Tuesday, September 2, 2008

How I spent my Labor Day: Hill work on Sugarloaf Mountain

Left: Me, very far in the distance running Sugarloaf during the spring. The Azalea's and Mountain Laurels are beautiful during the spring!
Taking a walk break



This past weekend was filled with lots of outdoor activities. I ran. I swam. The only part of a Triathlon I did not do was bike (my butt is still sore from biking at the IronGirl, so I won't be doing that anytime soon!)

Sat, Sun and Monday I went to our local pool. Sunday after jogging about 10 miles, I then jogged to the pool to swim. I took the easy way out to get home and hopped a ride on the bus (aptly named "Ride On Bus").

Monday was my most intense workout day with 7 trips up and down Sugarloaf Mountian. I need some hill work before JFK 50 miler and I will be pretty busy with Marathons between now and mid-November so decided hillwork was in order. I would guess it is 1.5 miles up this hill and I think Tristan suggested his less than reliable watch/altimeter says it is a 500 foot from where we park the car. Most laps it took me about 25+ minutes to get to the top and less than 15 minutes to return to the base. Thus I think 3 miles round trip is close.

A few times I cheated and did not make it all the way to the halfway point or all the way to the bottom. But I am only hurting myself, right?

After this workout, I drove to the local pool and swam for about 1/2 hour. For some reason our local pool has imported some REALLY cold water. I have to actually swim to keep warm. A few weeks ago, the pool was bathwater temperature and at least I was happy. Now each time I jump in, I am shocked that I do not break a sheen of ice!

Tristan, my husband, called me last night to wish me a Happy Labor Day. He was suprised and happy that he had phone service on the mountain. I am not sure I would say I was as happy about the availability of phone service. He woke me up (at 9:15 p.m.) and I had been asleep for about 2 hours and was a bit groggy. Oh yeah, and I was angry about being woken up. Our family has house rules about calling and #1 is NEVER call after 9 p.m. unless it has been okayed up the supervisory chain (that would be me). It was good to hear that he has not fallen off Mount Baker and the mountain so far has not erupted. He did however, mention there was some cold rain and sleet. I proposed this might have been karma for waking me up but apparently there is some question about this logic based on the timeframe (I was groggy, remember)

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