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Live Your Passion

Blisters Are Back…But So Is Fall Foliage! September 29, 2008

Filed under: Passions, Running — April Bowling @ 2:03 pm

Ran with my feet wet this weekend and didn’t get blisters but apparently compromised the new skin on the bottom of my feet, because I started to get a hot spot less than 10 minutes into my run today. Now I have a nice big blister right where the last one was…not quite AS big, thank God.

We are doing a fall foliage JOG this Saturday morning for anyone who’d like to join…5.7 miles worth of country roads, trails, and beautiful leaves with friends, at VERY conversational pace (given how much I talk, I consider this to be zone 1). Slowest person sets the pace…this is not a training run and there is no self-judgement allowed! (So if you have to walk…you have to walk). I’ll make up little maps ahead of time, so if we want to break up into groups based on speed we can. So far I have three takers…anybody else? Probably around 7am…
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Flying over the Northwest

Filed under: Passions — Jennifer Triplett @ 10:22 am

Got to see Seattle through a different perspective yesterday, thanks to Guy. I was yearning to head East to the mountains via motorcycle - but he twisted my arm to go flying. And we picked the perfect September day for it.

Small planes are a trip to take off in. We quickly climbed to about 5,000 feet as we soared over the city on our way up to San Juan island.


Soaking it in September 27, 2008

Filed under: Passions — Jennifer Triplett @ 4:02 pm

As I sat at Gasworks on our daily walk, Makiah and I both laid next to each other and took a brief cat nap. And something struck me - I want to go to the mountains. Ryan would not have spent such a beautiful day in the city - he would be out making the most of the weekend. So my plan - ride in the morning and then head out for a day trip to the mountains.


Fresh Feels Funky

Filed under: Passions — April Bowling @ 12:05 pm

Fresh legs are getting me into trouble! I’m not used to this feeling when I run…the feeling of smoothness and responsiveness in my legs is so alien! 5 miles today at an 8 minute pace felt like nothing to my body - I got my breathing up but even that was pretty mellow since I have a head cold. But I suspect this may the reason that my feet and hip are back at square one after every run…I am hitting the pavement a lot faster than I was used to with all the volume, and the increased intensity is too much for the old body even if it feels good while I’m doing it. I think I have to start running with people again so i have to talk, and if I talk I run slowly. Any takers?


I really want to believe in reincarnation…

Filed under: Passions — April Bowling @ 6:47 am

since Paul Newman just died and we really need souls like his to stick around. His brand of roll up your sleeves activism and ability to reach out to people of different backgrounds inspired me way more than any movie ever could.
Thanks Paul…I hope it’s great wherever you are now.
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OH!, Brother

Filed under: Passions — Chet Collins, DC @ 2:54 am

James Schaffer’s “Visor Warning” rung a bell for me yesterday, though not quite like it did for him. ;-) The tree limb brought back memories of my childhood with my younger brother Ross. When I was about 7, I remember leading him along on a horse through the trees. I didn’t realize how low the branches were until one cleanly scraped Ross off the horse and onto the ground. As the day progressed something kept nagging at me. I felt throughout the day that I was forgetting something, checked my schedule over and over, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. It seems that if I don’t write something down I never remember to do it, so I figured I must have forgot to write something down. I found myself awake this morning at 2:30 AM. It hit me, Yesterday was the 26th, my brother’s birthday, only it wasn’t September 26, it was August 26, and I completely forgot.


Beware the Alphabet Game September 26, 2008

Filed under: Passions — April Bowling @ 12:46 pm

Ok, I know you have to pay to play, but this is ridiculous. I have been planning to get my USAT coaching certification, as well as my PT certification, and I thought that I should look into getting my certificate in sports nutrition as well, since I certainly dole out enough advice on that front, and because many women (in particular but probably many men too) are very focused on weight loss even as they pursue the sport of triathlon and are in need of nutrition guides from a coach as well as a training plan.


Visor Warning

Filed under: Passions — Live Your Passion Team @ 7:40 am

We recently did a limited run of Live Your Passion headsweats visors that were so popular at the Pacific Grove Triathlon that mounted police in riot gear showed up to quell the angry mob.  Here’s a grainy photo of one taken by the security camera in my coat closet:


Viva Cross Vegas September 24, 2008

Filed under: Cyclocross, Just Squawking, Mountain Biking — Matt Shriver @ 6:49 am


Listen to Your Body, Literally

Filed under: Training and Racing, yoga — Sage Rountree @ 4:01 am

Yesterday I found myself at the pool at an odd hour, 1:30–2:30. It was a different sensory experience: I was cold from sitting around in a sweaty top for a few hours; I had the memory of lunch still on my palate; since there was no water aerobics class at that hour, there was no layer of perfume hanging over the water; the angle of the light was different.

When I sat in the whirlpool after diligently cranking out my yards, leaning back and shutting my eyes, I noticed something else new. Only two swimmers remained in the pool: a professional triathlete who races the ITU circuit, and an older, heavier man who does half a length of butterfly with no kick before standing up, catching his breath, flipping over, and finishing the trip across the pool with the elementary backstroke (to his credit, he keeps this up for an hour or more at least three times a week). The sound these two made in the water was fascinating.
Folks who are really good at what they do make it look easy. (There’s a nice piece by Rick Crawford in the September 22 issue of Velo News about virtuosity and the pedal stroke, not yet online.) In swimming, cycling, and running, they also make it sound easy. The sound of a good swimmer makes a satisfying, rhythmic “thunk” as a relaxed arm plunges into the water. The sound of an inefficient swimmer is irregular, frantic, splashy.
On the bike trainer, an uneven pedal stroke makes a distinctive whirr-whirr sound. On the road, cranks sometimes make a slapping sound when you’re undergeared.
You can hear the same differences in running. Experienced, light runners make a pitter-patter in time with the breath; plodders sound heavy both in step and in the lungs.
Listen to your body in your next workout—not metaphorically, but literally. How does your action sound? Is it regular? Does it sound light or heavy? Springy and stiff or leaky? How does the sound change across different efforts and paces? How does it coordinate with the sound of your breath? Ask a friend to record you or comment on the sound of your swim stroke.
Similarly, listen to your breath in yoga—is it flowing freely? Are there hitches and sighs? Does the ujjayi sound obscure the complaints in your leg muscles, the doubts in your mind?
(Sidenote: one of my football-player students said, as his joints pop-pop-popped when he stood up to leave practice, “My body sounds like a drive-by.”)


 
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