list love

i am a list-nerd. i like making "to do" lists for the enjoyment of crossing things off. sometimes i put things on the list that are ridiculously simple just so i can have more things to cross off. i usually don't ever finish everything on a list though, go figure.

lacey recently overcame knee surgery, and with some serious dedication to her recovery is back to running 6-minute miles or something crazy like that. she's kept a goal list for each phase of her recovery/training and i thought i might try it out myself for mini-monthly goals. it certainly can't hurt, and being able to cross something off my list just may be the motivation i need some days (especially on speed days).

september goals:

• lift 8 times (hopefully ~2x/week and not all crammed into the last 8 days of the month)
• do core at least 12 times (1x)
• do yoga 4 times
• go for 3 bike rides (1x)
• do 5 speed workouts (1x)
• run 10+ miles 7 times (per training plan) (1x)
• run 150 miles (more is ok of course)
• get my sleepy butt back in a morning-run routine with at least 6 early morning runs

i need to get rolling since we're already a solid week into september. *cough* lifting *cough*cough*

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cherry stalking

i don't actually like cherries unless they are on top of cheesecake, but i was recently tagged by grace (grace, it's amazing) and katherine (forward foot strides) with the "cherry on top" award. thanks ladies!

as usual this award comes with stipulations -- answer a question that has nothing to do with cherries, pass the award on and thank those who tagged you (done, see above). simple enough.

however, christina (lazy bones running) was also tagged with this award and posed an interesting thought - who thinks of these "chain email" awards that eventually get distributed to everyone?

i was curious (and bored) enough to try and track down the history... five times. here are my results:

• grace → katye → courtney → ronda → rae → andrew → adam → berryfine → kim → kim → tasha
• rae was double tagged, so i investigated the alternate route: rae → tressa & jesse → stacie → zaneta → adam ... ends back at tasha
• katherine → jessica → mel → toby → tressa & jesse ...same end result
  
• mel was also double tagged: mel → alma → adam ...same end result
• christina → giorgio → anne → alma ...again back to tasha
  

of those 22 people, i had never heard of 19 of them before; there sure are a lot of running-bloggers out there. unfortunately the train stops at tasha, and she did not truly start the award. she saw it on another blog and started her own wave, which has been pretty effective thus far. until now anyway, after all that blog linking i don't know if this post can handle six more links.

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my first brick went a little like this

elevation from bike

my diaper shorts were calling to me again, as was the gorgeous weather so i went out for a bike ride sunday afternoon. i did a 10+ mile loop twice and negative split the laps (~43min for the first lap, ~41min for the second). i need some advice for hill-climbing though. i down shift (usually from 3/6 left/right to 2/3, i have a 21-speed commuter) and still feel like i'd be better off if i hopped off the bike and walked it up the hill. according to garmin the biggest hill is about 160ft climb, which just doesn't seem like it should whoop my butt?

i knew before i went out for the bike ride that i wanted to try and make it a brick. i wanted to see what the brick business was all about and i haven't exactly ran my miles this week. i'd be short on miles, but at least i'd get in a good workout.

i had a nice little headache going before i went out, so i made sure to drink a lot of water on the bike (a few gulps every 2 miles or so) and took a vanilla gingerbread gu after the first lap (~11 miles). when i got back to the house, i quickly changed out of my biking shorts and into some running ones, had a sip of gatorade and headed back out for a run. it had gotten a bit warmer (80-81) and i probably should have had another gu or something before going out for the run. my legs were spaghetti, but that was expected. i never found a rhythm and definitely bonked on the run. i could not wait to get home and make a smoothie.

sunday (9/5) bike: 21.25 miles, 1:24:43 (~15mph), avg hr 160, 76-80*
(finally a slight increase in average speed!)
sunday (9/5) run: 5 miles, 47:15 (9:27 avg pace), avg/max hr 165/179, 81*/36%humid

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