Finally got back in gear after recovering from being jetlagged (yeah, I know, excuses, excuses).

Easy 3 mile run with Mel on Friday.

Saturday, up the hard side of PV (my first time!), which is a 25 mile bike ride, followed by a 2.5-3 mile run (trudge).

Today I did the LA Tri Club beginner's ocean swim.

I've lost a few more pounds (coming off steadily) and I think it's really, really helping me on the hills.

Speaking of the hills: going up 2 miles of switchbacks is NOT FUN. Mel tells me that soon it will become fun. Satisfying, yes, I will admit that, though I was reduced to chanting (out loud) KEEP GOING KEEP GOING about 3/4 of the way up, because I so wanted to stop and take a break. (I resisted, and made it all the way to the top with stopping, of which I'm intensely proud.) But fun? Hmmm.

Oh, and it didn't help (though it was a bit funny), seeing the sign "NOT SUITABLE FOR BIKES" at the base of the switchbacks. I need to take a pic of that and post it.

Fiji Pics

I've posted more of our Fiji pics at Flickr -- please leave a comment if this link doesn't work.

We're leaving for Fiji tonight so no updates til at least the 18th.

Last week was an okay one for training, including a spin class, two runs (one a hill workout, in the very blustery wind and miserable rain (remember, this is Southern California!!! I'm not used to bad weather!) and 50 minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym last night (which I was able to do easier at a higher resistance than the last time I'd worked out on it (months ago?) -- don't get me wrong, still got my heartrate up, it just really did seem easier. I'm wanting to credit that to my increasing fitness levels, thank you!).

This morning we're meeting Mel for a repeat of the PV ride then a short run afterwards.

I'm not planning on doing any runs in Fiji, though we will be doing some hiking. Apparently the resort does have mountain bikes (or some sort of bikes) we can use, as well as a small gym. One afternoon we have a guided kayak outing. (And horses! horseback riding included.) And of course we're going to be doing ten dives over five days. The big thing for me I think will be to NOT gorge on food. I've lost over 10lbs so far since seriously starting to try losing weight and I DON'T want to put any of it back on.

I've had some kick-ass workouts this past week. Don't know if I'll really be ready for Wildflower but I'm making a valiant try of it. Last Wednesday? Mel and I had a really good run, 4+ miles, where we really picked up the pace on our intervals (and I was actually heard to utter "Gee, I wish I could run like this ALL the time" and, then, not so surprisingly, "Wow, wish I could've done this at Strawberry Fields!").

Saturday morning I fiendishly plotted a good 6.8 mile loop (based on Google gmaps pedometer) for our long, slow run. I included a little of this, a little of that; some of the woodchip path, some asphalt (running through neighborhoods), some concrete (the Strand on the beach), some flats, some hills. We would run 6 minutes, walk 2 for our intervals. A lovely, lovely plan.

I'm sure you've already gathered that all did NOT go as planned.

I assured both Mel and Dave (who decided to run with us) that I did indeedy know how to get from the woodchip path to Marine Ave, which involved exiting the path and jogging over a street or two (you're starting to see the problem, right?) to hit Marine (which does not intersect the path and rather does some weird stuff) which we could then run straight down to the beach.

Suffice to say I missed the turn off that, in my heart of hearts, I know would've taken us to Marine.

Not only did I miss the turn off, I took us straight to the infamous Manhattan Beach Sand Dune park, home of the 100 foot high urban sand dune. (Use this link to see a pic; scroll down a little.)

Dave braved the Sand Dune. Mel and I took the stairs and waited for Dave at the top.

We eventually made it down to the Strand and were able to continue the run as planned. My little error added a little more than 1.5 miles to our run, though, to total about 8.5 miles. (You can see my original plan at FavoriteRun.com under author StephCat.)

Sunday we all did a bike ride -- I biked the Palos Verdes loop for the first time! Granted, we went the 'easy' direction (clockwise), but I am thrilled by how well I did for my first time. 24-25 miles (depending on whose bike computer you look at) of switchbacks, hills etc. The concensus from people who've done both Wildflower and bike in PV is that if you can bike PV, you can do Wildflower. I'm really, really hoping that's the case.