Sunday, January 8, 2012

SBRS Jan 6-7, 2012


Happy Weekend!

Just a quick note on the past couple days:

Friday

Noon Masters swim.
Morning bike ride.


Saturday

SC Half Marathon run.
Doheny surf sesh.



What does that look like?
Oh yeah…

SWIM BIKE RUN SURF

: )

Loving life in California,
Amanda

Friday, January 6, 2012

Mammoth Winter Trip 2012

Mammoth! During the winter! Finally!!!

Last year, Mammoth got a record high snowfall for the season.
Something crazy like 600+ feet of snow total.
This year, Mammoth has gotten verrrrrryyyy little snow.

Good Article Here:
http://framework.latimes.com/2012/01/10/snowless-in-the-sierra/#/0

Monday

pack pack pack, drive drive drive, eat eat eat
Sunset Drive

Tuesday

High altitude sickness around 3 am : (

First Lift!

Super sad that the 7 Bridges run was closed
Eat, snowboard, RUN!, eat, sleep
Here’s Mr. Garmin’s map of snowboarding: 
  
Here’s Mr. Garmin’s map of the run:



Wednesday

Eat, snowboard, P90X, eat at Base Camp Café!!!!, sleep
[P90X at 8000+feet blasting sicknasty music with Garrison was hilariously brutal]



Here’s Mr. Garmin’s map of snowboarding: 

Thursday

RUN!, eat breakfast at Base Camp Café, drive drive drive home
nom nom nom breakfast at Base Camp Cafe
Here’s Mr. Garmin’s map of the run:
(Just a little variation of Tuesday's because I ran over the bridge in between Twin Lakes)


Loving me some high altitude training! I wonder to what extent these couple runs have benefitted me? Only time will tell.
Inspiration. Motivation.

High altitude Mammoth training camp, complete!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I HOPE SANTA CAME AND DROPPED OFF SOME AWESOME GIFTS FOR YOU ALL!

<3
AMANDA

PS- Don't forget why we're celebrating!!! Today, the world pauses at a manger. The God of the whole universe who dwelt in inaccessible light, whom no man had ever seen and lived, became one of us and made His home with us. He continues to live with us as we live our life now in Him.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!




Sunday, December 11, 2011

Hoboken Masters Swim Meet Dec 2011

I have officially competed in my first ever Masters Swim Meet!

Sometime during this past summer, my old coach, Brad Thornton, had asked me to help out with his Hoboken Masters Team and start coaching every Friday morning practice. I gladly accepted the offer and this past semester has been so much fun getting to know the other Masters swimmers while coaching them and swimming with them as well.

I’ve been swimming with my home club’s Masters team since the summer after my Junior year of college. The previous two summers I had trained with the younger kids, but once I picked up my triathlon training, I didn’t feel the need to swim as much during the summer if I was biking and running a ton as well. The practices generally went about an hour, sometimes 15 to 30 minutes over that depending on the day, and they were just perfect for my off-season training for swimming. I totally owe a lot of my improvements during my Junior and Senior year to swimming Masters of the summer in addition to the triathlon training.

So now that you know all that, it makes sense why I love Masters swimming and why I was so excited to join up with the team at the Stevens pool more regularly now that I’m no longer a competitive collegiate swimmer. I have met quite a few new people and it’s been a great experience so far.

Therefore, when Brad first mentioned his idea about running his first Hoboken-hosted Masters Swim Meet at the Stevens Pool, I was stoked about it! I planned my flight home for the following day and committed to signing up.

I had definitely upped the running mileage following my jump back into training, so I have some good cardio going for me. And in the few weeks leading up to the meet I made every effort to increase the number of swim practices I was going to.

I signed up for the 100 fly, 50 free, 50 fly, 100 IM, and then the 500 at the end of the meet.

Results are as follows:

100 fly     1:06.72
50 free      28.21
50 fly        30.45
100 IM     1:11.85
500 free    5:44.92

Definitely doesn’t compare to the caliber of racing I was doing just 1 year before at ECACs with the Stevens team, but I was happy with the results and I wasn’t too embarrassed.

I think I loved the camaraderie amongst all the Hoboken folks the most because it was the thrill of being part of a team again that got me excited. I think that part of me that loves a team atmosphere will always be there and why I’ll always love swimming for a Masters team the rest of my life probably.

Sarah and I were joking that we can’t wait to be old people killing all the old folks records when we get up there in age : )

I know it’s a long time from now, but my debut into the world of Masters Swimming has officially happened and I’m in it for the long haul!

As I write this, I’m on the plane back to sunny Southern California in anticipation of a long and much-needed winter break without having to come back early for a hellish training trip. Life is good!