Gotta give it up to the west side!

Remember that old song? Good stuff.

First West Mountain Ride of the Year

Working at SBR Sports is awesome for so many reasons and among those reasons: I am meeting so many great athletes that have the same passion as me. Do you know what this means in addition to making new friends? Invitations to group rides! Group rides are my absolute most favorite way to train in the winter. It gives me a chance to go with fast people that push me the entire ride. I don't like pushing this hard on a training ride during race season because I race almost every weekend and there's no way I could train fast, race fast and keep functioning normally. Group rides are just such a good way for me to be social and get an awesome workout  at the same time. I haven't been on any group rides in the last couple years which is a cryin' shame. So on Friday I was invited to tag along with the UVU Cycling team dudes and ride around West Mountain. Bobby and I were already planning on riding West Mtn with our friend Ammie B so it was pretty much perfect. We met at one of the team members house in Mapleton and headed out towards Woodland Hills. They warned us that it was a little hilly. I didn't really expect it to be as hilly as it was, it seemed like we rode every hill that was possible. I'm not complaining especially because I haven't ridden outside since September minus the one ride I did in December down in St G. So I was quite excited about being outside! I was also impressed with my fitness level because I beat everybody up all the climbs except one of the UVU guys that was a great climber. It feels good to be getting back in shape! So we got out of Woodland HILLS and had been on the bike for 1:15 hrs and hadn't even started around the mountain. Oh boy! I was getting a little nervous that we'd be out there longer than I had brought food for, but also didn't want to go home. The team started a pace line once on the back side of the mountain and we weren't able to jump on it because Bobby's computer sensor was rubbing and being really annoying so we wanted to fix that. So it was up to us three (Me, Bobby & Ammie) to try and catch up. Bobby and I rotated pulling the whole way to catch some stragglers that had fallen off the train and were ahead of us. It took the entire stretch of the back of the mountain to catch one of them. Holy crap was I dying! When we re-grouped with some of the pace liners to head home I was so excited to sit back and enjoy an easy ride back to the car. It ended up being 12 miles and we all took turns pulling, which I was so grateful for because it would have been a miserable 12 miles if I had been alone (that's why group rides rock!). I was so hungry and my legs were full of lactic acid. When we got back their was an amazing lunch waiting for us and a warm house! It was the most beautiful thing :D 

Total Ride Time: 2:59 hours
Total Distance: 51.26 miles
Average Heart Rate: 140 bpm
Calories Burned 2,551

Didn't get pictures of the whole group :( Sorry.

This post is about last Saturday's run. It wasn't too eventful, but I don't really have anything more exciting to post about and I've had some friends tell me it helps motivate them to read about the adventures of training and that's what I'm all about! Getting my loved ones out there and experiencing the joy that comes from exercising.

Bobby wakes me up last Saturday from a nap: "Let's go run! Let's go run!"  If you know me, you'll know I can't pass that up! My best friend/husband + me + running = bliss

I jump up and get ready, by that time it's starting to snow and the wind is PICK-ING up! We're out the door and as soon as we get about an 1/8 of a mile from home I want to turn around. It's so cold and windy not to mention the hail that stings the face. I decide to suck it up and stop being a baby. So we continued. We live right by the Highland Trail system and I love running down to the park that has a great big fishing pond, it's about a 7 mile loop. Well Bobby tells me he has a suprise. We vere off the usual route and connect to another trail that is so beautiful with rolling hills like a mini roller coaster and the best part is it protects us from the wind with the canopy of trees around it. That's one of the best things about going biking or running with Bobby is that he's always wanting to find a new trail. Me, I'm boring. I know what trails I like, how long they will take me, and the exact distance. It usually takes me a couple of years to go exploring on my own and find new trails. So anyway, we take this new trail and connect it with the old one and end up down at that fish pond. In the winter, kids ice skate and old men ice-fish there. It makes me feel old fashioned and I love that. I hate movies that are futuristic and depict humans as heartless robots that only know how to survive on technology.

 You can't tell it's a trail from this picture, but this is one of the trails Bobby found, it has a really cool waterfall right next to it.

We ran 9 miles in about 1:20. It twas fun!

So Cool!

New Job

Sometimes things actually do work out the way you want them to.

I have been on-call at Telos Residential Treatment Center since August. I worked there for a couple years a while back as well. It really is a fantastic place to work. It is a treatment center/boarding school for at risk youth (males only).

Things I love about that job:
-Working with teenage boys is never the same 2 days in a row. It's never the same period.

-Learning how to discipline and hold boundaries with teenagers that know how to manipulate with the best of them :)

-Attending therapy sessions (usually just group not individual). You learn sooo much about yourself and about other human beings.

-Being on-call made my life very flexible and I got to choose my schedule. I loved it.

This job was a way for me to work at a place that I like, am familiar with and mostly to make money until I found something permanent. I am staying on call at Telos because I would miss the boys too much to quit cold turkey.

Finally that day has come. I get to work in an environment that I love and that my life revolves around, I get to work with fun, happy people that are very knowledgeable with what they do. There is a HUGE list of great things about this job that I am so excited for and so proud to be apart of, but I don't want to lose your attention with a list that goes on for days and days and days. So I'll get to the point and tell you what the job is

I'm working at SBR Sports!

SBR stands for Swim, Bike & Run.

It really is a perfect fit for me (I hope that's mutual!) The people are all fantastic and the products sold there are nothing but the finest. I am so thrilled!

First Race of '11!

A favorite race of mine is the Frozen Hog. It's held at Lambert Park in Alpine and over the years the conditions have ranged from 1 foot of fresh snow TO snow that's melted and turned into puddles therefore being frozen on race morning TO 8 inches of mud. You never really know what you're going to get with this race you just know that it's going to be a blast! I always plan on racing it, but this year I checked the starting list the week of the race and there was like 1 or 2 girls signed up (and I didn't know either of them and they weren't going to be racing in my category). I don't want to go pay money to race myself so I still hadn't signed up the day before the race.

Picture of me at Frozen Hog in '06

Frozen Hog '07

Frozen Hog '10

On Wednesday I met Bobby down at the Orem Rec Center to run on the track with him. We had decided early in the week that we would do sprints. The boys from Telos were also there working out. So after warming up for 4.5 miles we lined up to start our sprints. It was me, Bobby, and a couple Telos boys. They said go, I looked up from starting my watch and saw they were already halfway down the straightaway. I was floored and knew I could do better than that! I also knew that I couldn't let all these boys outrun me. We walked the corners and lined up to do the next straightaway. Same thing: Ready, Set, Go! I look up and they're halfway down.  We did this 16 times and I do have to say for myself that I started beating them around number 10 sprint ;) I was soooo sore the next day I walked like I had an accident in my pants and needed a change. It was bad. I rode the trainer for an hour and a half Thursday, thinking it would help loosen me up. Nope! It actually added to my soreness. So Friday night about 10pm I decided I would go do my husbands race (10k) that his work puts on rather than the Frozen Hog. I'm still not able to walk normal and obviously I'm not thinking normal because who wants to go do a 10k in the dead of winter with hip flexors and inner thighs that hurts if you look at them wrong??
Saturday I wake up still sore as can be, run on the treadmill for 20 minutes and head down to Orem for the race. I started out really slow because 10k's HURT and I'm not going for a record time after taking 3 months off from running not to mention it's JANUARY, plus my legs killed. Excuses excuses I know :). I was actually the first lady 10k'er for the first 1.5 miles. After one lady passed me I stayed in 2nd until mile 4 at which point I was passed. So I'm sitting in third and as soon as the course went up a longish steep hill (from Geneva Rd in Orem up 400 North. It's steep!) I passed her back and picked up my pace because 2nd is better than 3rd ;) I finished in 2nd, despite a slow time for me. It felt soooo good to race again and I am just so thankful that I'm able to train again let-alone race.