I was so excited this morning to wake up and see the sun! I drove to Gasworks and started my ride around the lake a little before 11 AM. I rode South first and was so very happy to be outside instead of inside for this ride -- been so very lucky with the weather.

I did have a small victory and did not touch my brakes when descending unless there was a reason aside from being freaked out because of the speed. I also kept gearing fairly easy and focused on my spin. I was hoping for a sweet tailwind on the trail at the end but that request was denied by the universe and I ended up having to work to keep it at 14mph.

52 Mile Ride @ 03:30:00

I woke up for swimming and just wanted to roll right over and go back to sleep. Fortunately, Wally helped me out by laying on my chest and would poke me occasionally with his paw to keep me from falling back asleep so I took that as a gift and headed to swimming. Of course, once I made it, I was glad I did and even though we had to do some starts from the block (ugghhh), it was good overall.

2000 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

Then made it into core practice where I learned, once again how incredibly whimpy my lower abs are :(

Core Class @ 00:30:00

I slept in a bit this morning but managed to make it to the gym and get in a quick interval run before my day started. I decided to do my thing of 800's on the 3:45 and did three sets. Not bad since there was a bit of a gin cloud around me on the treadmill!

3.2 Mile Interval Run @ 00:30:00

Last night it occurred to me that I had 3.5 hours of exercise planned on a workday. So this morning I skipped swimming and ran only.

6 mile run @ 00:56:00

Seattle Fitness put together a 2 hour special spin class with 4 instructors each kicking our butts. It was a blast and my legs sure took a beating! After, we celebrated at Crimson C where they bought our first round :) Pretty much a perfect evening after a tough day at the mothership...

Spin Class @ 02:00:00

Yoga was especially nice today. Perhaps because I was not fighting with myself to stretch into poses and just let them go the best I could. I do think though that I am getting more flexible because I was happy with my results, and not just because I lowered my standards...

Yoga Class @ 01:15:00

I then went to my favorite spin class at Seattle Fitness to make up for yesterday's bike. Unfortunately, it is about a 2 hour round trip to get it in so I probably will not have a chance to do it too often.

Spin Class @ 00:55:00

I was so tired last night, I could barely keep my eyes open after 8 PM and was completely asleep before 9. I did wake up when the alarm went off for swimming but opted to sleep instead and happily did so until 6:30 when I got up for Core Class.

Core Class @ 00:30:00

I had a bike workout on my schedule but I just did not have it in me. I was battling tears all day long and when I got home, I just went straight to bed and had a good cry with Wally doing his best to comfort me. I know that booking the tickets to Korea was going to stir some stuff up for me and it seemed to peak this day. Or at least I hope it peaked because I do not want to spend any more days like this before the trip.

I woke up to light snow this morning and met the group at the Greenlake track for some quick warm up exercises before the run. BR and I did our chilly long run and got in a race pace section along the Arboretum and then did last mile fast mile on the flat section around Greenlake. It took a bit of time to warm up and I was definitely tired the first 30 minutes but rallied and felt strong and steady and even fast during the intervals when we sped up.

16 Mile Run @ 02:30:00

Got in a lift at 24 before dinnertime but really need to get my lift in on Saturdays rather than procrastinating until Sunday night.

Weights @ 00:45:00

Brrr.... I waited for a bit (a long bit) to get on my bike and started from Gasworks close to noon. I took the trail all the way to Marymoor focusing on cadence and speed. I was psyched to have averaged slightly over 16 mph even with a bit of a headwind the last 5 miles and hoped to keep it up.

I hopped on to the path parallel to 520 and got a bit mixed up in Bellevue but found my way again across Mercer Island and finally across the bridge and back to to the car. By the time I got to the car, I was quite cold and completely sweat soaked but my spirits were high and I was so glad to actually get in a sunny ride outdoors in January. I sure love living here :)

47.5 Mile Ride @ 03:11:00

Got in a god workout during swim practice and I think have finally hit the tipping point where the swim is better than the sleep. I am getting to know the team a bit better and do enjoy it. We did have a set where we needed to sprint a 100, and I have been so out of it, I was afraid of my time but was happy with my 1:28. It gives me a good starting point!

2500 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

I had a plan to make up my run from yesterday (ended up going out to welcome a new team member on Thursday instead). Set out to do my run but had forgotten to pack a running bra :( so I just let it go.

Booked the flights to Korea and am trusting that the universe (read the economy) will not prevent me from making this important journey.

This morning's bike workout was strength. I decided to warm up for 10 minutes and then up my resistance 2 levels on my rollers and ride 4 minutes in my big gear and recover for 1 minute x 8.

Definitely got good resistance from the rollers but I know it is not comparable to the hill work I need to get done.

10 mile resistance Bike rollers @ 00:57:00

Swim practice was pretty tough this morning but in a good hard way... I ended up alternating leading a distance set and got in a great workout.

2500 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

I had a run right after swim practice on my schedule and threw on my running clothes (always unpleasant when still wet from the pool) and ran around Greenlake in the dark and fog. Not so much fun but I was glad that the lake was not 6 miles! Next time, I need to be sure to eat or drink something before I start running because my pace was pretty slow...

3.1 Mile Run @ 00:30:00

Got in a quick lift after work at Seattle Fitness. Didn't do core so I could catch the last express bus on time and promised myself I would do it at home. Of course, by the time I got home, I was hungry and just wanted to feed and decompress from my back to back meeting day :(

Weights @ 00:40:00

Had a very tough time falling asleep last night and was up until about midnight. Did get up on time for Yoga and was so happy that Gisela came to this class to check it out.

Yoga Class @ 01:15:00

What a busy day after a busy weekend. Last night, I decided that I would sleep in to try to catch up after working late on Saturday night and getting up early both weekend mornings. I managed to sleep in until 7:30 AM and it felt marvelous :)

I also decided to work from home and call into the few meetings I had. I figured I would get in a quick spin during my lunchtime and maybe even get in a lift before my dinner plans. I changed into my indoor cycling clothes and saw a bit of glass in the rear tire that I took out. Then it was on to another and another until I started to dig a bit too much into an especially large gash and punctured the tire. They were pretty shredded anyway, not surprising because they were the same tires I raced IM Canada 07 in. So my spin turned into a trip to Greggs Cycle to get another tire and change it before my next meeting started.

When I finally thought I was getting ready to wrap up for the day, I got a couple of last minute time sensitive requests and ended up working a couple more hours and bailing on dinner :(. When I finally got on the bike, I was pretty much wound up and had some excess energy to burn and it paid off! Worked really hard on keeping my cadence up and I felt strong and fast.

18 Mile Bike @ 01:04:30

Today was the first day of Cheryl's running group and BR and I ran 14 miles together. It was great to catch up with her a bit and the weather was simply perfect for the run.

14 Mile Run @ 02:04:00

Last night's book reading was very intense and I am still trying to make sense of it all. The author is a bi-racial woman whose mother married a white American soldier and moved here with him. It cost her her life even beyond her 14 year death. I learned a new word. Yanggongju. It literally means "Western princess" and broadly refers to Korean women who have sexual relations with Americans. Also known as Yankee whore. These women, whose chance for a life better than the one in the war ravaged country would work at base camps for the Americans. Some were sex workers and others were not but it was a way for a future for them. Upward mobility was to marry a soldier and be taken the myth of a paradise in the United States. The price for that was to be shunned forever and severed from her family, culture and country.

This new information has cracked my birth mythology. I have always been told that my birth mother and father loved me very much and he was going to send for us when he reached the US. After she had not heard from him, she finally had to give me up because I would not have had a good life as a bi-racial child in Korea. But now I wonder, but may never know. I suspect that it would be very difficult to place a child of a sex worker with a nice Christian family in the US so maybe that information was scrubbed out. I also wonder how knowing something like that would have affected me growing up. Would I still be as well educated? As driven as I am today? Again, maybe not but I do know for sure that my birth mother suffered having her desires for a good life soldered with the shame of being a Yanggongju.

And that alone brings me some understanding of one of the threads of this invisible hooded cloak that weighs me down more some days than others.

Someone who had loved me once, and loved someone else recently said "It was really nice to be with someone who laughs all the time." I wondered what it would be like to be a person who does laugh all the time? How does one cross over to that place of light?

Ann and I met at Gasworks this morning for a 40 mile ride around the south end of the lake. We both questioned our sanity as we bundled up in lots of layers. Once we warmed up, it was a great ride even though we both were suffering a bit near the end. No speed records were broken but it was entirely appropriate for January base training. The company was exceptional!

40 Mile Ride @ 03:00:00

I have been encouraged to write down some of the thoughts I have have about an upcoming trip, and figured this is the only place I write consistently so I am going to give it a try here. I have decided to run the Seoul Marathon this March. The race is not nearly as significant as the location because I was born there, lived the first three years of my life there and have not been back since.

It is a place I wonder about every day and have always planned to go to at some point but could never find a clear destination for that journey. I started the search through my adoption agency for my birth family over 3 years ago but have never heard anything. I have no illusion that this journey will lead to any answers about where I came from but I need to see, smell, experience this place that imprinted me so powerfully even though I have yet to retain even a wisp of a memory from my early years.

I decided to do the marathon because that is my place of comfort and it will help to ground (exhaust) me as I travel with the range of emotions that will surround me. Tonight, we are going to the Wing Luke Museum to hear Grace Cho, who is the author of Haunting the Korean Diaspora: Shame, Secrecy and the Forgotten War. I believe that when one is determined to go down a difficult path, the universe offers all the information, help and support needed. I am a product of that war and this not entirely painless step is one to be taken today.

I went to bed AT 8:30 last night but the alarm was still not exactly welcome... Had a good swim practice and made a point of reminding myself while swimming how very much I like it.

2200 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

Made it on time to core class and am happy to report that my (workout) day is DONE :)

Core Class @ 00:30:00

When the alarm went off this morning at 5:15, I had the worst time motivating myself to get up and even dozed for a few minutes. Finally, at Wally's insistence, I dragged myself up and on the rollers for my first hard workout of the day. Hmm....perhaps a correlation between not wanting to get up and my first double-hard workout day. Or not :)

For my bike, I warmed up for 15 minutes and then did 5x intervals of 5 minutes hard, 2 minutes recovery. During the 5 minute intervals, my hr would hit 150 and I worked to keep my rpm to 80. I definitely have a long way to go but it was a good start that I could maintain.

12.5 Mile Bike Intervals @ 00:50:00

Got in a hill workout during lunch today and repeated the Beacon Hill Bridge 8x. Kept my interval under 2:40 for all of them.

6 Mile Hill Workout @ 00:56:00

This morning's swim practice was a bit brutal and included my first 500 in months and months. Plus they made me lead :(

2650 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

Then I came home and hopped on my bike to make up for the bike I did not do on Monday. I was sluggish, tired and my legs were sore so I did not do a lot, just enough to feel the pain of my first brick in over a year. I was a bit discouraged thinking that I had done less than the swim distance of the IM and could barely make it through 8% of the bike distance. But that is why it is January, not May, right?

8 Mile Bike Ride @ 00:35:00

Definitely tired again today. Will get a multi-vitamin this weekend and start to take it. Got in my weights at Seattle Fitness before heading home because I knew that once I got home, it would be all over!

Weights @ 00:45:00

Yoga today was really good and worked on letting my poses "flow" rather than trying to muscle into them. It did not make me any more flexible but it was a good practice for me to work on. I am definitely feeling much stronger in my upper body and was able to do some poses for a second or two longer than I have been able to do in the past.

Yoga Class @ 01:15:00

I juggled around my workout schedule after missing my bike yesterday and decided to get in a run today during lunch, and bike after swimming tomorrow.

4 Mile Aerobic Run @ 00:35:00

This past weekend was a bit tougher on me than I thought it would be so 5 AM swim practice was completely out of the question....

I did make it into core class but that was it for the day.

Core Class @ 00:30:00

Met Katie this morning for a 12 mile run. We ran the familiar route from her place, down to and around Lake Union and then back up the other side of Greenlake to the Starbucks. Ted was kind enough to pick us up there -- and I got to see the Ann's for a minute or so :)

The pace was pretty quick and of course, we blamed each other for pushing the pace and would slow a little bit when we remembered. I was definitely tired when I was done and have no question that Iron training has begun!

12 Mile Run @ 01:50:00

Speaking of Iron training, Cheryl and I met yesterday and worked out the plan for the next few months. It is going to be a bit of a challenge to get in everything but she came up with a plan that will make it all work. I did try to get her to give me extra credit for the roller ride because I heard somewhere that each mile on the trainer/rollers counts as 2 on the road, but none was given. Mistake to try to get credit from someone whose 500 mile roller record from '90 is still unbroken...

Got in a lift this evening. The gym was surprisingly busy for a Sunday night but I was glad to see that the resolutioners were still sticking with it!

Weights @ 00:45:00

I ended up choosing being social over another workout yesterday :) Ann and I also had planned to ride together this morning but we took a look at the weather and decided that we would be weather weenies while we still had a choice. We did both commit to riding indoors for a specific time or distance and I was so glad because I had to mentally remind myself of that when I wanted to quit at mile 25.

Ended up being a good ride and I mixed it up with standing and sitting and managed to keep my speed slightly above 15 mph.

35 Mile Ride @ 02:17:30

This week, I have been cutting out my nightly ritual of a glass of cheap wine at home so last night's Happy Hour did hit me a bit harder as my endurance was a bit down :)

Had a good swim practice workout this morning. After practice, the coach said "thanks for whipping your lane into shape and keeping them in line today". Apparently I can be bossy, even at 5 AM! I skipped core class in favor of a slower coffee in bed morning and packed running and lifting clothes for later today as I still have to lift a bit and get in an aerobic run.

2400 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

I got up at 5:30 to get in a 20 mile roller ride. I started super slow and just figured that I needed time to warm up. Seven miles later, I still did not feel any stronger or warmed up so I just went for an hour and called it good. I did do a 5 count down and 5 count stand during the commercials so my quads were not too angry with me :)

14 Mile Roller Ride @ 01:00:00

Got in most of my lift after work but did not have enough time to complete it all before my Happy Hour plans with a work friend.

Weights @ 00:30:00

Got 8+ hours of sleep last night and I could have used 4 more but I settled for that and then made it to Core Class.

Core Class @ 00:30:00

I got in a good run during lunch to West Seattle and back. I worked to keep a decent pace and stayed between an 8:30 and 9:00 mile.

8 Mile Run @ 01:15:00

Last night's sleep was a little better but still the 4:45 AM alarm was a bit brutal :(

Yoga class was good -- my legs were shaky at some points but she ended it with some really nice stretching. I also rolled my IT Band last night and it feels much better today than it did yesterday.

Yoga Class @ 01:15:00

I slept horribly last night. I think the snow just made things too bright outside and I was pretty much awake every hour. When the alarm went off, I decided to skip swimming and Wally actually agreed by putting a paw over my arm and falling right back asleep. It was easy for him to fall asleep but not easy for me :( so I got up and dragged my butt to swim practice. I did need to try out my new pull bouy after all!

We did a variety of 300's and the group made me lead the larger set 0f 1200's. I was whipped by the time we were done and even though we could not get through that twice, I did convince them to do the first of the 300's again with the remaining 6 minutes we had left...

2800 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

I called Seattle Fitness to see if Jon had made it off the hill and learned that she had so I managed to catch the bus and made it to core class.

Core Class @ 00:30:00

I had an appointment with Jerome to get a new lifting routine and I was feeling so tired, I was tempted to cancel. However, I rallied and was super glad I did! Jerome had a great new plan for me and I think it is the perfect combination for IM training.

Weights @ 00:40:00

I decided to get in an 8 mile run today to prepare for next week's Bridle Trail 10 miler. I woke up this morning with pain in my right IT Band and was quite surprised by it. I cannot imagine that I did anything to provoke it and it just seems so out of the blue. I stretched before running, after running and am still continuing to stretch but it is pretty painful. Ugh. My run was fine but my legs were a bit tired so my pace was pretty slow. I ended up running 9 miles because the route I planned did not work as well on the map.

9 Mile Run @ 01:32:00

I also decided it was time to take the "on sabbatical" part off my blog title because I am already starting to get ready for Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2009 although I have not yet met with Cheryl to get my official marching orders...

Was up last night working so I slept in a bit this morning. I thought I would get in my bike workout by now but ended up working again through the morning and early afternoon. I had to run some errands and finally ran to 24 to get in a quick lift.

Upper Weights @ 00:30:00

I added 5 miles to last week's long bike ride on the rollers and managed to get my average speed up bit but my legs were too pooped to do much standing so I sat a lot.

30 Mile Roller Ride @ 01:55:00

Swim practice this morning was a series of 25's and that was pretty much all my shoulders had in me. Definitely feeling yesterday there!

2350 Swim Practice @ 01:00:00

My soreness continues as the day progresses! I am working from home today and did get in a run during lunch on my usual route down and around Greenlake and back.

5.5 Mile Run @ 00:48:30

I decided to greet the New Year differently this year. The last couple of years, I have done the Resolution Run with a dip in the lake but since 2008 has been such a difficult year on so many levels, I really wanted to try starting this one differently. When taking the beginning yoga series, our instructor mentioned a class she does on New Year's day - 108 Sun Salutations. I decided to give it a try since she said it has been transformational for some people. It sounded hard in a new kind of way and I was intrigued.

I LOVED it. She split it up into 12 cycles of 9 and added enough variety and difficulty to keep it interesting. At the end of each cycle, she had us stand at the top of our mats, put our hands into prayer position and close our eyes while she read different passages/quotes to us. Each one was exactly what I needed to hear in the moment. I was so happy to have made it through every single one and even though I know I will feel it tomorrow, it was worth it.

Yoga Class @ 02:00:00

Oh and at about salutation 80 something, I TOUCHED MY TOES!!!!