Did You Miss Me?

I took a longer hiatus than I wanted but I suppose 10 days is an eternity in the blog world to go without posting. What have I been doing in those 10 days? Well pounding the pavement, duh, among other things.

I don’t think I mentioned it last post, because I don’t think I knew when I hit publish, but that fall that caused the boulder to be lodged in my knee also cracked two ribs. Fabulous.  According to the doctor at the clinic I’ll be fully healed in 4-6 weeks post-fall provided that I don’t do anything silly.  Like cough or sneeze or laugh too hard. And up until last night I was doing well when I took a tumble while celebrating my roomie being done with her first year of her PhD program.  Luckily alcohol is a pretty good painkiller.

Before that though the pain was tolerable during the day.  Sleeping is still really tough.

I did ask when I could return to running and he said immediately, depending on my pain tolerance level.  Of course I run the risk of re-fracturing ’em but I can do that by hearing a good joke. I’m a sucker for a good joke, and I laugh at lots of things I probably shouldn’t.

Luckily my pain tolerance is pretty high and I’ve been getting the miles in.  Last week I worked less clinic nights than usual so I got out of work a couple days at 1600 and got to do some doubles.  While I love the long run (I did a 17 miler on Saturday!) there’s something mentally refreshing to do 6 miles before work and then tackle another 6 post-work. Because it’s “only” 6.

Which helped the lack of motivation because all last week I thought I was living in Seattle; it was so foggy every morning with rain in the afternoon/nights

Source: Projo

Which is why on Saturday, when the sun finally showed itself, I took advantage and ran long.  I didn’t intend to get go 17; my route was only planned for 13.  And during that loop I really didn’t think I’d be able to do more than that.

Newsflash: the sun and warm temps zap energy.

But, about a mile from my apartment, a few things happened to me

1. I kicked a squirrel.  Well maybe I didn’t really kick it. It ran out of a bush and crashed into my ankle.  I actually have a bruise from it!
2. I saw a few of the med students that volunteer at the clinic outside of a Starbucks.  Normally when I see people I know it doesn’t change the distance of my run (I just start to haul ass to not appear slow/tired etc) but I was going to a bbq put on my the med students that afternoon and wanted to brag.  Now to most people 13 miles qualifies as bragging.  But some of them had run the Providence marathon 3 weeks ago.  I needed to go big or go home.

Surprisingly the last 4 miles of my run were the best. I felt energetic and light.  Given how the mid-miles had felt I’d have thought that going for more was a stupid idea.  But maybe no? I actually ran around a lot at the bbq; playing frisbee, volleyball, AND boomerang, although one of the guys I was with got nailed on the nose. Champ as he is, he still played on with a nice battle wound

thanks google images.

Anyway, I left my last post saying that I was WAY stressed out, and to a certain degree I still am.  But some stressors are out of the way: I found a med student to sublet from so I’m no longer going to be homeless in July/August and my family stress is stable — still bad but stable for the next few weeks. I still have lots of unresolved stress but it’s nice to be able to put some things on the back burner.

I’m hoping things are looking up for now; I can’t guarantee another hiatus but I’m thinking that for now I’m back.  Off to go try and catch up on 10 days worth of blog by y’all!

Life, uh, Finds A Way

If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, expands to new territory, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously.

Don’t judge me for my favorite book. ❤

Is it too much to ask for consistency?! I mean, I LOVE that I feel like I’m on an exciting frontier with life stuff. Like I’m a pioneer or something.

thanks google.

But is it too much to ask that the small life stresses stay the same so I can concentrate on other stuff? That means: work, family, friends: you are on alert. Don’t change.  Don’t cause drama.  Because I can handle the status quo right now. Do not play this cyclical game of giving me stress and then backing off.  It’s disarming. And will cause me to be pissy.

Life: stop breaking free and causing chaos in my life. (And don’t worry I’m not as stressed — like at all — as I was back in February and March.  Just annoyed because there are things that I want to do (SELFISH alert!) and can’t at the moment. Annoying)

You too mother nature.  It’s been going back and forth between humid + rainy to brisk (I can’t in good conscience call it cold anymore) + sunshine.

Luckily (?)  my run on Tuesday got the humid part.  Complete with some drizzle and WIND.  When I got up this morning, after resetting my alarm more than once, my mood matched the dark skies.  I was only planning on 10 or so, which was also the feedback that my body was giving me from the get-go, but as the run went on I got faster and faster and my mood got better and better.  In spite of the humidity, on and off rain, and wind.

It was actually, GASP!, fun.

Sometimes, in spite of everything seemingly stacked against you, a ray of sunshine comes through. It helps when it’s literal, as was the case when I hit my apartment to get the 10. The sun broke through!  It was like a sign to keep going. And I listened (Taper whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?)

I’m glad I did because the last 6 felt effortless. It might have been a bit, well unwise, on my part. Taper? IT?

thanks google. and rachel

I know that I had a good, pain free run over the weekend with my 20 miler.  But that run was characterized by an overall slow down for the run.  This run? Nuh-uh-uh. I felt like I was FLYING by the end. If that 20 miler was a sign that I can complete the marathon this one was a glimmer of hope that I might actually finish with a smile on my face.

Running is fun again.

And I say that with the knowledge that my run Wednesday kind of sucked.  Because it was a true recovery run.  As in: Sloooooooooow.  And with some IT pain the whole time.  I use the term “pain” very loosely, it was more of an awareness that my IT band is a part of my body.

Today? Who know what it’ll bring. I’m tempted to do some fartleks.  But let’s just hope for an IT pain free run, m’kay? And let’s hope I make it through the next 11 days (holy s#$%!) without going crazy, m’kay? I’m sure it’ll be easy, m’kay?

Can anyone not say m;kay and think of this guy? thanks google

On a follow up note from my last post and the response I was getting from me cutting our the shaker: well I hear y’all (and let me tell you it warms my heart to have people tell me to keep on saltin’) buttttttttttttt that doctor is probs right.  I will definitely admit to eating a fair amount of processed  and canned foods which give me plenty of salt as it is (I tend to crave salty stuff).

Maybe I’ll revisit the issue in the summer (or even spring once I start really sweating salt) but for now I’m going to try and reduce my added intake.  So far, and it’s been almost a week, nothing major has happened aside from my food being a little blander. And it’s not that I have health issues with HTN either.  My blood pressure is routinely low.  But, like lots of other things in life, the effects of too much salt (it’s literally a shaker every 10 days or so) probably won’t be seen until later in life when it’s too late to correct it.

España

Can’t say I dislike this search term (oh and for all of you who are wondering how to check the stats, I use wordpress so I don’t know how other sites do it, but there’s a link on the right hand side of the dashboard tab that says stat site and on the “homepage” of your blog where you can manage it, there should be a bar graph for the days of the past few weeks and you can click on the day.  From there you can see search terms) because Viva la España.  For real.

Anyway…

Today is going to be a long day.  And not really in a mopey way.  More of a “I have an in-service job training / meeting for AmeriCorps then get to work my regular clinic hours” way.  All told I’ll have worked at least 13 hours by the end of the day.  And it’s lottery night (the night where we pick new patients) so it’s going to be even more chaotic.   But not really mopey.  It’s just tough knowing that when I leave my apartment I won’t get back for another 13 or 14 hours.

YIKES.

So in light of that I’m going to do a bullet point post.  Because posts usually take me forever to write (I’m soooo type A that everything has to be perfect!) and bullets let me not worry about transition sentences 🙂

• 11.3 miles @ 8:50. That was my run this morning.  I got up at 0530 (because of having to be at training early) and I just felt on. Obviously 8:50 isn’t really fast for me but after a slooooooow ass run yesterday (which I’m not down and out about and, like many of you told me, it’s good to have those wicked slow days) this felt quite speedy and good.  I was only planning on doing 9.5 or so (I think the route was 9.7) but I felt good and had the time so I added the extra 1.6 miles.  My legs did feel a bit fatigued towards the end (as did my right foot oddly enough) but not exhausted.  I still suspect that the last loop was my fastest but after seeing yesterday’s splits I chose to not look at each loop.

 

• The weather was pretty freaking awesome too: 50*, 90% humidity and SUNLIGHT for more than half my run! Such nicer weather than the rain that’s been here the past few days: there was actually sun by the end because of no rain clouds! It was wicked nice to be able to really see where I was going during the mid and late parts of my run.  And of course sunlight = good mood.

 

• Sleep = good mood as well.  And once my head the pillow last night I was out cold.  I slept straight through the night and, while I didn’t wake up rested, I didn’t feel MORE tired than the night before. 

 

• I got to wear longsleeves this morning. Okay so maybe wearing them might have been a bit too much.  I did overheat by the end of the run (it was still in the low 50s).  And yes, I’ve worn longsleeves on one or two runs already.  But it felt nice to be able to pull the sleeves over my hands.  I love when I can do that with sweatshirts and I love when I can do that with my running shirts.  Small pleasures in life people!

 

• Another small pleasure? Coffee.  Because I’m on my fourth cup right now. Yes it’s going to be that kind of a day. But surprisingly I’m in a chipper mood.

 

• Maybe because it’s almost the weekend.  And I have some tentative plans that will be WAY fun.  I think I mentioned awhile ago that I was feeling bored in the city that I’m in but I had a really great time last weekend here and I think that this weekend will be similar.  Which is great.  After all, it’s been a long week

So there you have it.  A semi-short quick post.  Hope everyone is having a great Thursday so far! Thursday is my favorite day of the week so I totally am.  And I found this picture this morning and it let me start my long work day with a smile on my face (well as did my run, and my coffee hahah)

“Circle of Life: Fail and Win”

Speedy Weekend. Holler.

Ugh so when do I get my voice back? Like I mentioned in my last post, I had a real nasty virus Wednesday night and the only lingering effects are in my head: congestion (and not just any congestion, it feels like water is being constantly pushed up my nose), ear pressure , a moderately bad sore throat and a real sexy voice. Annoying as I had a couple interviews set up for next week and I really can’t cancel them.  Plus I’m tired of resting my voice! It was fun at first but I miss my real voice haha

Oh well. I woke up on Saturday morning with a pretty bad sore throat and I was absolutely starving so I decided to miss out on the cooler weather that first thing running brings and run before lunch.  I figure that it’d be good training for summer running, as by the time I left my dorm it was 70*, sunny with a few clouds and kind of windy.  Which was actually really nice, even the head wind, because it kept me cool.  I debated another sports bra run but figured a beater was sufficient.  Don’t want to scare too many people with my fish belly 😉

Anyway despite my thinking that my legs would be a little sluggish because of the consecutive days of running I’ve been doing lately (the fact that my gym isn’t open on the weekends anymore and only limited hours during the week has made me really good at justifying the whole run lots thing!) My LR went SO WELL.  I have no idea how it happened either, the entire time I was just telling myself to just go at a comfy pace because I was worried about crashing.  Definitely didn’t need to worry about that as I got 13.1 miles in at 8:30 pace.  That is, like, sprinting for me.  I’m in shock that I was able to run so fast and not feel like I was dying or anything.  I was getting a weird hand cramp during it though…odd. Any ideas why?! Very bizarre.

But an awesome way to say goodbye to that route! I wish I had been having these types of runs pre-Boston, something I know The Puerto Rican Kenyan has been talking about recently too. Guess I should just go with the flow right? And maybe try to capitalize on it by looking for a half or 10k sometime soon?Assuming I actually look for races haha.

I’m just pumped that it was a run where I wasn’t expecting my time to be so fast and when I checked my watch at the end it was like JEEZ LOUISE!

So I basked in it for a bit and took advantage of the really nice weather to lounge around for the rest of the day.  It’s not part of my personality to lounge around and do nothing though so I ended up making a big ass to-do list for Sunday! Note: I didn’t start doing any of the items Saturday night because Saturday = last day possible for finals = no matter what everyone is done.  Clearly that means party time.

And party time was fun.  I honestly haven’t seen a lot of my really good friends a lot this semester because everyone has been so busy / busy at very different times.  It was great to play catch up and drink and dance.  How I am going to really miss these moments post-graduation (and ACK D-6 days!!)

It’s totally a different feeling going out on a Saturday when you know you don’t have to get up to do school work the next morning. Sure I did have that to-do list, including but not limited to cover letters and resumes (ugh) but there’s always that awareness that if I don’t get them done immediately one more day won’ t *kill* me.  I’m trying to work on them now because I do want to get them out asap but the pressure was off.

Oh, nice segue MM into pressure again.  Because like my Saturday LR, my Sunday recovery run was, like all my runs post-Boston, pressure free.  And I don’t know if it’s the lack of pressure or lack of 100 mile weeks BUT my recovery run was at 9:06 pace.  Seriously? During Boston training I would have *paid* to see that kind of pacing during easy runs.  Or even LRs.

I know that I did start the run at a shuffle pace but my last mile was just under 8.  Again, seriously?! I’m still loving it and don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything buttt….I can’t help but wonder what kind of damage I could do to any race given my current love-affair with my legs.

It’s just really funny that on the past two runs my mind has been severely underestimating how fast I’m actually going.  Definitely goes to show you how mental running can be at times. Again, not a bad thing but I’m secretly hoping that this will help my internal pacing mechanism and hoping that it’s not lulling me into a false sense of security for whenever the next time I toe the line.  You know, thinking that I’m running way faster than I am and I get complacent. But with no races in the near future I guess that’s not too much of a worry.

Time to go finish up some of those cover letters I’m dreading.  If I can finish one more I’ll go outside and read for fun 🙂

PT Eval and Nice Clothes

Well I got back to school safe and sound last night.  There are surprisingly a lot of people on campus, although I suspect that many of them are seniors thesis-ing. It’s not T-9 weeks until G-day.  So even less actual school time because the week before is Senior week and 2 weeks before is finals.  So wait, I have only 7 weeks left?!

Moving on before I start to cry or something…

The nice weather continues to stay with us.  Mother nature must be wanting to get on the good side of us New Englanders after the monsoon over the weekend.  It hit 71* today as I was driving around on errands!!

Since I had my PT eval, as well as a PM informational interview, today I wanted to get a run in beforehand.  A run is always the best way to start the day.  Especially when it’s already mid-40s outside when you get up.  Holllleeeer! I wasn’t sure what to expect from the run as Fridays are technically recovery days but yesterday’s workout wasn’t “hard”.  At least GMP isn’t supposed to be as hard as tempo in my mind.  But with my body finding the workout challenging in the moment (and running for 60 minutes at 7:59 should be I guess for me, even though I want to keep that pace for 26.2 come April 19th. Sheesh haha) I had mixed feelings about what to expect.

I wanted today to be a little quicker than it was, even though I was running ~9:16s the whole time.  Amarathoner wrote about this idea yesterday, that as training goes on the question becomes when do you increase the “easy” or “recovery” pace.  I suppose the answer obviously lies within your own body and I should let mine dictate that.  But on the other hand, I read about elites who say that there is no such thing as too slow for a recovery run and routinely clock theirs in around 9 or 10 pace.

But the point is that I think I should stop being shocked at “pulling off” 9:15 or so recovery runs. The past 2 or so weeks this has been the norm.  Of course now that I say that this upcoming week is going to have my recovery runs be slower than molasses.  Such is life 🙂

Onto bigger and more exciting things.  I know you’re probably all dying to hear about how my PT session went.

I have the diagnosis (from the sports med doc on Monday) as periostitis, which is the inflammation of the connective tissue that surrounds bone.  My goal from PT is to reduce the swelling in my ankle so that I can get a better range of motion.

So today was just an evaluation so my PT (who is the PT I shadowed in the fall of ’08, so I already knew her) just did a battery of “tests”, like watching me walk, do squats, leg lifts, calf raisers etc. as well as taking measurements of my range of motion in my ankles, knees and hips. She gave me some calf stretches to do and then iced me down and I got e-stim.  I’ve had stim on my back before and it’s amazing.  Basically it’s electric pulses that break up the gunk in the area it’s applied to; the “buzzing” you feel is awesome.  Probably the best part of the session haha!

The consensus? That my problem cropped up NOT because of muscle imbalance but because I have incredibly tight joints in my ankle and knees and hips.

In one of the next sessions (because I scheduled about a half dozen or so) she wants to do a gait analysis because she thinks I’m a heel striker (I honestly couldn’t say myself as I’ve never paid attention to that before).  This would lead to my problem because when my foot strikes the ground my ankle can’t dorsalflex enough to properly absorb the shock, and neither can my other joints.  The muscles and tendons then absorb extra shock.  And when it can’t take anymore inflammation occurs.

Over the course of the next few weeks the goal is to reduce inflammation so I can be in tip-top shape to toe the line at Hopkington.  Right now when she was trying to bend my right (affected) ankle it would barely rotate.  Beyond that I’m going to want to keep working with her (as long as insurance will allow) to work on my biomechanics and possibly loosen up my joints a bit.  Not sure how much that is possible but looser joints will mean less stress is forced upon my muscles every step I run.

After my appointment I had to dash immediately off to an informational interview.  Not a job interview but a brainstorming session with an alum from my school who the career center thought would be beneficial to talk to. She’s not in the field I want (medicine) but she’s a manager at a company who consults with companies who want to market medical devices.  I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from this meeting but it went well.  It was more like a conversation and she complimented me on my ability to stay calm and actually carry a conversation.  I’m glad that I looked like I wasn’t nervous because I totally was! I also dressed up all professional too which made me feel all amazing.  After a semester of living in gym / running clothes I’ve forgotten how nice it is to put on my “nice” clothes

Sorry for the blurriness! And that it's sideways haha!

As for tomorrow (which is the first official day of Spring!!!) I’m not quite sure what I’ll be tackling running wise.  According to my plan I have 15-19 to do.  For the first time all cycle I think I’m going to, not only be within the range, but on the low end.  I think I’ve tried to do it before but failed on it and am always on the upper end.  I have a 16.6 mile route that I think I’m going to tackle (it’s one big loop) but we’ll see.

Too bad the monsoon on last weekend couldn’t have been this weekend to keep my in check haha! The weather is suppose to be even nicer tomorrow than today. It’ll be all about the mental aspect of running and a huge challenge to stick with that number.  I’m okay if I go to 17 because it’s smack dab in the middle of the range but I’m hoping that I can just do that route and be satisfied.

Send some luck my way 🙂

Alright it’s pretty late to be blogging on a Friday night (although spring break = no concept of days of the week).  Since none of my friends are back yet I’m going to catch up on some television and READING.  Today when I was getting e-stim I was able to whip out the book I’m in the middle of and I realized how much I miss reading for FUN.  Stupid school work getting in the way 😉

Have a great Friday night y’all!!

Cycle of good running continues

Good afternoon all! My Wednesdays have become less stressful after changing physio to audit as I don’t have to go the labs anymore (still going to class, doing the last lab writeup and taking the test.  Just no 3-hour lab!).  Now that means that I have three hours to do all my other work.  Plus 4 loads of laundry!

But this lower stress (and knowing that I can balance everything) is leading to more good running.  Yet again I had a 0600 run that was stellar!  It was a bit on the cold side — prolly around 32*, and I was quite chilly when I was in the shady spots.  Once I was out from under the trees and in the sun I was practically overheating.  Gotta love this sunshine.

Like yesterday I set out for a shorter distance than I ended up doing.  But I was, apparently, flying and went for another 9.  I figure that I’ve been “suffering” pace wise for a while so I’m going to enjoy this cycle of fast strong stuff.  Even if I don’t feel fast.  Not that I’m feeling really slow either but there is a noticeable difference in the feeling in my legs.

Despite still being sleep deprived there is absolutely no heaviness in my legs, including the start of my runs.  I just feel ready from the get-go.  A great feeling to be sure and, although I never *dread* runs, I’ve been really looking forward to it lately.  Albeit with some trepidation as I don’t know when the cycle of good is going to switch (yup total glass-half-empty person haha)

But I have two theories as to why my past few runs have been great:

1. Cut back week.  It may not have been that much but a decrease of 10 miles might have just been the break that my legs needed.
2. Daylight saving time ending.  Because in reality I’m running an hour later than normal if you think about it.  Definitely could be a factor because I’ve noticed this kind of a difference in time (and with no other variables changing) when it’s 0800 vs 0600 running.  So maybe my legs just don’t like 0600? Hopefully they don’t wise up anytime soon about the time change.
3. I am so less stressed (as I’ve talked about ad nauseum) and feel content.  I can’t remember the last time that I didn’t have a knot of anxiety in my stomach.  Happiness = good running.  Always
4. Combo of all three.  Which is what I think it is. Funny how things align at just the right moments.

Today’s total? 9 miles.  I even wanted to do more but I needed to shower and get ready for my day. Which I’ve been trudging through.  I’m actually off to the “Spanish Table” where a bunch of ppl just hang out and chat in Spanish.  My prof told me that I should go to practice my Spanish and I agree with her but it also helps that Hot-Spanish-TA is going to be there.  I’m actually pretty nervous to go and not speak English.  Kind of intimidating actually.  But I’m sure when it’s all said and done I’ll be happy 🙂

Note re: the French porn I had to watch.  It was for my class because we’re finishing up the book and my prof wanted us to be able to compare the two.  Biggest difference? The movie was basically 100% sex and the book was about 50% sex.  Haha.

And now The Facts of Life, because I need to laugh at something or risk the butterflies in my stomach causing my to vomit. Pleasant I know.

56. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

57. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

58. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?

59. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

60. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

Eh to Monday

I’m just going to throw this out there: Monday runs suck.  Sure they’re a great way to start off my week but my legs never feel like going.  The pace is always slow (granted my pace today was about 20-25 sec faster than this time last week but still not as quick as I’d like).

I’m going to blame it on the fact that I don’t stick to a regular wake-up schedule on the weekends: as there is no need to get up at 0600 I don’t.  Granted I still get up at 0800 but I don’t run first thing.  I let myself actually wake up before hitting the streets. Meaning that if I finish my run on Sunday around noon or so then I’m running next at 0600, that’s <24 hours of recovery time.  Roughly what I get any other morning (and more on Saturday’s run)

Which also means that on the weekends I have food in my stomach.  It’s really hard to eat something at 0600 before heading out the door.  So my muscles go from expecting a meal to nothing.  And I don’t think they like it.

So basically Monday runs are pretty darn rough.

That said, my run was better than previous Mondays, a fact prolly attributed to a *slight* cut back in my miles.  And that I got to run in sun 100% of the time! I even woke up to the sunrise.  So amazing.  Might just be the best time of the year haha.  I know that DST means I’ll be in complete darkness by 1600 soon but for a morning runner? Does not matter one bit.

My run, like I just said, went decent.  The temp was about 40* which felt really cool and really nice because my heat was not working last night.  I actually had it on “off” but woke up in a sweaty mess in the middle of the night.  I’m pretty sure it’s the heat and not my body because it was quite toasty when I got up this morning too.  I actually had to open up the window and turn on the fan!

I hit 6 miles.  I still think my fav distance to run is in the 8-10 range but these 6ers are definitely growing on me. Despite the feeling of the “Monday run effect” my legs didn’t feel heavy or anything.  I knew I wasn’t running wicked fast but once I just accepted that fact my mood improved.

And the pep in my step came.  I definitely think the very beginning and very end of my run was the fastest.  Like usual, the mid-miles were a little dragging but I think that’s when my mind wanders the most and the mind-body connection snaps.

I’m still glad that I do my Monday runs as I need them to center me for the week – as well as the actual Monday itself! Today being no exception.  3 morning classes then dashing off to my hometown for some doctor appts.  Nothing serious but nothing fun either.  I get to have “the talk” with my doctor. The one where she tells me that I’m too old to be seeing a pediatrician.  So sad I know.  I’m thinking of bringing a wad of cash to bribe her into going into internal medicine so she can still be my doc.  This might just be the saddest day of my life.  I’m being pushed into adulthood (and I have a big bday coming up.  The “real person” bday ahhh!)

Before I forget: I added up my miles for the month of October.  It’s 307.9.  Holy running batman! I think that may be a monthly PR (and I’m 99.99% certain it is).  Which means that I ran more in on month now (ie: not training for anything) than I did during my monster month of marathon training! Jeez.  I think I need to keep better track of these things while the month is going on so that I’m not taken by surprise.  Although it’s not necessarily a bad surprise.  But it explains a lot regarding my pace, my mood etc.

Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Too much testosterone and an all time (s)low

Just got back from the gym after lifting and man, I couldn’t wait to get out of there! Both the men’s bball and baseball teams were there and that is just too much (athlete) testosterone there.  I’m sure that many of them are smart guys but when the teams are together it’s like all courtesy and brainpower is checked at the door! I hate crowds in general, so I tried to be super quick and I could leave without too much lear-ing on their part (like how dare you invade our space) but today has been a slo-mo day so I doubt I was really all that quick haha.

It started when my alarm went off at 0600.  My normal pre-run routine took me easily twice as long as it should have.  Blahhhh. Just one of those mornings where the whole body is dragging, mentally and physically.  Since I was up, and it was 50*(!), I decided to NOT bag the run.  It was an awkward decision.  Like yesterday, the first 2-3 miles were unbelievably slow.  I honestly think I could have walked faster!

But I stuck with it and “reset” the mileage ticker in my head (but not my watch, I never reset the actual watch).  The next 6 miles were definitely progressively faster and the last 2 miles were at 830 pace — flying for an early run.  Unfortunately the overall pace was horrendous, so I’m trying not to think about how slow the first couple of miles were.

That should have been a sign to SKIP my second workout of lifting but I am stubborn and once I get an idea in my head, it’s happening.  So I did my full body lifting routine and, because I wanted redemption, I did a 3 mile run afterward. The weather was also still really nice, not quite sure of the temp but it was easily 65* and bright and sunny.  It felt so good!

And redemption the run was, my body felt so much more awake.  But still, so much working out today! It didn’t seem like that much when I was thinking about it / doing it but when I told my friends over lunch (aka me bragging haha) they all were like “holy moly!” and just now typing it up, I think it was quite a bit. That coupled with my higher running lately means that I need to take it easy!  My heart rate was also much higher than it should have been, so I NEED tmrw to be 100% rest. Shouldn’t be too hard because I already know this weekend will be filled with work and I also know that I could easily use the extra hour or two of sleep in the morning.

Hot-Spanish-TA update: Well maybe not really an update per se BUT I talked to my actual prof yesterday about getting together with someone who was fluent and practice my speaking (and in all honesty I would have done this regardless of the fact that one of the TAs makes me feel like I’m 15) and she emailed both Spanish TAs saying that it would be nice if they included me in things to “charlar” and stuff.  Sweet deal yo.  And I saw him at dinner last night.  Holler.  Is it sad that the encounter kind of was the highlight of my day? 🙂

And since you guys love “The Facts of Life” so much here are the next 5 (what am I going to do when the list runs out? BTW just to clarify, I did not come up with this list myself, it was a fb thing that I stole haha):

16. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

17. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

18. Was learning cursive really necessary?

19. Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

20. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Holler to the bamf in all of us

Sadly my camera is being stupid and I need to figure out what’s wrong so I can’t post a pic of my 1400 mile shoes. I can turn the darn thing on but it won’t take the pictures even though the shutter is going off.  LAME. But thanks LARunner for those websites for (relatively) cheap shoes.  Definitely going to check that out today.  If you readers want, check out the comments section of this post for the sites.

Also, EarlyRunner asked what BAMF means.  I think this is a term that all should know but it does have “bad language” in it.  So you’ve been warned haha.  Bad Ass MotherFucker. Hopefully I can say that on here? Oh well, if not I’ll just have to edit it at some point.  Bamf might just be my favorite word as well as a principle I live by. So I may or may not try to insert it everywhere in this post haha.

Speaking of rules to live by,  Tay had some good ones a while back, but they were more serious.  Via facebook I have a list of some Facts of Life and I will dole them out in 5s or so.  Most of them are hilarious and the gist of it is random thoughts by ppl ages 25-35:

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves
   me.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?
4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
5. That’s enough, Nickelback.

So hopefully that gave you a laugh. Now back to the (bamf) running.

This morning was coooold.  We actually had a mini-blizzard last night and there was still snow on the ground when I got up.  The ground isn’t even frozen and the snow didn’t go away, that’s how cold it was.  Numerically it was 39* (feels 34*) at 0900 so I don’t even want to think about what it was at 0600.

Naturally I still went outside (because I’m a bamf) and the run sucked.  I mean that, though, comparatively.  If you look at my last post, my overall pace was *solid*.  This morning was definitely a struggle through the first 3 miles.  After that I got into a groove but it wasn’t enough to save my pace. All told? 7 miles. Bamf.

And I was totally happy to be finished.  No, not the “hell yes I can stop” happy (although truth be told, if I had stopped after 3 that would have been true) but the “I feel so much better for having done that” happy. Definitely the essence of bamf-ness.

The one redeeming factor of the run was the fact that I got to go from 100% darkness, to dawn, to sunshine.  It’s odd yet amazing how one second it’s pitch black and literally the next there’s light.  I don’t feel like there’s ever a gradual lightening process in nature.  No dimmer switch.

This afternoon I hit the gym up for some weights.  It felt really hard today in my legs for some reason.  My quads were pretty sore actually.  Not quite sure what that’s about but hopefully it doesn’t stick around! I did the full body routine under Lifting.  Again, I felt good afterward but it was hard during it. Clearly though, I am a bamf, and got it done with (minimal) mutterings under my breathe.

I also did a 3 mile “warm down” run because the temp had risen to 52* and it was absolutely perfect out with the sun shining down.  I think it helped my quads loosen up a bit.  I’m also glad I did this mini-run because my pace was much faster than the AM — not speedy but where I feel is apropos.

All in all: 10 miles and lifting.  Great work out day.  Now if I can translate that into my studies haha.  Got to work on a take-home geophysics test, french poem and study for a physio test.  Ready? BREAK!

OH, before I forget yet another day: Natalie is doing Project Feedme on her blog.  In the interest of me NOT butchering what it’s about, you should go check it out.  I’m extremely happy and proud to me a PFM member

Good Luck Lacey! and a great long run

First off: GOOD LUCK TMRW LACEY! I’m sending fast vibes your way as well as making an animal sacrifice or two to the weather gods so it’s NOT cold and rainy and bad out. I mean the weather ppl were wrong about today, n’est-ce pas?

Oh wow I am tired. I think I have a sleep hangover.  I saw Transformers 2 last night and my advice to you if youre thinking of seeing it: don’t.  Total waste of my time (luckily it was free so I didn’t waste any $$) but there was too much robot and not enough action.  I actually wanted to leave 30 minutes into it but my friend wanted to stay so I was there the whole time.  It put me in a slightly bad mood (and the fact that it’s 2.5 hours long didn’t help) which is too bad because another GREAT thing happened last night…

MAJOR HOT-SPANISH-TA SIGHTING. Last night there was a Latin Dance performance and I went to support my friend who, while not in the Hispanic dance group, was doing a piece to help out (she’s in the school’s Dance Co.).  And guess who was there? Well I already told you but Hot-Spanish-TA. AND he stood next to me / my group of friends for the entire performance.  Plus, just when I thought that my night was complete, some of my friends wanted to grab something to eat at the dining hall and guess who ended up getting there just after us? Yup, Hot-Spanish-TA (plus some other TAs he was with).  Word.  Not only was the night fun from all the stuff I was doing with my friend but I got to see Hot-Spanish-TA.  Too bad the movie was a complete buzz-kill.

Anyway, on to running as this is the reason I started the blog and why most of you prolly started reading it haha.  Another cold day in New England, about 36* when I woke up.  Since today was a planned long run, as opposed to all the longest runs I just do during the week haha, I chose to wait a bit before running and eat some breakfast first thing.  This gave me food in my belly and a chance for the weather to warm up a few degrees.  Since it was really sunny out the temperature would really matter *that* much but I’ll take whatever I can get!

Since I did an interval workout yesterday, I was hesitant to go long today but it was sunny (yet still in the 30s) when I left and tmrw is suppose to be rainy.  I try to avoid the rain whenever possible, so today was going to have to be the day. My legs were a little stiff getting out of bed but that may have to do with a little impromptu dancing last night haha.

Even though it was a bit chilly when I left, I knew that I would eventually warm up so I wore this baby (except with longsleeves):

I bet you could see me in a blizzard wearing this!

and I was complemented by a couple of cyclists as well as hollered at by a few high school boys haha.  I’m glad I went with the long sleeves because the temperature DROPPED so much by the end of the run, or at least it felt that way (it’s about 47* now I think).

And my legs held up remarkably well the whole time.  I don’t really know what it is but my body loves long distances. I just feel like I’m warming up the first 6 miles or so then everything is ready to roll.  During my marathon this past spring, I felt amazing post mile 20 and both post 20 mile training runs AND the actual marathon I never felt real soreness.  Guess it’s no surprise that my planned 12 turned into 14.  Plus the extra miles also gave me a chance to run by Hot-Spanish-TA’s house.

The 14 miles were also much faster (like 30 sec per mile) than my *shorter* mid-week runs.  How crazy is that? Plus I’m 99.99% sure that miles 1-6 were creepy crawly, meaning that miles 7-14 were actually faster than the average pace. So I finished my run all pumped up and actually wanting to do more.  And I would have too, if my stomach wasn’t grumbling.  Now my legs are a wee bit sore again so I’ll  *gasp* stretch them out and maybe use The Stick (haven’t done that in a while).

But I’m still happy because the run just lifted me up.  I wasn’t necessarily in a bad mood per-se beforehand but there’s just something about a good fast long run that just buoys you (or maybe it’s just me).  I’m for once not dreading the to-do list I’ve been staring at for the past hour or two haha.

Enjoy your Saturdays y’all and GOOD LUCK (again) LACEY 🙂