march 2009

i rounded out the month of march with two more runs, extending my little 'streak' to 5 days. i desperately need to keep it up so i can get back into shape.

monday (3/30) pm run: 7 miles, 59:10 (avg pace 8:27), avg hr (170)

i don't know how my monday run avg hr was higher than tuesday's (interval day), but whatever. i had a bit of a headache after work and of course was not in the mood to run but i headed down to the hotel 'gym', plopped myself on the treadmill and didn't stop until i reached 7 miles. i probably would have gone longer but the stomach threw in the towel and i made a beeline for the restroom.

tuesday (3/31) pm run: 7.53 miles, 59:51 (avg pace 7:56), avg hr (166)

again, not totally in the mood but i knew i wanted to run. i was a little grouchy pre-run, but as soon as i finished my workout i felt 100 times better. days like this make me really love running.

today called for 1000m repeats at "interval (i) pace" (4:03 for me). i warmed up for 2.25 miles, did 3x1000m (.625 miles) with .35 miles recovery (~3 minutes) and then ran at my easy pace for about 20 minutes until i had ran for a full hour. the intervals went alright, but there is room for improvement. 1000m/0.625 is an odd distance to do on the treadmill. i had to round up to .63, and with the .35 recovery periods i forgot what mileage i needed to end repeat #2 on, so i think that one is a little longer.

3x1000m - 4:07, 4:09, 4:04
(goal pace 4:03)

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march 2009 - easy running, some laziness. traveled a lot, so that's my excuse. fell off the yoga wagon, but stretched decently after most of the runs. found some of my speed again - completed three speed (repeat) runs and two threshold runs. lost my mojo, but made strong effort at the end of the month to find a morsel of motivation and drive.

total mileage: 141.66
time spent running: 20:29:56
days off: 8 (2 scheduled, 6 lazy days)
abs/yoga: 9 ab workouts/0 yoga sessions
avg resting hr: unknown, somehow didn't measure it once all month
avg max hr: 184.50
pushups: 365 (i realized i did a lot this month and figured it was stat-worthy)

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bfe, kentucky

week in review (3/23 - 3/29):
total miles: 14.63 (3 easy runs)
time spent running: ~2 hours
avg hr: 163.50
abs & yoga: 3 ab days, 0 yoga (not that i can really do it in the hotel anyway)
off days: too many (4)

why bother even recapping the week. sad. monday - cold and in syracuse, tuesday - syracuse/traveling, wednesday - tired and too much to do, thursday - drove to ky and still tired, friday - ran, saturday - ran, sunday - ran; i just might be back on some sort of a track.

took a few pics yesterday in the gloomy weather and today when the sun made an appearance of the not-even-quaint small town, america i'm hanging around in these days. try to contain your jealousy.

headin' to the local food store - the yellow barn.
just kidding, they have a kroger.

remember that outlet mall i mentioned?
yep, this is it.

work.

the ohio river.

the city life.

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making progress

the nice thing about the particular bfe i currently reside in is that i can easily drive (1-2 hours) to a few better known cities such as louisville, cincinnati and indianapolis. so in the event i have a free weekend, it's relatively easy to find something to do.

yesterday morning i hopped on the mind-engaging hotel treadmill for a 35-minute run, and the hotel bike for a 20 minute ride. obviously nothing exciting to report.

saturday (3/28) am run: 4.1 miles, 35:00 (8:32 avg pace), avg hr (175)

j and i went down to louisville for the afternoon but i had no idea where i was going or what we were going to do. we ate lunch at the bluegrass brewing company, checked out two of the malls, and saw "duplicity" since it was raining anyway.

a small victory - i ran again today, third day in a row. j and i drove up to the kentucky side of cincinnati (florence, ky) to get a run in where there are sidewalks and civilization. i mapped a little route out on map my run that looked ok from the aerial view, but was a bit of a let down as we ran. it was chilly, rainy, and flurried after we finished. gross.

sunday (3/29) afternoon run: 7 miles, 1:03:00 (9:00 avg pace)

the 'famous' water tower - see story.

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i forgot how to run

i've been a little whiny lately about my own busy-ness and lack of running. i apologize. i have been being way too lenient on myself in running and eating anything remotely healthy. i'm working on it. i am aiming to get some runs in over the weekend and resume a regular workout schedule. ...and quit eating complete crap all the time. living in a hotel in a town where your dining options are taco bell, kfc, arby's, mcdonald's, burger king, or waffle house is gonna make that a little tough.

anyway.

i ran today. it wasn't much, but at least i moved my feet. it felt unnatural and hard, but i made it. i never ran yesterday, just wanted to chill out after 7 hours of driving and getting settled in to my new 'office' (...in a trailer, on a construction site, in the middle of nowhere) and penthouse studio apartment (...holiday inn express).

thursday (3/26) run: no ma'am (/sir).

friday (3/27) pm run: 3.53 miles, 30:00 (8:29 avg pace), avg hr (152)

i "warmed up"/burned a few extra calories with 10 minutes on the bike, 10 on the elliptical, and 10 of pushups/abs. it sure can't hurt me these days.

at some point this weekend i need to re-visit my training plan since i've been a little off the past few weeks, and i'm doing research on upcoming races in the "kentuckiana" region (where the bfe is located) to help give myself a mini-goal/motivation. apparently i need a little direction in between my bigger goals/races in order to stay focused. no biggie.

here's a random video j sent me. not breaking news but humorous.

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running? huh?

monday run: non-existent. too freakin' cold in syracuse. ok, so it was in the 30's, but no thanks. i think i slept most of the day as well, guess i needed to rest.

tuesday run: didn't even consider it. ok, so i kind of did. barely. couldn't sleep in for the life of me but it was in the 20's and i was not quite in the mood to subject myself to that. j and i did go for a lovely walk around green lakes state park. i nearly froze to death, but it was pretty.




flew home later and got back a little after midnight. j repacked his bags, we took a nap, and got up at the lovely hour of 4:30 to take him back to the airport wednesday morning. isn't he lucky. technically i was supposed to head for the hills myself but when i saw how late we were getting back tuesday night i told work i was gonna need a day.

wednesday run: riiiiiiiight. 4 hours of sleep, 9 or so hours of work, 3 suitcases to pack. (regular clothes, shoes, and running clothes). i was only aiming to work until 3 or 4 ish, but of course, stuff happens. i was a little preoccupied with the 90 things i needed to get done so i probably didn't leave things as organized as i could have... too bad so sad.

i got my exciting and luxurious rental car to sport for the next 2 months - a kia amanti. big pimpin'. unfortunately, the door locks were funky. the button on the driver-side door only worked the driver-side door (convenient), and the remote-thingy also only worked the driver-side door. i couldn't even lock the trunk. sorry, if i'm going to be leaving my crap in this car for two months in the bfe, i'd like to be able to lock the doors at least.

so i took the car over to the airport (haven't seen enough of it lately) to get it exchanged. the genius behind the counter told me i needed to push the button twice. i kindly told her i had pushed it 12 times and it would still not lock or unlock the doors. she then asked me if i had recorded the mileage and filled it with gas. i said lady, this car was delivered to me at work and then i drove it over here. that's about 10 miles. no, i did not put gas in it. they accepted my reasoning and even gave me an upgrade to a luxurious saturn vue, at no extra cost to work even, i'm so thoughtful.

hopefully i'm all packed and ready to survive life in the sticks. i'm hoping to get in at least a couple miles (ie: 3) tomorrow night after another long day of traveling and working. i'm not feeling guilty for the past few days (probably because i'm so tired all the time) but i know if i want to truly enjoy wearing jeans and a t-shirt to work i need to not gain 10 pounds. i didn't pack my fat girl pants.

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losing the fight

the patheticness continued for the rest of last week. i have a bit of a hard time staying on track when traveling, and going from 60-70* to 30* doesn't help much in the motivation department either.

after thursday's monumental 1.5 mile run, i ran a whopping 2.3 on friday. i headed out for my threshold run but i felt like i was going to throw up the entire time so i turned around and ran/walked home. not sure what was going on with my stomach, but i made it home without puking and curled up on the couch for awhile.

friday (3/20) crappy pm run: 2.3 miles, 21:27 (9:19 avg pace)

i got about 4 hours of sleep friday night because our 7:30 flight to syracuse was promoted to 6:30am! yippi. while i 'slept' on the plane i was exhausted when we got to the hotel, so i took a nap. i woke up moody because i needed to run but didn't really want to because i was still tired. luckily i made j make me go for a run, and i ended up making up for my skipped threshold run from friday -- 15 minutes easy (1.75 miles), 15 minutes t-pace (7:03, 2.13 miles), 10 minutes easy (1.17 miles).

saturday (3/21) afternoon run: 5.05 miles, 40:00 (7:55 avg pace)

sunday... still tired, still feeling 'off', still in cold syracuse. (part of the 'off' feeling today may have come from the beers, enormous alabama slammer, and kahlua 'n cream that was consumed saturday night, but the jury is still out on that.) it was snowing when i woke up and didn't quite help plant an urge in me to run. the motivation is just gone. :(

j and i got in a short run in the snow. i thought of those of you who deal with this daily for months and well, i'm glad i'm not you. it wasn't a hard or stinging snow but it was annoying. i proclaimed my hate to the snow a few times during the run.

sunday (3/22) am run: 5.7 miles, 49:47 (8:44 avg pace), avg hr (155)

instead of fighting the lack-of motivation i've been letting it win. i'm telling myself i need to relax and catch up on rest, and those sound like good enough reasons to me. i feel blubbery as always, but i'm hoping a few days off will help revive me. it doesn't help that i get home from syracuse late tonight (tuesday) and hit the road again early thursday for that exciting temporary relocation for work... hopefully i can quickly fall back into a running groove this weekend.

at least the m&m's are freely flowing. gotta love wegman's.

week in review (3/16 - 3/22):
total miles: 35.25 (5 runs easy, 1 interval workout, 1 threshold workout)
time spent running: ~5 hours
avg hr: 164.25
abs & yoga: 0 ab days, 0 yoga (blub blub blub)
off days: 0 (technically i suppose)

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i didn't even break a sweat

well that was pathetic.

after all my waiting and debating over the weather, it started raining and i finally peeled myself off the couch and onto the treadmill.

...for 13 minutes and 30 seconds. i hopped off for no real reason other than i had been telling myself i could take a break (potentially for the bathroom) at a mile and a half. i talked to j for a few minutes and then heard the treadmill shutting off (it readjusts the incline) so i was like, oh well guess i'm done.

too hard to turn it back on, i know.

a big 1.5 miles for today. here's hoping i can stay on schedule for the rest of the week while traveling through the weekend.

in all fairness, technically i had 0 scheduled for today. but i took sunday off so i shoulda ran more...

thursday (3/19) pathetic pm run: 1.5 miles, 13:30 (9:00 avg pace)

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spoiler: i'm not exciting. sorry.

geeze peeps. it appears i made a huge mistake by using the wrong term yesterday. by "exciting" i just meant busy/actually having things to do. sorry to disappoint, i don't have a sweet engagement announcement to make like amy or anything. i'm seriously a really boring person, so excitement in my life is just a half-step up from my usual boringness. while i am only a mid-20's "adult", my life is just work, run, hang out around the house, sleep, rinse, repeat. seriously. i don't do exciting things like most people my age, and i still don't see how married people or people with kids actually find the time to do everything they do. maybe i'm just really lazy...

i'm currently sitting in my living room looking out the front of my house at the blue, sunny sky and waiting to run. if i turn around to look out on the backyard there are dark, menacing clouds with lightning and thunder. i'm torn. do i get my short (5-6 miles) run in and hope the storm doesn't come or do i wait it out a bit... currently i'm waiting it out. knowing my luck this means the storm will be hanging directly over my house in an hour or so when i plan on running.

my life though, has just gotten busy. i've been gone the past two weekends so absolutely nothing gets done around the house (and, surprise surprise, i'm traveling again this weekend). after working 9-10 hours everyday, the last thing i want to do is come home and do dishes, laundry, go food shopping, put away clothes from two weeks ago, or even make dinner. (yes i know, some of you work even longer hours, have children and still manage to fend for yourselves.) maybe i should start taking photos of my dinners like jess and matt. i'm sure you'd be so enthralled by my bowl of cereal, scrambled eggs, slices of turkey lunch meat, or microwavable easy mac. (all meals i have eaten this week.) i have no motivation when it comes to actually being an adult. there's mail piled up on the kitchen table from at least two months ago (hope i paid all the bills!) and i have dirty clothes that have been sitting in my laundry bag for who knows how long.

on top of my regular laziness, desire to just chill after work and being gone every weekend, i found out this week i will be switching projects at work for a couple of months. i think the number one thing i am excited about getting to wear jeans and a t-shirt every day. i'm easy to please. i've been busy wrapping things up in the office and getting ready to temporarily move to the bfe. (where 99% of engineering projects take place.) this makes me even more "tired" when i get home and less likely to even consider doing some sort of house maintenance. may god bless the man who thinks it'd be a great idea to marry me.

why am i so lazy about 'being an adult'? really, how do you do it? i feel like i failed at growing up.

alright well weather.com is telling me it is only cloudy now with only a 20% chance of rain so i guess i should get off my lazy butt and slog a few miles. i'm lazy you know, so i'm thinking just 3-4 miles now...

scratch that. it either just thunder-boomed or a tree fell on my house. i'm not sure. i'm hoping it was just thunder.

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lil wheezy

i am struggling to get things done in my life lately. my free time, what little there is, just flies by. guess i need to quit going in to work or something... (just kidding, kind of) :) my personal life has also randomly gotten a little more exciting (/busy) and i never have time to do anything. my laundry (for one person) could probably rival joy's family of four right now. i'm really not sure how you adult people handle life. i can't even take care of myself. :-/

monday (3/16) pm run: 5.2 miles, 46:24 (avg pace 8:55), avg hr (165)
after sunday's 7 hour drive i didn't quite have the energy to get up in the morning to run so i ran after work as usual. it was cloudy and cool all day with rain in the forecast, but it appeared to be holding off. i got home, changed, and opened the door to get my run done and alas, it's raining.

ok, so it was a light rain, but i have had no troubles lately talking myself out of a rainy run. i remember one time a little over a year ago i did mile repeats in the pouring down rain, and now i can't even do a shorter, easy run in light rain. oh well. hopped on the treadmill, it was invigorating.

tuesday (3/17) lunch run: 6.2 miles, 51:48 (avg pace 8:21), avg hr (175)
it's 400m repeats day again! happy st. patick's day to me. i was not doing these on the treadmill again as i was certain last week's attempt was way off my actual abilities. i completely missed my alarm in the morning and i knew i wouldn't be able to run after work (dinner plans) so i ran during lunch. i did the repeats on the streets in a neighborhood near work that has some basically-flat stretches and my times were much more reasonable to me. i feel a little better about last week's treadmill repeats since i can officially say something (treadmill and/or nike+) was off.

5x400 - 1:32, 1:31, 1:28, 1:28, 1:29
(goal pace 1:30)

wednesday (3/18) pm run: 9.3 miles, 1:21:52 (avg pace 8:48), avg hr (162)
i love dst. i can magically run for over an hour and it's still not even 'dusky' out. 68* doesn't hurt either.

i'll be honest - i wasn't feeling this run. i had 8 on the schedule but secretly wanted to do more (11) all day. i knew after work i wasn't feeling up to much more than 8 so i filled a water bottle to take with me so i couldn't use thirst as an excuse to quit early. the pollens and allergens are out in full force (as they are all year round anyway); at some point my town was listed in the top 10 worst places to live for people with allergies. terrific! i have all kinds of allergies, let me buy a house here. brilliant. so anyway my lungs were sucking for the first 8 miles and then it was easier to breathe. not sure if they quit trying to kill me or if i just inhaled enough allergy crap to numb them and they rolled over and played dead. i struggled with motivation until about 7.5 miles and then i semi-enjoyed the rest of the run. coulda been 'cause i knew i only had 1.5 left to go and perhaps a little cooperation from the lungs helped as well.

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the unlucky one

i spent another weekend in the mountains/mountain-y area, ate terribly (mmm free, delicious, warm cinnamon rolls from the hotel breakfast), and once again conveniently skipped my sunday long run. :-/

the exciting drive

after an exciting 7 hour drive on friday i arrived in the sticks of kentucky. it's a very exciting area indeed; there is even an outlet mall (...it has 4 stores). i really need to go back and get a picture of this "outlet mall". the brands advertised outside include wrangler, lee and jansport. can't you buy all that at walmart?

anyway. j and i ran about 5.2 miles in one of kentucky's finer state parks on saturday. there's one road that goes through the park but it was extremely hilly with no shoulder so we stuck to the campground area, how exciting. we found a couple walking trails (1/2 mile and 1/4 mile long each) so we threw those in for a little variety. the trails slowed us down overall because we had to stop and climb over/under fallen trees, navigate loose rocks, and step cautiously on wet, mossy rocks, but at least it was a bit of a break from boring mile loops around the campground. we did find out later (online) that there is supposedly a 4.5 mile trail in that park somewhere, which would have been nice to know.

saturday (3/14) am run: 5.2 miles, 48:48 (avg pace 9:23), avg hr (153)

it was also my half birthday so i was treated to free gambling (j's money) at the casino! my luck at the casino is apparently the same as my luck in the blog giveaways. nonexistent. j gave me $40 to gamble away and i should have just pocketed it. i lost two games of roulette and two games of blackjack. my first trip to a casino was not very memorable. guess i'll stay away from vegas and lottery tickets.

sunday i tried to sleep in but alas, sleep and i are just not meant to be. still. :( we skipped a trip to louisville and decided to be lazy around the hotel instead. eventually i hit the road again and knew i'd be logging another 0-mile day, but at least i hadn't already taken a day off for the week so i felt less guilty.

the long road home

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week in review (3/09 - 3/15):
total miles: 35.00 (4 runs easy, 1 interval workout, 1 threshold workout)
time spent running: ~5 hours 10 minutes
avg hr: 162.00
abs & yoga: 3 ab days, 0 yoga (for the 3rd week in a row, might as well quit trying)
off days: 1 (unscheduled, mostly laziness)

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oh speed, how i missed you

i still need to catch up on some serious sleep. i'm loving dst and the extra daylight, but i think i'm going to have to blame my excessive tiredness on it. i do wish we never had to change the clocks, even though i never get around to actually changing mine... i just noticed my polar hrm was "back" on the right on time. seriously i am so lazy.

friday was another glorious day of not working! i "slept in" (7:30), ate a small breakfast, and got ready to run. it was to be my first threshold (t-pace) run, and my second workout in a long time. remembering how terrible my first return-to-speed workout went on tuesday, i did a great job of psyching myself out.

the goal: 20 min easy, 6 strides, 20 min t-pace, 6 strides.

my t-pace is 7:02. when i trained for the goofy challenge, i struggled to maintain 7:30's. (or so i am led to believe; i wonder if my nike+ was off on all those tempo runs because i ran 7:11 avg in the disney half.) either way, 7:02 is frightening to me.

maybe i'm making too many excuses, but i decided (mid-run) to cut this workout short and only did 10 min at t-pace. i am also not sure if i am entirely doing the strides right. i just do what i did in hs cross country - run a few yards building to your top speed for a few yards and then slow back down. sometimes i do them in the middle of my easy miles and sometimes i do them in addition to the mileage. i figure the point is mainly to perk up your legs and work on turnover without tiring yourself out.

anyway the t-pace went ok, although it didn't feel ok while i was running. it was hard. lungs burning, quads aching, core reminding me that i need to give it even more attention, just awesome. i made it 1.4 miles in those 10 t-pace minutes, for an average pace of 7:09. close enough for me and my legs that have forgotten how to pick themselves up and move. (let's get with the program here legs!) i reminded myself how good it feels to hurt from running hard.

the actual: 20 min easy (2.25 miles), 6 strides, 10 min t-pace (1.4 miles), 1.45 miles easy, 6 strides.

friday (3/13) am run: 5.5 miles, 45:44 (8:18 avg pace), avg hr (170)

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this is why you're fat

nothing in particular about today was crappy but i'm in a funky mood tonight nonetheless.

i did run across this gem at work today. not quite related to running unless you are a huge fan of deep-fried-anything and/or bacon, and then we could re-label it "reasons to run".

i think my favorite is the candy pizza. (come on it has m&m's! 'nuf said)

photo and recipe credit

maybe jess could add this to her delicious pizza recipes and find a way to make it semi-healthy? (i know, there'd be nothing left)

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spoiling my shins

it only took three years of encountering minor setbacks from various injuries (thankfully never anything serious) for me to learn the proper way of handling them when they first try to set up camp.

when my shins hurt saturday from the running, walking and hiking, i iced them a little saturday night and skipped my sunday long run. i made an ice cup at work (part boredom, part necessity) and iced them during the afternoon on monday. i also ran shorter than originally planned, stretched well (*gasp*) and iced again after my run. they felt better on tuesday although still a little achey, so i iced again at work in the afternoon, ran shorter than planned again and followed it up with another solid stretch regime.

my ice cup. works wonderfully.

today (wednesday) i think they are continuing to feel better and i'm hoping my extra efforts in stretching and icing and taking it easy will help them not become full-on shin splints. the only day they really hurt-hurt was saturday, and they have just been noticeably achey since. so, i'm hoping the crisis is almost fully averted. i gave them the ol' ice cup again at work today, but ran today's run as planned (but slow).

monday (3/9) pm run: 5 miles, 45:42 (9:08 avg pace), avg hr (163)
i'm dog sitting again this week so i took ol' buddy out for 3 miles and then hit the treadmill to finish the run. i feel bad putting him back in his crate after he's been in there all day. i still can't believe how much slower he's gotten. he used to hang with me for 6-7 miles and now i practically have to drag him home on a 3 mile run. it was 81* though, maybe the heat was getting to him. (planned mileage was 8, i didn't really mind doing 5 instead.)

tuesday (3/10) pm run: 6 miles, 50:59 (8:29 avg pace), avg hr (172)
my first non-strictly-easy run since the goofy challenge. it was tough on my tortoise legs. again, i felt bad for the dog, so we did a 2 mile warm up outside and then i hit the treadmill for my intervals. yes, intervals. because we wouldn't want an gentle transition from 6 weeks of easy running now would we.

the plan was: 20 min easy, 10x400 "repetition (r) pace" (1:30) with 3 min easy, 10 min easy. unfortunately for me, i knew i should take it easy on the shins so i only did 5x400. at least it's a start in the speed department. i didn't really know what setting to put the treadmill on since the calibration is off a little, so i picked 9.0. my nike+ is also 'off' whenever i run faster than easy pace since my stride changes i guess, but i figured i'd at least get close enough.

having the treadmill rotate at 9.0 is quite the motivation to pick up your feet. i felt like i was going to be thrown off the back end it was spinning so fast. i'm pretty sure i'm never running intervals on the treadmill again. when i finished a 400, i had to hang on for dear life while trying to turn the speed back down for my recovery.

so obviously, my times weren't exact to the starting/stopping points. i wish they had been better, but i'm not going to adjust them. gotta start somewhere. hopefully the next time i do these (on a track) i'll see better and more accurate results.

5x400 - 1:51, 1:50, 1:50, 1:48, 1:48

see, i'd imagine if you were running on a treadmill at the same speed then your time should be the same... i did improve a little and hopefully my theory as to why my times are so much slower than goal pace (1:30) will be proven soon on the track.

wednesday (3/11) pm run: 7.1 miles, 1:04:50 (9:07 avg pace), avg hr (159)
i headed out later than usual (7pm) with jess. we ran an easy 5 together that was a lot slower than normal but didn't feel so easy to me. when we got back to the house i leashed up the dog and took him out for another 2 miles to complete the run. those two miles were faster and felt better, so i think i just needed to work some kinks and lead out of my legs.

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let's take the bar down a notch...

week in review (3/02 - 3/08):
total miles: 42.25 (all easy)
time spent running: ~6 hours
avg hr: 163.50
abs & yoga: 1 ab day (barely), 0 yoga (for the 2nd week in a row, sigh)
off days: 2 (1 scheduled, 1 for the shins)

i was bummed all day sunday when i knew i wouldn't get in my scheduled 50-ish miles for the week. then i realized - i did run 42 miles, i'm not really training for anything, and there was a time not so long ago when i struggled to make myself run 20+ miles per week.

since when did 42 miles/week become not good enough?

i need to lower my standards for myself.

this time last year i ran 22 miles for the week. as of the 9th, i'm currently at 47 miles for the month, which i didn't hit until march 26th last year. (although, march '08 was just not a great month. i had a 10 mile week and a 3 mile week... yes week.)

i didn't even aim for 40-mile weeks until 2007, when kt and i thought we'd be "hardcore" and increase our mileage up to 40. only a year and a half ago, a 40-mile week seemed nearly impossible.

what is wrong with me? 42 is still pretty good for just running (not training for a race in particular), and i assume it's decent considering i didn't get an actual long run in (6-8 mile runs only).

later in the year i am planning on reaching some awesome weekly mileage, and i think i feel like if i'm not building/maintaining a semi-decent base now, i'll never get my mileage up high enough. since my shins are a little sore (though feeling better) i'm going to take this week easy. i'll cut runs short and even skip some if they want me to. i want to be able to run, train and race later in the summer and fall (nyc in particular!) and since i have nothing in the near future i don't need to mess around, log miles for no reason, and irritate my shins even more. after reading april's runner's world article about shin splints, i'm assuming mine ache from a combination of the mountain hills and my awesome stretching habits (/lack thereof).

i'm starting to be more reasonable with myself. 42 miles is good.

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not quite queen of the mountain

i'm back from a long, but sweet, weekend in the mountains with friends. we had a scandalous bachelorette party/girl's weekend for my former running buddy kt, and rented a cabin, went hiking, played some bachelorette-type games... (it wasn't really scandalous at all as we did not hire chippendale's dancers. sorry, no male stripper photos.)


this past friday was unfortunately a working friday. (the off friday's are just so much better for some reason...) i wanted to get up and run in the morning because i needed to run errands during lunch and then had to leave for the mountains, so it was really the only time i had. well, of course, i missed my alarm. go figure. i wasn't sure if i'd be able to run saturday so i really didn't want to skip friday's run. i ended up packing a lunch and clothes and ran during my lunch break, and took a mid-afternoon field trip to run errands. (oh darn)

it was a warm 62* and sunny with a little breeze, just a bit different than the snow fall we had 5 days prior. although i'd eaten cereal for breakfast and oatmeal for mid-morning snack/breakfast, i got that weak, low-blood sugar feeling about 2.5 to 3 miles into the run. that feeling really sucks, some days i get it and some days i'm fine.

friday (3/6) lunch run: 7.1 miles, 1:01:52 (avg pace 8:42), avg hr (162)

driving up to the mountain house we discovered that it was in a great (safe) area and decided we were definitely going to run saturday morning. you never know 'round these parts, some of the mountain folk are... different. there was about a 5 mile loop around (part of) the lake and our cabin was a mile uphill from the road that went around the lake. it was quite hilly, and the girls i ran with are used to pancake flat, beach terrain, but we made it and didn't get lost which was probably the bigger accomplishment.

saturday (3/7) am run: 6.75 miles, 59:11 (avg pace 8:46), avg hr (165)

after the run i headed back out with another friend who had slept in a bit and wanted to go for a walk. i walked a hilly 3.3 miles with her and my shins hurt pretty much the whole time. terrific. i'm the only person who runs regularly on hills and i get shin splints. not fair. after we all ate breakfast and showered, we headed out to go hiking. (also good for the shins...) we wandered up and down the mountain for 4.4 miles round-trip (according to the map) on a trail that claimed to have a waterfall.


you might be able to see that white speck in the middle that kind of looks like smoke. that's the waterfall. you hike 2.2 miles thinking you'll get to a waterfall at the end, only to find out you get to view the waterfall from 19 miles away. spectacular.

we get back to the cabin to hang out for the night and really start the bachelorette festivities and my legs were stiff. aren't i supposed to be the one in shape? aren't i supposed to be the one used to hills? i iced my aching shins and knew i probably wouldn't be getting in my sunday long-run once again. all-in-all, i did get in over 14 miles saturday and i'm counting it all to make myself feel better. i woke up sunday morning and my butt was sore! all the other girls felt fine. again, they all live in flat areas and/or don't run. not fair again. on top of my aching shins and sore behind, i was also extremely tired. i got a decent amount of sleep both nights (seriously, not a scandalous weekend) but i struggled to stay awake until bed time.

sunday (3/8) non-run: skipped another day thanks to pains in my shins and rear. (shins more so than butt.)

my april runner's world was waiting for me when i got back home and i saw that there is an article about shin splints. how perfect. i'm going to need to make myself do those exercises. i guess after 7+ months of no pains or injuries i was bound to get something. i think you can still run with shin splints though? (or in my case, you can still run through anything. not really recommended. listen to your body!)

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a case of the doms

the world is coming to an end.

for the second time this week i got up and ran in the morning and on the treadmill again no less. check me into the insane asylum please. (i am, however, mostly glad to be slowly getting back to my morning-run routine.)

i woke up a bit stiffer/sorer from tuesday's 300 so i took it easy and started out at a much slower pace than normal. my legs just did not want to move. eventually (30 minutes later) they loosened up and i moved to my regular treadmill-pace (and beyond, for a bit). i set the timer on the tm so that it counted down the minutes instead of the usual counting-up which seemed to help throw in some 'variety' and keep my brain preoccupied. i didn't spend as much time admiring the bedroom across the hallway or the pile of shoes in the corner. ahh the view from the treadmill, breathtaking.

thursday (3/5) am run: 6.5 miles, 59:59 (9:13 avg pace)

i'm hoping to be able to pull myself out of bed again tomorrow morning to run, and theoretically get in some ab work, but hopefully at least a run. i won't really have time to otherwise and i can't afford another 0 mile day (mentally or according to the scale). so here's hoping i can motivate myself out of my nice, big warm bed tomorrow at o'dark am.

this is my last week of straight-easy running, and after 8 weeks of it i'm ready to start feeling like i might have some sort of speed in me. i planned a long (boring) training/recovery period after the goofy challenge to not only give my legs/body a break, but also to (theoretically) lessen the pressure on myself of sticking to a training schedule. kind of like an off-season but without really taking time off. i didn't do so well being laidback about my miles, but i did take a few liberties with extra rest-days and managed to not feel too guilty.

the schedule isn't going to get too intense next week, but brian has instigated a fight by pointing out that his 5k/10k pr's are now better than mine. we can't be having that! i'm not sure if i'll switch up my plan to focus exclusively on those distances because a) i don't really enjoy trying to kill myself with speedwork that much and b) i need a weekend long run to burn some serious calories. (it's true.) i am, however, definitely going to have to modify it and jump in some races so i can beat his times shut him up. :o)

i'll be mia this weekend, hoping i can somehow squeeze a run in on saturday, but i'll be sure to enjoy a lazy sunday afternoon catching up with everyone('s blogs)! have a great weekend all!

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start spreading the news

these vagabond shoes are longing to stray right thru the very heart of it - new york, new york.

i (sort of) have an official goal race to train for now! i got my official acceptance email to the ing nyc marathon over the weekend (i know, how could i withhold this information for so many days!) so i can officially put that on the schedule, although i basically already had it on there. that race is not until november though so it's not something i can really get motivated to train for yet. i am still considering a spring/summer marathon to "just do" but nothing has struck my fancy (and schedule) yet. i'm excited to be in, but i could've done without the $180 or so charge to my amex... running is a cheap sport, right?

monday - i was gonna run since i slacked off three days last week, (and illegitimately took the day off from work) but i didn't. it sure didn't help that coach jay's tip of the week was "blow off your training plan"! luckily it was my scheduled day off for the week anyway. another excuse of mine was that i didn't want to run in the icy conditions - of the intense snow "storm" we had, this is all that remained in my yard monday afternoon:


tuesday - solid 3.5 hours of sleep. i rose way before the sun to get my run in on the tm before work. i knew i would not be able to convince myself to run in the 30* or so at lunch or after work, and i'd probably make more excuses for the treadmill as the day went on, so i went ahead and got it over with. once again i had to play mind games with myself to get to 2 miles, 3 miles, etc. what is it about the tm that is so torturous?

tuesday (3/3) am run: 6.2 miles, 56:14 (9:04 avg pace), avg hr (165)

after work i did a "300" workout. i made up 3 different 'workouts', each with 10 different exercises (30 reps each) that i can hopefully do 3x/week. the exercises are basically various pushups, squats, lunges, etc, that require no equipment (except a ball) and can be done at home. i didn't renew my gym membership and i don't want to re-join, but i do want to try to get back to doing weight-like exercises regularly.

wednesday - i tried waking up early again to run before work but i was exhausted. i didn't actually feel awake until mid-afternoon. i wasn't sore when i woke up but as the day passed i could feel the doms setting in. i actually enjoy being sore for some reason. i was able to get out for a lunch time run, and i originally wanted to go a little longer (9-12 miles) than the planned 8, but ultimately i settled for the plan because i figured i probably shouldn't take a two-hour lunch break. i'm hoping the mid-day run helped flush the lactic-acid out quicker and the soreness doesn't increase tomorrow.

wednesday (3/4) lunch run: 8 miles, 1:10:05 (8:45 avg pace), avg hr (162)

after work i went out to dinner with my pal jess. we decided to reminisce on our own lovely table-waiting memories and ate at a brand new cracker barrel. glamorous. our server girl was cool and the rest of the staff was actually friendly. jess and i were wondering if we were just grumpy when we did it? i'm thinking since they are all new they might still enjoy the newness of the job and the people they work with... let's be real, waiting tables can be a pain! especially at a cracker barrel (in the south no less) where you often get some redneck clientele who want some "chow chow" with their meal. it took me awhile to figure out what they were asking for. (relish, in case you didn't know either.)

since i served my sentence, it bugs me when people seriously only leave 10 or 15% of the bill as their tip at places like cb where your meal is a lot cheaper to begin with. i mean your meal is half the cost of what it would've been elsewhere, would it hurt to throw down an extra buck? (provided the service was good of course). anyway i hooked our girl up, but i had to do it at the register since i never have cash. i hope she saw the tip on the computer and didn't think we stiffed her!

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snow in the southland

in true fashion i did not run today. i woke up and it was still raining and so, i let the excuses roll. at least i have no need to take tomorrow off.

the rain later turned to snow which is a huge deal in south carolina period, and even more so in march! i'm so using this as an excuse to play hooky from work tomorrow! :) ok, so maybe i'll go in late... maybe.

since it rained all day the scdot couldn't even attempt to sand/salt the roads so they're really bad out. trust, j and i tried to drive on them. too many people were skidding off the road so we turned around and are hanging out at his house. the good thing is the power back at my house is probably out (30,000 people in my town without power vs 7,000 in his town), but it is on here (for now) so we're not too bored yet. we did make a lumpy snowman (with golf club arms):

i think we've gotten about six inches so far. it's been coming down steadily since about 4 or 5 pm (so like 6 hours!) i'm being a huge dork to all you northerners but seriously the last time it snowed here i think i was like 12. i won't lie, i'm also looking forward to a free day/half day off from work tomorrow.

week in review (2/23 - 3/01):
total miles: 32.73 (all easy, 'cept for 2 miles hard)
time spent running: ~4 hours 45 minutes
avg hr: 166
abs & yoga: 2 ab days, 0 yoga (whoops)
off days: 3, (1 scheduled, 2 lazy)

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