My B-fit-day challenge video

With the help of my crazy (nightowl) Mom, I did my Gold challenge from Midnight-~3:30am on my birthday. It was such a fun way to spend my birthday and a fun time with my mom. PLUS, we went to breakfast right afterwards and they gave me free birthday pie. can't go wrong with that.

27 has started out hectic but if it is as great as 26 was, it's fine by me!

I wanted to post a list of the things that Triathlon has brought into my world but time slipped away from me. Just looking around me in this room, there is a wetsuit hanging on the closet door, a road bike and a set of old tires (that were changed with my own hands), Team in training paraphernalia galore, and these are just the material items...it would take a lot longer to list the intangibles1

Slacker

For shame, I have not run (or biked or swam) in 4 days. And I just realized I only have 6 more weeks until the marathon.

My last workout was the equivalent of an Oly Tri. I did my B-fit-day challenge and got gold! It was fun and silly and a great way to spend the day. I will post later because my Mom was there as SAG support and cheerleader/photographer.

I gotta get back on the horse and my nice little 4mile run tonight oughtta do it. Then I'm hitting a spinning class (may reverse that order but we get the drift right).

My Team in Training teammates are all signing up to do the Victoria 70.3…I want to do it with those guys again SO bad but I just can't imagine fundraising $3000. It is so daunting. Even more so than a half ironman.

For reals

I for real, for real ran 18miles this Sat and it was…pretty awful. The majority of the run was pretty nice. It was a gorgeous day and, despite heading out kind of late (12:50pm) I was ready to run the day away. Again I didn't carry water, because I HATE IT. I need to figure out a method, be it the water fanny pack or handheld bottle, to carry some liquids. Instead I brought some cash knowing there was a grocery store at the ~5mi mark where I could stop for a drink and to hit the potty.

My first 5 miles really flew by. It was nice and by the time I saw the market ahead of me I wasn't necessarily ready for a pit stop. BUT knowing there were no potties ahead for many miles and knowing how much better I felt after stopping last week, I pulled over.

What happened next may be the proudest moment in my athletic life: There was a Halloween Extravaganza in the parking lot of the market where there were all sorts of yummy foods samples and **FREE CUPCAKE ROYALE CUPCAKES TO DECORATE WITH CANDY** and I DID NOT INDULGE! I am sort of sad about missing cupcakes now but I was proud of myself at the time.

I zipped into the store, got some water, used a CLEAN bathroom with FLUSHING toilets and SOAP AND HOT WATER (these are caps too since the joy of using a clean bathroom instead of a Porta-Potty was as delightful as cupcakes).

 

After this small diversion I was back on the road. The last few miles were pretty rough. My legs were hurting and I really just wanted to get home.

 

Once there I was in more pain than I have experienced post run; I iced and (semi)stretched and tried to recoup. For the first time ever the first thing I ate did not sit well with me. It was touch and go for a minute there. Touch and go.

But I survived, and really felt fine the rest of the evening. Still feel great today.

Bummed that my time for that 18 miles was 3:20 (11min miles on avg). I'm glad that I figured out my runs were shorter than I was counting but it was sort of a let down to not feel as good after the true 18miler as I did after last week's 18(actually 16-17).

 

Ah well, at least 18 is in the books for real. For real, for real!

Serene Tiger

It happened. I had an amazingly zen-like long run. I was not planning on running very far. I was tired and sort of aching and it was early and I was meeting my sister and nephews later in the day. Since I had done 15 miles the last 2 weekends I had decided to do ~10miles or so but that morning I wasn't even sure I would make it 10minutes. I was sure I'd turn around and call it a day. So sure was I that I bet against myself by not carrying water or money or fuel and my Nike+ has been on the fritz, so I was +-less. But as I started running, it happened! A peace came over me and I was just loving the run. The quiet of the trail on a semi-rainy morning, the moist air, the fall colors that were starting to appear. I was having a great time and I just didn't want to stop or turn around.

At about 5miles (characteristically) I needed to find a restroom, the best I could do was a horribly up kept Honey Pot (ew!) but it sufficed and I was back on the road an feeling good. Now, since I have been marathon training I have been doing my best to soldier through any stomach rumblings and not stop for bathroom breaks but what I learned here is that I feel WAY better after I take a pit stop and it allows me to refocus on the run.

I ran blissfully until I passed section of trail I had never been to and, even though I was still feeling good, decided I should turn around. I did one extra loop of a beach park that I had never been to before and headed back.

It was a good long run. Not because it was fast and not because it was far but because I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the road.

A good long run.

Of note:

Totally not running or tri specific but it is new and I wanted to put it out there where I can see it:

I am really happy with my life right now. Not all the time and DEFINITELY not in every aspect but I am appreciating what I have and the fact that it has been pretty hard-earned.

I'm happy.

The horror

I just found out yesterday that I am considerably off on my estimation of distance. For example what I believed was a really awesome 18miles was somewhere between 16 and 17. I think my Nike+ is off by ~5-10%, which is not too big a deal when only going a couple miles but adds up quickly on the long runs.

I am actually not sad about for the physical side of things, I have plenty of time to put in more miles and I feel like they'll come if I keep at it. What I am really bummed about is the mental toll it is taking. I thought I had done 18miles and could check that milestone off. But now it is still ahead of me.

I was planning on doing a short-long run this weekend (11 or 12) but now I am considering making 18 official this weekend. How do I tell SpeedyDDS that mine was not a full 18?

One woman’s Brooks are another woman’s Manolos

I used to not be able to watch Sex and the City. The amount of excess in Carrie's fashion annoyed me and the money she spent on shoes sent me over the edge. I just couldn't fathom spending so much money on shoes. I actually still can't but I do now know what it is to lust over pricey shoes and to decide to buy shoes without looking at the price tag. For Carrie she fell in love and had to have them based on form, for me it is function.

I love my Brooks Glycerin5. I've had 2 pairs and they're awesome. They are comfy, provide just a bit of stability without feeling too bulky, lots of room in the toe and have a miraculous way of venting such that my sweaty feet don't stink too much. It is WAY beyond time to replace them (read: 3 months beyond time) but they moved into a new model number and no stores seem to carry the new ones and I can't find the old ones anywhere. Now, while I want to love the new model (because they are purple!) I'm not sure I will. They are super bulky in the heel which I am not stoked about.

I think it may be time to find new ones that make me say, "Hello lover"

Speed, I am (not) speed

When I was running the 1/2M last December I kept remembering my little nephew's hero Lightening McQueen (mainly because I wanted to skip the potty pit-stop because there was a line but I remembered in Cars, Lightening skipped his pit stop and it ended very badly for him) and his mantra "I am speed"

However, I haven't talked much about speed work because…I haven't been doing too much of it.

I had the best of intentions to use my short runs as speed work. I even printed Hal's intermediate training schedule which has some pace/speedwork included. I was OK about it at first but have slacked off for 2 reasons.

1. I don't really know how to do it
   

• For example I have NO IDEA what a 5K pace means for me. I just assume it means run-faster-as-though-you're-only-running-3-miles pace. But how fast is that? In my personal opinion my steady pace has gotten LIGHTENING fast (for me) I consistently run sub 10minute miles on my long runs and the last tri I did I clocked a 26:44 for the 5K run (which brings me to the question of whether or not I feel like triathlons have well measured run courses, but another time, another issue). A year ago I was averaging 12min miles so I do feel like my running has gotten WAY better but I should still focus on improving and knowing my pace.
  
• When training with TNT our dear coach had us do either hills or speed work once a week but even then I faked it. We would do 1/2mile repeats but sometimes I honestly couldn't tell if my pace was different on the intervals or not. This is the only place that I find a treadmill useful. When I am listening to Hal I set speed intervals on the Treadmill and really try to stick with it…which brings me to
  

2. I am lazy

• I fall out of my intervals so easily. For some reason more so running than in the pool. I'm not sure what it is. In both cases it is hard work (which I don't mind too much) so I'm not sure why going full out running is more mentally challenging than going all out swimming.
  
• I also get worried that if I go too hard. I won't complete the distance. This is especially daunting now that my "short" runs are either 4 or 5 miles
  

So, bottom line is that it is time to start re-implementing the speed work.

Now, hills, those are a story in themselves. I love my running trail, it help tremendously to have somewhere that I know is populated, a straight shot, no excuses type of path with lots of real estate for my long runs (and only 3 stop lights max). But it is pretty darn flat. Time to seek out some hills. Sigh, isn't it always something?