My new toy!

Sidenote: Yesturday's workout was a bike ride uphill to the closest 24hr fitness, then I ran 4.5 miles and then biked home.

Okay, so I ordered a new toy that should be here on Wed. It's the Garmin Forerunner 405CX I am SOOO excited to be getting it in!! It is a heart rate monitor that has GPS so that I can run anywhere and upload all the data about my speed, heart rate, elevation, etc. to my computer to compare with other runs. I can race a virtual partner so it will beep at me if I am getting beat, or I can do a course that Mom has done in the past and try to beat her times if she has uploaded her data to the server. (Mom has the same watch) I am super excited to give it a try on Wed. which will come with a full update on my blog.

Today's Training

Today's training included 2mi around my schools all weather track which was nice and warm.. I may have gotten sun burnt! I then proceeded to ride my bike the 7.5 mi's home with all my school stuff on my back which included:

huge heavy duty U-lock

cable lock (for quick release tire that the huge U-lock can't reach)

folder and pens and notes

pants

jacket

extra shorts

left overs from lunch

and some other odds and ends

My favorite purchase this week has been a set of lights for my bike. They have a sleek black outer casing and different settings for flashing or constant shining. One is clear/white light for the front and one is red for the back. They also are quick release so that I can slide them off when I park my bike somewhere where they might get stolen. I also got a little pouch that came with it's own rain cover in which I have placed a spare tube in case I pop mine on my trek home. I hope that doesn't happen because I have no clue how to change a road-bike tire, but if it came down to it there are a lot of other cyclists on the path that I could pull over to help me. So far, riding my bike home from school has been working. There is enough traffic in the sketchy over-pass areas that most cars/trucks are stopped at the lights and I can kinda come up the side aisles like the motorcycles. The best part has been that I haven't been stopped by a single train even though I cross the train tracks 2 to 3 times depending on which route I take home. With my car I would get stopped at least once every day. Yay, for not having much "bike" traffic, for saving gas, and getting in shape!

Marathon

Okay, so I like to work out but it has been hard while I am in school to do because after studying all day the motivation to go run and exhaust myself some more isn't there. That's why I have decided to start training for my first marathon. It isn't a new years resolution, because for that me and mom aren't eating red meat. This is just something I have always wanted to do, and to be in good enough shape by the end of the year I need to start training now! If giving myself the goal of completing a grueling 26 miles of continuous running isn't enough, I also have some ideas about how fast I want to do it in. More on this later though. I need to gather some more data on where I am at right now before I set a definite goal on time. I am hoping to keep a record of my progress here on my blog, one to keep me honest, and two to share how much fun it is! So, for my first entry I did 3X 1mi repeats around the track at school. Each mile was about 8.5min which is slow compared to what I used to do in highschool but I am sure these times will improve. I also biked 7.5 miles home after the run.

One of my options for marathons to do is a new one in Santa Barbara. I really miss running along the ocean there and I would love to go and compete there again. I still know a lot of people up there, as well as one of the guys in my class right now is going to compete in it this year. It's on November 7th, 2010. My old boss and his interns will likely be working a first aid table during the event like they did in 2009 so I will have tons of support. Here is a picture I took way back my freshman yr. in college at the tide pools. If you look closely, my reflection is in the top right corner. Compare the size of my head to that starfish and sea anemone!! They were huge!!!