Wine Tasting is my new sport

Dan's brother and wife Jen were in town so we headed to Murphys for some wine tasting, my new favorite endurance sport. We started tasting at around 11am and went until about 3. You can drive to wineries outside of the downtown area, or choose to just visit tasting rooms on Main Street (mostly free). Everyone was friendly and helpful and there are plenty of restaurants around as well.

The next sport was swimming and lounging in the hot tub followed by eating lots of cheese. These new sports did not make me lose any weight for sure, but I did lose a lot of stress. I promise to get back on the running/swimming/biking wagon this week.

Family Visiting + Wedding Planning = excuses to not run

I need motivation! I went on a great run Monday night but yesterday and today I am in vacation mode (while working) since family is in town and we are just plain old celebrating. I hope to get back into the groove of it after the weekend. We are heading up to Gold Country for some wine tasting and exploring. I may get a warm early morning run in if possible.

Excuses, excuses. I don't know why end of summer makes me lose motivation?

Running, swimming, biking, repeat

It's Sunday, the end of a beautiful weekend and I'm left pondering the fall race season. Yes, I was (am?) planning on doing a Triathlon in September and the Philly Marathon in November. Mostly I am (was?) planning on running the Philly Marathon so I could train with Sarah who is doing the NYC marathon, and so I could run with Amber in Philly. What's changed since I came to this decision? The biggest thing is that I got engaged and now am spending some time planning the wedding. Since it will be on the east coast, I am planning it from across the country, and that will probably take up a bit of my time. Also, I started biking and swimming and this has turned out to be pretty fun and not as tiring as long runs (mostly because I am biking and swimming pretty slowly). After my 8 mile run I found myself to be really tired. I didn't really have energy to do all of the other things I should have been doing. It made me wonder if I was ready to get back into training for another marathon so soon. I look at my fall training schedule, and it looks a bit daunting - three of the weeks I will have family in town and since Sarah's marathon is sooner, we won't get to do all of our training runs together. So that's my confession - I am tired. I think I'm going to think about it for another week. If I don't do the marathon, I'll probably do the US Half, and shoot for a really good time, so I won't be sitting at home all fall eating bon bons...

Ps. Saturday's 8 mile run was really nice. I ran from my house to the Presidio and over the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Today I biked 15 miles with my friend Jessica through the Golden Gate Park and down to Ocean Beach and back. I'm loving the bike rides with Jess. It's a fun way to catch up with her and is cheaper than our normal pedicure dates :)

Bricks!

This week is still sort of a rest week before training for the Philly Marathon, although I have also designated it as the first week of Tri Training. I don't know if any of this is a good idea, and during today's run I contemplated not doing one of those events (if not both of those events). I took my first crack at a Brick Workout this morning. After biking for 30 minutes my legs did feel heavy during a 30 minute run. It could be the fact that I haven't had enough water, or that biking just makes my legs heavy (need to get in shape). I also thought about Ironmans (not that I am training for one!) - in an Ironman people run a marathon after swimming a long distance and biking 100 miles so I should be able to get my butt in gear for a tri. I think it will be a challenge.

Back in the pool!

Saturday I went for a 60 minute easy run along Chrissy field and I was not the only one out there enjoying the heat and sunshine. The See Jane Run runners were out there preparing for the triathlon in September. I plan on doing the triathlon the week before that one and have not really started training yet, so that was a good reminder that I have to get on it!

Sunday I went to the beach in Marin for some much needed relaxation (yeah, life is hard) and then I went for a 30 minute swim at the JCC. I slept so soundly last night. I forgot how wonderful swimming is...

Running up and down the Lyon Street Stairs and more!

Since I couldn't find parking the other night, I parked way up on Lyon street by the steps. I figured that was good motivation for coming back in the morning as part of an "easy run." I've felt a bit of inertia since the marathon, along with a hunger for pizza and other cheese products - running up the steps shook me out of that for sure...

No more fog in the sky

The fog left San Francisco today! Blue Skies everywhere! Alert the presses. I went on an easy run that didn't feel as easy as it should have. It was a good reminder to take it easy these next few weeks. I planning on adding swimming and biking so I can do a tri for fun (well, a try for real but I am doing it for fun) and hopefully that will help out my muscles. Maybe I'm crazy for adding that into my fall plans, but I thought it would be a nice diversion from thinking about planning my wedding for next July. I'm sure friends will get sick of me talking about it, so at least I can talk about triathlon and marathon training too :)

Giving Lance Armstrong a run for his money, or a laugh...

Thought I'd add some cross training into my life. My friend Jessica is loaning me her old hybrid bike with road tires since she upgraded to a sweeter ride. Yesterday we went on the Berkeley Bay Trail to Richmond, about a 16 mile ride. It was around 6pm - the fog and wind was kicking up a little bit. We chatted the whole time and enjoyed the view of the bay. I must say it was nice to be done a 16 mile workout and not feel any soreness - who knew low impact sports can be fun! I'm going to try biking to the train station instead of driving to work. I'm thinking about doing a triathlon in Fremont in September if I can add biking and swimming into my schedule.

As far as running goes, I plan on doing 3 or 4 easy runs this week and the next two before really beginning marathon training again. Crazy...