Rest Days...

I've been working out with a trainer at the gym this summer...about two days a week, and I'm happy to say that I'm seeing some results, mostly in my upper body (Let's face it, that's the easy spot. Heck any sort of attention paid to my arms and back would see SOME RESULT, seeing as I have the weakest arms imaginable.) It's nice to pull on a Medium top and not have it pull at the shoulders. (BOOOOOO to back fat!)

We work a lot on stability (I suck, but am getting better). The other day I managed to hold a one armed plank on a bosu ball for about 45 seconds...twice! We (what the hell am I saying "we" for? I am the one working...GAH!) I also pay her to torture me with some cross fit type workouts (actually, these are my favorite...I like running around then lifting or throwing something heavy...I can see the theraputic aspect of this once school starts again) and some for some really serious torture, we go to the TRX. Last week, we did some work on my quads and hamstrings (my strong suit), and I was humbled by some soreness the following day (maybe I'm not as strong as I think I am?)

We also do some serious core work, but I'm not losing a lot in my waist area...apparently, sit-ups and crunches of all sorts will only get you so far in toning and slimming up a belly...to really do that, I'm going to have to change my diet.... and summer is, apparently, NOT a good time for me to do that. I keep saying...when school starts and I'm on a more reasonable schedule, I'll get back to a more regular diet. Until then, summer on BABEEEEEE.

I like my trainer. She's super positive. She frequently comments on how athletic I am or how strong I am or how I have great endurance. Who would ever get tired of hearing that? I think as a trainer at 24-Hour Fitness, she probably spends lots of time convincing clients that they need to do SOMETHING on the days when they don't work out with her.

She tries to convince me to take rest days.

This is hard for me to do right now. I KNOW that there will be PLENTY of rest days when I return to school...too many perhaps.

And what counts as a rest day anyway? I have been in full cross training mode this summer. Twice a week, I work out with Kelly. Each workout focuses on different muscle groups. Occassionally, after a workout, I will spend 30 or 40 minutes on an ellipticle. One or two other days, I ride my bike...25 to 40 miles. One or two other days, I've been taking a spin class. And one or two days a week, I run. And with one exception, I've been doing only one workout a day.

Is that overdoing it? It doesn't feel overdone.

No matter, I guess I'm getting a "rest day" in today because I am on a plane, on my way to Salinas for the California Rodeo to see Elsie's dad rope calves in what he says is his last rodeo. I am sure I'll have many good stories about that.

Until then, wheat I can report (or re-report what I already posted on FB), is that cruising through the San Diego airport wearing a cowboy hat and Flipflops will get you some pretty funny looks. I can't wait to see what the response is in San Jose!

The response in San Jose was much the same...smiles and quizzical looks, except for one gentleman who was ALSO wearing a cowboy hat who asked me if my purple duffle bag was from TCU. my response was, "uh...no. Victoria's Secret." His wife laughed.

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Hello Out There! (A Report on Maui and More!)

Everything is OK over here! (Snorkling off Molokini, Hawai'i - July 2012)

Sitemeter sends me a report every week about how many visits there were to my blog. Apparently last week 142 peeps visited my blog and found a post that was about a month old.

So I have to wonder who those 142 people are...

Apparently one of my regular visitors is my dad, who mentioned to me last week that he hadn't seen anything new on the blog recently. 

True That. 

He complained noted that the blog is one way that he keeps up with what is going on in my life (yes, I am a bad daughter and I don't call nearly often enough).

So... Dad reads to find out what's going on in my current life, but those other 141 people (or maybe they are even non-people autobot Internet search engine thingies...I'm not entirely sure how these things work) were primarily interested in things I wrote last year and beyond. Top posts were:

• A June 2011 review of the San Diego Rock and Roll Swag Bag (59 page views)
• A March 2011 post about getting ready to ride the Grand Fondo (58 page views
• A October 2011 post about Elsie's bday-party weekend in San Francisco when we ran in the Nike Women's Half Marathon (54 page views)
• A June 2009 rant about my various foot injuries (47 page views)
• A January 2009 photo-expo in which I describe how I further injured my hip by using a massage stick...I think the title "The Dangers of Self-Massage" gets some people to the site by mistake. (46 page views)

Clearly, I USED TO BE, far mor interesting than I am right now.

My goal at the beginning of this summer was to get back into blogging regularly. Clearly THAT hasn't happened, even though I regularly have LOTS of ideas for things to write about, not all of them having to do with running. Still, when push comes to shove, I don't write. Not sure why. I just don't. I have all these great ideas, (or at least in my mind they are great), about things I can write about that come to me at the most inopportune times (inopportune = when I am nowhere near a computer and can't write them down). These inopportune times include:

• when I'm running
• when I am riding, 
• when I am working out with Kelly (the trainer at the gym), 
• when I am arguing with my soon-to-be-17-year-old-daughter, DramaGirl, about... well, about any number of things.
• when I can't sleep

In any event, I have come to one conclusion. Well... a kinda, in-a-way, sorta, but not really a conclusion, just a sorta inevitability. In the coming months I either need to somewhat repurpose this blog, write more frequently about specific things, than this past year's general "here's what's been going on this week" type things (sorry Dad)

or

I have to let it go.

I'm going to aim for the more regular posts about random things that happen in my life. Some of these posts may be about riding, running, working out, but others may not be. I hope that's OK. (of course it's OK...my blog, my rules, right?)

But as for the rest of this post, I do have to upload what will probably be too many photos of what's been going on this past month. After all, I can't force Dad to go all-cold-turkey-on-the-whatsgoingoninmylife-blog-updates.

Late June - Turbo's 8th Grade Promotion

My grownup baby boy...and Walter of course. They're lookalikes aren't they?

Went to a mascarade party with his buddies. Impressive to get 8th grade boys to dress up. They decided to wear vests. I don't know why, but stylish, no? 

Late June - Early July - Family Vacation to Maui

On the plane - All I saw was "complimentary Mai Tai!" 

And we arrive...in time for lunch and more umbrella drinks

We saw mandals everywhere (Betty's sandal of choice BTW) 

Our first morning there, we enjoyed the sunrise from the top of Haleakala (Volcano/Crater on Maui) - about 6am. We'd been up since 2am at this point. The sunrise was breathtaking. 

It was also breathtakingly COLD at 10,000 feet. Even if you are in Hawai'i!

We rode our bikes down from the top of the Volcano. 28 miles, all downhill. Fun! Here we are doing bike tricks. 

DramaGirl and I at Sunset

One (and only) morning run on the beach for Walter and me. Beach running was no fun for my injured baby toe

One very windy scenic lookout.  

DramaGirl and Turbo - Checking out the fish

DramaGirl and Walter checking out the fish  

On a boat, after snorkling. Walter did a good job of feeding the fish.

DramaGirl did not enjoy this adventure AT ALL

Toes in the sand at Sunset

Turbo on a Zipline (no hands!)

DramaGirl doing Crazy Legs

As I was doing this, I was thinking how awesome my life is, and how great it is to be fit and active and that I just climbed a ladder on a freeking 900 foot tree with no problem!

Too much fun (we were yelling at him to LET GO!!!!) 

Last night - Sunset Dinner Cruise

While we were in Maui, we celebrated our 20th anniversary - 20 years later... I think he still likes me :-)

Last morning beach walk. 

The family (before the Sunset Cruise)

Upon returning to SoCal - Back to the grind (I am still on vacation you know...)

40 miles ride with Betty and "Seven" to Oceanside and back 

This weekend, 40 mile ride with Betty and Mik to Chula Vista and around South Bay (to get there, Betty took us on a lovely ride down Imperial Avenue and Euclid...parts of town I have not been to before)

It's been a very, very, very, good month. 

Here's to 20 more (or more) just like it!

The Rest of the Story...Three Days at Tahoe

When I last wrote (what? a two week hiatus? WTF is up with THAT Alice?), we had finished the Napa to Sonoma half-marathon and done our last wine tasting at the post-race festivities.

That day Betty and I said goodbye to Mik and Elsie, who had to head back to SoCal to go to work (nasty four letter word), and we packed up the car, our girls, all our wine, and headed to North Lake Tahoe and Momma's cabin.

It was THERE, that we got to rest. Wel...sorta.

Mountain stream that runs near Momma's cabin....LOTS of water this summer. LOTS!

Momma and Betty on one of our walks...that's a patch of snow behind them...in JULY!

Let's just say that Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful areas. We took walks through the mountains. We went to the beach at King's Beach. The water was friggin cold, but I was willing to swim in it because it's fresh water and you don't feel all salty and crusty when you get out.

Nice panoramic shot of the beach at North Tahoe. It's unbelievable to me that those mountains STILL have a fair amount of snow on them.

It wasn't all sitting around and walking. One morning Betty and I went to play Pickleball, which is sorta like playing Ping Pong (or Table Tennis for those of you are aficionados), but you're on a court.

Blurry action shots courtesy of DramaGirl

Why is it that Betty looks like an athlete and I look like I'm out for a cup of tea?

I had never even heard of Pickleball, but one of Momma's friends was an AVID player and he asked Betty (the athletic one) if she wanted to play a pickup game....and Betty took me along. I want to make it clear that I did NOT embarrass myself or Betty. Pickleball, it turns out, will be taking the country by storm. I thought it would be more of a drinking sport (like Over the Line....or Golf), but it turns out that you can actually work up a sweat playing Pickleball. In fact, the next day, we both had some achy muscles, having used muscles that are not normally used during running.

But mostly, we hung out and relaxed. We watched way too much Bravo one afternoon (and Betty and I drank some of the wine we had with us). It was wonderful.

Our last day...lunch with Millie and Betty at Tahoe City

DramaGirl and me at the Tahoe City Dam, where the lake becomes the Truckee River

The next morning, DramaGirl and I left for our next destination...Kansas City. We left from Reno on a 6:20am, at the butt-crack of dawn, flight. Betty drove like a bat-outta-hell to get us to the airport in time because I completely lost track of time and we didn't leave Momma's cabin until about 5:10...and it's about a 45 minute drive to Reno from her place...you do the map.

All I can say is thank goodness that Reno has a small airport.

Thanks so much to Betty for driving and for all the adventurs...and especially to Momma for letting us stay with her. It was WONDERFUL.

Next up: Kansas City - HOT, HOT, HOT and HUMID. (also...I won't wait two weeks to write about it...I promise...I really need to get caught up with this before school starts).