Lacamas Lake trail (Vancouver, WA) in fall.

Well, whoops! I missed my weekly posting date! Thanks, girlfriend Rachel, for keeping me honest and on track by subtly asking if my blog feed updater was broken…doh! Isn’t that what makes girlfriends the BEST?!?

I’ve been keeping on track with working out. Most of my workouts recently have been in the gym due to the weather and I’ve been going at least 5 days a week. I’m still cross-training with running, swimming, boot camp, and Zumba. Had planned on a bike ride in there, but the weather did not cooperate. I was concerned that I wasn’t getting enough running in to be able to work on increasing my running distances. In the past, I’ve done run training that focused only on running, which had varying short distance runs during the week and increasing long runs on the weekends; this training has a lot of variety but not as much running time. Well, apparently the cross-training I’m doing is helping my running….I did a 10K (6.5 mile) run yesterday that was just wonderful! I have to say it was one of my most delightful runs I’ve had…no difficulty, no mental fighting, breathing was excellent, and the mileage ticked by almost without me paying attention to it. My longer run speeds usually drop a bit and yesterday I maintained a 10 minute mile throughout the entire run. So I’m pleased! The weather was great and I absolutely adore running Lacamas Lake. It is a gravel trail, which I prefer to run on, 5K length, with wonderful scenery. I did almost crush a salamander on the trail, but I managed to narrowly avoid him as he looked like dog poop! Lucky for him!

I went to the Portland Triathlon Club meeting last night (no freezing rain this month). It was great! They had a tire changing clinic beforehand that I went to. I do know how to change my tubes/tires thanks to the three tube disaster immediately before the start of my first Portland Bridge Pedal in 2007, but thought I’d go to maybe pick up some pointers and meet other newbies. Did get a tip and got to know another new gal while helping her learn the process. The meetings are held at Upper Echelon Fitness (now closed) in NW Portland, a great facility! I checked out their website prior to heading down and I have to admit I was very intimidated about going there, it really is a hardcore cycling/triathlon training center, but it was very comfortable, people were very inviting an I didn’t feel at all intimidated there. Russell Cree, DPT, of Upper Echelon Fitness, did a presentation on Bike Fitting. I will be calling today to make an appointment to have my bike fit to me after learning about the performance enhancement of having your bike properly fit to you. I had my bike sized to me when I purchased it from River City Bicycles (a great shop by the way, who spent hours with me getting the right bike in 2006), but have never had it fitted to me. I’m very, very excited about this! I already adore my bike and think the fitting will make it even better! More to come on this after I have my fitting!

I really like the Tri Club group! They are very inviting. Interestingly, the club is 60% women! It’s laid back and fun, very informative, and you get a lot from your $40 annual membership: free training plans (distributed March 1 to prepare for this season), training events every day of the week all over the Portland metro area, equipment, vendor discounts, contacts, etc. And I won a $20 jug of electrolyte replacement powder (gluten-free, dairy-free, artificial sweetner-free, fructose sweetened) in a raffle at the meeting! Yay me! And, I’m now sporting a Portland Triathlon Club swim cap! Well, not while writing this blog, Ha!

This blog has been beneficial, not only as a way to keep me motivated, but has put me in contact with others with similar interests and created connections! Yesterday I heard from a friend from high school who has been following the blog via Facebook who is a triathlete AND vegan. She lives in Portland so we are going to be getting together in the next couple of weeks to catch up and talk about training and nutrition. What a great resource the Internet can be!

So stay tuned! More to come. I will be posting the next installment on being vegan this week. Also will post about my bike fitting when that happens. Upcoming events for me: Portland Shamrock 15K Run (if 100 people sign up with the Portland Triathlon Club, $5 per person will be donated to a PTC charity, yet to be determined by the club. Don’t have to be a PTC member for this. Let me know if you are interested and I will give you the code to use during registration), and Portland Bridges to Brews 10K with girlfriend Rachel.

Also, Manager John, of Gag the Manager Podcast, and I were kicking around the idea of a Hood to Coast team next year….hint hint Charlie White…. any interest? Would need 12 people and van drivers, registration in October.