Denver Gorilla Run Race Report

The Denver Gorilla Run was so much fun! Over a thousand people showed up in costume to support Mountain Gorilla Conservation. As Cory and I got ready our dogs didn’t know what to do about the giant apes in their house.

It’s almost a requirement to dress up your gorilla and people were very creative. There was the full cast of the Wizard of Oz

And some very hairy beer wenches.

Although not caught on camera there were MANY people in tighty whities.

I have to admit that running in a gorilla suit was pretty miserable, next year I will either walk or seriously modify the gorilla suit.

On Sunday Cory and I road 50 miles from my parents house out to Boulder and back, it was nice and not too windy. We finished off the day with a swim at my parents club. The pool is SO nice and makes me dread having to go to 24 hour fitness.


This week will be a little off because we are flying out to Portland and driving my grandmas car to Colorado for her. That means no time for big workouts this weekend, Boo!

Monday: 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Tuesday: am 60 min swim workout (2700 meters) pm 6 mile run and PT exercises

Wednesday: 90 min spin and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Thursday: 60 min swim workout, 2 mile recovery run with Pug and PT

Friday: 5 mile tempo run and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Saturday: nothing =(
Sunday: Hopefully a two mile walk when we get home to stretch our legs.

Total: approximately 9 hours

What are your plans for the week?

Happy Halloween!

Gorilla Run

Tomorrow Cory and I will be participating in the Denver Gorilla Run. This is a super fun event where your registration gets you a full gorilla suit!

Check out the bananas on bicycles, too funny!

I am not sure about running in a gorilla mask but I am sure that the cause it great and it will be a good time!
The Denver Gorilla Run is a charity fun run with a difference. Everyone who takes part wears a full gorilla costume - from fluffy head to furry toe - and helps raise funds for the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, the international charity working to save the world's last remaining mountain gorillas and keeping Dian Fossey's dream alive for the past 26 years.

This cause is near and dear to my heart, Mountain gorillas are critically endangered and in need of help! From the race website you can read more about Mountain Gorillas and what the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund is doing to help:

In 1987, only 248 Mountain Gorillas lived in the wild. Because of projects coordinated by the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, there are now about 790 living in the wild. The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund is dedicated to ensuring the future of the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By providing a partnership of business, wildlife conservation, and community development, MGCF addresses the single biggest challenge facing preservation of these animals today; how do we help communities in developing areas grow and prosper without destroying precious habitat or the Mountain Gorillas, who call it home.

Source

If you live in the Denver area you can still sign up! It’s going to be so much fun, but if you don’t feel like running in a gorilla suit you can watch all the gorillas run and join the silverback after party between 17th and 18th at Wynkoop.

What’s not to love here? This event combines my favorite things, running, conservation and beer….it’s going to be a good day.

Getting it done – in the pool

We ended up losing power at our house last night after Denver’s first snow storm of the year took out many of the trees in our neighborhood. We live in a historic part of Denver so many of the trees are 100+ years old and tend to lose branches under heavy snow. We had a few come down around our house but luckily nothing major. We were lucky but we ended up going out to dinner instead of trying to cook on the grill and eat in the dark. By the time we got home the power was back on but it was late. Normally I would let this throw off my plan but I got up and headed to the pool as planned this morning. It wasn’t a great swim but we got it done with my poor husband listening to me whine. Our workout looked like this:

Warm up:
500 free
200 kick
100 free

Drills:
5x100 drills (all front quadrant)

Main set:
10x100

Cool down:
100 whatever style you like

Total: 2400

This was a bit of a change from what we normally do so that was nice. What wasn’t nice is that I got a flu shot yesterday and my arm hurt the entire time.

On another note I am disappointed that I can’t find a half marathon in Colorado in December or January. Last year Cory and I ran the Huge Ass Half in Oregon and had a great time.

I am toying with the idea of just running my own self supported trail half marathon near new years (love to make that a tradition). The HAH was self supported it was just a group of Central Oregon ultra runners who like to get together and run, they marked the course told people when to show up and that was about it.

So I am thinking about doing it this year for just Cory and I on New Year’s day, that is unless anyone wants to join us =)

Now jump over to Blond Ponytail to enter her giveaway for compression shorts, and Tall Mom on the Run for a gear.com give away!

15 hour training week - here goes!

I realized I haven’t been good about posting my plan for the week or reporting back about what actually got done. Last spring/summer I always missed one or two scheduled workouts. This fall I am determined not to let that happen as often. The mantra is “just get it done”.

So this week’s schedule looks like:

Monday: 45 min of PT exercises and abs
Tuesday: 6 mile run and 60 min of PT exercises
Wednesday: 90 min spin and 45 min of PT exercises and abs
Thursday: 60 min pool workout, 2 mile recovery run with Pug (don’t want him getting too rolly polly) and PT!
Friday: 5 mile tempo run and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Saturday: 40-50 mile bike ride and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Sunday: 7 mile trail run and a recovery swim and PT

Total hours planned: approx. 15 hours (and this feel like a lot, how will I survive ironman training?)

Here is how last week went:
Monday: Rest Done!

Tuesday: 60 min. strength Done
Wednesday: 90 min spin Done

Thursday: 5 mile run finish with plyos run done, no ploys but I did do my PT

Friday: 60 min pool workout Done - so nice the pook was empty

Saturday: 6 mile trail run (this will be so nice, it's been a long time since I have been out on the trails) Turned into a 4 mile run, I wasn't feeling well =(

Sunday: 40-50 mile bike ride 40 miles done, felt great and added a bonus swim!

Overall hours: 12.5 hours - this is including 30-45 min of PT exercises everyday

Overall I am pleased about how things are progressing but can’t wait until I can start working on speed!!

At work today we had a health fair, I love this kind of stuff and wasted over an hour talking to different booths. I tried a foot bath thing that is supposed to pull out your toxins, the lady said I had a lot of inflammation and way too much caffeine. Now I am the biggest skeptic of this kind of stuff but I do have a bit of a coffee addiction: Also I have read about giving up caffeine while training for big events but nothing conclusive. I found this on the RICE website, full article can be found here.

Despite considerable research in this area, the role of caffeine as a performance enhancing drug is still controversial. Some of the data are conflicting, which is in part due to how the experimental studies were designed and what methods were used. However, there is general agreement in a few areas: Caffeine does not appear to benefit short term, high intensity exercise (eg. sprinting)Caffeine can enhance performance in endurance sports. Glycogen is the principal fuel for muscles and exhaustion occurs when it is depleted. A secondary fuel, which is much more abundant, is fat. As long as there is still glycogen available, working muscles can utilize fat. Caffeine mobilizes fat stores and encourages working muscles to use fat as a fuel. This delays the depletion of muscle glycogen and allows for a prolongation of exercise. The critical time period in glycogen sparing appears to occur during the first 15 minutes of exercise, where caffeine has been shown to decrease glycogen utilization by as much as 50%.

So what’s your take? Do/would you give up caffeine?

Six miles in the rain and yummy food

A storm is rolling into denver that promises to dump 3 to 10 inches of snow before tomorrow night. Weird given that this was my view down my street this morning:

At about 4:30 it started to rain and has been raining lightly all night. Cory got home fairly early tonight so we grabbed our headlamps and rain jackets before heading out the door. I am SO excited that we got in six miles and I had NO knee pain, I felt strong (not to be confused with fast) and happy to be running in the rain, it felt just like home.

For dinner tonight Cory cooked up some pulled pork in the slow cooker for the first time. I decided I would do my part by trying out a new recipe for Butternut Squash Cheesy bake. Sounds good and supposed to be good for you. Here are the stats:

PER SERVING (1/4th of casserole): 101 calories, 1g fat, 457mg sodium, 20g carbs, 3g fiber, 5g sugars, 4g protein

The original recipe can be found here from Hungry Girl. I used it as a base and put my own spin on it.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
2 wedges The Laughing Cow cheese, Light Original Swiss
2 wedges The Laughing Cow cheese, Garlic and Herb
1 diced onions
1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic Salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut squash in half, remove seeds and rub with a little bit of oil. Place in shallow baking pan and bake at 350 degrees until soft (usually about 30-45 minutes). Remove from oven and allow squash to cool. Use a spoon to peel skin away and place in a bowl. Set aside. Place onion (and next time I would add garlic too) in a pan with a little oil and cook until lightly caramelized. Set aside. Place all other ingredients except for the onions in the bowl with the squash.

Use an immersion mixer to blend until thoroughly mixed (but not liquefied) you can also use a blender but be very carful as it will be hot. Stir in the onions. Transfer squash mixture to a small casserole dish sprayed with nonstick spray.

Place in the oven, and bake for 35 - 40 minutes (until edges begin to brown).

We think both are winners, the squash is a nice change from our normal baked sweet potato. But that plate needs some greens stat!

Have you tried a great recipe lately? Care to share, I love trying new foods!

Swimming

I do swim, I swear I do. I realized recently that I talk a lot bout running, a bit about biking and not at all about swimming. It may show up once in a while in my weekly plans but that's about it. The issue is that I really don't like swimming in a pool, it feels so repetitive and BORING. But I loved swimming at my moms club with the clean pool and giant windows showing views of the front range. I am going to be swimming there as much as possible (too bad it s 30 minutes north of us). Next time I will bring my camera and take pictures and hopefully video.

I have not been swimming a lot but I have been swimming enough to need a new swimsuit, the old nike is falling apart. I have my eye on two suits from Splish:

I love the elephant with the peanuts on the back.

I also think that pink skulls are super cute but Cory does not like this one.

Which one would you buy?

I have to share this video it makes me laugh every time. Happy Tuesday everyone, I am off to physical therapy.

Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge

Have you seen Run to the Finish's HBBC this year? I am joining for the first time this year and really excited about it. I love these kind of challenges and it comes at the perfect time of year.

Amanda has some great prizes lined up, I have never won a blogger giveaway so my fingers are crossed. Here is a list stolen from RttF's blog:

Here is a small sampling….
Oakley workout pants and top
Iron Sport Works medal hanger
Be Present Tank Top
CEP Compression shorts
Ryder Sunglasses
GU
RazzyRoo headband
WrightSocks
Lululemon water bottle
SaltStick tablets
McDavid USA Compression gear
GirlZGear
IceTagID
Stonehouse Farms 27 all-natural sauces
Sahale Nuts
Lundenburg Farms grain bowls
Annie's Homegrown
Once Again Nut Butters

To even things out Amanda set up levels that you self select, I really struggled with deciding what level I am here are her descriptions:

Builders: Maybe you just started training for your first 5k, you are just getting in to the habit of working out..OR you are building your body the majority of the time through yoga and weights. These activities are wonderful but it is hard to earn the same number of points as someone with a 20 mile run.

Doers : You have a training plan that you have been committed to for awhile. Maybe you are trying for your first half marathon, first sprint tri, or just overall increasing your weekly workouts to keep off the holiday fudge.

Advanced : If you are training for a half ironman, ironman, your umpteenth marathon, practice yoga twice daily and run and kick box… let’s be honest you know who you are. If you are active nearly every day in some way shape or form you fall in to the Advanced group…you Type A people should be pleased.

I am not currently training for a marathon or triathlon but I am not trying for my first half marathon either. What would you consider yourself? Have you joined the HBBC or do you plan to?

Cory and I had a great day yesterday, we got in a nice three hour bike ride, I felt strong and we averaged higher than 16 MPH for 40 miles (that is good for me) without pushing too hard. We then headed up to my parents house where we joined my mom at their "club" for a swim. I wish I had my camera with me, it was the nicest pool I have ever swam in. I loved it, and didn't want to leave. After swimming we headed back to my parents house for dinner and watched the Broncos beat the Dolphins. Perfect end to a great weekend.

What's your perfect Sunday evening?

Gear Junkies

Most triathletes a gear junkies, and have to admit Cory and I are too. We spent almost all day running around looking for triathlon stuff, spending way too much money and we still have a long list of stuff we "need". We came home will this haul today:

We ended up at Runners Roost this morning before heading out for a run trying to replace my trail shoes. They didn't have my size but they did have 50% off triathlon apparel. We happily stocked up on tri shorts, running shorts, a running skirt, deck sandals and some nutrition or "treats" as Cory calls them. We ended up at REI, Target, Bike Village and another Runners Roost by the end of the day.

Somewhere in there we did get our run in. We went to Bear Creek Lake Park where we could enjoy the fall colors.

Check out my new running skirt from Skirt Sports. Love it!

Cory took a video of me running so I could see my form. He didn't tell me he was filming, and I am glad he didn't because I think I would have ran weird if I had known. check out my "heel whip" on my left side. since my femur is twisted in at my hip socket I tend to whip my foot like this. This is actually an improvement from a few months ago. I will keep working on it...baby steps.

Earlier this week Julie from You Just have to TRI! gave me The Versatile Blogger Award

There are a few basic rules with this award:

• You have to thank the giver and provide a link to the post
  
• Share 7 random facts about yourself
  
• Award 15 other newly discovered blogs the same award
  

So first off thanks Julie!

Now seven random facts about me:

1. My favorite color is purple
   
2. One of my favorite things in the world is classic coke, but I rarely drink it
   
3. I was once a zoo keeper and worked mostly with great apes, hippos and rhinos
   
4. I love fashion but don't talk about it much here because this is a triathlon/running blog
   
5. My house was built in 1928 and I am secretly afraid it is falling down
   
6. I was TERRIFIED to learn how to ride my bike with clipless pedals (ofcourse this means that I was clipped in)
7. My first "real" job was a college math teacher and I sometimes miss it

The rules say I should nominate new blogs but I am going to bend the rules and just list some that I love, Julie nominated all colorado bloggers so I will skip those and list some other ones that if you don't read you should!

IRONDIVA
Cotter Crunch
Adventure is Out There
Detroit Runner
Team Oravec
Runninghood
Run Jess Run
Blonde Ponytail
Miles, Muscles & Mommyhood
Tall Mom on the Run
Kimbo's Breakfast
Miles, Miles and More Miles
Tri-Karen-Tri
Feet in Motion...
I Dream of Running

Happy Saturday night everyone!

It’s going to be EPIC!

I can’t even explain how great yesterday was. I was happy to be back at work and around the people I work with, I love them! I also went for a five mile run last night. This is the longest I have run in months, it went well even though my knee ached a bit. Djimmer says it’s ok if my knee aches as long as there is no shooting pain and the ache goes away within 24 hours. It couldn’t have been a more perfect run, I threw on my headlamp and headed out into my neighborhood in the dark. The temperature was perfectly chilly, I love fall!

But the best part of the day was meeting up with some work friends at a local pub (where I only drank water because I still had to run, boo) to talk about possibly running a relay this summer. We talked about a lot of the big relays in Colorado and settled on the Epic Rocky Mountain Relay. My good friend and I will be co-captains for the team, I am so happy to have an excuse to spend even more time with her. It will be such a fun experience, I can’t wait to get started!

The best part is that we are going to use this to fund raise for something near to all of our hearts and that is conservation. We haven’t completely decided on a cause but are leaning towards the funds going to orphaned baby one horned rhinos. Seriously these guys are so cute! For me this is the merging of two of the things I am most passionate about. I can’t wait to bond with like minded people in a sweaty van while running thought the mountains. Nothing could be better!

Check out this video from the website:


Now head over SUAR she has an awesome shoe giveaway!

Ironman Goody Drawer

At work I keep one of my drawers for “goodies” I am at work 40 to 50 hours a week so I want to make sure that I have the stuff I need for recovery and prepping for my next workout. Here is currently what I have:


Tea
Honey
Emergen-C Packets
Pure-via sweetner packets
Ace bandage ( to wrap something or hold on an ice pack)
Instant oatmeal in case I need another breakfast
Powedered propel zero
Instant VIA coffee packets
And a giant bottle of ibuprofen

I bring lots of fresh food everyday and drink a lot of water from a water bottle I take with me everywhere. I start Ironman training soon so I want to make sure I am stocked up and ready.

What else do you think I need?

Photo Food Journal

Have you ever done a photo food journal? I know food bloggers do it all the time but this was a first for me. It was seriously a challenge to remember to take photos of everything I ate before eating it. I wanted to do this because I think it's good to have a visual representation of everything I ate in a day to see the overall balance.

First Breakfast: home made protein balls, Winston wanted to share. Too bad I wasn't feeling very giving. I also downed two cups of coffee and some water before heading out to a 90 min spin class.

Second Breakfast: Protein Green Monster with Chia Seeds and another cup of coffee.

I always use this creamer in my coffee, I love it even though it's a bit of a frankinfood.

Mid morning snack was a Honey Crisp apple. These apples are the best things ever, sweet, tart and always crispy. LOVE THEM, I wish they were available year round. I often eat two a day I love them so much.

Whoops, didn't get this one before I drank it, but at least I got it before it hit the recycle bin. I had half the bottle since I drank the first half yesterday.

One serving of pop chips and a diet coke. This wasn't the healthiest choice of the day but SO good.

Lunch: was a spinach salad with bell pepper, cucumber, flank steak and blue cheese...so good

With a healthy dose of this on top

Dinner was homemade Clam Chowder. It wasn't as good as usual because I didn't have any white wine at home and was too lazy to run out and get some. Recipe can be found here it's a "healthy" version and still really good.

I had a nuun with dinner, not because I needed it but because I just really like it. My favorite is the strawberry lemonade, SO good! Not pictured are the many glasses of water I drink thoughout the day.

This is a fairly normal weekday for me, I think it looks pretty balanced, what do you think? Cory and I recently went to a sports nutrition workshop where the nutritionist said in "transition phase" (the one we are in, basically off season) we should be eating mostly fruits, veggies and lean proteins with little to no whole grains. This depressed me a bit, I know I get plenty of carbs from my fruits and veggies I just really like my grains! What's your take, could you be that disciplined?

Why do you blog?

If you write a blog do you ever step back and think about why you write it? I do sometimes and it seems over time that the reasons are evolving. I was inspired to start a blog because I was stalking reading other peoples blogs and I needed a profile to be able to comment. When I first started this blog it was as a journal for myself, I wanted to capture all of the big a little moments while training for my first triathlon.

Now I could have done this and kept it private but I put it out there in the world anyway, no one was reading it and I didn't post very often but I still enjoyed it. As my training progressed I started reading some blogs more regularly and posting more often. I still love that I can look back at what was thinking, doing and feeling last year but the blog has taken on more for me now. There are a few bloggers I have connected with and it has become a place of support where people "get" me. There are a few goals I have for my blog going forward, I would really like to deliberately meet some of the bloggers I love in this upcoming year.

I may never be the athlete that wins the race or contemplates going pro, but I could be the one to make people think hey "if she can do it, then I can too". I hope to take on ironman with a twisted femur, asthma and a demanding career, I dare to dream that I can run an ultra-marathon in the mountains of Colorado.

(Running up the flatirons in Boulder)

I believe that I can do these things if I work hard enough and keep a smile on my face.

So the questions of the day are:
Why do you blog?
What do you dare to dream that you can do?

Goals for the week

Oh man I haven't done a "goals for the week post in a long time! feels like it's time to get back on the wagon.

I haven't taken myself seriously as an athlete, I tell everyone I am slow and not that impressive. But if I want to be faster and reach my big goals I better start believing that I AM an athlete and treating myself as such. So my first goal is not really a measurable one (totally breaking the rules of setting goals but whatever).

• Start believing that I am an athlete and acting like it
  

I may not be able to measure this goal exactly but I will try to look back every week to see if I am believing it and acting like it yet. For the rest of my goals I will keep them simple:

• Follow my workout plan for the rest of the week, no excuses.
  

My plan for this week is:
Wednesday: 90 min spin
Thursday: 5 mile run finish with plyos
Friday: 60 min pool workout
Saturday: 6 mile trail run (this will be so nice, it's been a long time since I have been out on the trails)
Sunday: 40-50 mile bike ride
** Also 30 mins every night of my PT exercises, I am getting stronger!

The weather looks like it will cooperate just fine for this plan check it out!

• Eat like an athlete (follow my plan and track everything I eat)
  

I hate tracking my calories but I haven't done it in a long time and it's time to get back to it.

I have one last parting message for myself and all of you out there.

Sorry for the f-bomb but believe it!

Reset

Do you ever feel like you need to hit reset on your life? Lately I have been stressed and not fully present in most things I was doing because I was doing too many things to do anything well. It became clear to me this morning that I need a reset badly, to re-prioritize, rebalance and get back on plan. It's easy for me to get wrapped up in things, mainly work lately and let everything spiral out of control. So I am prioritizing my mental and physical health.

I will do this by taking a sick day tomorrow, even though the pleaser/perfectionist part of me feels obligated to go in for the 13 hour day that was planned. I am already sick and working that much I know would make it worse. I have to say that choosing myself this time feels really good.

On a different note. last night Cory and I got an email from Coach Charley outlining what the next few months of training will look like. It was so exciting to think about getting the train moving that will hopefully carry us all the way to Coeur d'Alene. We are searching for a house to rent in Coeur d'Alene, for Cory and I to share with my parents and our combined five dogs (yes, five!) CDA is a small town and rentals fill up quickly. I hope to have a place lined up this week, wish me luck!

Do you ever need a reset?

Mexican Chicken Soup

Now that the weather is cooling down, I am happy to add some cool weather favorites to normal rotation. Full disclosure that we did have a record high of 82 degrees today in Denver, but it still really cool at night. One recipe that I would love to share is mexican chicken soup, it's warm and full of flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 tbl olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 quart (32 oz) chicken broth
• 1-1/4 lb plum tomatoes, diced
• 1 4.5 oz can green chilies
• 1 15 oz can hominy, drained, or 2 c frozen corn
• 2 c shredded cooked chicken (two breasts)
• 1/3 c chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 ripe, pitted and sliced avocado
• 1 lime, cut in wedges

Directions

1. In large pot cook onion, garlic and jalapeno in olive oil for about 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.
2. Add chili powder, oregano and cumin; cook for an additional minute.
3. Stir in broth, tomatoes, chiles, hominy. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add chicken and simer for 10 minutes more.
5. Stir in cilantro and server; garnishing with the avocado slices and lime wedges.

Tonight I am off to bed early after working this morning. I hope to get a good 40-50 mile bike ride in tomorrow before a fun family fall fest (also known as dinner at my parents house). What are your plans for tomorrow?

A Day in The Life

Beth over at Shut Up and Run tagged everyone to do a "day in the life post". I love these posts because it gives a peak into what my favorite bloggers normal life is like. It's interesting hearing about how they fit in everything else that they do other than training and racing. So I am going to play along and post a fairly normal day for me, try not to fall asleep.

4:30 am - Alarm goes off, Cory and I roll out of bed, feed the dogs, brew some coffee get dressed and head to the gym for spin class

5:00 am - arrive at gym and take an awesome 90 min spin class (30min on our own, 60min with instructor)

6:30 am- Head home, eat breakfast and try to get cleaned up for work

7:30 am - Pack up lunch and head to work for the day, I am very lucky in that I work less than two miles from my house. My day is rarely the same at work, I sit in a lot of meetings, read curriculum, teach, etc. Every day is different.

5:00 pm- Leave work and head to massage appointment. This is not a "typical" day. I wish I could get a massage everyday but we do go once a month to help keep our muscles healthy

6:30 pm- head home and fold a bunch of clean laundry that I didn't get to over the weekend. Laundry is a never ending chore here and we don't even have kids!

7:30 pm- sit down to dinner with Cory, we had salmon cakes with salad and champagne. It wasn't for a special occasion, it just looked really good. Do you ever drink champagne just because? The salmon cakes are really good and good for you, recipe can be found here

8:00 pm-do PT exercises, and get ready for bed and read a few blogs (best part of the day)

9:00 pm- head to bed to cuddle with this guy.

That is a pretty normal day for me now during the off season, it will be fun to do this again in May when I am in peak IM training to see the difference.