Team 'Ohana--No One Left Behind: The Continuing Adventures

[jbucci]

John: Sorry about Athena, she was a magnificent dog. I ate a cheeseburger in her honor.

Julie: Congrats to your daughter Both of you should be really proud.

It's been a bit rough around here this past week. As some of you know, my 12 year old lab got sick last week and died suddenly over the weekend. She was such a part of our lives and is terribly missed. She had admittedly become much less active over the past year and was mostly just a happy, comforting presence in whatever room we were in, happy to be petted and talked to and given the occasional treat. The house just seems sort of empty and quiet now

My good new is that I've been following my calories and exercise with myfitnesspal and have been doing well with weight loss. I'm hoping this helps with my fall races. We are now officially signed up for the Philly RnR half, Wine and Dine, Hershey Half, and the Philadelphia Marathon (full ) in addition to Goofy. We are working on getting a few more in there but need to get childcare straightened out.

 

[Rose&Mike]

Jen & John--I'm really sorry about the puppies.

 

[laughinplace199]

Jen - I'm so sorry about your dog.

 

[FFigawi]

JenB - I'm sure Athena & Muppet are having a great time playing together wherever they are now.

That's quite the racing schedule you've got going. If you add one more full between Philly and Goofy, I bet you can qualify for Marathon Maniacs.

 

[Rose&Mike]

So, who all is going to be at w&d???? Mike and I are going to register this weekend.

I am up to 4 miles 2x a week and a longer run 1x a week. Last week it was 6 miles. This week hoping for 7. The knee(s) are still tweaking a little, but the soreness is completely going away during the walk breaks so I am cautiously optimistic. I am running 4 min walking 30 during the week and running 5 min walking one for the long run. Injuries are so humbling.....

John--thanks again for suggesting the yoga (and thanks to anyone else who had suggested it to me). I still don't like it, but it is keeping my hip/top of my it band from getting tight which is why I'm able to run, I think. The soreness in my knee, I think, is just left over irritation from such a bad flare up. It's actually sore now in the spot where the it band attaches below the knee and not at the point where it causes such horrid pain just above the joint, so that's good. As long as my hips don't feel tight I know I'm going to have an ok run.

Hope everyone is enjoying summer!

 

[corinnak]

I have been there before (and having a senior dog will be there too soon again myself) and know just how tough it can be to lose these vital canine members of your families. I hope you can take some solace in the outstanding lives you have been able to give them with your family.

Vital members of the family is exactly right - This has been a rough time for the furry members of our extended Ohana. I hope that is the last of those sorts of choices for a long while.

I have been busy with taking pictures of Tommy (with my fancy new camera) and getting ready for our annual journey to Northern Michigan. I am still planning on a half on June 25th, but I'm not feeling really trained for it - it seems I've been focusing more on strength training this spring. It's going to be a scenic one, at least!

I've also been doing OK over on MyFitnessPal with Jen and some other WISHers. This week, I'm doing the Great Sugar Experiment, in which I tried reducing my total sugar intake to the level they suggest - 25g....which is NOT much if you consider that a medium apple has 15 all by itself. I gave that up quickly as I think 25g is actually a guideline for ADDED sugar, or Mainline Sugar, as I like to think of it. I raised my limit on total sugar to 50g and am trying to keep the Mainline Sugar under 25. Anybody else ever done anything with sugar levels? I've ended up not feeling the best this week - maybe it's that, maybe it's the drastically reduced amount of time I've been spending in coffee shops the past couple weeks since the kids are out of school... The ultimate result, though...My weight had been plateaued HIGH for quite a while and this week...4 pounds. Some of it may return, I'm aware. So...wild, low-sugar times.

I'd better get back to packing...good to catch up here a little bit. I'll see you all soooooon!

-C

 

[princessbride6205]

So, who all is going to be at w&d???? Mike and I are going to register this weekend.

I am up to 4 miles 2x a week and a longer run 1x a week. Last week it was 6 miles. This week hoping for 7. The knee(s) are still tweaking a little, but the soreness is completely going away during the walk breaks so I am cautiously optimistic. I am running 4 min walking 30 during the week and running 5 min walking one for the long run. Injuries are so humbling....

Josh and I are both registered for Wine & Dine! We won't be racing together though since he's faster and runs the whole thing and I do Galloway. We're staying at BoardWalk Villas.

I've also been doing OK over on MyFitnessPal with Jen and some other WISHers. This week, I'm doing the Great Sugar Experiment, in which I tried reducing my total sugar intake to the level they suggest - 25g....which is NOT much if you consider that a medium apple has 15 all by itself. I gave that up quickly as I think 25g is actually a guideline for ADDED sugar, or Mainline Sugar, as I like to think of it. I raised my limit on total sugar to 50g and am trying to keep the Mainline Sugar under 25. Anybody else ever done anything with sugar levels? I've ended up not feeling the best this week - maybe it's that, maybe it's the drastically reduced amount of time I've been spending in coffee shops the past couple weeks since the kids are out of school... The ultimate result, though...My weight had been plateaued HIGH for quite a while and this week...4 pounds. Some of it may return, I'm aware. So...wild, low-sugar times.

I'd better get back to packing...good to catch up here a little bit. I'll see you all soooooon!

-C

I have such a sweet tooth I'm not sure I could do it! I would agree that I would focus on ADDED sugar under 25g. You literally could never eat a banana if you tried to keep all sugar under that. Sorry you've not been feeling stellar. Have a great trip!

 

[FFigawi]

The ultimate result, though...My weight had been plateaued HIGH for quite a while and this week...4 pounds. Some of it may return, I'm aware. So...wild, low-sugar times.

Corinna, congrats on losing the four pounds!! One of my friends went off caffeine and sugar for a month and lost 30 pounds. She said the cravings were hard the first week but not so bad after that. Hope it's not too bad for you.

 

[corinnak]

Hi Team! It's been a while...and what is new? I ran the Charlevoix Half Marathon last Saturday. It was OK. An exceedingly well run small town race with multiple events that I was kind of undertrained for. Good times!

I feel like I have been keeping up with some teammates on facebook, but, well, I'm getting annoyed with some friends of friends (not from here!) on there, so I'm taking at least the rest of the week off from Facebook proper. I thought I'd come back and keep the thread alive.

Oh, that 4 pounds from cutting all sugar was not likely to stay gone long. I felt like total crapola so I added some back in and changed the number on MFP so that it wasn't so insane.

I had been thinking I'd do a triathlon up here in a few weeks, but it's been SO cold, the water feels like ice water, and I currently have no wetsuit. I have also been slacking on the swimming lately too, so I may do the 5K the day before and start planning for next year. I will do a tri someday.

I am also planning on a 10 mile run on the 4th. Its another fun small town tradition, but not as elaborate an event as Charlevoix.

Hope everyone is well!

Corinna

Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[tiberius]

Hi Team! It's been a while...and what is new?

Hi Corinna! Hi Team! It's been a while since I have ventured through here myself. I've been trying to endure e extended recovery period while still getting in some good workouts. For the most part I am recovered but I lack the endurance to go really long. Most of my workouts have been around an hour, although I have 2 long runs around 2 hours at not so fast pacing. Last weekend I snuck in a triathlon relay with a friend of mine--I swam and biked while she ran. We had a great time and I bested my times from last year (well, the swim, transition and bike times). However, we also won the mixed relay division (and were second of all relay teams).

Looking forward to next year, I think I have finally gotten over the desire to register for Ironman Texas again next year. I have added a new goal to my calendar instead, the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile race in February, which our good cousin John is also doing. I figure this (plus Goofy in January and the Woodlands Marathon (very local first year race) in March will keep me plenty busy early next year. Besides, the Ironman will be there in 2013.

I hope everyone is doing well!

 

[FFigawi]

Looking forward to next year, I think I have finally gotten over the desire to register for Ironman Texas again next year. I have added a new goal to my calendar instead, the Rocky Raccoon 50 mile race in February, which our good cousin John is also doing. I figure this (plus Goofy in January and the Woodlands Marathon (very local first year race) in March will keep me plenty busy early next year. Besides, the Ironman will be there in 2013.

If any other cousins want to come and join us for Rocky, we'd love to have the company. It's one of the best races I've ever done. The organization is top-notch and the volunteers at the aid stations are better than those I've seen anywhere else. They fill your water bottles for you, ply you with food, massage your legs, and get you back on your way again, all in less than two or three minutes. Plus, you're running on trails through the woods, which is always better than pounding on the road.

 

[tiberius]

If any other cousins want to come and join us for Rocky, we'd love to have the company. It's one of the best races I've ever done. The organization is top-notch and the volunteers at the aid stations are better than those I've seen anywhere else. They fill your water bottles for you, ply you with food, massage your legs, and get you back on your way again, all in less than two or three minutes. Plus, you're running on trails through the woods, which is always better than pounding on the road.

...and the February weather here is likely to be better than where most of you are at that time.

 

[FFigawi]

Hey cousins! Where is everyone, hiding out from the heat? I hope you're all staying cool and having fun.

AFM, I've been busy planning my race schedule for the next 6-7 months. I had only planned on doing a couple marathons this fall/winter, but signing up for Rocky changed all that. My training plan includes lots of weekend where I run 3-4 hours on Saturday and another 2-3 on Sunday. I figure that if I'm going to run 4 hours, I might as well get a medal and a shirt for it. To that end, my race schedule has suddenly gotten crowded. In addition to Marine Corps and Goofy, I've added the San Antonio half in November, a 50k in December, and the Texas and Houston marathons in January. I'm not sure which will cost me more, the races or the extra pairs of shoes I'm going to need to get through them all.

 

[tiberius]

Wow, John; it seems every time I add a race then you add two! There is almost no chance of staying cool here these days--I even walked into a local convenience store's beer cooler recently just to remember what it felt like to be cold.

 

[FFigawi]

About the only useful thing to come out of this heat is the fact that my hot water bill has gone way down. Instead of turning the shower handle around to 9 or 10 o'clock, I can now stop at 1 or 2 instead because the ground keeps the pipes so hot.

 

[jbucci]

It's been really quiet around this thread. I hope this means everyone is enjoying their summer.

I've been running and throwing in some biking here and there. Pseudo-training for the Providence RnR half-- can't believe how soon that is coming up If this crazy heat does not break it will be a pretty 13.1 mile walk for me. It's nice to enter a race with no self-imposed pressure and this one will be just for fun. I did officially sign up for the Philadelphia Marathon so my training for that is starting up. I'm curious how I will do in a full when I have not been walking around Disney for days and run a half the day before.

We just got back from a Disney trip and had a fabulous time. It was actually cooler in FL than in NJ so we picked a good week to go.

Hope everyone is doing well and will drop in when possible.

 

[tiberius]

I am going to rescue this thread from page 2 and bump it back to the top.

We are in the midst of a long hot summer down here, having had little rain to speak of and none planned in the near future.

However, I did not let the heat keep me from a course PR on my triathlon over the weekend. I cut my time on the course (500 meter swim, 13.5 mile bike, 3.65 mile run) from 1:34:14 last year to 1:27:00 this year (plus the run was only 3.5 miles last year). I was 27th of 71 in my age group and I am pretty sure that it was the first time I've finished in the top half of my age group in any triathlon.

I still have a couple tri's left in the next few months before I shift back to making running my priority with Goofy coming up in January, plus some other long races in the late winter/spring months. I hope it is a good summer for all of you and miss seeing you around here.

 

[laughinplace199]

Richard - Congrats on your PR and finishing in the top half of your age group! That's a great accomplishment, and even more so with the weather you're having down there. I hope you're finding ways to stay cool.

Jen - Good luck with the training. When is the Philadelphia marathon?

Not much going on in my world. I haven't officially started training for the WDW marathon yet, but I've definitely been more disciplined about running lately, so I'm feeling good about that. I was looking at my training schedule though and it looks like I'm supposed to do a 13 mile run the week of Thanksgiving, but we'll be in WDW that week. I'm not sure how I"m going to handle that. I might have to tweak the schedule a bit somehow.

Hello to all of my 'Ohana cousins!

 

[princessbride6205]

Hi, cousins!

Richard - congrats on your PR!

Jen - Good luck in the RnR!

Our summer is going well. Visited family and went with 30 relatives to the Jersey shore in July. DD spent a week at Camp Grandma and had her 4th birthday when she got home. DH has been working OT or traveling all of August so far. As of now, I'm doing well with playing single parent and DD & I have done some fun things. I've managed to get my runs in, although this week, I think I'll miss one training run.

My training is chugging along. Always the injury-prone one, I have a medical update for you all. Despite using run/walk intervals, a gradual training program, and physical therapy, my IT and knee pain continue to be an issue. I've stumped my physical therapist, so she sent me in for a running evaluation with a different PT who has a high def slow motion camera. That video gets put into a computer program and they can look at your form in each frame. Apparently my problem right leg is crossing way over and landing all the way in front of my left foot. So I'm always landing with the IT band fully stretched. I hope it helps as I work on my form, because he said even with this issue he didn't think it was so severe that I should have issues on shorter distances as well. Here's hoping it starts working!
I have made it up to 8 miles so far in my training for the Wine & Dine Half, so that's good at least. More walk breaks than I'd like, but on the plus side, they are what keeps the pain away long enough to complete my long runs.
That's the scoop!

 

[tiberius]

Happy Labor Day, cousins!
I hope all is well with everyone. For the first time in a long time, the end of summer does not mean anyone in our family is starting school again, which is rathe unusual. Patricia (youngest DD) got rather ill a few weeks ago and we all decided it was best to let her not worry about school while she recovered. The good news is that she is recovering and should be back to normal in another week or two.

My training is back in full swing and I am aiming for a new PR and a sub 3 hour time at the Olympic Distance Triathlon in late September. The Olympic Distance Tri is a 1500 meter swim (.93 miles), 40 km bike ride (24.8 miles) and a 10 km run (6.2 miles, but you should know that one!). After that I hope to do an early Novemebr half Ironman race and use the tri training to propel me to Goofy training, and that to get me through my February 50 miler and then a March marathon that starts just down the road from my house.

See y'all around!