Weird Sunday

Happy Sunday all! I know that EE loves her Mondays and while Thursdays will always have a place in my heart as the best day of the week (always has been too) I think Sundays are a really close second.  Granted this semester I actually have been doing lots of work on Sunday but I try to make sure that it’s a semi-relaxing day.  I can kick back a bit running wise (LR = Saturday) and maybe work wise because I do lots of work Friday and Saturday, leaving me free to either get ahead or read.  Or do a bit of both.

Today has been a rare Sunday this semester where that is the case, and it feels weird.  As I type this (and probably will end up posting it later than now because of the facts I included at the end took me awhile to think of) it’s 1530 and I have yet to crack open a book! It’s also been weird (or rare I guess) that I actually awoke to my alarm this morning.  I guess lack of sleep + loud people in hallways not letting me get to sleep = alarm.  Oh well, I was having a pretty weird dream that left me feeling out of sorts.

Also weird? My recovery run. I would have thought that my legs would be all tight this morning but nope.  I did wear my cheap-o recovery socks yesterday which may have helped but it was strange.  I did still have to stretch a bit before but nothing like what it has been recently.  Also I did feel a bit weak in the ankle but that’s not too weird as 19.3 miles is a long way to run (yesterday not today haha — that would be one heck of a recovery run)

But the run itself was weird.  It was slow enough to still be recovery (average pace was 9:22, very speedy considering the other ones this week were 9:45-9:50) but it was quick enough to feel it in my legs.  My quads felt a bit heavy by the end but I never felt dragging.  It felt more like I was putting in a solid effort.  Maybe a little ill-advised for a recovery run but I am 100% certain that my Monday run will be slow because it’s typically slower than Sunday.

Nothing else really to say about the run or anything.  The weather still held up: a bit chilly but no rain which is nice.  The past two days were suppose to be rainy but I lucked out hardcore.  Tomorrow? Maybe I won’t but eh to that.

So since I don’t really have much to report (and I never put up a short post ha) I’ll acknowledge that I was tagged by Laura and received:

But the jist is that I share 6 things about me then tag you to do the same (and I’m tagging anyone and everyone.  If I’ve commented on your blog, you’ve commented on mine or even if you lurk here 😉 )Y’all are gorgeous! And I’ve been tagged with these things in the past so I apologize if you’ve already read some of these before. I’m too lazy to check what I’ve said before haha.

1. I really want to be an endocrinologist.  I interned in the sports med dept at Children’s Hospital this summer with an endocrinologist and the stuff she would talk about was absolutely fascinating
2. Before graduating high school I only saw running as a means to an end and that it only was good for keeping my butt in shape for volleyball and basketball
3. My family eats dinner really early (between 1700 and 1730) and it was such a “culture” shock to find out that people eat at 1900 when I got to college
4. This training cycle has made me fall in love with speed work.  I get butterflies in my stomach thinking about my next session, like a first date
5. Country music also has my heart.  I was born and raised on the stuff and made fun of when I was little because of it.  I do listen to other stuff but country will always be what I gravitate towards.
6. I’ve fully embraced the Lady GaGa craze. Sarah would be proud.

I was also tagged by Sarah with:

And the deal-io is that I tell you 7 things and 6 of them are truth. One lie. Guess the lie. (Yup I switched it up. You guess the lie now).  Because I had too much fun reminiscing about what I wanted to put as the truth! Plus I think the award is saying that I lie a lot.  Not sure how I feel about that 😉

1. I flirted with wanting to be a writer when I was little and even wrote a book on StoryBookWeaver to send to a publisher (never got sent though)
2. I went through a huge party girl phase in high school and can’t really remember parts of my sophomore spring and junior fall
3. I failed all my high school physics exams.  Funny because I’m a physics major and tutor now
4. When I was little I fell and smashed my mouth on a plastic bin which pushed my two front teeth up and back into my gums.  Luckily I was still young enough that it didn’t affect my adult teeth and I have a near perfect smile.
5. Also on an injury note, my brother (who BTW is 10 years younger than me) threw a golf club at me and broke my nose.  I think it looks slightly crooked but people tell me that they wouldn’t have noticed in I hadn’t told them.
6. I’ve only been out of the country once (and it was France not anything easy like Canada or Mexico), I’ve never been off the East Coast, and I’ve been out of NE only 4 times.
7. I was convinced I was going to be an Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming and had mock Olympics every summer in the pond I live on when I was a young’un

And yet again I tag all y’all.

Hopefully you guys found it interesting. I love it with other bloggies do this so hopefully you’ll pick up the ball and roll with it.

But enough writing.  I’ve got to finish up my work with this physics lab.  I hate writing lab reports.  It’s not difficult per se but it’ s very hard for me to put together my thoughts succinctly and straight to the point the way scientific writing requires.  So it takes me foreverrrrrrrrrrr. And I should start.  Like hours ago hahaha. Like when I started to type up this post.

Enjoy your Sundays (or what’s left of them!)

Slow and Fast: Let’s Light a Fire

Mmmmmmmmm. I’m sipping a “rich milk chocolate” carnation instant breakfast and it is soooo tasty.  I’m not the biggest chocolate fan but there’s something about long run days that make these shakes sooooo yummy!

Hahaha guess that was a random way to start my post but leads to the perfect segue into my long run today (because those guys taste sooo good for some reason on a long run day).  To be 100% honest I wasn’t sure if I was up to it this morning.  The lack of sleeping really has started to build up and despite getting 8 hours last night I was still very groggy! As I was getting caught up in 24 and Psych I could feel my eyes being really heavy.

I did some stretching to loosen up my calves and hamstrings while I watched because they, yet again, were WICKED tight when I got up. I think it was a result of having very intense speed workout sessions this week (plus dealing with the shin thing) It felt good though and before I knew it the time had come for me to set out on the long run.

And LONG was right. Kind of the trend for the day seeing that it’s already so late and I’m looking at a long night. Where does the time go?

But back to the run.  I was slightly less worried about bathroom issues this week because, even though I knew they would happen, last week was amazing in going 20 miles without having to stop.  So I knew that come race day I’d likely be good too which takes the pressure and worry off. And sure enough my bladder was full quickly into the run. How quickly? About a half mile.  For real.  Gahhh.  But I told myself that it was mental at that point and plowed on.

Well it wasn’t because the feeling stayed for the first 11 or so miles until I came to a DD.  The funny/interesting thing is that I tried to distract myself from my bladder but all I could think about was drinking water, the rain that we were supposed to get (and obviously didn’t.  NONE.  Not that I’m really complaining here but c-mon weatherpeople!), milk in cereal, the soda that I was going to enjoy post-run.  Anything liquid and it was on my mind.  Obviously didn’t help the cause.

And  it slowed me down HARDCORE.  This was the same loop that I had run two weeks ago (and had to stop at the same DD) and I was about 6 minutes slower than the previous time.  But I knew that the slowness was related to bladder, tight muscles, lack of sleep, amazing intervals AND tempo etc. so while I’m loathe to make excuses (and I don’t see myself listing that stuff as such) I wasn’t really all that upset over the slowness.  Because I knew what to expect there and I definitely wasn’t feeling fast. Doesn’t mean I liked it but I understood.

After the bathroom break the pace picked up too. Maybe relief from my bladder, maybe a subconscious effort to salvage the pace.  Because, while I try to practice the whole don’t-judge-my-pace thing, I suck at being non-judgmental of myself.

So when I finished the first loop and saw how slow I was, I was really disgusted with myself. Terrible, right? I realize now how silly it was to feel that way but I want this blog to be honest and that’s honestly how I felt.  Even after saying I understood why I was slow it still stung a bit.

For the second loop I knew I wanted to push the pace for real.  My plan had actually called for a race this weekend so I figured that if my legs could give a race effort for the last 6-7 miles then I should try and do that.

And it worked. Kind of.  I’m not quite sure what kind of race pace I was suppose to give (still don’t in fact haha) but it ended up being GMP.  So I’m quite pleased that I was able to end on a strong and happy note. My legs ached in that amazing way: the you-gave-it-all-you-had. So I think that the pace ended up being appropriate for the length I was doing.

Here are the stats to let the numbers speak for themselves:

• Loop 1: 12.7 miles. 121.58 minutes. 9:36 pace
• Loop 2:   6.6 miles. 53.07 minutes. 8:00 pace (YAY! GMP!)
• Total distance: 19.3 miles
• Total time: 175:05 minutes
• Average pace: 9:04

So clearly I was able to salvage the overall pace.  And as a numbers person that will likely always be very important to me.  Making it a bit displeasing that the first loop was really slow for me.  That’s recovery range not LR. But overall I was able to make this workout a workout.  I was able to pick it up and finish strong.  And that’s important to me.  I didn’t just accept that I was running slow and resign myself to it.  I lit a fire under my ass and charged.

And I know that the factors I listed above (tight muscles, lack of sleep, bladder, 2 amazing quality workouts already this week) surely played a role but I have to ponder my motivation for the long run.  It used to be my favorite run of the week.  A chance where I could see how far I could run.  I would get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.  No more though.

I think as a result of me running so many miles I’ve become jaded with the long run.  I know that I could bang out a 15 mile run tomorrow no problem.  I wouldn’t even have to think about it.  So no butterflies because I know I’m capable and I trust that I can because I’ve been doing it for so long. It’s not hard or a challenge anymore. I don’t even have to bat an eye. (And please don’t eye roll and think What a tough problem to have haha 😛 )

Totally different from my interval and tempo sessions.  I get VERY nervous for those suckers.  I have less of a trust that my body can be pushed faster and faster.  So the butterflies are there.  And we’re talking some big ass suckers. But I think that it’s part of the reason I’m starting to like my speed work more than the LR.  Because I “dread” it more. Hahaha

Yeah so I don’t really know where I’m going with that train of thought. It’s obviously not very well flushed out but it was something I was thinking about.  I don’t really know if there’s a solution per se or, for that matter, if it’s really a problem.  I don’t hate the LR by any means.  And after having such a great one for the past two weeks, and even ending today the way I did, clearly I get pumped up by it.  But only after the fact.  I guess I’m just getting jaded.  Any tips or games I can play with my LR to make them go back to the way they were?

Wow. Kind of a deep topic for a Saturday night. And a long post too (I always say to myself that I’m not going to write a novel but then I go ahead and do.  Oops!).  Guess that’s what happens when I need a break for a physics lab. I don’t even know if people read my blog over the weekend! (And I can see the stats and the readership does drop off from Friday to Sunday haha).  But I’ll just throw it out there, think about it more and come back later I suppose 🙂

On a lighter note: check out the giveaway from Tricia. Great stuff.

Recovery Time (per usual)

Hey all.  Well last night was a bust.  At least socially.  I didn’t realize how much work I was going to actually need to do and by the time the stuff due for today was done it was past midnight!! Since last call is at 0030 and it was pouring out I decided to hit the sheets.  I was really bummed out but at least I was productive.  And to think that I was planning on trying to get ahead last night.

Guess it’s just been that kind of a week: always just slightly behind schedule.  I was talking to my advisor about this because sometimes I think I’m being silly.  I mean, yes I feel VERY behind in my work but in reality I’m still on top of things.  I’m just so used to being ahead that being on schedule feels late.  But I’m okay with it, there’s no real stress involved which is nice. But it’s kind of like an out of body experience.

Interestingly this morning I was ahead of schedule.  I honestly have no idea how that happened but I went for a longer-than-normal recovery run, ran it slower than normal and still was able to do everything I needed to do before my class.  I even was ready 5 minutes early.  Very weird.  The feeling was fleeting, however, because I just sat around rather than move my butt and try to keep the trend going.  As a result I’m back to feeling semi-behind.

The run itself didn’t feel that bad.  I woke up and my calfs (calves?) and hamstrings were SO TIGHT.  Another reason I should have been more behind than I was: I took 10 minutes before heading out to stretch them out.  When I hopped out of bed (and my bed sits so high it’s practically lofted so it really is a jump) I didn’t think I could walk.  Obviously I could but I really needed that stretching time.  I suppose that my tempo run yesterday was very effective then in working my body haha.

Also when I got out of bed? No discomfort in the ankle! At all.  Still a little tender when I touch it so I’m still doing ibuprofen today but I’m really happy that it appears to be on the mend (knock on wood) Still keeping the sports med appt though.  Weird that it was a speedy “recovery”.  Guess my preventative stuff did something.

Obviously no surprise that my recovery run was incredibly slow.  It didn’t feel that way. Or let me rephrase: I knew that my body was moving slow and could feel it but it wasn’t like I was holding back or forcing myself to slow down.  It was the way the run was simply suppose to go.  I did judge myself when I first saw the time at the end (Holy Slowness Batman) but the feeling was fleeting.  I mean, I know that the tempo was aggressive yesterday so I knew that it was unrealistic to bang out a fast recovery run.

I also woke up to NO RAIN.  Yahoo.  Now it did flurry a bit on and off during my run but nothing that I couldn’t handle.  In fact, I barely even noticed it because it was just sooooo light.  The sun was even peaking out at me.  (Funny, well maybe not funny but I want to share it anyway, tangent: I woke up this morning around 0630 and thought my clock said 0130 and definitely thought that it was weird that the sun was out.  It never occurred to me that it wasn’t really 0130 haha). Good weather (30*, no wind, some sun, pretty spitting snow) makes running slow not so bad.

So not much to say more about the run and I’m rambling a bit.

Point of ramble: recovery runs are a good indicator of how well I attacked the quality workouts. If I’m running them too fast then I know I didn’t push hard enough. If I can barely move (which hasn’t happened yet) then I pushed too hard.

I also lifted today.  Nothing spectacular but I did notice that my arms are getting ripped when I was looking in the mirror.  To check my form, silly, not for any vain reason 😉

I’m loving the fact that I really am committed to strength this cycle.  I mean, I was kind of last cycle but I had dropped lifting at week 8, completely with the legs and only doing body weight work with the arms (and I guess core stayed the same).  I’m curious as to how long you guys keep lifting in during a training cycle? Maybe I’ve already asked this because I vaguely remember being told that it’s okay to lift up until the week of the marathon.  But I’m also interested in the intensity of your sessions in the second half of the cycle: do you increase? decrease? stay the same? And frequency: do you drop the number of sessions per week? I’m thinking that until T-4 weeks I’ll keep the intensity the same and the frequency then maybe for the T-4 to T-1 drop to twice a week then marathon week only do core? Sound reasonable?

I also saw my friend (whom I roomed with sophomore year) there.  First off, I hate it when there are other people in the gym period.  I just want to get in and out with minimal interference.  So I absolutely hate it when I actually know people there.  Granted I usually do know most of the people (my school is very small) but not really well enough to hold a conversation.  Which suits me well because, like I said, I want to get in and out.  Not chit-chat.  Not quite what she wanted to do at all (she’s a serious athlete and was actually there to work out) but still.  I’m obviously not going to ignore her.  Anyone else feel that way? Maybe I’m just a really anti-social horrible person hahaha.  I did make plans with her later to chat and gossip because I didn’t want to do it at the gym so I’m not that terrible 😛

Just a random note: so I went grocery shopping earlier today and I only had three things on my list: yogurt, clementines and blueberries.  I think having a short list is the most dangerous thing EVER.  On weeks that I have a long list I tend to stick 100% to it because I know all of my weekly food budget is going to go to that. But on days like today I keep throwing things in the cart, despite having a list!, because I know that I have room in my budget.  Annoying.  And I just had to share hahaha.

Alright I sat down to write a quickie post (lots more errands to do and things to turn in!) and I’ve written a novel haha.  Hope everyone is having a great Friday so far and check out the giveaway that Heather’s having. And HiHoRosie

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Not that failure is a terribly bad thing. I 100% believe that good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment (ie failure at something).

With that said, I’ve been having some bad luck and tough times with my tempo runs as of late.  Yes, they have taught me stuff and sure I know there have been mitigating circumstances (crappy weather, lack of sleep). But it’s still never really nice to have to rationalize or justify (not quite the words I want but close enough) things. Especially when you have my mind set.

So I decided that my tempo today was going to be a success.  Given the crappy, rainy and cold weather that awaited me this morning I knew that it was going to be a TM day.  And since this whole training cycle I have yet to do a tempo on the TM I figured that I was okay.  1 session inside wasn’t going to ruin or take away from the 8 I’ve put in outside.  6 of which were stellar, 1 was great given the conditions and 1 was truly “eh”.  Not bad stats at all.

Basically by switching to the TM I was able to avoid the weather and give my mind a break from having to think and have a chance to doubt myself.  Because, let’s face it, unless you’re doing intervals on the TM (or going from workout to warm down) it’s kind of embarrassing to have to lower the speed.  At least that’s the case for me. So I knew that when I  plugged in my tempo speed, that was that.  No changes. And I didn’t deviate at all from my prescribed workout.

Well maybe I did.  The plan I’m following always has me doing 2 or 3 by XX minutes with some rest in between.  But to me that’s not a tempo.  To me tempo is a continuous effort for 40-60 minutes at a hard pace.  So this is how it went down:

• 3.5 mile warm up @ 8:34
• 7 mile tempo (6@ 7:19, 1@ 708)
• 3.5 mile warm down @ 8:34

Total time: 111 minutes even
Total distance: 14 miles
Average pace: 7:55

My gripe with the TM is that I ALWAYS run my warm up/down faster than I should. I mean outside I would have been warming up roughly a minute slower than inside.  I think my warm down pace is typically around an 8:30 pace or so, just because after running so fast for so long this feels creeping.  But the warm-up today was wicked fast.  Not that it felt uncomfortable at all but it’s just weird that I can run the same effort but a faster pace on the tm.  I’ve been told that it’s usually the other way around for most people and running outside is faster.

But the faster warm up coupled with a FAST tempo made the overall pace drop which is going to be huge when I calculate the weekly pace.  And I can’t say that upsets me. 😛

But the run itself was great.  I threw a towel over the console so I wouldn’t be caught counting down the time until it was over.  I did peak around minute 17 which was about 2.5 miles in or so and then decided not to look again.  Heh.  I made it to 4.6 or so but by then I knew I was more than halfway there and it was all good.

Like usual the first mile or so SUCKED.  It’s just so hard to go from easy to really pushing and, while my body isn’t exactly rebelling, my mind sure is.  But since I was on the TM there was no way in hell I was adjusting my pace.Even though there was maybe 2 other people there with me. Haha.

As a note on the pace: I chose to run today VERY aggressively (and if sweat is any indication then it was VERY times ∞. And no, no pictures.  I thought about it butttttt no. Haha. I figured that I didn’t want to ruin the image you guys have of me because today was much sweatier than Tuesday.  Like I was drenched a mile into the tempo.  I should have brought a change of clothes to the gym heh)  Partly because the past two tempos have been under-performed.  But mostly because I wanted to prove to myself that this was something I was capable of.  The first 6 miles were just off of 10k pace and the last mile was under my 10k pace.  I think this says to me that I have some speed and need to settle a score with the 10k.  I do have a tentative one set up over my spring break but we’ll see if it’s feasible for me to travel there.

But despite the pushed pace I never felt like it was too much.  I’m not sure if I could have gone faster (or at least changed the ratio of 7:19 to 7:08) or longer (well maybe a half mile or so but not much beyond that).  Total signs that I did this tempo correctly.  I wasn’t being bull-headed by going out so strong.  Always a good thing and with me I never know if that’s the case: am I being stupid and trying to just show off or am I running smart.  Looks like today was a smart one.

And being the smart cookie I am, I acted immediately on calling the Sports Med Dept at Children’s Hospital this morning (even though it’s a children’s hospital about half the patients in the sports med dept are adults because all the doctors are have other specialties and are board certified for adults and children).  Just to reiterate because I think this is getting lost with some people: my ankle/shin is NOT AN INJURY.  I’m doing this solely precautionary.  Which is why I’m waiting until my spring break (2 weeks eeeek!) rather than getting in earlier.  That and I can’t take a day off of school unless my foot is actually falling off.  That said, I’m glad that all of you guys think it’s a good choice to see someone.

Speaking of it though, this morning I woke up with very little stiffness/achey-ness.  I suppose some of the credit should be that I started an NSAID routine yesterday and that helped the healing process of my body.  I’m sure that my stretching and alphabets have helped too.  The only thing that hurt when I got up was my calf: it felt like I had gotten a charlie horse overnight! I’m positive I didn’t because I totally would have woken up but it felt amazing to stretch out today.  And as I type this up it feels back to normal.

Oh and another thing that I loved about moving my run to the TM was that I got to put on the History Channel while running.  I normally don’t like putting on the TV while running. For one thing the screen is *way* too close to me and another is that I don’t feel like a “real runner”.  Silly? Yes. But hey, I am a minimalist at heart.  Either way I got to watch a really cool special on the pyramids of Giza.  It was SO . COOL.  Part of me thinks that I should have taken more (read: ANY) history classes while here at school buttttt I don’t think I would have liked being “forced” to learn it.  I like doing it this way 🙂

Another way to success 🙂

And to keep a semi-theme of success I need to hit up the physics and Spanish work so that I can pass my classes? Yes that would be a good thing.  Plus if I get done at a reasonable hour I can drink tonight.  And there’s nothing like drinking and dancing to get a chica motivated to do her work.  Success? I’m getting there 🙂

An Off Day

And no I don’t mean off as in rest 😛

Glad you guys all liked my pictures 🙂 and thanks for all the compliments. I think I looked nasty after that workout so you’re too kind to say that I looked good haha.  But I guess my endorphins were apparent in it?

Ever had a day where you’ve been just running behind? Not necessarily rushing around to get to things but consistently 5 minutes or so behind schedule? Story of my day.  I’ve just felt like I’ve been in a fog.  And for a wicked scheduled person like me, it’s uncomfortable.  I even had to text the person I had a 1400 meeting with “I need 5 or 10 minutes before our session” It wasn’t the biggest deal but I hate not being prompt.  I mean, I obviously let her know I was running late but it’s so not like me.

Maybe it was because of my recovery run this morning.  Last night when I was walking home from my Quantum/LOST party it started to rain and knowing that the next few days are all going to be gray and blahhhhh it kind of set the tone of wanting to be inert. And I knew that I wouldn’t want to get up and run in it this morning.  On the plus side I actually saw a bedtime before midnight.  Sure it was 23:50 but hey, it’s better than the previous nights.

But yeah, when I got up this morning I peaked outside and it didn’t look that bad.  From my room it didn’t even look like it was raining.  I knew that it couldn’t be true so I prepped for my rainy run gear: Sox cap, windbreaker, hair in a braid.  I also figured that since it was raining and not snowing that it wasn’t that cold so I only wore shorts and a t-shirt under the shell.

WRONG-O.  I even know that rain is worse than snow in terms of cold because the rain just soaks you but the snow doesn’t really get you that wet.  So in terms of effectively cooling your body rain is better (heat of vaporization and all) thus making  it a really cold run this morning. The first few miles were tough because I was just getting soaked to the bone and that process isn’t fun.  And the end miles were tough because I was just so chilled to the bone.

I’ve been on cold runs before (hello single digit/negative with wind!) but this was a different type of cold.  It was the type that I had to hop into a HOT shower immediately after getting back to my room because I was shivering.  I was actually shivering on the run too.  And yawning during the end (and very cold) miles.  My lips were blue too. And part of it was that of my above mentality: no snow means above freezing.  Another part was my outfit: I wasn’t really in anything terribly protective.

But in case you think the run was all a bunch of no fun-ness: the middle miles were I was soaked yet not chilled were really fun.  Too bad they were sandwiched between ickyness. Oh well, I knew the whole time that I was running slow but it didn’t bother me in the mid-miles.  But surprisingly my pace was exactly at the pace last Wednesday was.  Weird considering this week’s intervals were harder, the weather today was worse and my ankle is bumming this week.

Speaking of the ankle.  I guess I am calling it an ankle thing rather than shin.  The discomfort is in my shin still but the ankle is feeling stiff.  So I’m guessing that the ankle is the root of the problem.  It doesn’t change anything that I’m doing, but I just have new terminology for it.  And I’ve been convinced to start an anti-inflammatory program.  I’m very against painkillers/medication in general but this person I was talking to basically said “Don’t think of it as pain management but rather healing yourself”.  Because I’m not in any real pain but I do want to heal whatever is going on in there.

So it is what it is.  Thoughts? I’m also setting up an appointment with the Sports Med Dept (which I interned in over the summer) to get checked out over my spring break in a few weeks.  More of a precaution than anything because it’s not an injury but better safe than sorry.

I also lifted today.  Because of the rain I was surprised that it wasn’t more crowded than it was (read: no extra people).  I guess people don’t really gravitate towards running (and outside at that) on my campus.  Or they all get lazy and don’t want to leave their rooms when it’s raining.  Either way it was okay by me because I hate a crowded gym.

I got in a good session but I was definitely behind schedule.  I tend to do my routine in a particular order and I know roughly how long it takes me to do each part.  But man, even though I was going strong and feeling great I was consistently 5 minutes off.  Again, not the biggest deal but Wednesday’s are a crazy day and I need to be on-time or ahead! Hahah

Although, wouldn’t you know it: when it came time for my warm down (and I refused to go outside like I typically do because of the rain) all the TMs were taken! Not only were the majority of them free during my lift but they’re ALWAYS free when I’m heading outside for my warm downs on lifting days and I do that within a consistent 5 minute time period.  Guess it just wasn’t my day today haha.

And since I’m STILL behind schedule (you’d think things like classes would help me regulate this today. NAWT) I’m going to wrap this up (and it’s getting pretty lengthy!)  I’ve got to finish up some homework and hopefully be in bed before midnight again.  Got to get my sleep for tomorrow’s tempo.  Hoping to redeem myself from the past two weeks but the weather doesn’t look too promising.  Maybe I’ll hit up the tm.  We’ll see. I’ve got the radar screen open on weather.com and am checking it obsessively haha!!

And another giveaway. This time at HogeRuns

Intervals and Hills. Because It’s Tuesday.

Another sleepless night for me.  Well that’s not true I ended up with about 6 hours.  But 6 =/= 9 which is what my body wants/needs.  Which maybe a bit ridiculous to ask of a college student but hey, the body wants what it wants you know? I mean, I did get A LOT done last night which was great but I actually woke up to my alarm which NEVER happens.  And I was in the middle of a very weird dream where I was at an indoor pool party with Lacey and her entire family.  Kind of like her family reunion and I was a party crasher. Hahah.

I keep meaning to mention this but I was awarded the Sunshine Award by EE and Laura (and maybe someone else but I have a terrible memory and can’t seem to find it looking at old posts in google reader)

And I tag all of you because EVERYONE could use more sunshine in their lives 🙂

Additionally I wanted to cheer more people up too.  Anyone ever heard of Operation Beautiful? If not you can go to their site because I’m sure they have a better description than the one that I’m going to give: people put up post-its telling others how beautiful and awesome they are.  So I did that today at the gym and here’s what I put up and hopefully it’ll brighten lots of people’s days at the gym (and I just realized I spelled independent wrong! Oops, I feel embarrassed)

And on to today for me.  I have a love/hate relationship with Tuesdays.  Obviously I love that I only have one 50 minute class.  But I hate that it’s at 0830 (when I’d rather be running).  I love running fast and getting that BAMF feeling after an interval workout.  But I hate that I’m scared of them.

Rather than type out my workout for you I figured I’d take advantage of my new camera and snap a pic of the workout.  I take sheets of yellow memo paper and write out my workout the night before.  I don’t know how well you can see but the stuff in black is the prescribed workout, or at least the template.  The pencil marking are calculations (like distance, pace, time etc) and the Red is what actually goes down:

So before I jump into how I felt over this workout I want to do a shin update (which the discomfort is right where the shin meets the ankle for those of you who have asked) because last night I was really worried about it.  Not anything specific per se like “OMFG I’m in pain” but rather “How is this going to affect my intervals? My hills? My tempo? The next 8 weeks?”

You see, I’m never quite sure when it’s appropriate to back off of running and when it’s okay to push through with regards to pain.  I have a VERY high tolerance to pain: I never even took OTC painkillers after getting my wisdom teeth extracted.  In fact I was eating solid food within hours and out doing intervals the very next day.  So I guess the questions on my mind were more of the natural of if I *should* run rather than if I was *capable* of running.

I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up pain free this morning.  And I do want to clarify that I was never in pain well maybe I was with my high tolerance but it was never real pain for me. Now that’s not to say the discomfort wasn’t there after walking around a bit but I think the “alphabet” exercises and the stretching of my calf made a world of difference.  Funny how I never would have thought to stretch my calf but thanks BostonRunner for the tip!

Even so I was mildly worried that my shin was going to snap in two trying to do the workout above.  Not because of anything real but just because my imagination loves to run wild on me like that.  I did tell myself that if after the warmup I was feeling uncomfortable I could bag it.  Clearly, because you have seen the picture, I didn’t and my shin discomfort was very minor the whole time, mostly though between the intervals and re-starting with the hills.

I think that because I went into this workout with a “let’s see what happens” attitude that it went better than it otherwise would have because there was no real pressure.  Last week’s session I felt like I was at the end of the TM belt the whole time struggling to run in a straight line and this week I felt good with the paces maybe a bit too easy for the 800m and 600m, although the 200m pace was a bit tough by the end.  I might have to re-evaluate what 10k pace means.  I’m 99.99% sure I’m doing a St. Patty’s Day 10k so that would be a good test. I thought about going for 4 sets but by the end of the 3rd my legs were happy enough so I made a bathroom break and then reloaded for the hills.

Okay so as much as I’d love to say that the hills were great this week…well they were after the fact but man, they were TOUGH.  I upped the pace I typically do them at to my current MP (~820) and that combined with an annoyed shin made for a long session.  I’m sure here was the point where I should have said “I’m done” but I had come so far into the workout that I felt compelled to finish.  Again, I wasn’t in pain but my shin/ankle did let it be known that it didn’t like the hills too much. When I was done with the hills though it was such a euphoric experience.  I felt like I had just beasted it.  Not only did I do some challenging hill work but I did it at a BQ pace.  Very positive.  I’d like to work that down to GMP but I’m right where I need to be at the moment.  A very validating feeling.

So with that said I felt like such a champ when I was through.  Today was a TOUGH workout.  And as much as I complained about my shin I do want to re-iterate that it’s NOT an injury (at least at this point) but just a nagging ache that I need to watch. The ache comes and goes and right now I’m in no discomfort but that might change though when I try to get up as I’ve been sitting for awhile now.

I’ll leave you with another picture, this one of me when I was done the workout.  Please excuse the crazy eyes but I did just finish a stellar workout.  And the monster hands.  Are my hands really that big? I think it’s just the way the camera was angled. Sadly I don’t think you can see it very well in the picture but my entire tank top is drenched in sweat.  But that’s what you get I guess. Oops, I don’t think I wrote down the final stats of the run so here they are as well:

• 16.5 miles
• 134 minutes
• 8:07 average pace

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday.  I’m trying to work like a mad-woman because tonight is LOST and I soooo badly want to watch it live!!

Oh and also as I got some comments about the weather yesterday: 45* in February is AMAZING weather.  We’ve definitely gotten down to the single digits before and probably an overnight low in the negatives.  It always amazes me how relative weather is because I know some of you have MUCH worse winters and others think that 45* is worth bundling up for.  And still no sign of the rain/snow that was predicted.  Hopefully it stays that way! Unlikely but I can hope 🙂

Last Day of Spring In Febrero I Guess

Yaaaawn.  I didn’t get to bed until 0100 last night technically this morning I guess.  After tutoring stats last night I was working in the lab and while the experiment didn’t take long I wanted to work a lot on the report so that took up about a billion hours.  Okay so more like 3.  But still a 0100 bedtime and a body that wants to wake up at 0630? Maybe not the best combo. Hopefully I can pry myself away from my work at a decent hour tonight (or even just take a break watch 24 live) but sometimes when you’re on a roll you’re on a roll you know?

But gosh it was just so beautiful outside today!  When I got up this morning the weather was clear and sunny and 25*.  It was 0630 so the temperature, while cold, was really pleasant and actually felt warm.  Shorts for me 🙂

I did a recovery/easy run today. I never know what to call Monday runs because they’re typically around recovery pace BUT there’s nothing hard to recover from per se so it feels awkward. I’m sure that my legs need it because they don’t really want to go faster but it’s hard for me to comprehend that it takes 2 days or so to shake out the LR.

My shin bugged me a bit but it’s hard to say what it is exactly.  It’s probably something benign like shin splints like I said yesterday but my mind always goes to the worse case scenario: stress fracture? tendinitis? GAH. But I’ve noticed that it feel the most “pain” (and it’s not pain more of a annoying pressure) when I first get up or if I’ve been sitting for a long time and it gets stiff. So in class I’ve been doing the “alphabet” exercise and it’s been helping.  Plus I’m sure it’s strengthening the shin, so it’s a two birds, one stone deal-io.

A couple people have asked how I did my “pre-hab” as the catchy phrase says.  I wish I had some secret cure that I could market and become rich off of.  Alas I did it the good old fashioned way: stretching and strengthening.  I didn’t use ice, mostly because in a college dorm that’s really cumbersome.  But for my achilles I stretched like a mofo and for my plantar I stretched and Stick’d my calves like there was no tomorrow.  So I guess more stretching than strengthening but I’m 99.99% sure that I did a little strength stuff.  Most of my “injuries” are a result of tight muscles though, so stretching has been the cure.

After hablar-ing espanol this mornning, I hit up the gym for some lifting and man did I feel on FIRE today. I don’t know what it was, maybe I was feeling time pressed because I had a really busy afternoon set up for me?, but I just powered through my routine.  And it wasn’t a half-assed powering either.  I just felt strong.  It was like I was just so focused and invincible (heh almost just wrote invisible!) After lifting I just had to do my warm down outside because at this point it was 45*.  I’ve been so spoiled the past 4 or 5 days with SPRING weather.

Unfortunately this isn’t going to be the case for long. I had been debating switching up my tempo and intervals this week because I knew that the end of the week was suppose to be precipitation filled but I just checked the forecast and the rain/snow is suppose to start tonight.  Bummer.  At least I got to enjoy 45* (!!) weather earlier today and now I don’t feel bad about using the TM tomorrow as there won’t be any nice weather to waste!

And as a follow up on the apparel: I’m leaning towards the celebration one in the men’s sizing.  I’m DEFINITELY getting a jacket.  No questions 🙂 As much as I really do try and be humble in everyday life, I need to brag on this a bit.  And jacket = best advertisement everrrrrrr.

Well after re-reading this post it’s a bit everywhere hahaha.  Oops. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have any idea what you want to write about when you sit down! Currently I’m sitting in the academic center attempting to do my work (never ending you know?) and praying that no students come for physics tutoring. Does that make me a bad person? Heh.

I promise that tomorrow I’ll have a slightly more exciting post (remember *slightly* hahah) as it’s going to be INTERVAL TUESDAY.  I think I’m doing shorter stuff which is always very scary to me.  I’m excited though.  Going fast is ever so much fun:

Gem of a show...anyone?

Ooooooooh We’re Halfway There

Wow. Not really the response I was expecting about my run yesterday. I figured that many of you would agree with me that running 20 miles after the past few weeks I had was dumb and tell me that I was being a bit foolish to keep pushing my body.  Maybe I picked the wrong word.  I think it was Amarathoner who said that it wasn’t dumb just ill advisable.  True. In either case I truly appreciated all of your words and it was so nice to “hear” that you guys don’t think I’m dumb for yesterday. In short, please keep reading and commenting because you guys always surprise me. 🙂

I feel like I am learning so much from you guys.  Not only in training but in perspective.  I love reading your take on how my training is going because you’re not biased in this. Or at least not tooo much.  Sometimes I think I’m too close to my training to be all that objective.

Just to clarify though: I wasn’t really apologizing per se about the run.  I have no regrets at all because it was a confidence booster to me and it felt really good.  I think that if I was hurting during it or if the run was struggling and I pushed extra miles it would be a different story and I would feel badly about “ignoring” the plan (just to note: the plan called for 20-23 yesterday so I wasn’t really going off plan).  But I was referring to all the previous weeks miles accumulating and *that* made the 20 a bad idea.   Oops if that got lost a bit. I worry too much sometimes about what could happen rather than be in the moment. But I felt pumped and invigorated.

Still do in fact.  There was something that just recharged me about the hard effort of yesterday.  I had been complaining talking recently about worrying I was falling into a funk and now it’s like, “Funk? Where?”.  Yesterday also made me realize how MENTAL running is.  Okay so I already knew that but it just hammered that point home for me.  I was thinking last night about how, for the last 5 miles of my 20 mile endeavor, I was running just as fast as what I did for my quality “tempo” (or as I’m calling it: steady state) run on Thursday.  That is just mind boggling to me.  Clearly there’s some sort of mental block with tempo runs that I’m going to try to work through over these next 8 weeks.

Yes, 8 weeks. Because as of tomorrow there is only 2 months exactly until Boston.  Hooollllleeeeeeeerrrrrr.

Very scary.  I still can’t believe that I’ll be toeing the line in Boston. It just doesn’t seem real at all.  How can my training be halfway there??

Every time I get an email about Boston my first impulse is to just delete it.  Crazy, no? And I can’t even bring myself to look at the Boston apparel. Or at least really look at it.  I’ve been daydreaming about buying a jacket but I don’t want to jinx myself! I’m also debating between the men’s or women’s celebration jackets.  Or if I should go for the Supernova in either men or women‘s styles.  I’m thinking celebration men.  I typically don’t like the way women styles hit me (simply because I’m so tall) but I also hesitate with the celebration.  I mean, obviously I’m going to want it after the fact, but it just seems so preemptive.  Any way, any thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated like always 🙂

But back to the actual running: despite hammering out the miles like a champ (can I say that and still consider myself modest? Haha) I didn’t feel sore at all.  Therefore I decided to go for a recovery run (and was there ever any doubt?) It went really well, although I wish that sometimes on my recovery run I could dial into the pace I want rather than what my legs want.  Not that it’s a bad thing (and indeed it probably should be my legs that dictate the pace) but I’m so unaccustomed to having my mind not be what’s in control that it still (8 weeks into training) a foreign concept too me.  My HR was nice and low too so obviously my legs know what’s what.

The only bad thing about today’s run was that I noticed a bit on an ache on my right shin.  I think it’s the beginning signs of shin splints so I’m taking precautions to make sure it doesn’t actually develop.  I’ve noticed that this training cycle, because I’m so paranoid about getting hurt from all my miles, that I’ve become very aware of my body’s early signs of potential injuries.  I know that both my achilles or plantar have acted out a bit during this training cycle and once I took preventative measures to make sure they didn’t escalate I’ve been okay and have had no problems since then.  So I’m thinking that this will likely be the same deal-io. And yet again, it’s partly thanks to you guys for keeping me on top of recognizing that I am doing intense stuff.

Okay so I’ve written about 958 words (don’t you just love word count? hah) and nothing too exciting.  Guess that’s just my Sunday for you.  I’ve been busy though! Not only with running but with physics.  I’ve been working on Experimental forever it feels like.  Basically we perform and write up one lab a week.  Doesn’t sound too bad but some of the labs are time consuming and tedious.  And it never ends. The second we hand in one lab we have to start the next.  So that’s where I’m off too now.

Ciao! Hope everyone is recharging their batteries this Sunday 🙂

Stupidity. But At Least I Had Fun.

AND it felt like SPRING today.  When I left my room it was 40* and by the time I finished my run it was 46*.  I totally could get used to this. The only downside was the wind, but it was an all or nothing thing: it either gusted hardcore or else it was pretty calm. Hooooooooolllerrrr.

Or not.  The weather made too much of a temptation for me to reign in the day today.  The schedule did call for 20-23 and I downsized that to 18 in my mind.  With all the crap that’s been going on in my life lately I felt it was the right call.  Plus the past 4 weeks have been:

• 17 miles FAST with Lacey
• 20.5
• 19
• 21.1

So I figured 18 was a good distance to have.  Likely the only time so far in this cycle that I was going under prescribed distance.  As you could probably tell during my little set-up I didn’t do that.  I instead hit 20.1.

I KNOW I KNOW. Incredibly stupid. And trust me I’m beating myself up over it.  I don’t know what got into me.  Well yes I do.  I let my mind and the weather take over. I definitely wasn’t hurting at all during this run so I also let my body take over.  Rather than use my BRAIN and be smart and keep the miles in check.  I’m still overall under mileage than this time last week but still.  Stupid.

While my decision to over-run was stupid I’m loving how the run went down.  I’m still on a runners high.  I was so energetic and pumped when I finished.  Here are the stats before I go any further:

• 14.4 miles. 132 minutes 28 seconds. 9:07 pace
• 4.6 miles      36 minutes 50 seconds. 8:00 pace
• 1.1 miles        8 minutes 40 seconds. 7:52 pace

Total time: 176 minutes 52 seconds
Total distance: 20.1 miles
Average pace: 8:49

The best part about this run? I had no bladder issues.  Well that’s a lie. Around mile 4 (again) my bladder was full despite emptying it 4 miles prior.  I seriously almost cried.  I really don’t know what to do anymore.  And the first 11 miles were basically me lamenting this fact.  And being wayyy lame. So I was putzing through these miles just complaining to myself.

I ran the first loops (the 14.4 miles) backwards to see if I could snap out of my funk and doldrums that the bladder issue was causing me.  It seemed to work a little bit, it was nice and refreshing to see the roads from a different perspective. Still…my bladder hated me.

At the 11 mile mark (and I knew I only had ~3.5 miles ’til hitting the dorms) I decided to pick up the pace. I think I too easily forgot that talk I went to Thursday night and felt like I was being an ungrateful brat during those previous miles. So I decided to use my legs because I have two perfectly good legs and there was absolutely no reason to complain that my bladder wasn’t “good” or my legs were blah or anything.  Despite what I consider “malfunctions” I am 100% healthy.  And I need to start acting like it.

That said, I picked it up.  I mean, LR is a quality run so I had no qualms about it plus I wanted to have something to concentrate on rather than how blahhhh everything seems to be lately. I guess I also wanted to prove that I’m not a quitter and I wanted a reason to be proud of myself.  I have no idea what the pace was because I didn’t check my watch until the 14.4 mile loop was over but it was a very quick clip and felt good.  Lo and behold: my bladder stopped screaming at me.

Is this the solution? Run really really fast to avoid peeing my pants? Who knows but when I got back to my dorm I realized that I wanted to push further without stopping.  I knew that there was a DD about 2 or so miles into the next loop so that if my bladder decided to make itself heard I could have some help.  But I also was aware of the fact that my increase in pace was keeping it at bay.  This helped me mentally SO MUCH.  If you remember last week I was wondering how I was going to *race* a marathon when I could barely run 12 miles without a bathroom break.  Clearly I’m going to be running fast during Boston so my mind was put at ease a bit.

So I kept up my fast pace.  Since I had no idea how fast I had just run the previous 3.5 miles I decided to just keep my pace up (or down rather. In any case I mean faster) and see how long I could hold it.  I was just feeling so good.  Earlier that morning I had been feeling a general malaise.  I was worn down by all my self-doubt, school stress, my-future stress and felt the beginnings of a funk coming on.  I highly suspect the weather for snapping that because I was able to keep an 8:00 pace for the next portion and I believe that’s roughly the pace I was at for the last 3.5 miles of the first portion.  Or thereabouts.

Once I finished the 4.6 (sans bathroom breaks) I knew I should stop.  Seriously I did.  I’m a smart kid: I would NEVER have advised someone in my situation to do what I did today.  But I was feeling great, the last 2 or so miles of that middle loop were muddy because it was a dirt road and I was laughing and having a blast getting my legs all gross.  I know that last week’s run I had described as a run that just clicked but today there was a childlike quality to it.  I felt playful and had a stupid grin on my face.  So I just rolled with it for the extra 1.1 miles.

Another part of it was that I wanted the mental boost of knowing I could do 20 without a bathroom break. But I can’t remember the last time I was LAUGHING on a run.  The sun was shining and so nice on my skin (because I got to wear shorts and a t-shirt.  Obviously still wearing gloves. Those won’t come off until May or so haha) and running was solely pleasurable.  Even when I’ve been having runs that “click” I haven’t been laughing or feeling carefree.  But I did today.

So YES: running 20.1 miles was DUMB.  Like I said above, I am kicking myself for it.  I definitely overdid it and I’m convinced I’m going to have some nagging aches and pains to watch now (even contemplating a rest/elliptical/no more than 5 day tomorrow. Sign of the apocalypse?).  But I am so happy after the fact. Not only with the numbers, although I will say that I have never run a long run that fast nor had splits like that at the end. Well maybe with Lacey but I’ve never been able to push like that on my own.

But I recaptured that pure joy that running should be.  I felt like a kid on the playground.  It was so amazing. And a great feeling heading into my mountain of work earlier today.  And to start my Saturday night. Have a great one guys (or most likely as this is being posted late and it’s probably going to be Sunday when you read this) hope you had a good Saturday night 🙂

Giveaways: Tricia and EatMoveLove

Keep It Steady Now

Wow.  So last night I went to see a speaker on campus.  His name is Travis Roy and he’s motivational speaker who was left paralyzed from the neck down after an accident just 11 seconds into his first BU hockey game. He talked about conquering life’s hurdles, change in plans, as well as hope, humor and pain.

Let me just say that I was feeling a bit sorry for myself yesterday.  I think you could probably get that from my post.  I think I’ve found my new source of motivation.  Yes, I know that I’m not a quadriplegic or anything serious like that but there were soooo many points that resonated with me. But the biggest one was that he posed the question of “What are you going to do with challenges that you choose and challenges that choose you”  It really made me think about taking control of my life and not letting my stress and chaos get to me.

Obviously easier said than done buttttt I’m going to try. This man was so positive in a situation where he could have easily turned into a very bitter person.  It totally shut my inner voice up! I am choosing to embark on a very challenging course of study at the same moment as taking on a very challenging training plan.  I need to remain positive and keep my goals in mind.

So inadvertently I found rejuvenation in life.  And I felt soooo bad for feeling down on myself pretty much all day. Oops. Then when I got back from the event I read some of your comments on my post and I was so uplifted by it.  I always hesitate on posting those posts because I’m always afraid I’m going to get the comments of “well youre so amazing” or “great job even feeling off” or telling me stuff that’s obvious and those comments just always feel…I don’t know. I always feel rubbed the wrong way because they just seem so impersonal.

But I could actually feel the support with your words.  Which was another of Roy’s points: having a great support system makes a huge difference and that we should all tell the important people in our lives that they mean a lot to us.  So I’m telling you now 🙂

I also did a bit of research on running stuff, mostly different types of running and paces and all that and I’ve come to the conclusion that what went down yesterday was a worthwhile training run.  Not classified as a tempo but as a “steady state run”. I’ve never actually considered doing steady-state work.  But what I did yesterday was classic steady-state. Like the description that follows says, lots of runner nowadays tend to think black and white: fast and slow.  That’s me!

From the McMillian website:

“Steady-state runs were once a staple in the training programs of U.S. distance runners but somehow fell out of favor. Runners now seem to have only two speeds, slow and fast – no in-between. But the steady-state run is one of the most beneficial types of workouts especially as you complete your base training and during the initial parts of your Stamina phase (see Lecture 5). The appropriate pace range for steady-state runs is between your 30K and half-marathon race pace. Your heart rate will likely be between 83 and 87% of maximum and the runs should last at least 25 minutes and can go as long as an hour and 15 minutes.

These are pretty tough efforts not because of the pace but because of the duration of running so be prepared to increase your concentration to stay on pace and to take a good recovery day afterwards in order to reap the full benefits. Begin with shorter steady-state runs of 25 minutes at 30K race pace and build to one hour runs at 30K pace with shorter (25- to 45-minute) steady-state runs at half-marathon pace.”

There’s some really great stuff on that site and I totally plan on reading more into it.  But the combination of reading that, your comments and the Travis Roy talk really made me feel more confident.  I WILL be ready for Boston.   Oh silly self-doubt.

So when I woke up this morning I was raring to go mentally.  My legs probably had a different idea.  I took your ideas and suggestions to heart from yesterday’s post and, while I didn’t give myself complete rest, I made sure that I took it extra easy.  Not too hard to do because I don’t think my legs could have gone faster.  I’d classify today’s run as a progression recovery: the first few miles were slooooooooow but it felt better by the end and I was probably in “easy” range.

That’s not to say I did my typical superhuman double digit: I was only out there for 40 minutes.  20 out, 20 back.  I’ll map out how far I went at some point (don’t want that unknown screwing up my weekly numbers haha) but for now I’m content with not knowing.  And the weather was AWESOME.  35* (with it being 46* now in the late afternoon).  Such a tease because it’s New England and obviously winter isn’t over.  Not by a long shot.

I also hit up the gym for some lifting but I cut back there too.  I debated whether or not to drop weights or a set, either one had it’s advantages.  I ended up choosing to only do 2 sets rather than 3 for the sheer fact that I was (and still am) very time crunched today.  It was kind of nice to be in and out with 20 extra minutes.  Not a hell of a lot but enough to make me not feel so pressured.

Before I hit “publish” I also want to address the potential for overtraining that many of you have brought up.  Yes I have been thinking about it too and I do have some of the “symptoms”.  It’s really hard to tell though whether or not these symptoms are a result of my running or all the other stress in my life.  For example: I think my lack of sleep is a result of stress because I can’t turn my mind off and I’m staying up late doing work because I get all anxious if I don’t.  I also checked my resting HR (like I kept my phone in my bed so I didn’t have to move at all this morning to do so) and it was right about where my resting HR should be.  But, that said, I do recognize that I am primed for overtraining and definitely have the potential to develop it.  So it’s on my mind but as of now I think a lot of the signs of it are due to stress.  Unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about it: this is just life right now.

Happy Friday! Whoo-hoo weekend!! Not that I’ll be enjoying it.  It’s a pity too because I think it may hit 50 at some point.  How I wish that homework didn’t exist.  Or any type of work really.  But I hope that someone enjoys the weekend for me 🙂

Check out these giveaways from ErikaH and RunZoeRun and ShutUpandRun and Allie