hard for the running races is back on! Still no full time triathlon training since i have no bike and no pool that i have found yet. But i will keep spinning for now so that i dont get any more rusty than I already am.
And here is a picture after class all sweaty - see how happy I am? My friend wouldnt take the picture during class because she was too embarrased i think, but you can see her sneaking a photo after class in the background.

Sick

I have been sick since Sunday AM, so nothing new to report on the workout front. I woke up Sunday and tried to go to the kitchen for some water. I barely made it without passing out, and it is only 5 steps from my bed. All day I stayed in bed, which allowed me to get completely caught up on Lost. This really was exciting, because A) I made my goal of when I would finish it and B) I was going to have my nights back for more important things like Skype-ing home and running/training. Apparently staying up late watching Lost affected my immune system. 3 days later and I am still having trouble getting dressed in the morning. My days have been going like this. Wake up at 7 and snooze for 30 minutes, take an hour to get dressed because I have to constantly sit down in order not to pass out, take temperature and realize i need some tylenol to reduce the fever, walk to work stopping every minute to sit down, sit in chair all day changing from sweating to freezing and back from the fever, walking home from work feeling a little bit better and getting in bed by 8 to rest. I am hoping that today is the end of it because I have already missed one spinning class and have a friend date tomorrow night for another one. I am relying heavinly on zicam, lots of water and tea and kleenex. People here kiss each other on the cheeks more than they do in hawaii to say hello. Even if they are coming here for a meeting and I have never met them. Shaking hands doesnt happen - it is all about kissing the cheek. Every morning I get at least 15 kisses from everyone in my office. I guess all that kissing has made me sick.
Good news is my mom is coming friday for a week, so she can take care of me and make me feel better by taking me shopping and to really nice meals. Cant wait! With two of us here, there will definitely be some pictures taken that i will post next week.

Back on the wagon! or the bike…

Last night I went to my first spinning class in Mexico City. I am so sad I don’t have any pictures to share of the 30 year old guy in hot pink 1980s running shorts that showed a little too much skin. He was spinning so hard it looked like he was going to fall of the bike. I will be going back with a camera in hand to share the love. Class was in a little hole in the wall place that I walked into and paid my 40pesos ($2.60 – cant beat that!) and got on one of the 25 bikes that were in the room.
I have never seen a spinning bike quite like this one. It didn’t fit the same as the ones I have used in the past, and it had pedals with baskets on it like my mountain bike, but it was a spinning bike none the less. And it hurt. I felt my time off the bike, but I got through it and only had an altitude heart attack once. The class started out with a little Phil Collins Sussudio, moved on to some Juanes and then into some 80s Latin Pop. I was really sad that Ricky and Enrique didn’t make the teacher’s cut, but what are you going to do right?
There were too many people in the class, so the teacher gave up his bike which allowed him to walk around and tell us we weren’t pedaling fast enough or with enough resistance. By the end of class I was tired and felt like I got a good workout, which I haven’t felt in a while.
Spinning on Wed, Thursday and Friday and Pilates Monday, Tuesday and Saturday in the same room. I am totally checking the Pilates class out – maybe Pink shorts guy will come back.

I am officially a believer...

I have always drank the recommended dosage of water every day plus replenished everything I lost during a workout. And I am always conscience of when my pee is too dark and drink even more. But I was not prepared for how much I needed to drink in Mexico. For the past month I have been having excruciating back pains and have been blaming the hard beds here, but when I spent a weekend on the plush bed at the W and I was still unable to sleep more than an hour at a time because the pain wakes me up, I figured it might be something else. Yes, I have not seen my chiropractor in a month and I have not been cross training like I am used to, but this was so bad I could barely stand it. I started to worry that it might not be my back after all, but something else, like my kidneys. I am a complete hypochondriac, and have been watching Lost too much, so the first thing I think is that I have a back tumor like Benjamin Linus.
Fast forward to Sunday. I read an article that says that being dehydrated can make the effects of altitude worse. And I have noticed that my pee is a little dark, but I drink water all the time. So yesterday I did a test. I drank my body weight in water. Well not really, but I drank 7 liters. I was chugging all day long. If it were gasoline it would have powered a car from Waikiki to the north shore and back. And what did I notice? My run yesterday was so easy. I didnt ever have trouble breathing and no bloody noses. I was shocked. And the best side effect was that I slept like a baby with no back pains and my back is 90% better. I am not sure if that means it was my kidneys that were making it hurt (i have had some kidney issues in the past where they have shut down) or if it was just dehydrated muscles, but I am a believer now. WATER...It's not just for hangovers anymore.

A little excessive I know

This is the photo taken today from my apt. This is not all of the pairs of running shoes that I own, but it is most of them - at least the ones I cant live without until the official move happens in May. I didnt really realize how many I had because back in Hawaii i have a bench that houses and hides me from the truth. I obviously have issues, but this is a much better issue than excessive smoking right? I have a problem with buying the newest shoe as well as not wanting to give any up.
I know that this year I am not doing triathlons, but I still have to run in my zoots. They make me go fast. Yes I am sure 99% of it is mental, but who cares. I go faster with my zoots. I do not have a race for a while. I am hoping to do one in Houston in April, and I might even venture and do one in Mexico City in the next few weeks, although that will most likely result in a PW. But at least I will get to wear my new silver zoots.


They look like spaceshoes and I love every inch of them! There is a 1K loop around Chapultepec Park. I may go out there early on Sunday and race myself in a 10K just so I can wear them.
And a Lost update - I am on season 4 and only have 10 episodes left and can they please tell me WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??? All I can think of is how mad I am at myself for actually getting hooked on this show. I know exactly how Charlie felt when he couldnt get his heroine fix in season 1.

Bosque de Chapultepec

This was a beautiful weekend in Mexico. I spent the weekend at the W in Polanco and walked around yesterday looking for apartments. Around 3 I went to a comida with a new friend and we ended up drinking margaritas until about 11. Of course after that I went home and watched some Lost. I got through 2 episodes before I fell asleep. I woke up this AM and went running on Reforma all the way to Chapultepec park. I got lost on all the trails and saw tons of people and dogs. It was a great run. But It was slow - slow like every old lady on the trail blew by me. This altitude is still getting to me, but I did make the 9 miles. My biggest problem is really being able to go fast enough to feel a burn in my legs. I get out of breath and feel like I am going to pass out way before my legs hurt. I constantly feel like I have smoked a pack of Marlboro reds right before working out. Hopefully it will end soon.
On the way back to my apartment, I stopped by to see Felipe Cervantes come into the city.

This 26 year old has just completed an 18,000 K trek from Tierra del Fuego (southern tip of south america) all the way to Mexico City to get society involved with taking care of the earth, and to promote healthy lives. There were tons of people out watching him finish and there was a huge fiesta in the street with a lot of bands playing. It was amazing to see and he has accomplished something I could never imagine being able to do.
After that I went grocery shopping where I bought what could possibly be the largest papaya that I have ever seen. I think it is going to take me a few days to finish it, but it looks delicious.

Since I gave sugar up (again) for Lent, I am stuffing myself with fruit. I probably should have given up Lost, but I dont know what I would do with my spare time. Tuesday I am hitting up a spin class with my new friend from last night. She assures me i will be able to follow the teacher's spanish, and it will be good to get back on a bike even if it is just for an hour. I cant believe I am going to say this, but I cant wait for my bikes to get to Mexico City!