December in 4 Parts

Part I
Jingle Bell 5K 2007
22:48 (7:22 pace)
(probably) 2nd in AG

I ran the Jingle Bell 5K on 12/9 with a time just 1 second faster than last year’s time (I’m pleased enough with that since I’ve been running less in the past month). My heart rate was near maxed at around 180-184 for the last 2 miles, which tells me I was working hard!

Despite the official results shown on the “On the Run” website, I believe the top 4 in my age group are as follows: 1st: Barb Blumenthal (22:45), 2nd: Yours truly (22:48); 3rd: probably Susan Weisser (23:48); 4th: Wendy Jones (24:28).

There are other women named in the top 4 spots that I don’t think really ran the times that are recorded. Why do I say that? After running these races for a few years, you get to recognize the names of those who are tops in your age group. While a newcomer or out-of-towner occasionally drops in to place well in a race, or a previously non-competitive racer may make huge improvements from one season to the next, it doesn’t happen much.

By entering a racer's name at the Athlinks website (http://athlinks.com/ ) or by Googling them, one can check their racing history. Have they any prior race results that lends credibility to a current great race result? I checked that for the top 4 in my age group (whose mile paces were 6:29 to 7:05). There are women in my AG who run that and much faster paces too, but their names are usually recognizable and they have race resume’ easy to check on-line. The top 4 women have raced before, but usually with paces closer to a 10 minute pace. The women who are the actual top 4 (in my humble opinion) have race histories with consistent times and placing.

The Jingle Bell 5K is not a chip-timed race and 2 waves of runners go out. The less competitive group starts some minutes behind the faster group, but it is common in a recreational fun run like this for people to move up and start with the first wave. Their start time is based on what wave they signed up for, not which one they actually started with. None of it is a big deal in a race like this, but it satisfies me to 1) get a decent time in comparison to MYSELF in previous year’s races, and 2) solve the mystery of WHO ARE these several fast women and realize it’s almost certainly a race wave start timing glitch. If I am wrong about that, then my apologies and kudos to Cheri, Ann, Susan and Jill.

Part II
Holiday Survival

Whew! “The Holidays” aren’t officially over yet but I think I will make it! There were some social festivities, skipped workouts and definitely too much nibbling on goodies. Fudge, See’s candy, eggnog, holiday breads and even gingerbread cookie dough eaten by the spoonful (and lots of those) found their way past my lips and straight to my thighs . There were the post-Christmas dark and dreary days of too many cups of coffee accompanied by more tasty morsels (leading to afternoon jitters and remorse). Combine that with my kid out of school with a friend over experimenting with eruptions involving vinegar, baking soda & food coloring all contributing to lots of messes around the house (bless their curious little hearts) and at the end of a solid week of no exercise, I was feeling a little toxic.

Part III
Slacking Off

My week off of exercise wasn’t just laziness or the distraction of the holidays. A medical procedure here, a biopsy there and I appreciated the advice I was given for avoiding “strenuous workouts”, lifting weights or being in the pool. I’m not sure that shopping and hauling grocery bags, baking, cooking, vacuuming before the guests, cleaning after the guests, stripping and re-making the beds, continuing a couple days per week of my paid work (doing my RN home infusion visits) and dealing with the bored kid at home can be considered non-strenuous though.

Without delving into TMI (too-much-information), part of my medical situation involved taking some valium pre-procedure. Feeling fine and relaxed afterwards, and having taken the bus to my appointment (not knowing what valium would feel like since I had never taken it before, I opted not to drive), I sashayed the several blocks down hill to downtown Seattle’s commercial core and plunged into some holiday shopping. While I am not promoting the misuse of drugs, prescription or otherwise, I appreciated the glazed, floaty, “whatever”, la-la-land frame of mind the valium gave me to actually shop downtown, listen to lots of piped-in Christmas music, and endure (and maybe even enjoy) the commercialized version of “holiday cheer”. If shopping, crowds and too much of the holiday run-around also makes you a little stressed and jaded (despite attempts at simplicity), then perhaps a little pharmacology might help you too. : )

Part IV
Back in the Saddle Again

On the bright side, workout-wise, in early December, I got some good swim workouts done, some running time on the treadmill, got into a semi-regular routine lifting at the gym and tried a bit of new recreation involving lakes, self-propelled watercraft, paddles and other people falling in cold water at night.

Most notably, unlike any previous years, I’ve been out biking 7 times this month (well, 2 were indoor spins). Typically November through January, my butt never touches the saddle. This month, I’ve ridden in 30-something degree rain, which was a difficult ride because of getting very wet and cold (mental note to self: check out winter riding gear). There was a wild and windy day in the 40’s where I stayed dry enough to be comfortable for an enjoyable ride, though the wind made the beach at Discovery Park look like oceanfront with all the white caps and waves crashing onto the beach (and pushed me off-trail a couple times).

Sunday was a 3 hour hell ride, I mean HILL ride on a mountain bike (I was about dead by the end but am happy to have done it). After a couple hard hills in Discovery Park and noticing how they felt harder than usual, I commented about that to my riding companion, who we'll just refer to as SDK (that's Slave Driving Kayaker). So next thing I know, we've circled around and we're repeating a hard one AGAIN. Alright then. On to some up/downs around Magnolia (down to waterfront, up to bluff, down to waterfront up to bluff, lather, rinse,repeat.). Then a reprieve along flat Myrtle Edwards, next, UP bumpy/bricky Post Alley, through downtown traffic for a few blocks, then an interesting tour of Seattle's alleys (interesting in a weird, smelly, spotted under-belly kind of way).

Now around 2 hours into the ride, fatigue is getting to me and I realize I haven't eaten or drunk (mental note to self: must eat and take in some quick carbs on workouts over an hour). But hot chocolate sounded good, though it is not an ideal mid-workout quick carbs boost. The protein and fat in the milk and whipped cream just slows down absorption of the otherwise sugary boost. Juice or a sport drink would have been a better idea - quicker fuel to my tired muscles. But I was close to home with only one gradual hill left to ride (or so I thought), so hot choclolate it was.

So a ride up Queen Anne hill was needed to get to the hot chocolate joint of choice. But with SDK in the lead (did I mention that stands for Sa-Dis-tiK), it was not via the sensible, gradual climb up Taylor Ave., but a series of short, steep streets on the south side that parallel Queen Anne Ave (aka the Counter Balance from the old trolley car days). Very hard!


After the hot chocolate break my only concern might be getting chilled on the coasting downhills most of the way home. But no! SDK found a couple steep down/ups on the shoulder of the hill before finally getting off of QA. Over to the Magnolia side now, I was led on a series of steep uphills paralleling Dravus St. For an added bonus and variety, there was the block too steep for an actual road to exist, so the bike got carried up a steep double flight of stairs (so much for the avoiding strenuous activity for several weeks).

If I survive a few more rides like this, or even rides half this length and difficulty….hell, if I even keep my butt in the saddle twice a month for the rest of the winter, regardless of the difficulty, I should expect to see some faster bike times next season, don’t you think? It was a great day for a ride and a good adjustment after some holdiay excess and inactivity!