Blur..

With important deadlines right around the corner, this past week has been a blur in front of my computer. I wasn't able to make time for a run, nor yoga let alone sewing. On the bright side our project is coming together nicely.

This morning I had my mountain bike clinic. I learned about proper body position, how to love my front break, how look ahead and finally how to take corners and tight switch back.

In the parking lot everything looked great. When we went for a ride I did pretty good but at the first tough switchback with some loose gravel I went bham! It hurt and I was dizzy and all. So I sat on the ground and waited for the rest of the group with the older lady who didn't even want to venture! Shame shame.... The irony, she suggested to her husband to buy mountain bike to go on the fire roads when I knew I wanted a mountain bike to avoid the fire roads, yet we were both sitting on the side of the trails. booh....

So as always have scratches and bruises after riding. I do feel more comfortable, yes I do I'm also better at gauging what I should walk down. So maybe in a decade or two I'll be able to not fall too much.

At another point the people in front of me stopped in a hill which forced me to stop abruptly myself and well rammed my butt on my seat and bruised my tailbone.

I don't know why this stupid tailbone is so so painful and now sitting in the couch is not pleasant.

What else has been happening, after snoozing for a while on the said couch I was able to finish a little sewing project and put my first label on. Well yes in case you missed that my labels arrived last week and they are just plain awesome.

So I hope to be posting some pictures over to bopple kids soon.

Big News

So I decided to stop working with my coach! It was a very hard decision and since telling her I've felt empty. The reason being well I don't feel I can really apply myself not because I don't want to but just because sometimes my life is just too much. I hate feeling guilty for a missed workout when my kids are sick or I am sick or because I'm just dragging.
Honestly I don't feel racing either I just feel like running long and strong, biking strong and getting better on the mountain bike! I will workout still a lot just not for the same reasons.
So I'm starting to go to yoga once a week, I'll go back to the pool once a week and the rest of my time will be divided between running and biking!
Of course today we didn't go running :( but we did take the kids on a 3M walk in Elfin forest. Also I pulled something in my left quad last week and well it isn't healed yet!
Tomorrow I was hoping to be able to road bike with a friend but her schedule got crazy so maybe I'll try to go mountain biking with the hubster instead or maybe trail running if the weather doesn't cooperate.
My goal being able to run 1:30 on the trails, mountain bike for 1:30 - 2:00 with minimal getting off the bike on hills!

On the house front, my parents are getting in town on monday night so I've beens scrambling to finish some project and well to start some new ones! Friday afternoon I was just so tired that I couldn't focus at work. Instead of starting dumbly at my screen all afternoon I decided to take the afternoon off and just putter around the house. I started a night stand for my parents and read. It was heavenly!
This morning, after baking some berry muffins, I made progress on the little nightstand, made a rounded corner shelf to host the router.
B anchored the shelf to the wall and I was able to fill her up with books. I also decided to remove all the crap in the downstairs bookshelf and put books instead!

Little by little the projects are being done and the house is getting more organized!
I have discovered wood work and I love it!
Now time for some laundry folding and some home cooking.

Sunday todo list review

Today we didn't do as much as I wanted but we had good family time:

• Slept in until 9am which was good since we didn't get to bed before 12:30 last night.
• Cleaned up the kitchen
• We had waffles for breakfast I am ashamed to report that it took me 3 tries to get he recipe right and I learned today that boiling the milk is not an option :)
• Got the kids haircut while B went mountain biking
• Hung out with the neighbor loved it
• Got ready for my ride
• Went riding with J. Dunkle fun fun getting stronger and faster I think ;) Loved riding my road bike and only have to worry about getting up a hill!
• Went to the park with the kiddos
• Went out to dinner
• Waste some time on facebook
• Going to bed!

Things I didn't do today

• Groceries (booh will have to do a quick trip to Vons tomorrow night)
• Finished the bookshelf....

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Week end todo list review

So, I'm pretty pleased as we have done a lot of the stuff we had to do today. My car has 4 brand new tires and it cost me 400$ less than expected and they will last (I hope) 3 times longer yay! B's car got some TLC as well. The kiddos went to swimming lesson and had a play date they are now watching "Despicable Me" and they thought the lounge of Jiffy Lube was a "cool place" ;)
I went for a 8.5M run not quite as long as I wanted but 3min Hard hill repeat simply kicked my butt. B is now going running. We dropped off "Black Beauty" to be repaired from our crash last week end and she'll be ready to go for next week end.
Now I just have to figure out what to do for dinner and enjoy the evening!

On the exercise front, I have decided that first and foremost I want to have fun! I don't want to dread my workouts I want to feel like going for that run and pushing myself. Hello I'm not a professional here while being serious about it it is still for fun!
That being said I'm a bit worried for next week's half because well I signed up like that not planning on it. This is great because I didn't train for it at all I just trained like I always do. It is a bit scary because well I don't know what to expect, but it is also quite liberating.
I want to go out there and give it my best but beyond that well it is just a race.
On the mountain biking front, I am very very happy to report that my leg is very colorful. MEC actually asked me what I had on my hip and why it was colorful. When I explained that it was just a big bruise she said "cool" ;) My arm is all scabbed now.
And well I can't wait to get back on my bike! I can't wait to learn how to handle that beast better and just go out there and have fun! I will walk that hill next time, I know I will be scared again and I will fall again and hurt my self and scream and wail like a baby.
After talking to some more expert bikers I found a couple half day clinics one in Penasquitos but I have to wait until April 2nd and one a bit further away. We will see where I end up but I am like a kid waiting for christmas to happen.
I think after this half I'm gonna limit my long run the 1:30-1:45 and play more on the bike.
I did sign up for SDIT so I will have to go back in the pool... Oh swimming I haven't missed you at all.
So now post run hunger is striking so I better get downstairs and eat my post run snack!

Today

I flew over my handlebar and landed flat on my back just in time to stop my bike from falling on my face! I admit I was a bit lot shaken after that and it took me a bit to shake things up and saddle back and go on! Thanks for my crash pads shorts I will only sport a minor bruise! Thanks B

You can see on the video how B went down and then you can see my face then me stopping the bike just above my head! ah well it didn't upload for some reason so the fall caught on film will be for another post.

Anyways that was the one of the two falls of the day the first one was caused by a small rock and I was able to un-clip and stop gracefully. I have to admit I almost flew above my handle bar once more when I hit the front brake hard.... I can tell you after that I barely used the front brake.

Yesterday I decided to make some cinnamon rolls and so I did. This morning I baked them and they were oh so delicious. For my next batch though I will decrease the amount of sugary filling. The kids loved them and I have to say we did too. We celebrated the end of our holiday by trying out a new sushi place in Oceanside called Harneys! It was delicious and we are now ready to tackle the daily grind!

Now I'm gonna try to put some new music on my mp3 player because well I don't really know what races I'm gonna do in 2011 all I know is that my main goal is try to keep up with what the coach ordered and maybe I will turn my "bottom heavy" physic into "bottom strong".

Blur....

Last week was just a blur. To conclude a great Thanksgiving week end we took the kids for a walk/scooter stroll in Coronado. We stopped by a neighborhood park and finished off the night by grocery shopping at the TJ in PB followed by sushi at surfside sushi.
Monday was back to business, back to work, back to training well back to the routine! Well except that when I got to the gym eager to get on with my run while rummaging through my bag I realized that I didn't have socks! Well I thought that's OK I can run without socks will probably give me blisters but ah well. However when I realized that my sports bra was MIA as well I went back to my desk dejected! Luckily B was home in time for me to go to Rehab United for a tri-strength training. I was really hoping I could still walk the remainder of the week.
Lucky for me this was a bit more my alley and required a bit less coordination and I was able to keep without making a total fool of myself. However sporting my new wall of shame bruises from my mountain biking outing did get a "For god sakes" from the coach! The flavor of the week is a bit impressive although not painful anymore really.
Tuesday I decided to do my bike workout that evening since I wanted to socialize and gorge on indian food at Punjabi! I was able to do 40min of my bike workout when MEC puked on her bed and continued for half of the night. The poor thing was able to fall asleep at 3am and so did we.
We stayed home the next day and work from home while she watched Go Diego Go all day and again the following day! On Thursday we all went out for a run and well it was hotter than expected and again I was huffing and puffing while B was chatting away while pushing MEC.
Friday was back to work attempting a 30min tempo on the treadmill (kiss of death!) followed by a 1M all out yeah right I gave up after 30min dejected again. After amusing the gallery with my mountain biking adventures hey at least I'm amusing people, finished my day at work.
Saturday morning before leaving for Palmdale I managed to extract myself from our cozy warm bed to go run with a friend. I wasn't too sure how I would do but her constant chatter kept me going through my huffing and puffin, do you see a recurring theme here! I managed a 6.6M in a 1:11. I haven't looked at my HR profile I hope it isn't too depressing! Nonetheless I had fun and maybe you'll me joing the dawn crowd every once in a while. I have to say it is such a nice feeling to have your workout behind you by 8am!
After that we drove to Palmdale to visit family. It definitely isn't my favorite place in the world and the neighborhood where B's grandma leaves is really not that pleasant and doesn't feel safe. However it was great to visit family. We had a great time and the kids too. Didn't do too much which is very different from our usual week ends.
As soon as we got back home, B went for a 9M run and well I took the kids to the park for them to get some of the stored energy out. I took my mountain bike and practice some tight turns around the trees. Maybe just maybe I will handle tight turns a bit more gracefully during our next outing.
Finally I am looking at my race schedule for next year and it will probably go like:
Jan 24th Carlsbad Half marathon
Feb 6th 5K trail run in Mission Gorge
Apr 10th 5K or 15K trail run in Black Mountain
May 5th Wildflower triathlon short distance ????
June something SDIT almost olympic distance (not if I do wildflower)
Sept San Diego classic (?)
Nov Xterra triathlon (?)
Maybe some other 5K and 10K....
We shall see....

Shark bait

First of all love the new styles offered by blogspot so much more stylish/artsy than before.
This week started like hell on the work front and finished on a better note! So we are back to a very focused me which means less blog stalking! On the bad front our home computer crashed, our microwave decided to quit and when I decided to ship back my Michael Kors sandals I realized that well the 21 days were expired. So I'll have to keep my teal blue sandals.

However we caught a break when they updated the hard drive that crashed for nothing, when B's cousin booked us in a motel closer to her wedding location and 35% of the cost!

Training has been going well. I had a tough run on tuesday. LP wanted me to put the treadmil at 1% warm up 10min, then run 1M Hard, 5 min easy then 1/2M at least 30 sec per miles faster then 5 min easy and do it again! I completed the 1M Hard at 8min/mile, the 1/2M at 7:20 but when it came to do it again I came undone after 0.6M!
The next day was BRICK... 10 min WU on the bike, 10 min WU run then 4x 1min interval hard on the bike followed by 30 sec easy, and 3min Hard run do it 3 times. I was going to call it quit after the 2 time I even stopped my watched. I pulled all I had of energy left climbed back on my bike and went around the block once more!
Finally today was a ocean swim hence the title of that post. Each time I think ocean an awful shark image pops into my head. Anyways it was great, I went with two guys from work. They were super patient with me and stopped lots of time and stuck with me. I was actually having fun!
Tonight my lovely neighbour cooked too much meatloaf and shared with us. Yummy..
Tomorrow we are going out and I am running 45 min with bunny yeah!
Now I'm beat and I going to read and probably crash very very quickly.

Connected at last...

Hubby's back and so is the Internet! I know isn't it lame for a girl who would like to be oh so independent to rely on her better half to connect to the Internet!
So anyhow we are having quite a problem with the movies... I have no idea what causes it but basically every once in a while the voices are all muffled! The background music and the image are quite fine but then the dialog just doesn't go through! It happened to me yesterday while watching "Sweet Home Alabama". I thought it was due to the age of the movie. Especially since I watched Sliding Door with no problems.

Then today we were watching Leap Year and it did it again with a brand new blue ray movie! How annoying. I hate it when technology betrays us. We strive on technology!

Anyways I cooked a lot these past few days. It started super duper healthy and then well it was so healthy anymore....

On Wednesday night I made some red quinoa chicken salad, followed shortly by another quinoa salad this time with a bunch of veggies.
The next day I cooked small potatoes, fried some bacon and shitake mushrooms, then sprinkled some blue cheese. I had some green salad to go with it! But then I had the remainder of the potato mixture and some ice cream oops....
Lunch today was also quite healthy big salad but that left me quite hungry... so it was shortly followed by a small bag of Cheetos (oops). Then it was the beginning of the end, I gorged on mozzarella cheese then a bit of homemade pizza from the kids and finally dinner! Lets blame the periods for the binge and hope it will be short term thing because I really really would love to lose those 5lbs!
B wanted something good and healthy. I made some pork loin with some Asian sauce, baby bok choy, shitake mushrooms and some rice.
So I have a bunch of pictures for all those meals well for some of it but then I need to figure out how to get the pix out of my iPhone first!
Anyhow we have sooo many projects to do this week end. At the top of the list, laundry, getting my wing back chair, training/exercise, cut a whole in the back of the entertainment center, fix the kids bed, organize the house just a bit then maybe we will have time to start making a shoe rack for the downstairs bedroom!

In the mood for change

So since I can't easily redecorate my house I decided to give a face lift to my blog, change the colors a little. I saw a girl who had an awesome font for the title but couldn't figure it out in a timely fashion so we are stuck with good ole Trebuchet!

I was chatting with a friend at work today and realized I would love to take a 2 months break from work to do all the things I have to do around the house. This would include:
Sewing projects - Make some roman shades for the piano room, make the gumdrop pillow, make some pillow case
Wood projects - Make a few bookshelves to replace the one we are about to give away to Goodwill, make a cubbie thingy to stow away the kids toy in a elegant fashion so the piano room isn't a mess, a bench or something for the bathroom downstairs to put some shoes, etc..., and a table for the kids to replace the god awful one from IKEA and maybe a lounger.
Paint projects - Touch the downstairs bathroom paint, touch up the kids bedroom paint, finish repainting the guest bedroom.
Decoration projects - Frame and mat a bunch of family pictures for the stair case...
Outdoor projects - A small retaining wall...
Cleaning projects - Get rid of all the old toys, pile of old papers etc...

Yup that about sums it up and I'm sure I can find some more. The ironic thing is that when we bought the house we thought it was perfect nothing to be done ;) HA! Oh this isn't even counting all the craft projects and all the training. I mean if you are home might as well fit in some 2-4 hours bike ride etc...

So since there is no "home project" leave of absence it will take me a while longer to do 1/10th of that list ;) Oh and there is training too and well all the other things.
Today we had to clean up the upstairs somewhat for the guys to do the floors, to be able to move the furniture around. So we packed the rest of the books, the kids clothes, the kids toy and dismantle the kids shelves....
Anyhow we finished a little earlier than expected, so I made some chocolate chip banana bread for the kids. B got some Indian food and we are watching CASTLE! New favorite show!

Buyer's remorse

I am the Queen of buyer's remorse. Last week I went on a spending spree.... First I spotted a pair of Michael Kors sandal on the Gilt. I bought them since there was a something of summer in the air and I was feeling like dressing up again.

Winter is back and I feel like wearing jeans and flats again.... Since B likes them a lot I guess I'll keep them.

Then on my last bike ride I realized that my prescription rayban were just not super cool and air was getting in my eyes. After some shopping I spotted a real cool pair of Rudy Project but since I didn't want spend 175$ on a pair of bike sunglasses I settled on those 40$ ones.

I just got them and realize that even 40$ is too much for something I will wear only on my bike. Lets face it wearing those cool bike glasses won't make me faster nor cooler! I think I'll return them.

Finally I went on the JCrew website and bought 3 tee shirts, a pair of chinos and a pair of silk pajama pants... These items will get there soon and we will see how much will make it to my closet!

On another note, we are getting ready for our vacation to France. We haven't gone back there since Christmas 2009 and I can feel it. The great part is that we will have a 4 days getaway sans kids! For that we decided to go in Auvergne and we found two bed and breakfast.

This is one of them 40Euro/night for a bedroom and breakfast. If you want to share the host table it is 18 euro for the dinner.

Nature and good food made from the vegetable garden ;) I foresee a bunch of hike, lounging and trail running. I don't have pictures of the second one but the host takes whoever wants on mountain biking adventures ;) I hope we can borrow bikes and have fun!

Now what is for dinner tonight ...
I think I will make some steaks with ratatouille and polenta! Maybe the ratatouille and polenta will turn into mash potatoes not as healthy but ah well still quite delicious.

too much to relate

Ok so it's been a while. Lots have happen but is it blog worthy???
Training has been flaky a little because of family visiting. My parents were in town for almost 4 weeks it felt like 2. It is great to have them. I love seeing the kids play with their grandparents. We were able to stock up on our outings. However having your parents in your house is always difficult.
But now that they are gone I'm happy to get back to our routine but still sad to have so far!
Anyhow eventhough they are not high maintenance training while they here isn't always easy. First of all I want to spend time with them and second of all no way my dad is having dinner at 9:30pm because I have a bike workout schedule that evening. With them we actually have lunch on saturdays and sunday so no sneaking a ride at 11 am!

Now I'm back full time and this week has had a few small hickups but so far so good. I also have a race coming up....

Other than that, I have been growing peas in my backyard and I'm loving it. I probably harvested about 6oz and some and was able to actually make pasta. It was delicious. I am now planning to plant some tomatoes, butternut squash. My herb garden is doing great as well and I have to add some mint and chive to the oregano, basil, thyme, sage and rosemary!

Besides all that life has been hectic a little stressful and emotional.

kooky music video

B has dug out some kooky video by OKGO and we are sitting in front of the TV watching. The kids are supposed to eat too...
I decided to take the few free minutes to blog quickly. Life is completely crazy, between the usual life of a family of 4. Kids are awesome most of the time. MAC reads to us every night it is a little laborious at time but then again he reads quite big words. The latest reading of choice is Scooby Doo. MEC is cute as a doll and stuborn as a little evil thing. We are having fun and that's great. Work was quiet for a week and now things are back to busy. Especially since I am learning a whole new technologie and the learning curve is brutal! I went from fixing 30 bugs a week to like learning how to display something on a label! I am sure things are going to improve. But the design phase is so hard on me.... Yeah the girl who needs results.
Speaking of results, I was hoping that all of sudden I would swim so fast but Monday's workout was painful. .
Anyways I have had a scratchy throat for the past few days, something unpleasant is trying to break through. This week hard is the word of the day as I had a few hard workout. I think the rest of this week is pretty medium in intensity. No rest day in sight yet! I can't say I see a lot of results but alas everything takes time and effort.
Tonight I'm lazy and thus while I will do my postponed core workout B will drive to Sushi ota to get us some sushi! Yum Yum.

35

OMG I am 35 years old now!!! Yesterday was my birthday. I don't feel that old really besides when I see all the gray hair slowly taking over. What really gets to me is that my older one is reading, lost his two bottom teeth and that my younger one can write her name and dreams to be in Kindergarten... This is when I feel a tadd old or a little sad that I'm just closing that volume of my life. But hey onto my next adventure right..... This year I decided to not push myself too hard and thus after the Half marathon in January my next race will be the Spring Sprint in May (0.25M swim, 9M Bike and 3M run) then I will attempt my first longer distance SDIT which is a shorter Olympic distance (1km Swim, 30Km hilly bike ride, 10K run) end of June then I will do the Us Women again.

I'd like to start painting and drawing again. I would like to get back into photography a little more etc.... Finally play the flute again.

For my birthday I got spoiled rotten of course B is the best for that and that makes me feel sooo good. I got a SLR Camera Nikon D5000

and a nice silver pendant from a designer I stumbled accross while browsing the internet. I love jewelry that is a little different. I like interesting designs etc... This fits all the criteria.

We had breakfast at the Beach Grass cafe our favorite spot. MAC wanted pancakes with a dune buggy drawn on it ; ) He got a smiley face instead. He is known to challenge the chef since the happy face doesn't always suit his mood. He often asks for an angry face pancake or a monster face pancake or a sad face pancake.

After breakfast we played at the Fletcher Cove park, then dropped off B's car to get the tires balanced and rotated, then to whole food for some meat to dinner. I chose a veal roast with no idea how to cook it but it sounded interesting at the time. We also picked up some cheese for the NYE cheese fondue evening.

We finally got home around 2pm, I eagerly plopped the charged battery in my new camera only to realized that a memory card was required and nowehere to be found ;) Oops. Here I go to RadioShack next to the house, but of course they are out of them so I had to go to the next store.

After playing with my camera a little bit, B went for his 4M run and I followed him shortly. 3.3M at about 9:02 min/miles then 0.5M cool down.

After I got home I started looking for a recipe for my birthday dinner. Our friends from the house next door were joining us. I found a recipe on the Williams Sonoma site for an osso buco. I adapted it a little by replacing the lemon zests by wild mushrooms that were sauteed in garlic and butter. I also reduced the sauce a little to give it more flavor. I served it with mashed potatoes and I made an orange cake for dessert.

We had an amazing wine to go with it and spend a great evening.

This morning the kids woke us up at 8:30! It is going to be tough to get up on monday. The sky is beautiful and we have little to do today. I do have to work, I'd like to go for a bike ride and B went surfing.

I also bought myself a pair of Birkenstock. I know I know but I saw a mom wearing some at the park yesterday and they looked nice and comfy. I found a pair on super sale cuz 130$ for birkenstock is a little steep. I think they are cute in an old woman kindof way ;)

Now I need to work instead of blogging... I know it is new year's eve and I shouldn't be working but I have stuff to do and anyways....

Happy new year to everyone.

So what's new in the past two weeks... Well first of all I can't believe it is already Christmas! Maybe it has to do with the city I live in... 75 degree weather doesn't really set the mood. I'm wired that way, winter means cold. It doesn't have to be super duper cold for like 4 months. But temps around mid 50s during the day for a month or two would be welcome. We did have 2 weeks of cold ;) So lets get off the whiny train. MAC had a winterfest during which K, 1st, 2ND and 3rd grader sang each two songs about the winter holidays. It was really really cute.

Work has been crazy busy too, we just released a new version of our software and I have another project due on Jan 4th. It's interesting but I'm a little behind since I didn't get to start 100% on it until a few days ago. Well thank god for Stargate, VPN and multi tasking.
Next year is going to be very interesting on the work front, lots of redesign and new things to learn. Fun fun!

Besides that last week end was very social and it was really cool. Saturday morning I visited our friend in Encinitas. The kids get along pretty well for 5 and 3 year old and I really enjoy hanging out and chat with the mom. After that we came home, I made a feeble attempt at a indoor ride since the weather wasn't really cooperating with me. Now I'm complaining about the rain never happy ;)

We had neighbors for dinner and spent a nice evening.
Sunday I went running 7M with a coworker and ended up running only 6M more on my running difficulties later. Then I spent the afternoon with some other friend baking cookies while the kids were playing together.
That night, the husband joined us and we all went to dinner at a local Mexican joint. I had steak tacos and the meat tasted a little off... Well it was off I got terrible food poisoning that night. I have had my fair share of stomach flus, and food poisoning and I can
say this one was one of the worst. It lasted all night. I spent monday in bed. I emerged around 3pm took a shower, started a laundry, went to pick up the kids, cooked them dinner and made myself some fresh vegetable broth. The next day I felt better, went to work still a little shaky. I finally started to feel like myself mid afternoon.
On thursday that week we celebrated the release of our software by having lunch at a fresh seafood place in Point loma and we played pool at the Society all afternoon. The scallop sandwitch was really good and I was better at pool then I remembered.

That night I cooked for the first time in the week. I made jerked pork chop with sweet potatoes.
Friday was a busy work day and I had two kids party to attend. I was successful at being a attentive mom and a productive employee yay!

Well this week training got wiped out by my being sick on sunday night. I finally managed to put my sneakers on this afternoon, I also put my fuel belt on with water, cell phone and music. I looked like a total dork for a woopy 3.7M. It was hot and my body was tired. I hope I'm gonna get back on track because next week I have an 8M, then a 10M and finally a 12M. I think I like the triathlon training better. Although with a olympic distance I'll probably have to run longer.
Running has been hard over the past few weeks. My mental has completely left the building. I hope that I will get back the will to keep going. B is training as well and he is doing great. He is tired but he is much more disciplined than I am and he is also mentally a lot stronger. I sadly have a tendency to just give up and start walking. Then I kick myself in the butt, start running again and then give up.
More on that later.... Race day is a little over a month away!

Need to post

I hate when I'm going to my friend's blog and realize that no new post will distract me from work for 5 min.
Then I realize that I haven't post since a long time either... Sometimes I'm wondering who cares about my training, who cares about what I eat how the kids are doing. But hey I love to read about other's accomplishment, hard day, partying.

So here it goes... After 10 days off training I started again but this time not for a triathlon. I decided to give the Carlsbad Half Marathon a second chance. Eventhough I did finish the race in a decent time I want to improve and also run the whole race. Maybe it will happen maybe not but at least I will prepare for it. I would like to cross the line at 2:05 which is a 9:30 min/mile.
I have to say that sunday while running at noon I was really wondering why did I chose another race, why did I set such an agressive goal.
Anyways in the mean time it will keep me in shape hopefully. So my regimen when I don't weasle my way out of a workout is:
Mon: Off
Tue: Run Interval
Wed: Strength or Swim
Thu: Tempo run
Fri: Easy run
Sat: Bike ride
Sun: Long run

Of course on week 2, I already weasled my way out of my swimming session. I can give a load of good excuses: Life is ectic, I'm tired, I have work to do etc.... But all of these are just bogus excuses!
Still on the training front, I decided to go biking with a coworker and a friend of his. A friend of mine started a website idropboys... She should have the different stages, first the iWishICouldDropBoys, then the iWannaDropBoys etc... well you are getting the picture. I think I'm at the second stage and I hate feeling like I'm just struggling to keep up and they just need to push on the pedals a little harder and I'm left in the dust. Of course my thighs are half theirs and half of mine are fat whereas they are all muscle...
Again excuses excuses but what great motivation when I feel like stopping my runs ;)

I swear training is not my whole life it is just one of the easiest thing to talk about.
Last week end was Halloween. MAC was really eager to decorate the house. I found some ideas online and so we made this big spiderweb with a bunch of black spiders. Then B carved the pumkins. One regular JackOLantern designed by MAC and the second one this weird goggly eyes goofy pumpkin with an alien exploding out of his mouth.
After my painful short bike ride, I proceeded to curl MEC's hair put a little bit of makeup to complete her fairy costume while MAC decked himself out with his Optimus Prime outfit.
We went trick or treating in the neighborhood and finished the evening sharing sushi with friends. It was awsome. No costumes, no parties very very laid back evening.
This will conclude the very exciting life of the coones family ;)

Last triathlon of season

Yeah yeah training and racing again. I swear to you have some other interest in my life. So tomorrow is my last triathlon of the season. I have been a nervous wreck for the past couple of days because of course I'm hoping and wanting to do well! Anyways I'm in the tunnel so cross your fingers.

This morning went on a playdate with the kids to see a friend in Encinitas. Always pleasant to chat with friends while sipping coffee while the kids beat on each other ;) After that we went to the new Corvette Dinner. It was really nice and we had a great time. The kids got balloons, love the new location and the ambiance. A little spaz for me but hey great afternoon.

B went surfing this morning then ran 6.3M and finished the day with a mountain bike ride!

MAC needs to do homework so 3-4 times a week we sit down together for 15 minutes and go through it. He has a journal in which he has to write entries. He can draw something and label it by sounding the letters in the word and writing them down. We are having a lot of fun. He had the halloween theme, with a ghost, a bat, and a Jack'o Lantern. It took two trys to get Lantern, then we had the charger's theme with the lightning bolt, the chargers (charjrs) and today he wrote "I sa a green corvet." I love seeing the evolution. He is learning so fast right now. He can now sound and read with a little help small words like CAKE, PIANO.
I also notice his progress in swimming. Anyways I find it fascinating.
MEC is following close behind and since she doesn't want to be left out she learns how to trace her letters while MAC does his homework. She can write A and M all over the place and she is now tracing a lot of letter pretty well.

We have been also reading a lot. We go through about 2-4 books per night. B has also started reading "Charlie and the chocolate factory". MAC loves it, every night he takes the book out so B can read another chapter. It so reminds me of the time my dad was reading us stories!
So tomorrow up at 4:00 am to be down at Fiesta Island at 5am secure a good transition spot. My wave starts at 7:12. A lot of the girls I know will be down there cheering us and it is sooo nice. B and the kids will be cheering from the house!

Pain, agony but fun

Yeah why each time I have a run date with B I'm up for some pain, agony and fun. By the way you did read correctly a run date is our latest. It is actually really fun when it isn't pain and agony. So today's flavor of the month, was a 4.5M trail run, my first one.
So a little background, I am super tired. I was sick last week didn't train for a week, started again on Monday and worked out every day since then. I got home and promptly changed in my running gear before I changed my mind. We dropped off the kiddos at the neighbor and started running. Oh boy the first 5 min are always so painful when you are tired. Of course as we approach the trail B tells me oh this run is going to be good for you lots of short, steep hills nothing long. The trail is sandy and I know this is going to be somewhat painful. I tried to get into my groove but it isn't easy on a trail as your rythm changes constantly with the terrain.
Anyways the first hill was painful but I didn't have to stop, the flat was not as forgiving though. I made the mistake to ask B what was our pace the answer 11:15 min/mile pace stopped me on my track. Unfortunately my perceived effort was more like a 9:30min/mile pace. I stopped depressed and a little crushed caught my breath and went back at it. I didn't ask how fast we were going I didn't care I just tried to keep up with B. I had to stop on a couple hills in the middle of the Grand Del Mar golf course but yeah I did complete my 4.5M run.
The run was painful but it was also the most amazing run because it was just plain beautiful. This is why I just love San Diego, I am in a city all day and then paf we are running in nature and then we are on a beautiful private golf course.
Anyways we got rained on at the end of the run which was also great.
Evening ended with a delicious dinner of fresh tomato sauce, olive, cream and mozarella.
Then I went down memory lane and put together three more photobook of our life, one for our amazing trip to Yellowstone, one of our trip to New York and lastly one of our trip to Seattle. The three trips we took besides visiting Montana, Northern California and France!
After a marathon of Stargate and Grey's anatomy yup we gave up Dexter for Greys anatomy. I guess we were just tired of crime shows.

Too much

So the reason you haven't read any of my post lately is because there is just too much going on. I have simply too much todo. Trust me I hate admitting that as a person who wants to be able to do it all. So these are the things I'm focusing on, the family of course, work, training. Laundry is falling easily behind. Cleaning is good but folding and putting away well you know it is just nicely piling up in the laundry room.
Also since MAC started kindergarten I have a hard time working out at lunch eventhough as I am realizing working out at night is just not convenient. It is 8pm, dinner is simmering, kids and husband are getting in the shower, the flowers have been watered (yes I don't have a functional sprinkler system) and in 30 minutes I will start my 45min bike workout! Not really smart. I think the workout at lunch and working a little more in front of the TV is a much better solution.
Of course since I have 30 minutes and kids in need of shoes my lunch break was very costly!!! I didn't spend one cent for myself. I walked through Nordstroms and nothing but nothing is calling my name. This is how motivated I am to save money to be able to make money to be able to buy a house with a 30yr fix loan.
Other than that I have been sick all last week so my training has seriously suffered. Once my cold ended a cold sore started and since I'm a total moron when it comes to taking care of myself I thought a few pills would be enough to stop this thing in its track. I should know better! Now I have a big fat lip and the right side of my face is sensitive!
My last triathlon of the season is in 2.5 weeks yikes and I am a tad stressed out, and excited at the same time. I just registered the both of us for the Carslbad half marathon which is in 17 weeks! Now we have to train for it yikes again and find a baby sitter to watch the kids!

Ok 10 min spent on this post, now need to go help B with the kids read bedtime story, hop on my bike while watching Stargate and maybe we will have dinner at 10pm with a glass of wine. Maybe a little work in front of Grey's anatomy or folding laundry. Getting good at multitasking.
Life is crazy!!!

sooo busy sooo little to report

I haven't posted in ages. Time has been flying by at Mach 3 or even 5 speed. So since I have been dropping the kids off and picking them up I feel like my life has all of a sudden filled up. Maybe it is because the whole family leaves at 7:50 in the morning and is home at 6:15pm! Maybe with the summer being there the kids want to either play in the park or in the pool that we have in the backyard. We bought one of those 8feet pool and it is awsome.
Maybe it is training, or all the work I have to do, or just being a mom and all.
Anyways training does keep me sain by helping me releasing all that tension.
My training is a little out of wack. I am tapering this week since my next sprint is this sunday. I was all prepared for the woopie 1/4miles swim, 9M bike ride and 3M run before B told me about this big deep swell coming. I mean come on surf has been flat since march. Like Lake Torrey Pines flat, and the day of my triathlon with ocean swim the waves may be as big as 8ft! I am just not happy about that at all. I guess we will have to play it by ear.
Dude two week ends ago I even dragged my butt out of bed at 5am for a TCSD club beginner race. I realized that I was really a slow swimmer ah well, a bike with potential and a decent runner. I have to admit as the race approaches, my high dreams of beating my times are evaporating and at this point I just want to do the best I can and just have fun! Will I improve will I not is a big question! If I do great, if I don't well at least I tried!

The next race is October 17th, and back to a bay :)
We also had a unpleasant news as the church in our backyard (well not really in our backyard but just outside of it) started the construction of their community center. When we bought the house 4-5 years ago I remember quite well that this building wouldn't affect us but of course it will. We weren't too happy to know that a big 28ft tall building would be erected right outside our windows. I believe the most frustrating thing is that we can't even pack up and leave. We simply can't sell and afford a new house at this time. I hate hate feeling trapped.
On that note I am going to bed cuz I am really really tired.

On the house side, I have been cooking a lot. I have picked a lot of tomatoes from my poor ratty looking tomato plants. I can't figure out if they have too much or too little water. My herb garden is doing really well and I have been using thyme, oregano and basil yum yum.
Next year I will try other vegetables!

Happy moments

I have been using this blog a lot to share/brag/rant about my training. Eventhough triathlon has helped me somewhat balance/structure my daily life by imposing a routine it isn't my whole world.
I would like to put down on electronic paper those moments that reminds you why you do what you do. Those moments that reminds you that you did good and bring this inner peace in a turmoiled mind.
Of course now I can't find my words pictures would be so much easier.
Lets give it a go... My favorite one which happened more than once, is when I had a productive day at work, did my workout as planned, pick up two little angels, come home to a clean house thanks to Noemy prepare dinner listen to music or B playing the guitars, watch the kids dance or giggle.
Those do happen quite often, usually on thursday night since that's when my house fairy comes.
Gosh this post sounded much better in my head before I started typing anything!

Ah well, I started cooking again more, yesterday B had his piano lesson thus was home later. Since this week end was crazy busy I of course didn't make time to go to Trader Joes. My cupboards are empty of basics and so I decided to be brave, pick up the kids and go to Trader Joes with them. Thankfully they were in the angel phase and thus we were able to load up on goodies. Tonight, I decided to make marinated pork chops with a zuchini tian.
For the marinade, I squeezed a lemon, added some olive oil, then I added some chopped herbs from the garden, basil, oregano and thyme. B then bbq them.
For the side dish, you slice zuchinis, in this case they were the yellow squash, tomatoes (from the garden) and fresh mozarella. I rubbed the dish with garlic then put a slice of zuchini, a slice of tomato until the dish is full. After that I put some mozarella in between veggies every once in a while.
I drizzled some olive oil, some balsamic vinegar and some chopped basil. Put it in the oven until the cheese is brown and the veggies are cooked. Enjoy with a glass of pinot noir ;)