Active recovery in Colorado

Shew - we returned to CA late last Friday night, driving from Breckenridge to Pasadena in one long day.  It is always strange to cover so many miles and to feel that one's surroundings change so dramatically in what is a relatively short period of time, especially if you think about those settlers who made the trip in the 19th century.  Back in CA, our time in Colorado seems at least a month or two ago, but really just 10 days ago, we were able to take in dramatic, alpine views and huff and puff as we walked up a stair or two!

We spent plenty of time in Boulder glued to the TV, watching the final week of the Tour de France (old news now, I know, but while the race for first place in the GC category was a bit of a snooze fest, things were interesting for 2nd and 3rd!), and hanging out with friends and family, but we also stayed reasonable active.   I recovered somewhat quickly from Vineman, going for a a few runs and rides in Boulder, but a nice long hike appealed to both of us.  For whatever reason, we rarely do a major hike in Boulder - usually we spend time with the dogs as they sniff and explore the Chautauqua trails, but we both wanted a bit more of a challenge and also a change to our typical Boulder routine.  So, consulting our slim yet trusty Boulder hiking guide and weighing the opinion of Michael's brother, we chose Heart Lake as our destination.  Close enough to Boulder, we didn't have to wake up at an ungodly hour and were still able to hit the trail by 8:00 am.  It was a great hike and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a somewhat challenging and beautiful hike.  We started in the woods, following a stream until we hit a lower lake, and then the ascent kicked in at the very end, but the views were more than worth it!

Starting out the hike

Taking a quick break

Close to a lower lake

Breaking for lunch with a view of Rollins Pass

 Looking towards Heart Lake and beyond

After Boulder, we headed to Breckenridge to visit my side of the family - aunt, uncle, parents and even a sibling!  Breckenridge was a bit less on the "active" and more on the "recovery"side, in part because of the weather which hovered around 65 degrees high!  I think that one day it didn't even break 55!  We still managed to walk my aunt and uncle's dog on a regular basis and explored a few local trails with my parents and brother.  Our first hike, to Lower Crystal Lake proved somewhat frustrating because of the guidebook which was fairly inaccurate about the trailhead and mileage and small details such as those and much of it was on a rocky fire road rather than a true trail.  For a while, I wasn't sure if we were on the right trail at all, but we lucked out!  We did have to cross a stream or two which at times challenged our balancing skills.  Just like the Boulder hike, we were in the trees for the first part of the hike, but then the trail opened up and we walked through alpine meadows.  Normally, I don't go ga-ga over wildflowers, but they seemed particularly amazing this year!  We finally made it to Lower Crystal Lake, which was well worth the effort - great views of granite cliffs, dramatic skies, and even some wildlife in the form of a marmot and some pikas.

Stream crossing 

Alpine meadows

Finally at our destination!

Yes, we all gave my mom grief about her hat.  

The view as we returned to the trailhead

The second hike was close to Dillon and quite a different landscape - it felt drier and almost like a trail that we would have close to where we live, except for the mountains in the background.  It was also a shorter and easier trail which came as a bit of a relief, to be honest. 

Lake Dillon in the background

Still plenty of wildflowers!

The last time we were in Breckenridge with my parents, the four of us climbed a 14er.  We discussed it, and Mt. Quandary would have been the logical choice because of its proximity to my aunt and uncle's, but we opted for less rigorous challenges this time around.  As much as I enjoy tackling something like Mt. Lincoln, I've learned that I don't have to constantly push myself.  It's nice, at times, to meander along, even if it means that we don't reach the upper lake or "bag" a peak.*  

It also means that Mt. Quandary is still there for us to tackle next time, along with Upper Crystal Lake!

*A few people would probably roll their eyes if they heard me espousing the "It's about the journey, man" philosophy.  

Easy riding in Boulder

No, not that kind of riding, although he is obviously enjoying life, rolling past us somewhere in Utah.

This is more our speed!  As per usual, we've enjoyed the great roads and easy routes that Boulder offers to all sorts and levels of cyclists/bikers.  I wasn't too sure how happy my legs would be post-Vineman and at altitude, but about a day after our arrival, we were heading north of town, enjoying rolling roads and country vistas (lots of cows and barns!), and I was pulling Michael and his brother on the uphills and catching a wheel on the descents.  The weather has been gorgeous, so that has encouraged us to hit the roads on two wheels.  Michael's brother will usually take us on some great loops in the morning that he knows well and with which we are somewhat familiar by this time.  One of the best rides of the visit was an afternoon jaunt which took us south.  It had rained earlier in the afternoon, so we had pretty dramatic views of the Flatirons post-storm.  The last part of the ride took us through 'downtown' Boulder - our guide told us that it was the Tour de Boulder as we rode along the University of Colorado campus, by the Pearl Street Mall and through fun neighborhoods with older houses.  We'll miss these rides, but Breckenridge awaits, as does Vail Pass!  And biking at an even higher altitude! 

Taking a break in Hygiene, CO

Pre- and post-Vineman happenings

When I signed up for Vineman many many months ago now, I think that one of the main draws for me to this race was the timing and the location.  It seemed like the perfect time to visit Sonoma - during the summer, when I have time off and we can really make a road trip out of it?!  Sign me up!  What was nice about rolling the race experience into a family adventure is that 1) it distracted me from the race anxiety the days leading up to the race and 2) it made the trip about more than just this race.  Michael's great about supporting this 'hobby' of mine that has increasingly become more demanding, but it is nice to make these trips about more than just one event.

With that in mind, we planned out quite an ambitious road trip - spending a few days in San Francisco before the race and a day in Sonoma afterwards and then heading east to Colorado for 2 weeks.   It's funny because we used to head north to San Francisco at least twice a year, but slowly many of our friends have started to move away from the city, so we visit it less and less.  Also, we love traveling with Gus and Milo, but that can be somewhat difficult at times. This time, "the boys" were pretty happy that we included them - and so were we!

Ready to hit the road

We have discovered that San Francisco IS a great place to visit with the dogs.  We usually stay in an dog-friendly apartment thanks to VRBO.  I briefly made a reservation in a dog-friendly hotel, but then I remembered that in addition to the dogs, we had two bikes, all of my tri gear, and stuff for Colorado.  We would have looked like gypsies moving into the hotel, so we opted for an apartment.  When we go to the city with our dogs, we all spend lots of time walking around parks so that the mutts are exhausted (a tired dog = a happy dog).  We also allow them certain 'privileges' that they don't enjoy at home, such as being on the bed!

A very happy Milo!

Views of the Bay as we walked around the Ferry Building

Being city dogs

And enjoying the countryside!

After spending Thursday in San Francisco and visiting a friend in Berkeley, we headed to Marin on Friday, hoping for warmer weather (I've now lived in Southern CA too long to remember how cold the summer months in San Francisco are!).  We also took a nice, dog-friendly hike to Kehoe Beach which they really enjoyed (I know, I'm sporting some great-looking footwear here).  They loved the beach but couldn't quite make it into the water - so much for that labrador/water dog part of their mix!

We left the city on Saturday morning and sent the boys to a kennel in Sonoma - they were extremely unhappy about that decision, but it made things easier for us, logistically.  Saturday and Sunday were Vineman-focused (I've blabbed enough about that already), but we gave ourselves Monday to explore Sonoma a bit.  This was our first time in Sonoma, which is kind of crazy since I've lived in CA for over 10 years now.  We really enjoyed the experience and hope to return before too much time passes.  It felt a bit more rural and less "polished" than Napa, whether that is true or not.   We visited two wineries on Monday - enjoyed a private tour thanks to a colleague at Hafner, a very small vineyard, and also had a tasting at Robert Young.  The afternoon called for a big fat nap followed by a quick walk through Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve which was just a few miles from Guerneville.  We would have never made it there, but a friend recommended the visit and it was so worth it as we walked through a grove of redwoods.

Source

We left Sonoma on Tuesday morning, promising to come back to hike, visit the coast and enjoy more of what the area has to offer!  As we headed east, Sonoma felt quite far away, especially crossing into Nevada, where we traversed the state driving Highway 50, dubbed "The Loneliest Road in America".  It was a long day but much of it was a beautiful drive.  We spent the night in Baker, NV at the Silverjack Inn.  

Twilight in Baker - a lonely town along the loneliest road

We discovered yet another place that deserves a longer visit - not so much Baker (this motel is about all that there is!), but Great Basin National Park which is just a few miles away and offers wonderful views, great hikes and varied terrain.  Plus, it's one of the least-visited parks in the US, probably making for some solitary moments. Sadly, this was not the trip to explore the area - we continued our trip east on Wednesday, suffering through sights like these...

Driving through Utah

...before rolling into Boulder, CO where we've enjoyed some 'active' rest days - plenty of biking, eating, drinking and napping!

Full on summer and taper mode

June felt like a busier month than usual, although we didn't leave town like we often do, saving that for the month of July. Busier, I suppose, with work-related obligations which ended once July rolled around and my summer school class ended.  This past week, therefore, presented me with the opportunity to fully appreciate vacation/summer mode, especially with the 4th of July on Thursday.  Summer mode incapsulates many things, but one of the major aspects of summer for me is that there is a large percentage of my closet that I will not have to touch for the next two months.  It's funny because I like to look somewhat "nice" or professional for work, but when I don't have an obligation that moors me in a certain way, I throw all fashion concerns out the window.  The other indication that it's absolutely summer?  I spent all of Monday and Tuesday reading The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, which is not the best book I've read but definitely a great read.  It starts out with a group of friends who meet at summer camp - how much more of a summer book can you get?  I also can't remember the last time that time sort of stopped and I ignored most obligations in order to just read a book.  Okay, maybe it was last summer with the Game of Thrones series.  In June, I sat in on two Shakespeare classes that our English department is offering for the adult population (alumni and parents and, with me, faculty), and while I loved reading The Merchant of Venice and King Lear, I can't see myself picking up Shakespeare on my own this summer!  However, there are plenty of options out there, so I don't think that I'll be bored or lack good reading material.

As my days have opened up, I've hit the metaphorical descent in my training - I'm pretty much coasting from here until, gulp, next Sunday.  I hadn't even thought too much about counting the days down, even though I have read the race program, a 24-or-so page document that includes my start time, at least twice.  Then, this morning, as I was making coffee, I thought "I should be on my bike at this point next week, if all goes well!".  I logged in my final long-ish training day yesterday which might be a bit close to race day, but I'm not scientific in my approach to these sorts of events.  Also, I felt pretty good, especially on the 6-mile run post-ride, which I needed - I was sluggish and 'off' my previous run, so this was nice for a final bric.

It seems a bit premature to talk about training since the point of training, I suppose, is to be ready for race day and who knows how the race will go.  That said, I think that I'm ready for race day, at least at this point, and there certainly isn't anything that I can do now.  As per usual, it was far from being a 'perfect' cycle, and there are a few goals that I had which I totally missed (a 60 mile ride, for instance; hit 400 miles on the bike in June).  However, I have stayed relatively healthy, and after my lovely bout with plantar fasciitis in December and January and then a calf issue in May, I don't consider that a mean feat (I was just tempted to make a bad pun about plantar fasciitis and mean feet - ha ha).  So, even if I don't perform as well as I would in an ideal world next weekend, I am quite grateful that I've made the workouts that I wanted and intended to make and that I've enjoyed most of the training!  Fingers crossed that I don't come down with a weird summer cold or something else.  Barring that, I should be good to go next week!

And the other training goals that I did not hit - more strength training and better nutrition.  One of these days, I do hope to incorporate agility and strength training into my repertoire, but it clearly did not happen this time around.  And nutrition?  Well, nutrition while training has held up, and I haven't had any terrible moments this year like I did last when I didn't eat soon enough post-workout.  However, I did sort of hope to make better decisions at other points during the day/week - you know, lay off the ice cream, eat a few less chips, drink more water and less beer/wine/margaritas.  With the exception of the alcohol, I've felt like quite an adolescent (or who knows - plenty of adolescents do imbibe, so maybe I should include alcohol as part of the adolescent diet), eating less-than-ideal food stuffs.  Perhaps the low point was Monday when I ate two servings of ice cream in the afternoon.  Oh, and when I ordered guacamole fries the other day, intrigued by the name, only to find out that they are fries with a huge blob of guacamole on top.  Definitely not the healthiest option.  Ah, well, win some, lose some.

In the meantime, we (or I) are starting to prep for our trip.  I am looking forward to Sonoma - this is our first time to that part of the world, and I can't wait to hit the road this week as we head north to San Francisco and then on to Guerneville!

Still not a "real" cyclist, but...

Last Sunday's non-race proved, once again, that my cycling skills leave much to be desired.  However, I have worked on them, really, and there have been small tweaks and moments here and there recently that "up" my would-be cycling chops, in my eyes at least!  And I do think that, year after year, I have improved on the bike, but incrementally rather than by the leaps and bounds that I would prefer.  So far, this year has been the year of the solo rides.  Because I'm still a bit self-conscious about my slow pace, I hesitate to join group rides.  And, because Michael's knee continues to sideline him from riding, my go-to partner from last year has been conspicuously absent on most of my longer rides.  I have found, however, that there is something relaxing about meandering along on the bike.  Perhaps this is why my speed isn't improving too much - I often tootle along rather than try to grind my way through a ride.

Still, I've hit a few milestones in recent weeks that I consider movement, inch by inch, to being a real cyclist one of these days.  First of all, I finally peed on the bike.  I know, too much information, and I'm not about to wax poetic about the experience or include details every time it happens, but being somewhere in the El Sereno part of Los Angeles and not a good stop in sight, the best option seemed to be to just pee on the bike.  The other milestone was my long ride today - 48 miles and about 4,900 feet of climbing according to the Garmin (so probably 46 miles and 4,500 feet, but whatever)!  Like my long run on Thursday, I was dreading this ride, and then before I left, I told myself how lucky I was to head out on a nice Sunday ride.  It was long and hot and slow, but mentally, it puts me in a good place as I think about the Vineman bike leg.  The route, Lower Big Tujunga up to Angeles Crest, is familiar from two rides in 2012, but this was the first time this year I'd ridden it and the first time going it solo.  It is a hard but wonderful ride as it feels so far away from Pasadena or Los Angeles but is easily accessible from the front door of our house.

I'd like to imagine that I looked something like this:

Source

It was a long slog to the 2 (Angeles Crest Highway), especially with all those moments when I thought that I was almost there to only be disappointed as the road continued up, up and up.  I was happy to finally make it to the ranger/pay station - especially because I had a surprise in the form of Michael and Gus and Milo who had driven to that meeting point, making sure that I arrived safely and also trading a cold bottle (of water) for my empty one.  That was a nice break, but after refueling and stretching, I was ready to head on down.  I had survived the hardest part, and the descent was 9 miles of sheer fun!  Although a group of Porches passed me by on the climb up, it was early enough that there wasn't a fleet of sports cars or motor cycles zooming down, so that made the trip down, down, down much more enjoyable.  

In REAL cycling news, the Tour has started, and I missed today but definitely enjoyed the end of yesterday's stage which included some unfortunate bus manoeuvrings and a crash that involved some of the top sprinters - these were unrelated, by the way.  I love Phil and Paul who said that the bus situation was an 'embarrassment' for Corsica and also repeated what they say for every single stage "We've never seen anything like this!".  But a bus getting stuck - they probably haven't.

Source

I'll probably miss more of the Tour this year than I would like (sad that I didn't plan my summer around watching TV from 4:30 - 8:00 am every day for 3 weeks), but Michael just sent me an excellent live feed from Australia that will probably be my go-to source when I can't see the stage.  Or maybe when I can!

Speaking of the Tour, after enjoying the Road ID commercials for much of last summer, I finally broke down and bought one, thanks to a hefty coupon that I had hanging around the house.  Seeing as I do run and ride alone for the most part, it's probably not a bad idea to have something with my name and at least one emergency contact number.  While I can/should include that information no matter what, I never did, except for my driver's license when biking.  So, I'm now more or less identifiable, should a mountain lion attack me on the JPL trails.  Hmmm...  That seems like cold comfort!

Signs of summer

June, graduation, final meetings - all of these signal that it's summertime!  Plus, almost right on schedule, June gloom arrived in the Southern CA area.  It wasn't quite June 1st, but when I went out for a long run Sunday morning, the day was still quite gray and gloomy - ideal!  May seemed like a warmer-than-usual-month, with fires already breaking out in different parts, and I was skeptical that June would bring about the usual weather 'system', but it did, and I'm not complaining about the cooler mornings.

I have tried to already take advantage of the change of pace - Michael and I took Monday afternoon to go to LACMA and enjoy our membership there.  We saw lots of German Expressionism which could have been quite depressing, but we mixed in some late 19th/early 20th Century American painting and a Matisse cut-out exhibit.  By the time we returned  to the east side, it was the afternoon, but not yet evening, so we hit up The York, for a small but potent margarita.  Drinks on a Monday?  Yes, please!

Food-wise, we're enjoying a somewhat different menu with summer fruit and veggies, and I've already enjoyed being at home for lunch.  After less-than-responsible eating in April and May, both nutritionally and financially, I'm making a push to cook more.  This week has so far been quite the success with a white, veggie lasagna on Monday and a fresh corn salad with a cilantro lime dressing (recipe for the dressing is here - we cut down on the oil; we'll definitely be making this again!) last night, and some peach and blueberry scones today.  Not so successful is the plan to drink less beer/wine and eat less ice cream.  It is summer, after all!

After a few months of pretty lame entertainment, of both the reading and viewing variety, I'd like to be more deliberate in my choices over the summer.  It's sheer laziness that I haven't pushed myself to read or watch interesting books or movies lately.  Thanks to Michael's insistence that we watch Chinatown (again), I read a few commentaries about the last line of the movie ("Forget it, Jake; it's Chinatown").  Apparently, some people think that it connects to the death of Polanski's wife, so I started reading about that, which then led me to pick up Helter Skelter, which I'm currently reading (okay, not a great intellectual oeuvre but it's fascinating to learn about LA in the 60's and who doesn't enjoy reading about cults).  And all of this prompted us to watch Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired last night, which was an interesting documentary, to say the least.

Other plans for the summer include a trip to the Hollywood Bowl, finally, and plenty of hiking and biking, road tripping, reading, beach walking, hitting up a few more museums, cooking, napping, and training.  Not necessarily in that order.

Summer 2013, I'm ready for you!