Glutton for Punishment?

Apparently.  After an emotionally charged weekend what do I decide to do to cap it off? Try to physically exhaust myself too. Luckily I had a hard interval workout on tap for this weekend. I wasn’t up for it at all on Saturday so around noon on Sunday I decided to tackle it and hope that a good painful (but in a good way) run was what was necessary to pick me up.

On tap: 3 X 3.3 miles. Boo! Hiss!

Ouch just to look at the workout. I typically only do 2 of the intervals (as do most normal and sane runners) but I was definitely going for the whole “glutton for punishment” vibe this weekend.

As far as how fast I wanted to run it, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hit the 6:29-6:43 tempo interval pace that McMillian thinks I can do based on WR, and while I’m in good shape, there was something just ON about my training last fall for WR….which speaking of….guess what I got in the mail over the weekend?

Holler. Between this piece of mail and my new Boston confirmation I should be rearing to go! Maybe not McMillian pace ready, but I thought that between 7:00 and 7:15 was reasonable for this workout.  Oh man. Oh hubris.

How’d it go?

• Warm up
• 1st interval: 3.3 miles @ 7:19
• 2nd interval: 3.3 miles @ 7:28
• 3rd interval: 3.3 miles @ 7:32
• Warm down

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. My head was no where near being in this workout.  I was very distracted, probably from my weekend, but in all honesty I was about to write that I felt like I was pushing at my best.  I wasn’t.  Clearly with each interval being slower than the last. Normally I’m the opposite. No real excuses or anything but I probably could have kept my head in the game…

Is it bad to admit that this is on my iTunes?

That said, my legs did feel the burn and clearly fatigued throughout the workout.  Which is what I wanted to do. I just wish that fatigue pace was a little faster that’s all. Too much to ask for? I know that all the life stuff that’s been crazy present in my life lately  has been a huge factor in my training this cycle.  Unlike previous cycles I’m not basing my life around my training but rather my training around my life.  And at the moment some things (*cough*hanging out with my friends and having fun*cough*) are more important than, well I was going to say training but I’ve still be attempting my hard workouts, but things more of the sleep nature

 

I love how my friend's expression is like "oh man. here we go tonight" hahah!

And I don’t quite know how this post is going to come across.  Because I have lots of emotions going on when I think about this Boston training and where my running is at right now.  In the end, no matter how frustrated or upset or angry I am about not being as fast as when I was training for WR, I am much faster than this time last year when I was training for Boston.  That’s still a very good sign.  Just annoying that WR was so amazing that right now can’t really compare.  It’s like karaoke-ing after the kid who is studying musical performance at grad school (true story from last week at karaoke!).  No matter how good you are at singing (or training with my running right now) it’s not going to compare.  Doesn’t mean that I’m not doing some good stuff but last time had all the stars aligned. We’ll see how zen I feel about it on April 18th though!

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Apparently none of y’all say “wagon”

I think it’s a my-family thing though rather than regional. What can I say. My family is weird. Sure I’ll defend them to my grave, but they’re weird.  And for those of you who asked, yes I say “bubbler” and “frappe” and “wicked”. Yes I may want to move the heck out of here but it will forever have a place in my heart ❤

Anyway. Moving on.

To things I want to recap on.  I’m going to do it bullet style because the last time I did a running post (or even a real post in general) was over a week ago and I’m 99.9342% sure that there’s no way I can make smooth transitions.  And y’all will get the highlights…or the funny-lights because I’m sure that somethings aren’t exactly going to be true high points. At least not when they were happening!

• PHILADELPHIA was an absolute BLAST.  That is, of course, once I got there.  My bus ride took 8.5 hours because the driver decided to go through NYC during rush hour traffic. I was in the Bronx for 2 hours.  But, once I got to my friend’s house I was a-okay for the rest of the weekend.  There was lots (and I mean LOTS) of drinking. But some shopping and museum going and movie watching and gossiping/giggling. The coolest part was going to the Mutter Museum which, for those of you who aren’t going to click the Wiki link, is a medical museum located in the Center City area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It contains a collection of medical oddities, anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment (thanks wikipedia!).  It was SO COOL.  And did I mention the drinking? Because taking the train into the city that day, well, let’s just say I didn’t think it was going to happen. So of course that means I did not run one step. And that’s not sarcasm

The girls!

• On Monday when I got back to Boston I ended up having dinner with my family due to the train schedule being silly for the holiday.  I got a great 7 miler in my old stomping grounds that night, although my hometown has banned streetlights to save money (eyeroll) which I didn’t know about.  Needless to say that the end of the run was a bit faster than the start.  Oh, and I also karaoked the following song.  Stone. Cold. Sober (because I was the driver that night). I think that’s pretty impressive.

• Despite not sleeping at all over the weekend as well as that Monday I still decided to tackle my Tuesday tempo workout.  With varying success.  I did, in fact, sleep in about an hour and a half later than usual. Didn’t change the results of the workout though.  I guess that the workout ended up being a GMP one.  Per usual at this point. The fast portion was 6.6 miles @ an average of 7:37 pace (2.2 @ 7:41, 2.2 @ 7:24, 2.2 @ 7:46).  Just like last week the middle 2.2 was way faster than the first or third.  Weird. And meh.  At this point I’ve given up hope of having stellar threshold runs.  I’ll just try to hold on until Boston.

• The same thing goes for the long runs.  I mean, they are definitely *not* going poorly. Especially since yesterday’s 21 miles @ 8:50 pace is any indication.  I did do the typical long run fade in the middle miles (which is funny because with my tempos/GMP it’s the opposite: see above) but the last mile was run in 8:20 so I’m happy.  If I can finish the marathon strong I’ll be happy.

• My recovery workouts have been going well too.  They’ve been faster than I expect which, under normal circumstances, would be great.  But given how I’m not over-whelmed with joy over my hard workouts I kind of look at my faster easy paces a little skeptically.  Not that I’m upset with how my tempos/GMP/LR/intervals have been going but sometimes I feel like I’m not *really* in training.  I don’t know if that makes sense but it does in my head. So there.

• Maybe this will light a fire under my butt in my quality workouts: YAY for my new Boston confirmation with updated (WR) time coming in the mail this week.

And with that I’m about to finish up my work week and go for a nice recovery run in the pouring rain.  Hopefully everyone has a fun-filled weekend! I’m definitely planning on taking it a bit easy after my weekend in Philly last week.  I am going to see a friend perform in a play tonight and then hopefully grab a drink after.  And then do some rockclimbing, maybe tomorrow. Very low-key.  Fingers crossed.

It’s a Regional Thaaaaaaaaaang

Today I’m going to answer some fun questions that I saw Lisa (and others but I can’t remember who) quite a ways back, except hers was a vlog. I think the idea was to do a vlog so that everyone can hear how I actually sound but I’m not the most technology savvy person out there so I just took the questions portion and answered them. Quite a bit late in terms of fads.  Most of y’all have moved onto the ABCs. Maybe I’ll get there in another month hah!

Basically I’m doing this type of post right now because I haven’t had a chance to write out some cool stuff from Philly (the trip was a blast!) and how my training’s been going lately.  Plus I have to leave for *rockclimbing * (aka my NEW LOVE!) in about 2 seconds, do laundry and catch up on y’alls blogs.  Be patient.  You will get an explosion of writing about running and shenanigans in the days to follow 😀

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
TP-ing

What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
Pill bug

thanks google. and you're welcome for having me post this picture.

What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
Coke: no matter what brand it’s always a coke. No matter if it’s a cola or not.

What do you call gym shoes?
Sneakers

Or, more appropriately, sneakaaaaaaaaaaaahs.

What do you say to address a group of people?
“Hey y’all” (yes I know that’s a southern thing but whatevsssssssssssss)

thanks google

What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
Daddy Longlegs

thanks google

What do you call your grandparents?
Gramma and Papa

Christmas 2010

What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
Wagon

awesome giant wagon. thanks google

What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
Rain. Duh.

What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
Clicker

So there you go.  Going through this I totally think I’m a New Englander. Or just weird.  Anyone else use the same words? Or another dialect of American?

I Dropped The Ball

Because I totally forgot to post this pic on Monday.  I actually found it back in December and was sitting on it.  Naturally I didn’t end up posting it.  Let’s pretend that it’s the 14th again? At least for a second?

thanks xkcd.com

Anyway I guess that it’s kind of lame to be posting it on the 17th. But whatever.  I’m only hours away from my vacation.

But that doesn’t mean I slacked off in the training department as I had an interval workout on tap for today.  I don’t think I’m going to be able to get in any type of quality workouts in during my trip.  Maybe some 6 or 7 milers but nothing serious.  A) I’m on vacay and crashing with a friend and B) I’m sincerely hoping to not be in the condition to bounce out of bed (or off the couch) every morning to get in a hard workout.

Just to be clear, because I know that someone will worry about the workout that I did today: I am not “anemic” (aka lack of red blood cells (RBC) or hemoglobin) just low on *iron* [edit: this is how my doc described it to me. I know that technically anemia is being low on iron, but my case is not severe at all].  I asked my doctor if I could continue to train and she said yes, although to get extra sleep, extra H2O and take it easy a bit.  Granted this workout was a doozy but, like I just mentioned, I’m taking the next 4 days as real easy days when I’m away.

Sarah commented the other day that

From experience, a word of wisdom: in general, the training you do while anemic doesn’t benefit you a great deal. So, as I’m sure you are doing, heal up like it’s your job!

Soooooooooooooo thoughts? Did I really “waste” my last month of quality workouts because I didn’t get to the doctor sooner? I mean obviously the next 4 days will be resting up (or not depending on which life activity you’re thinking about…) but even though I read that last night, I was still planning on my intervals.

Today was supposed to be Jess‘s favorite workout (and GOOD LUCK this weekend lady!) of 2 X 3 miles.  Bleh to me.  When I woke up this morning I decided that, since I did that workout 2 weeks ago, I was going to do something faster and more “me”: 5 X 1.2 miles.

Why 1.2? Well of course, like my tempos, it’s just how a good, safe-car route falls.  And 1.2 miles is ~ 2km (1.2465 miles is exact) and last year while training for Boston I did 5 X 2 km.  So it seems apropos to do this workout.  With lots of my interval workouts that are not on the track I typically calculate what the time I need is to hit a pace.  Since I changed up my workout last minute I didn’t do that this time but I knew ideally I’d hit between 7:00 and 7:10 pace.  Of course that meant nothing during the workout itself.  The idea was just go fast.  But isn’t it always?

 

Cheetah speed. 60, 70 miles per hour. (Thanks google. And movie quote: anyone on that?"

Drum roll pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease:

1. 8:36 (7:10 pace) Wow this sucks. It hurts.  My legs are achey.  Did I mention this sucks? I should have figured out what a 7:00 or 7:10 pace is for 1.2 miles.  Silly.
2. 8:29 (7:04) Okay. Faster. With same effort.  Maybe I can do this
3. 8:32 (7:07) Ouchie.  My legs hurt.  Am I hurting myself by doing this low on iron? Is there any point in training hard low on iron at the moment?
4. 8:31 (7:06) Maybe this should be the last one.  I started off pretty slow. Let’s push! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh.
5. 8:32 (7:07) Thank god this is the last one. Final push!

The recovery distance was ~.5 miles and took me between 4:45 and 5:00 minutes to do.

My first thoughts after calculating my paces? “Holy #$%” That not too far off my last MP. I really ran 26.2 miles around here?! Second thought? Well I hit my paces. Naturally I’m always going to want to go faster. My legs definitely were feeling really achey afterward so after eating and showering I put on my compression socks.  Unfortunately it’s a REALLY nice day out (it was in the mid-30s when I left for the run and about 50* when I finished!) so I wanted to wear a skirt but my legs trump fashion at this point. I think this is the first time that I’ve ever said that. Normally I’m all “let’s wear heels post-LR or hard workout”

Regardless my legs are feeling a bit tender and sore but the workout went well.  I’m not terribly disappointed in it but my legs did feel worn down and none of the intervals felt great.  Almost like I was running in molasses.  Duh, that’s the low iron levels.  So I’m calling this a win because, despite the weariness, I ran fast.  I can’t wait to see what happens after a few more days / weeks of getting my iron levels back up to normal.

Wowza. Longer than usual post right? I’ll wrap it up with that.  No Boston schpeal from me.  I guess I have thoughts on it but after April 18th, 2011 I don’t know (or really care) what Boston plans I have for the future. My focus is elsewhere, both on running and life in New England in general (aka I’m moving outta here!)

My focus is in the picture below.  T-24 hours and I will be on a bus to Philly!

Question: Will This Ever Get Any Easier?

Answer: Probably not.

In some ways I don’t want it to get any easier, because then it means I’m not pushing, but man: TEMPOS SUCK. I know I know, broken record.

Wah wah wah. Thanks google images

I guess so do GMP runs, because lately that’s all I’ve been able to muster.  Like yesterday’s workout:

• Warm up
• 6.6 mile tempo @ 7:33 (2.2 @ 7:40, 2.2 @ 7:20, 2.2 @ 7:39)
• Loooooooooooooooong warm down

I’m a little unsure of how I feel about it.

In terms of a workout it was GREAT. It felt hard at times and my legs were burning with effort.  But I’m eeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhh about the pace.  Because it sucks to see a slower-than-I-thought pace. Mostly because the first 2.2 was uphill AND against the wind.  Seriously. Like one of the two isn’t bad enough.  The plus side is that the second 2.2 was going back the way I came, so it was downhill and with the wind.  And the third, well, I was tired at that point and haven’t done a continuous 6.6 yet.  So no real excuse for that one, because I expected it to hurt.  And it didn’t let me down in that respect.

I actually felt pretty darn good during it and my legs were really tired and lactic acid-y afterward. So the effort gets a good grade for this workout, maybe B+, because my mind *did* wander a bit over life stuff despite my legs feeling like they should at the end. But pace gets a lower grade.  I really wish the weather would cooperate with me! Doesn’t it know I’m training for the Boston Marathon?!

Wouldn't this be nice? Thanks google.

But I’m slowly making peace with this idea of tempo / GMP.  I hate it but I’ve been doing it so regularly that it’s just a part of life right now.  So it better pay dividends in a few weeks.

Because I sure know that my recovery run this morning was slooooooooooooooooooow.  And the leg-os were pretty heavy too.  I actually got up a half hour earlier than Monday and ended only slightly earlier at the end of the run! Granted I ran a bit further than Monday’s recovery run but I guess LRs don’t take as much out of me as harder / faster efforts.  Maybe I should try and push the LRs more. But that’s a thought for another day.

I also went to the doctor yesterday (because I’ve been so tired, lightheaded, bruising easily etc) and *surprise* I was / am low on iron.  Which is what I expected. So for the next month I’ll be on iron supplements.  And I’m thinking that my running will improve (as well as my mood and energy levels). I just started today so I’m, obviously, not feeling it yet.  Maybe by my intervals tomorrow? I can only dream. But hopefully a semi-placebo effect will kick in soon so I get AMPED to go climbing tonight.

GOAL EQUALS

Holler. Thanks google.

I’m semi-kidding on that front.  Lizzy might make me change my mind and my climbing buddy is actually going to Yosemite this spring to do it.  Eeep.

Check out the giveaway from Jess @ Blonde Ponytail

A Tale Of Two Good Runs

…and one mediocre one.  Despite being really REALLY busy I’ve been able to unplug and unwind a bit this weekend.  I got to play catchup with some friends that I hadn’t seen in awhile, finally got to see HP 7 at the $2 theater and, this is KEY, sleep for 11.5 full hours on Saturday night.

And, of course, running.

Friday was supposed to be an easy run at 0530 before going to an appointment and then a work luncheon (to represent the clinic with the CEO at the GoRedforWomen‘s event).  But I checked the weather when the alarm went off (while I was still laying in bed) and saw 6* real temp.  So I reset the alarm and told myself that I’d run post-luncheon.  Which I did.  And because I was running in the afternoon I figured I’d get an interval workout in.

I did this particular workout (given to me by Lacey) last fall.  The goal time for the miles were around 7:00 but I figured, given how my paces for all my fast workouts have gone so far this cycle, that it was a bit ambitious.  But I gave it a shot anyway.

Friday intervals:

• Warmup
• 2 X 1 mile continuous (7:08, 7:10)
• 2 x [ 2 X 1 mile] easy / hard combo (8:54, 6:45, 9:09, 7:11)
• Warm down

I really REALLY love the 6:45 mile I was able to pull off but I know it’s not a true reflection of what I’m capable of.  Because it was downhill.  That said, the other times (both the 2 X 1 mile and the hard miles) were all uphill because of the way I ran my route (it was 2 miles out uphill, one easy/one hard back downhill, one easy / one hard out uphill…if that makes sense).  And I’m sure it averages out to something I’m happy with all things considered.

Because the miles were HARD.  I was pushing hard.  My legs burned during the hard miles and I actually could feel the lactic acid after each fasty mcfast mile.  It felt good.

Like, I felt *almost* as fast as this guy 😛

Saturday was a medium long run. 13 miles.  Which were hard.  The pace was kept easy, I don’t think my legs would have done anything else, but I’ve realized that all my runs are “hard” at the moment. But for different reasons.  Or at least every run now has a purpose and to keep the run true to the purpose takes effort. Friday was hard to keep running fast and Saturday was hard because my legs were recovering.

Just in time for the Sunday long run.  Since all my favorite routes are under snow at the moment, I did a mentally challenging long run by running a 10 mile route TWICE.  Then adding on an extra mile for kicks.

• 10 miles @ 8:42 (oops went out to hard)
• 10 miles @ 9:06 (wanted to quit so bad!)
• 1.1 miles @8:35(PUSH!)

• 21.1 miles @ 8:53 pace

I’m happy with this run.  Like I wrote above the second 10 miles were very tough for me.  I had the opportunity to quit around mile 15.5 or so but I didn’t.  At that point, after passing my apartment and not stopping, I knew that I could finish it.  I also had to pass my apartment at the 20 mile marker (and I was originally going to go the 20) but I felt this kick and rush in my legs and clearly they did not disappoint.

I also wanted to go the twenty-ONE miles because I knew that it would push me to 100 miles (one hundred point five to be exact).  Go me?  This capped off a really great training week where I nailed my tempo on Wednesday, hit the intervals hard on Friday and went loooooooooooong Sunday.

I’m hoping that this is an ongoing trend for the next *gasp* 9 weeks until Boston. Yes, only 9 weeks until my next race.  I guess since I only spent 5.5 weeks training in it’s entirety for WR that I still feel like I have an eternity before Boston.

But guess what I don’t have to spend an eternity waiting for? My trip out of town.  I’m visiting one of my really good friends from high school this weekend in Philly.  I found a really REALLY good bus deal online and she’s willing to let me crash on her couch and paint the town red with her, so I bought my tickets last night.  Needless to say, after how super overwhelmed and busy I’ve been lately, this is MUCH needed.  Of course planning the trip is making me a bit stressed out in and of itself.  But I just need to keep looking at my last trip to visit her to realize how glorious it’ll be.

Drunk. Happy. Hotttt

But between now and fun I have to get through this week.  And do some quality training.  And some rockclimbing.  Fingers crossed that today kicks off the week right!

Wednesday Was Not My Day

At least in terms of rockclimbing.  I went last night post-work and man, it was HARD! Maybe stress got to me or maybe it was that I went at 2200 after working 9.5 hours.  But in either case it was one of those nights where it was a struggle: even though climbing isn’t really about the upper body strength, my arms were really exhausted. But I’m glad I went.  Every once in awhile you need those days that kick your ass and remind you that you can improve.

Wednesday was the day, however, for me to kick my tempo workout’s ass:

• Warm up
• 5.6 mile Tempo @ 7:24 (2.2 @ 7:29, 2.2 @ 7:24, 1.2 @ 7:15)
• 1.2 miles easy
• 1.2 miles HARD @ 7:23
• Warm down

It was HARD to do this workout.  I was originally going to do it Tuesday but woke up feeling really run down.  After doing the warm up that morning I nixed it and postponed it to the next day.  My run Tuesday was really tough by the way, even though it was an easy “just-go” run. By the time Wednesday rolled around I still didn’t want to do it but after checking my watch after the warm I decided to at least give it a go.

And boy am I glad I did.

I was so surprised when I saw my time (because I knew that it was ~7:30 pace).  Granted, maybe I shouldn’t have been because I was running hard and the effort was great, but not over the top.  I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to hold onto the pace but I did.  I kept having to tell myself that “I can do it” and to stay focused because it felt great in the moment! Obviously I would like my “tempo” pace to be faster (like where I was pre-WR) but this is a significant improvement from weeks past.

I got that really exhausted but energetic feeling in my legs for the rest of the day.  I was on a TOTAL cloud 9.  There’s something so amazing about pushing yourself hard and being able to handle it.  This run may or may not have gotten an air fist pump at the end…just saying.

Totally worth the struggle of a rock climb later that day!

Also: a couple people have asked how I come up with my odd distances for tempo runs. I map out areas that I know will be not-so-traffic ridden and such and that just happens to be how they fall.  Maybe someday I’ll be able to get a garmin but for now I’ll be sticking to my 5.6 mile loop where I know that, for example, my house to the end of the path is 2.2 miles, and a loop around my house is 1.2.

Rather than tell you about all the mediocre runs, other than my tempo, or go on about the stress in my life (still ongoing but I’m managing. Apologies again to the sporadic commenting. I promise I’m still reading! It actually de-stresses me a bit reading y’alls blogs.) I’ll leave you with this dessert, described as “crack” by one of my friends.  With a tall glass of milk it’s perfect after a long day…which after the way my Thursday night is going might just be my post-work activity!

Chocolate Caramel Saltine Crackers

(taken from a friend but I’m pretty sure you can find the recipe on AllRecipes or something)

Ingredients:

• ~40 saltine crackers
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Sheets of caramel coating

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet (with sides) with foil for easy clean-up. Place caramel down on foil and arrange saltines on top in a single layer and touching.
2. In a small saucepan, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Pour over crackers, spread to coat evenly and bake 6 – 8 minutes.
3. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over and let them melt.  Spread with a spatula / knife to cover the crackers. Place in a fridge to cool and then
4. ENJOY!

This Is What It Feels Like To Be An Old Person

aka the words from my friend after our 20 miler on Sunday.

Which, by the way, was awesome.  The weather was pretty basically springtime: 45* and SUN.  The snow / ice was melting so there were lots of rivers to jump through.  And mud.  The smell of spring was in the air.

And the feeling of training within my grasp.

It’s probably not a shocker to y’all that I’ve been struggling with my mojo lately.  Especially with the running.  Without spilling the details over the internet, I’ll leave it that life has gotten pretty stressful over the past month.  *Nothing serious or earthshattering or bad*  Just really busy and, at times, overwhelming.  So naturally that’s been spilling into my running and lots of why I think my motivation has been lost.  And that the posting / commenting / replying has decreased slightly. I promise I’m playing catch-up!

But that taste of glorious.  It’s hard to not enjoy running and feel all gung-ho about training when it’s like this out

thanks google images

And what a run it was.  I was originally going to only do 18 or so but just felt like going further.  I actually ran the entire thing with a friend.  She was only going to run the first 13 with me but at that point she decided that she “was committed to the entire 20 with you“.  So props to her!

I’m not sure if I would have run faster or slower without her.  And we actually ran MORE than 20 but she was using her garmin ( it was awesome not running a pre-set route, exploring!, and mapping it out beforehand and pray that it’s not a highway.)   I might have to invest, or at least beg as a gift for some holiday in the future. and forgot to turn it off after a stoplight, so it was more like 20.8 or so.  But since I’m silly I convinced her to go 20.00 according to the garmin.  But we finished strong. And happy. I mean, it was spring here after all.

• 20 miles in 2:56:41 @ 8:50 pace

Sure, I wish that I was faster but there were the Providence hills and we hit just about everyone of them.  Not complaining here, on the contrary I need them!, but the garmin showed that we hit very slow paces going up them.  Especially when they hit at mile 17.

But I have the first 20 of the cycle under my belt.  And it feels good.  I am in training!  This week was the first good week of training that I’ve done: solid tempo on Tuesday, intervals on Thursday and LR on Sunday.  Hizzah. My legs did also feel shaky after the 20 which, to me, means I pushed myself.  And that feels good too.  Hopefully this can stay put. Especially as I gear up for my ever-so-favorite workout tomorrow: the tempo.

Also feeling good? How bamf I am at rockcliming.  I went rockclimbing in lieu of running on Saturday and, yet again, it was a blast.  But my arms were friiiiied by the end.  Such a pleasant fried though.  And the bruises that I’m racking up (which I don’t ever seem to remember banging into stuff) are soooooooooooo totally bamf.  I am sooo totally in love with climbing.  I cannot wait to go again!

Awesome

Today is the Day

To feel exhausted? Or sick? Or bamf? Maybe to all of the above.

I was going to post yesterday about the amazing time I had rockclimbing Wednesday night but work got busy so I didn’t.  But woooot to feeling like a nimble monkey.  My arms were a bit sore the next day because I did some harder climbs but it’s great and I love it.  And I was freaking conked out during the night.  When my alarm went off  Thursday morning I utter some words that might not bear repeating.

No so much love? Check out the icicles on my roof!

Regardless it wasn’t going to stop my training.  Luckily the roads were clear from the storms we had and, SURPRISE, I had enough traction on the roads to nix the idea of doing a straight up long run.  So I decided to do some intervals.  I was going to do them this weekend but we’re supposed to get another storm on Saturday.  No bueno for track/interval work.

I also saw this on my desk ( I got it a week ago) from Matty, Run Run and how could I not attempt a bamf workout?

And inside

Sorry for the sideways shots but wordpress isn't letting me rotate them

It made me amped to look at this before the workout.  Mostly because I’ve been feeling lackluster in the training department but also because I really hate this workout:

• Warm up
• 2 X 3.3 miles tempo intervals with 1 mile recovery
• Warm down

My splits for each 3.3? Well I was shooting for 7:00 because that’s a nice number, but I knew that I was shooting high for that.  Here’s what went down:

• 7:27 ( 7:40, 7:13 each half)
• 7:18 (7:35, 6:59)

So overall I am THRILLED with how this workout went.  Sure I’d have loved to be faster but, hey, I was much faster than I have been usually.  And it felt hard but that good hard.  Not “holy $#%^ let me stop!” hard.

I got that exhausted, yet energetic feeling in my legs for the rest of the day.  Good work MM. Thumbs up.

The rest of the day was really long and icky.  Work wasn’t too bad but I felt kind of dizzy, probably due to dehydration, for the rest of the day.  And I likely didn’t do much to make myself better because I work up with a splitting headache this morning.  Oh well. At least these were waiting for me when I walked into the clinic this morning

Yes you read that right: “Guinness with Mint Frosting” and “Chocolate Bourbon with Vanilla Frosting” cupcakes leftover from a Bakery donation last night.  Today might shape up to be not so bad after all.

And check out the giveaway from 26.2 is my cooldown

P.S. I know I’m very behind in replying to comments. I apologize and I’m hoping to have some downtime to reply individually!

Please Stop

Pretty please with a cherry on top?!

I’m currently curled up right now all snug and, in all honesty, probably being more productive than if I was at work. I was supposed to go in at 1400 for a staff meeting but I emailed my supervisor saying the roads are flooded (which they are) as well as all the work I would be talking about at the meeting.  Since I got the email saying “all set. Don’t come in” at 14:01 (and note: I was still in bed at that point) I’m a happy camper.

I do want to try and get a run in but the roads are pretty flooded / icy right now and the temps are expected to drop soon and that’d be unsafe.  And, given how terrible the traction was yesterday during my quality workout, a bit demoralizing.  By the way: thanks to all your comments saying that I’m not as slow as my run indicated and that running in inclement weather is not conducive to fast paces.  I knew that but it helps to have smart people tell you that you’re right.

I  do have rockclimbing tonight to pull me through working, as me and my friend rescheduled last night because the gym closed early and I don’t see why they’d be closed all day today.  And I have shoveling and de-icing to do.  I figure that if my car is parked in this driveway for as much as it is the least I can do is pitch in.

Oh well.  I hope everyone is safe and warm.  Apparently (and y’all probably know this already because every other word out of anyone’s mouth is this) this storm is covering about 99.4543452% of the country.  Crazy. But in order to make up for the lovely winter check out the giveaway from Marcia. Maybe if I win it’ll make up for this winter dragging on and on and on.

So the rock climbing didn’t happen last night because the gym closed early.  Rescheduled for tonight. Currently I’m curled up right now all snug and trying not to think about the fact that, despite working from home for the past couple of hours, I have to go into work for a staff meeting real soon.