Endurance Training, Part One- Kicking It Up a Notch

    This year, I plan to have a very full race schedule: A few triathlons, a 1/2 marathon, a full marathon, a century ride, and hopefully a 1/2 Ironman race as well. This is all in preparation for the big race year: 2012! Next year, I hope to participate in (and finish!) my first full Ironman race. The goal is to do Ironman Coeur d'Alene, Idaho! Before I can entertain visions of crossing the finish line in Idaho to some announcer saying, "John Courtney, YOU are an Ironman!!" I have a bit to go in my training.

I do about half of my training with a local Triathlon/Running Club called Team Fitness Evolution. The team is headed by my friend and mentor Luis Leonardo (an accomplished triathlete from Guatemala and former co-worker at Sports Basement), and Kyle Leto (a professional Triathlete and friend of Luis). Needless to say, I am surrounded by quite a bit talent and knowledge of the sport of Triathlon. All of the workouts with TFE, with the exception of the swim workouts, are lead by Luis (Kyle, a former UC Davis Swim Team member, leads the swim workouts). When I am not with Luis and TFE, I take what they have taught me and apply it to my own workout concoction.

This morning, Luis kicked it up a notch. We met at Heather Farms Park at 5:30 a.m. as usual, expecting another (grueling) strength and core workout (typically a 20 min. warm up run, followed by an assault on our legs, butt, and abs). But this morning was different. We warmed up in a similar fashion, with a mild run to the new Iron Horse Trail bridge crossing over Treat Blvd. in Walnut Creek. But this time, we did not turn around. Luis jumped right in to the workout, starting with 2 minutes of Body Squats. Okay, not so bad, as we had done 3 minutes at a time last week. Then came the twist. We were going to forgo the adherence to our heart rate monitors (having previously tied to stay below a certain HR threshold) and sprint to the apex of the bridge and then jog down the back side.

Maintaining a regimen of "base" oriented workouts had made today's workout a real kick in the pants. Immediately following the first sprint, I felt different. It felt great! I was not instantly explosive, but I felt as though there was a lot of potential deep down somewhere that Luis had insisted to all of us was growing during our base training. I was starting to feel what he was talking about.

Jogging down the back side of the bridge, we went immediately in to 15 bench push-ups, 10 standard push ups and approximately 60 seconds of side/oblique leg raise holds (this one is difficult to explain, mostly because I don't know what it is called. On all fours, raise one leg straight out to the side, like a dog doing its business, and hold. After 30 seconds, move that knee up toward your head slightly, holding for 15 seconds. For the final fifteen seconds, crunch your knee up as far as you can towards your head and hold. Man, does this one work!). Immediately following this, we popped back up, sprinted back to the top of the bridge, and jogged down the other side. All of that made for one repetition.

This morning, we did four repetitions.

Although this workout does not seem like much on paper, I can tell you that it was one of the most complete workouts I have had in some time. There was explosiveness, core work, endurance, and muscular endurance. My hat goes off to Luis and Team Fitness Evolution. Awesome workout!

John

A little bit o' cactus, a little bit o' succulents, a little bit o' love...

I am so excited to show you what I did today! We had some left over apothecary jars from our wedding and I have been going back and forth on what to do with them. I love how pretty the clear glass is and I liked the idea of putting something more permanent in them than seasonal decorations. This morning, while making coffee, I had an epiphany. I have been wanting to do a cactus garden for a really long time. I wanted a little piece of Tucson in our home to remind of us where we met. I decided to try and make a cactus and succulent terrarium out of our jars! I thought two might be too much so I had the idea of using one as a picture frame. Shopping for the items, not surprisingly, took much longer than actually putting them together. Here is what I started out with when I came home from Navale's...

To do this project I needed...

small pebbles, plant charcoal, succulent soil, and plants. As well as something to put the plants in. 

I started on the picture frame one first; I figured that was easier and I was little nervous about the whole project so I guess I was looking to boost my confidence. It only took me about three minutes to put it together and then I started on the real project.

 I ended up buying way more plants than I needed, and could only fit two in the jar! I am really happy with how it turned out though! I decided to use a left over mason jar from the wedding to plant the aloe I bought. Here is a picture of three projects. 

I apologize for the shotty picture, my blackberry does not have a good camera. Anyway, I thought it needed a little something more so I added the tera cotta dishes I got at the garden store. 

So what do you think?

A door, a dresser, and a light...

This is our door. We bought it at Building REsources in San Francisco. I read about Building REsources in my favorite magazine, Sunset. It is AMAZING. If you have ever been to Omega Salvage or Urban Ore then you kind of have an idea for what it's like. Building REsources is better than the aformentioned though. It is cheaper, the people rock, and it's a non-profit!  As we were perusing through the doors trying to find a headboard for a project I saw on our good friends Nick and Jessica's blog, I came upon this beauty. We really like how Nick and Jessica used a window for their platform bed. My smart husband though decided that glass, Christian, and bed do not go well together. I am pretty clumsy and toss and turn like a dolphin while I'm sleeping and can just see me busting through the glass in the middle of the night. Needless to say, John thought a door would be safer =) I was SO excited when I found this door. It has the perfect old world rugged feel we are going for in our new room! There were two, but at $50 bucks a door, we decided to get just one. (I think John might be secretly planning a trip back just to purchase second though.) We intend to hang this just as shown (minus the chair) directly behind the platform bed John made for us! I can hardly wait to get it up and see how it looks! We have been spending many hours picking out paint, materials, and designs for our much larger, much better room that we will soon have! We have not decided on colors yet but I know John is equally excited because when I came home from work today, this is what I found on our bed...

A plethora of colors, notes, wood, booklets, and paint samples! 

In addition to our headboard, we also bought some redwood so that John can make me this dresser...

I found this dresser on Anthropologie's Website. I found out about this store from Jessica (of Nick and Jessica) as well! I fell in love with this industrial wooden dresser and since it's $998.00, I opted to beg my husband to built it instead =) To be honest, I don't really have to beg, he is happy to do it, along with my father-in-law! The last treasure we found at Building Resources was a couple of wire baskets. We have been looking for wire baskets because John wanted to make this project that he saw in the newspaper. 

After seeing it in the newspaper, we discovered that again, Anthropologie had their own version (pictured above). This is our basket...

We are going to turn it upside down and cut the wire so we can put an old fashion lightbulb through it and make a hanging light! I am so excited! I was hoping to find one a little more decorative but I am happy with what we were able to get. And at $1 for the basket, about $15 for the light, and $10 for the hardware, we will make out WAY better than the $148 we could have paid for one purchased at Anthropologie! So after seeing some of our ideas and samples of our projects, what do you think? Will we be able to accomplish the industrial, rugged, room we are going for? I hope so! 

Vet time!

Today I took Eddy to the vet to get his shots. After freaking out and nearly escaping, he peed all over the lady and whimpered like crazy. I felt so bad for him I almost cried! He got all his shots though and he is officially licensed! I guess that means we are keeping him =) We also found out that IS in fact neutered. I know it sounds funny but we weren't sure =) He has to go back again in 3-4 weeks for the booster. John is definitely taking him next time!