a wonderful birthday

today is my birthday but i'm the one giving a gift... read on.

last year i didn't post on my birthday, but i remember feeling stretched thin in kentucky: long commute, long work days, living in a glamourous hotel room, oh the life. i think josh and i went out to dinner at johnny carinos? my running was going better back then, averaging a solid minute/mile faster than i am now, hitting 60-70 mile weeks with relative ease (i didn't have to cook or clean afterall). hmm maybe i should've stayed in kentucky... riiiight.

about a month ago i was sent a few bottles of pom wonderful 100% pomegranate juice. to some, it is a tart juice, but i personally like a little tartness sometimes. i've never eaten a real pomegranate, but the juice tastes pretty good to me. since it is 100% pomegranate juice with 0g additives but 34g of naturally occurring sugars, i usually water it down a little.

a delicious pom wonderful-blueberry-strawberry smoothie

while i may be struggling with my mid-run/mid-bike fueling lately, one thing i have mastered is the post-workout smoothie. they are seriously the best part about running in the heat. lately i have been adding pom wonderful to my smoothies - there are a few different pom recipes found here that are rather tasty.

in addition to 100% pomegranate juice, pom wonderful also has pomegranate -blueberry, -mango, -kiwi and -nectarine juices (which flavor gets your taste buds most excited? tell me in your comment for a bonus entry). unfortunately i didn't get any samples of those, but i will be keeping an eye out for them at the grocery store. they also have cherry juice but i'm not a big fan of cherries so that one is not as tempting to me.

pomegranates are full of antioxidants, even beating out red wine. now you can trade that morning glass of antioxidant-fighting-wine for a glass of pom wonderful, and save the wine for unwinding after work (while still fighting those pesky free radicals). unless maybe you dread going to work and need the morning wine to get through the day, in which case you could save the pom juice for post-work rejuvenation. i won't judge.

anyway, along with my box of juice i also received a few coupons to giveaway to a wonderful reader. just leave a comment below to enter. giveaway ends wednesday 9/22; winner will be chosen at random. winner will receive two coupons for free bottles (16oz) of pom wonderful.

[both the juices and coupons were sent to me courtesy of pom wonderful, but my enjoyment of the juice is my own.]

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bike bonk

sunday late-morning i dragged josh out the door for a bike ride. it's my birthday week, so i coerced him into a long ride. i imagine you're supposed to gradually move up with biking distance just like running because i bonked hard long before the ride was over.

recent bike rides:
7/11 - 27mi
8/29 - 10mi
9/5 - 21mi
9/12 - 46mi, totally normal progression right? i certainly don't do this with my running...

we rode a nice little 46-ish miler through the countryside with rolling hills. i did pretty well on the hills in the first half with dropping down the gears (like you all recommended) and pedaling steady, but eventually i just plain got tired and even the "granny gear" felt hard. i took a gu at mile 15ish, devoured a pack of gu chomps at mile 27ish, and took my only other gu at mile 29ish because i felt myself turning in spaghetti. unfortunately we were out in the middle of nowhere and there wasn't even a fruit stand, let alone a gas station, to grab a snack. we did ride through a vineyard and the smell of grapes was delicious. i was semi-tempted to stop, but warm grapes still aren't very appealing even in mid-bonk.

fellow biking friends, what do you fuel with and how often do you 'eat' on a ride?

sunday (9/12) ride: 46.5 miles, 3:36:25 (~12.9 mph), avg hr (151), 88*
initially i had thoughts of making this another brick, but i barely had energy to unlock the door. i did do yoga after i had something to eat, if bike+yoga counts as a brick. i might also count it as a lifting because there were so many chaturanga dandasanas that my arms are sore. i also feel like adding a disclaimer to make my avg speed not sound so bad - i just have basic platform pedals, not fancy clips or cleats. i'm telling myself that part of my slowness is from not being able to pull up on the upstroke.

week in review (9/6 - 9/12)
total miles: 38.35 (50 planned)
time spent running: ~ 6 hrs 14 mins
avg hr: 162.00
avg pace: 9:45/mile
off days: 2

running wasn't too exciting this week. technically i did a "speed" workout - 4 minutes hard/3 minutes easy for about 4 miles, but my 'hard' didn't seem very fast. once again i took an unscheduled lazy day early in the week and biked instead of ran on sunday so i was a little short on miles. i felt tired most of the week (not sure why) and my runs were sluggish.

september goals:

• lift 8 times (...erm. workin' on it. sorta)
• do core at least 12 times (2x)
• do yoga 4 times (1x)
• go for 3 bike rides (2x)
• do 5 speed workouts (1x)
• run 10+ miles 7 times (per training plan) (2x)
• run 150 miles (62.35)
• get my sleepy butt back in a morning-run routine with at least 6 early morning runs

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midnight flight: swept

week in review (8/30 - 9/5)
total miles: 28.50 (43 planned, yup)
time spent running: ~ 4 hrs 16 mins
avg hr: 171.75
avg pace: 9:15/mile
off days: 3

while i slacked (majorly) on the miles, i did run three races! yup, three races in one week. one night, actually. it was kind of like a track meet, but harder. regardless, my friend ryan and i cleaned house; he actually took home some money though whereas i just got some towels, oh and a ribbon.

anyway, after a grueling day of sitting at my desk at work, josh and i drove down to anderson for the midnight flight races. the temps were in the upper 70's and slowly cooling off, but not by much. it was humid too, but since i still don't sweat i didn't notice it too much.

first up was the 1-mile race, which started at 9:15pm. yes, the family fun race. i eyed my competition at the starting line...

photo from anderson independent mail

i briefly contemplated a warm-up, but ultimately was too lazy. i figured i ought to conserve as much energy as possible for the races. not the right mindset, i know, and i'm sure i could've gone faster in the mile had i warmed up.

the race started promptly, but the start had been lined with kids so it took a second to push them out of the way (i'm joking, i promise). i quickly pulled ahead of the crowd with about 10 dudes. shortly after the turn-around two of the guys (high schoolers) stopped to wait for their friends, and i picked off a few more guys before heading in to the finish.

probably the best action-shot of me ever

after collecting my blue participant ribbon i turned around to congratulate the 2nd and 3rd place females:

they're way cuter than that ol' hag who won

midnight flight 1-mile: 6:12, avg/max hr (186/195)

1st place female; 4/354 overall

i really think i could've had a shot at breaking 6 if i had warmed up and ran harder (obviously). garmin said 6:04.

i gulped down some water and went back to the car to change my bib and d-tag chip. i headed off for a trot around the parking lot to stay loose, and stopped to chat briefly with a co-worker who was doing the 5k. i had about 30 minutes between finishing the mile and lining up for the 5k (10pm) and it flew by quickly. i took a pineapple roctane (gu) before the 5k in hopes that it would help with post-race recovery/soreness as it advertises and of course to give me a little boost mid-race. plus, i knew i still had one more race after the 5k and a roctane sure wouldn't hurt.

the 5k is the largest event of the midnight flight and i was not anxious to get up near the front. my legs were already tightening up a little from the mile. i never formulated a strategic plan for this night of racing, and because i'm stubborn i ended up going as-hard-as-i-could in each of them. that dizzy/light-headed feeling i had last fall? it came back again.

going out, the 5k is a gradual downhill and flattens out for a bit before the turn-around (all three races are out-back). nice going out, but a little tougher on the way back. i found myself striding back up the hill with relative ease, picking off a good number of people. nothing exciting about the 5k, except i was pleased to see a slight improvement from the 5k two weeks ago when i approached the finish (especially considering i'd done a lactate-inducing mile before it).

and you thought you had a bad race-face?

midnight flight 5k: 22:59 (avg pace 7:23), max hr (197)

1/57 age group; 129/1020 overall

by the time i caught my breath, chugged some water, went back to the car to change my race bib and d-tag chip one last time and jogged maybe a quarter-mile to stay loose, it was time to line up again for the 10k (11pm). i shot another pineapple roctane and chatted with my friend ryan for a few minutes before settling in the pack. i distinctly asked him if he was going to win, and he said "yeah right, the 5k was rough". we both questioned why we thought we should sign up for multiple races.

here's my big yellow butt talking to ryan

like the mile and 5k, the 10k was out and back as well, except now there were two long downhills and two long uphills. somehow they are the kind of downhills that you can't just coast either. my legs were tired and the dizzy/light-headed feeling was even worse than it was before/during the 5k. i am now thinking it is caused by running hard, because it first happened last year after a tough track workout. anyway, i pushed through the 10k, motivated by an (annoying) group of high school girls and determined to not let them beat me. the last hill (not quite a mile long) was tough, but i slowly picked a few people off like the previous race. i was elated to finally reach the turn to the finish for the third and final time that night.

more great race-face

midnight flight 10k: 51:56 (avg pace 8:21), max hr (199)

3/17 age group; 130/371 overall

the 10k seemed much bigger 5 years ago when i ran it, but turns out it's still about the same size. back then there was a whole awards ceremony after the races, but this year you just picked up your award at an inconspicuous table. not a big deal though. back in 2005 this race was my "re-introduction" to running after taking a few years off from high school cross country and i ran a 51:05. i suppose i've improved some if i can run a similar time after having run 4.1 hard miles.

oh and here's my buddy ryan, "not-winning" the 10k (33:00) after placing 3rd in the 5k (15:25):

(photo from anderson independent mail)

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