long run score: D-

Like an eager beaver I rushed out the door for the fun and excitement of a long run. I was jazzed to be doing 10 miles.

Actually, I was excited about that. I haven't done double digits all year and there is something that still amazes me about carrying myself so darn far.


Run setup: I took water and shot blocks with me in the sweet water bottle I scored at the marathon, (I'll post about this later but) I had taken an Imodium 2hrs earlier.


The run: I was chugging along doing fine. Actually doing well. I was listening to a 1hr techno-sweat podcast.

My first 5 miles were pretty darn good. i like 10miles because it makes % completed really easy to calculate.

I turned around and headed back.

I was at 63.3% (that is a D-) when I started feeling awful. I wound up needing to walk for about 0.25 miles to get my tummy back together before I started running again, slowly.

I feel like I got back into a groove and hit the full 10miles.

Not a pace I was excited about but double digits none the less. 

HATE

I try to reserve that word but I HATE daylight savings time.

I left work into darkness...at 5:15pm.

Drives me insane. My seasonal anxiety disorder kicks in SO amazingly quickly.

I ran 10miles on Sunday. They weren't pretty but they're in the bag. It was the 1st double digit run I've done since I ran 26.2 miles last December. The suckage probably had something to do with the 4lbs of twizzlers I ate on Halloween.


~~~~~~~~~~
We give back that pesky hour on March 14th...countdown begins!

Success x2

Today I ran 9 miles. It was great (although this time my left leg was the pain). Ran around seward park and then up Lk WA Blvd for a total of 9 miles. The lake looked beautiful and the foliage looked beautiful...all around beauty. plus I ran it in 1:28 which means less than 10min miles for 9 MILES. I was very happy!

I also succeeded in completing the silver BfitBday challenge with the aid and encouragement of my mom and TheCap. I had a fantastic birthday weekend (The joy of a Friday birthday). I am working on a yay-bfitday post.

the Cap's out of town this week so between my crying for him and stuff I am going to try to catch up this blog.

We'll see.

M2:week1

So. I'm on track to have done week one of Hal's novice M program.
I believe this is because it is the easy week :) But I'll take it.

Now for how I've done on the rules:

1. Fashionably Flexible: Yep! Did my long run on Friday evening. Just because it was nice out and I was feeling good.

2. Weak Weekdays: Not bad. I only wound up at the gym late one night because I'd put off running until very late.

3. Cerebral Caloric Intake: FAIL. Let me just say that there were far too many almond croissants involved AND I have been on a chain eating bend. I think it's getting better though. I grocery shopped and now have the tools I need to eat a decent, home cooked meal most meals of the week. I even succeeded in making soup!

4. Luscious Longies: 3 runs of 20+ plus miles, maxing out at 22 miles. Not there yet. But I had a great 6miler (the longest run week 1). I kept my pace between 9:30 and 10:30 (OK, sometimes 11) and it kept my heart rate steady and well under my max. I felt like I could keep running forever and I haven't felt that in a very long while.

5. Biking or swimming (or maybe light weights) at least 2x/week. I have shredded multiple times this week and am hoping to go for a ride with TheCap tomorrow.

6. Healthapotamus: Get refocused on hydration/nutrition/vitamins/supplements. This will especially mean listening to my body and not messing around with injury. Also, using the Garmin as the tool it is and being smart about my runs. Well the nutrition aspect was a disaster but I think I am learning to wear the HR monitor.


So there we are. I am still really unsure that I want to sink this much time into this but, so far, so good.

Piece of Cake

Had a short little run of ~12 miles on Saturday. Yes, I just wrote a short 12mile run. It was a really fun run. I spent the night at my Mom's house on Friday and went running on a trail that runs behind her house that I'd only ridden my bike on before. It was a gorgeous day and I really enjoyed the crunchy leaves under my feet.

I wanted to do ~13miles but since I don't know the trail very well I decided to go off of time rather than distance. I started a 1hour podcast and headed out. There was a gnarly downhill before getting on to the trail and I decided to try something new. I RAN down the hill! I know, what a concept. But I always really lean back going downhill and kind of over-control it. But that day I just leaned forward and tried to make my feet faster. It was pretty fun. I ran the entire podcast plus one song before turning around.

It was a nice run, a run I can imagine even after the big-M!

____

2 weeks ago when I ran around the lake a few times and then walked it with a friend we were both totally freaked out when we saw-->

It totally looks like a person calling for help in the water! It was the Sunday after Halloween and a prank that will give me nightmares for many open water swims to come.

Thanks prankster whoever you are...it took me 4 months of lovely open water swims to get over images like this!

Indulgences (and the LONGEST RUN YET!)

I had the a rather thought provoking (and honestly, slightly hilarious) one of my coworkers. He is relatively new at my company but he came to the states from India ~3-4 years ago. My boss was telling him about my marathon and he later came to me to talk about it. It made me reflect a bit about how indulgent these sports can be.

I'll list his questions:
1. Do other people do this?
2. Do you make money off of this?
3. (When I explained that no, indeed I will pay a good chunk of money to enter the race) REALLY?
4. Why?

I thought these were all pretty interesting. Firstly from the perspective of someone who comes from a country (to be fair, he explained to me that his province specifically is overall impoverished and this is not necessarily true everywhere in the country) where people do not have the luxury to waste the time and MONEY on something as trivial as running 26.2 miles to nowhere I imagine it must seem absolutely bizarre. He was honestly shocked when I told him that these events can be huge and you can find a "fun run" type event nearly every weekend day.

The prize money question CRACKS ME UP. I have no idea how the finances work for professional athletes or even serious front of the pack/elites. I have never even been curious enough to find out what the prizes are (though, I did win that one tri and I got a $25 GC!).

The cost of some of these events still shocks me and I did find myself somewhat ashamed to tell him how much I am actually paying for the privilege of running until I want to die.

The last question is not specific to the international set, I have been asked this questions many times and asked myself this question as well. I'm still not sure why the marathon. Pride maybe, health sort of, the ability to eat a ton of crap at happy hour and not sweat it too much, sure. But I definitely know that in the process of training for this marathon (and my Tri TNT training) I have drank the Kool-Aid. Running has changed my life and I never miss the opportunity to evangelize it. The feeling you get when you finish a specific distance or cross a finish line is UNBELIEVABLE. I want everyone to feel that feeling.



++++++++++++++++++++
Separate note:

So I ran 22miles. What a disaster. i think I get why all of the plans have you only go up to
20miles. I feel a total wreck. It took me forever and i was hurting (a weird pain in my right lower leg).

But I finished. Since then I have indulged like never before. I don't think I have stopped eating. It is a weird chain eating that I have got to shake.

+++

Back on the horse

Long overdue long run report



well, it is about 4 weeks out until the big marathon. I have missed reporting on my last and longest long run but i want to note it for my record. So I will do so in bullet fashion



18 miler about 3 weeks ago:

This was my hardest long run yet. I'm not sure what my problem was but it was a toughie and I was dragging at the end like never before. My back was killing me afterwards which I hadn't experienced before. I did however find that fantastic bathroom.

2 weeks ago I slacked off for my birthday weekend and had a hard time getting back in the groove.

Last weekend: 20 miles!
I was really nervous about this run. It is the biggie in my training plan. In fact, there is only one 20 mile run included in Hal's plan and I had placed quite a lot of weight on it in my mind.

But it was...ok. Here is a picture of the lovely scenery.

I tested out my iPhone GPS for the first time and was bitterly disappointed in it. I used the fancy bathroom only once (!) but I had to wait FOREVER to get in. I debated running along but figured it was good practice for the actual race (when I did the 1/2 I had to wait in line for the Honey Buckets at mile 6 for ~5-10minutes) .

Oh

and I also ran. A lot.

the running was fine I guess. I have no idea what my pace was doing but I did the 20miles in ~3:45 with the long bathroom break which I am OK with.

I have been trying to notice my stride and turnover but all it did was crack me up. The last few miles I was hardly lifting my feet at all. I tripped every ~100meters. I looked drunk or like I have a neuromuscular disorder.

But overall I am really glad to have done that distance.

This weekend:
The plan was to do a short-long run of about 13miles. I tried on Saturday and it was not happening. I only made it 1.5miles out before turning around. Today I did 8.5miles and walked another 3 or so with a friend. Not what I wanted but it will do.

The plan for the next few weeks:
Next weekend (11/9), 20miles probably on a new path (one with a few hills so yikes!)
The weekend after (11/16) 15miles (I want to find a half marathon for this weekend)
The weekend after (11/23) 19 miles (this is according to Hal, though to me 20 is more mentally satisfying)
The weekend after (11/30)- 8miles cause I should be tapering now!
The weekend after (12/7) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


That's the plan. Now if I can keep mentally and physically healthy all the better!

Pride, slide, snide

That is my Saturday in 3 rhyming words.

First thing sat morning I dragged my sleepy booty out on a much anticipated/overwrought 15mile run.

that's right. 15miles. My LONGEST RUN EVER.

I was SO freaked out about this one. I had to move it from Fri evening to Sat thanks to the earlier and earlier sunsets that i am trying to cope with. And I couldn't decide what to do as far as timing, playlist, nutrition, hydration, etc.

I decided to go 1st thing saturday and run my normal route bringing along 2 packs of sports beans with the intention of taking one at 6mi and 12mi. Hydration was my biggest worry since I HATE carrying a bottle for such a long distance but I decided to bring it along with the intention of tossing it if it bugged me.

The run was pretty great. The TNT marathon team was doing a long run (complete with aid stations and spectators) which completely motivated me. It was so awesome to see all the TEAMmates out there and yelling "Go Team!" as people passed. They completely motivated me without even knowing it. I wanted to find out what distance they were doing but we were running in opposite directions and I never got the chance.

The last few miles I started feeling really tight in the legs. i refused to stop at stop lights or anywhere because I thought if I stopped I would lock up and be stuck in that position forever. When I got home (2:25) I followed all the appropriate proceedure: stretch, ice, rehydrate, reaosnable refueling, shower.

I was so proud of myself. 15 miles!

I didn't have much time to waste though, I was meeting up with my sisters and nephews to go to Wild Waves water park (aka my happiest place on earth). I was DREADING all the endless stairs leading to the waterslides but since I LOVE WATERSLIDES it was fine and I had a great time.

My nephews are getting so big! The oldest (3yr old) even went on a rollercoaster! Too stinkin' cute.

It was a great day. We headed back to my Mom's where the exhaustion began kicking in. Thanks to the livliness of my baby nephews though I perked up a bit and went out to dessert with my mom and sister. Totally fun too. Until I made a snide remark to my Mom, hurt her feelings and have been feeling like crap ever since.

There is no one I would less want to hurt especially when she is already down in the dumps. Also, I wish she had something like triathlon or running that could make her feel as good as I do when I do those things. She deserves it. She deserves to feel strong and in control. And free and complete.

so it was a bummer end to a bitchin day but I'm a work in progress and set backs are part of the game I guess.

I did still run 15 miles though.
15 MILES!

New Monday motivation

I just found a new motivation to drag my Monday self to a spin class. The instructor is total eye-candy. He isn't my typical type but he makes busting my butt a bit easier. I'm 80% sure he is same sex oriented but that doesn't matter.

There also happens to be a yoga class right after the spin class. I am going to try to work that in some weeks. I think I'm trying to transition into my inside workouts now that it is starting to get dark earlier and earlier.

last week was pretty good and ended in a 13mile run on Fri. I felt really good until the last few miles I started feeling really tight in the legs. I think taking a stretching break wouldn't be the worst idea ever. I did the yogurt covered pretzel thing again but it felt more harsh on my stomach this week than last so I may continue tweaking that. Maybe plain pretzels?

My new battle though is with diet. after my long runs I eat like a crazy person. For the next 4 days. It is really bad. I need to get over the mental reward system I have in my head. I am frustrated that I'm not making noticeable physical progress anymore.

Si se puede!

I did it! 2 great examples of how I can still train and live my life!

Last Thur I had a flurry of activities to see to, not the least of which was making it to a group ride. But this meant getting into work early, leaving early to make an appointment across the lake and back by 6. I made it! AND I was on time to pick up my friend for her going away dinner afterwards! I felt like I accomplished everything I wanted that day (work, personal, training, friendships). Sometimes while I was training with TNT I fretted about the fact that it had become all consuming and I couldn't sustain that type of focus without sacrificing other areas of life. So I was stoked to have it all come together, even if just once in awhile.

Fri I had a pretty good 13 MILER. 13 miles. A Half-Marathon. The distance I haven't run since I slogged my way across the finish line in Tucson 11/30/07 (OK, truthfully it was between 12 and 13 because I lost my Nike+ adapter for my ipod so I went by time and my approximate knowledge of the trail). But, dammit, I ran that distance on a Fri afternoon after a long day of work! I have decided I am starting to feel bad at 7-8mi which means I need to take some fuel around 6 miles or so. I hadn't planned well for this run and had forgotten to get my new running fave, sports beans, so I picked up some (4mini) yogurt covered pretzels, thinking that would be a nice carb/salt/pleasure mixture for me. And it was good, gave me the energy I needed to finish. I felt pretty loopy the rest of the night though.

The one thing I have let slide during this transition to triathlete is my volunteer work. Specifically I haven't been as involved as I would have like this campaign season. Typically I pour my entire weekend and some weekday evenings into these efforts but now I have a conflict of interest. But I said to myself, "Self, you must make time for ALL of the things that are important to you, and this (the upcoming election) is one." So despite the fact that on Tue I try to do a run/spin class combo, instead last night I did a run/data entry combo. And it was good.

This is not to mention the fact that I got to spend the weekend at my baby nephew's 2^nd b-day and my Mom spent the night at my house. I ate like crap, hung out with some of my very favorite people, got in some pretty good workouts and did some of my civic duty. It was a good week last week.

When I am not feeling so upbeat I will discuss that I am CONSTANTLY EXHAUSTED and I have turned consumer crazy with my desire for all sorts of cool gear and my new car got dinged pretty bad.

Why running scares me less than biking (and a boring run report)

I had a great 11miler on Friday. I think Fri afternoon may be my optimal long run time. I have had such good ones on Fri, I think it is because it is a symbolic way of getting far away from whatever has happened during the week and serves as a nice demarcation between work week and weekend. It has been really nice.

I was worried about 11 miles since I hadn't run that distance since just before my halfM last year. I brought my trusty running juice and a pack of sports beans. I have been debating with myself whether or not I actually need to fuel these runs but I know I go from just fine to just awful with very little notice so I am erring on the side of caution.

The first 5 miles went by so quickly. I subscribed to a techno-workout podcast and, despite the fact that the rest of my running playlist is mainly made up of Billy Joel and assorted random pop-rock from all the decades, the podcast was a nice large chunk of time and it has intervals should I choose to do them.

I ran the Burke Gilman trail which runs right in front of my house and has lots of real estate to do long runs. At mile 5.5 I was to a part that is a bit narrow and I was not happy about how much bike dodging I had to do. At the turn around (~5.75mi) I still felt great but decided to eat the beans. I usually have a hard time downing the whole package at one time (same with shot blocks or sharkies and of course Gu) but decided I would so that a) I would get the full 100cals as designed and b) I didn't have to carry the open package. This turned out great. I think I really felt the kick in energy and had no trouble the rest of the way back, even picked up the pace a bit at the end. I also never found myself dying for a bathroom break (which I used to ALWAYS need after 5miles, like clockwork). There were moments when I would have liked to see a Honey Bucket but I was really OK. The beans and (too much) water made my stomach feel a bit sloshy but nothing bothersome.

The one downer: my new shorts. I bought a pair of shorts to replace my old cotton bike shorts circa 1996. But WHAT THE HELL, I chaffed through my shorts! So needless to say that is the last we'll be seeing of those shorts and the $16.99 that purchased them. Now my mission is to find an exact replacement of the `96 shorts.

I am really tempted to jump my mileage up a lot and disobey Hal but I am going to try not. When I got home I was so energized I decided to walk to 7-11 to pick up some recovery food (OK read: I really wanted crappy food, I'm working on that) so I walked ~1mi to the store where I witnessed a bike versus car situation.

The person looked fine despite not wearing a helmet (idiot) but the scene was so scary looking. Ambulance and fire truck, two police cars, witnesses all around. It can just happen so quickly. This was my initial fear about Tri training and even though my new found love of cycling has pushed the fear back a bit, scenes like this make me realize the fear is still alive and well.

Most effective commercial ever

These New balance Love/Hate ads are hilarious.

I had decided that I'd do my long run (a 9 miler) on Friday evening since I was going on a hike and to a BBQ on Sat. But when I got home from work my bed looked too comfy and the crap on TV looked so interesting. I had just decided I would move my run to Sun when the following commercial came on.



And, I must say, I had the BEST 9 miler I've ever had. It was tough, yes but great. In fact I walked to the grocery store afterwards to get hiking snacks.

Unfortunately I bought trail mix and proceeded to eat a half pound or so of it. Sigh.

Good run though. I will have to discuss later how my left ankle felt the day after. I'm not 100% sure I love my new shoes.