Peace, Love, and Running

Ooops- its been awhile!

2011-07-25T21:01:00.000-04:00

Hello! If anyone is still out there reading, I apologize for the hiatus. Actually, after the Newport Marathon, I tried to write a recap for awhile, but it never materialized. Then, with school finishing up and giving/grading finals and all the fun that comes with being a teacher at the end of the year, life got crazy. And now summer brings me to living a split life between chilling up north, and working like crazy at home. Quite the life right now!

Anyway, Newport. Ugh. It went epically bad. Basically, it was a repeat of my horredous Chicago Marathon last fall, although this was mostly a physical thing rather than mental like Chicago. Regardless, my time was *almost* as bad, ranking as my 2nd worst marathon ever. It was really rough, honestly, I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't. I planned for month for that trip, my parents came and were awesome, and overall I wanted it to be good so badly. My health issues of the winter still have not been completely resolved, so I think that played a role. I guess I was just sad and anxious to move on afterwaard. The trip itself was amazing though- we did so much so other than the marathon I was happy with it.

I headed right back into training post-Newport, more determined than ever. I knew that I was in shape there, based upon some pretty solid training runs that I had leading up. So far this summer has been about upping my milage and getting in some fast(er) stuff. I'm hovering just under 90 miles/week right now. Although I'd love to get in some 100 mile weeks, just for the confidence factor, I feel like where I am is good for now. I'm keeping some freedom in my training and really loving it.

Oh, and I ran another marathon....yesterday. I returned to the teeny tiny 100 person, 3 loop, flat marathon that I ran last year and basically had an equally amazing day there. No taper, no sleep (12 hour workday before) and no looking at my splits/pace throughout the whole thing- just running by feel. I say this not to toot my own horn, but because I honestly think the more relaxed I am going into the race, the better the outcome. I ended up running a 3:35, which was in the top half of my marathon times. More importantly, it gave me the confidence that I'm in the kind of shape that I thought. I've never claimed to be in PR shape right now (sub 3:18) but I have felt like 3:30 is about what I'm capable of. Yesterday proved that to me (GI troubles slowed me down a bit in the last few miles.) The best part was how great my legs felt and how much fun I had- I seriously had a big goofy smile on my face the whole time! I officially love that race and that course- even if I had to pay $70 for a cotton tshirt and a popsickle at the finish!

So that's about where things stand right now. I'd like to get back to blogging and perhaps get sommore pictures going on my blog so that there is more visual, less me rambling about stupid stuff. Problem being, I don't have a camera....hmm...

I hope any readers out there are having fantastic summers! I'm loving the hot weather we are having in Michigan! 90 degree days- I wish summer could last forever!

Peace, Love, and Running.

Oregon Bound!

2011-06-02T08:38:00.000-04:00

FINALLY, today is here- I seriously cannot believe it. After a long day of listening to 7th graders do presentations in Science and reviewing with my high school classes for finals which start next week, I will be on a plane to OREGON! I'm so pumped for tonite, I don't know how I'm going to focus on doing my job today.

This week has been full of the regular taper fun- having crappy runs and questioning the last 5 months of training. Monday was very hot up north and I left at 11am without eating or drinking much and totally bonked- on a 7 mile run, not so promising. Yesterday, I had a 5 miler filled with stomach cramps which never happens to me. Hoping that all the junky runs are getting out of my system! Today = rest. Tomorrow = shake out 2 miler. Saturday, I marathon!

I'm off to finish packing before this crazy day begins. Hopefully I can pop in to blog from somewhere along the way. If not, please think fast thoughts for me on Saturday between 7:00am PT and however long it takes me to finish.....

New PR! (for my poppy)

2011-05-29T10:26:00.000-04:00

Good Sunday Morning!

It is a beautiful (although chilly) morning in northern Michigan! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of running the Bayshore 1/2 Marathon with my poppy (ie dad.) The weather was cool and rainy, although the rain didn't actually fall during the majority of the race. It was actually a pretty perfect day for running weather-wise. I was really excited for this race because I love running with my pops, and I knew he was in PR shape. Also, I have run a race at Bayshore for the previous 5 years (2 10Ks, and 3 marathons) but had never done the 1/2 before!

Honestly, the race felt great. Runners are bussed to the end of the course on Old Mission Pennisula, and then run back. Having run the marathon the past 3 years, it felt like I had already gotten half of the run out of the way without actually running it! My dad did great- we were super consistant running splits betwen 7:50-8:15 the whole race and finishing with 1:45:21. That was over 3 minutes faster than my dad's first half marathon a year and a half ago! Now I got to convince him to run another to get under 1:45....

Personally, the race felt great because I plan to go out conservatively in Newport next weekend. I want to have that feeling of feeling really fresh still at the halfway point and be able to speed up from there. I've gotten much better at negative splitting my runs this training cycle and feel like I understand much better the idea of pacing. Running with my dad showed me how racing is supposed to feel- like I can keep going faster instead of crashing and burning. Whether this can play out in Newport remains to be seen, but I feel really good/confident about my strategy after yesterday's half.

Today is a *gasp* rest day. I'm headed into town to the running shop to look for pictures from the race. It is cool on the race course because they take pictures and then stick them to the walls in the running shop and let you take them for free! I would love to find our to commemorate a great run with my pops! Although there is 20% off at the running shop, which could be deadly for this girl.....

Enjoy your Sunday! :)

2 months! Yikes!

2011-05-27T13:51:00.000-04:00

Oh man oh man, I can't believe how long it has been! Honestly, I think blogging is like alot of stuff in life (healthy eating, exercise) in that for whatever reason, after missing a few days, it becomes harder and harder to start again and therefore you continue to avoid it. But, for whatever reason, here I am- writing an update and hoping to get back on the 'blogging wagon!'

So what has been going on? Really, the reason I stopped blogging was because of some health issues I was having/trying to get figured out. This made for a really rough March/April and I'm still not 100% with getting stuff sorted out. With that said, things are much better. My training took a hit during those months, although in hindsight, I still was training alot. The last 6 or so weeks have been much better though- really in all areas.

Running first....
Right now, I'm up north! Basically if you are a reader from before you know that this is my favorite place ever. I haven't been up since Christmas! What does this have to do with running? Well, tomorrow I'm running the Bayshore 1/2 Marathon. This is bittersweet because I've done the marathon at Bayshore for the past 3 years (1st year was my PR). I decided after a disappointing race last year that I needed a break from the full marathon, but still wanted to support Bayshore because it is my 'hometown' marathon. So I signed up. As did my dad. So tomorrow, I will be running it side by side with him, hoping to help him PR. Why not go all-out for my PR? Well, besides not being in shape for it right now....

...The Newport Marathon is in one week!!! I'm seriously so pumped to be going all the way from Michigan to Oregon to run this marathon. For a few weeks when I was the most sick, I was doubting I would even be able to do it, which was rough/depressing. Now, I'm so grateful just to be able to get out there and toe the starting line. I do have some expectations for the race, but also feel flexible with what I want out of it. My training has been pretty solid lately, both pace wise and milage wise so I'm excited to see how it pans out. All and all, it should be a good trip- I cannot wait!
Hmmm, what else?
I have 3 more official weeks of teaching before summer, although they are pretty low key in terms of review time and giving finals, plus a couple random days off in there. I'm pumped for a break, but honestly that is just because I want to be up north! I actually really like my job and the routine of it (other than the part where I commute 100 miles a day).

I'm also very involved in trying to get my business up and running. I will be selling my own Gluten Free baked goods at Farmer's Markets in the area (along with still selling for the bakery I work for on Saturdays.) There has been alot of time and money spent getting my recipes nailed down, the paper work sorted out, insurance, and buying supplies. My first market as my own bakery will be in just 2 short weeks on June 11th! I've been waiting years to have the opportunity to do this as my main 'job' so I'm pumped to get started.

Other than that, I'm already thinking about my summer training plans post-Newport. Although I don't think Newport is going to be my PR day, I feel like I'm on track with my training and body and am getting close to being able to make it happen soon. This summer, I want to be running 100ish mile weeks again and really get my body responding to the work I put in. My work schedule will be interesting with the markets and driving up north, but I'm really psyched for the whole she-bang. It should be a good summer! :)

Thanks for checking back on my blog! I promise not to fall off the face of the earth again, now that I've got my health *alittle* more sorted out.

Good luck to anyone racing this weekend! :)

Another sunday blog! :)

2011-03-20T19:10:00.000-04:00

I totally believe what is said about the weeks going by faster and faster as you get older. I cannot believe another week has gone by- time is seriously flying.

So yeah, how about that training????

This week was *ok*. My cross training was almost nonexistant, which stunk but I'm battling some sort of something that is causing my energy level to be in the toilet. Seriously, the fatigue has been so overwhelming that I've been going out to my car during my lunchbreak and sleeping at work. Because I'm that classy. I even crashed at the parents' house one night last week, just to spare the drive and ended up sleeping all late afternoon, evening, and night. I need to get this figured out though, as it is hindering my training!

Atleast I got my runs in, for the most part. Ended up with a few less miles than I would have liked, but considering how I felt, I'm ok with that. Highlights included Monday's runs where upon running 8 miles at 8 minute pace in the morning felt rough, but running 3 more miles at 7:30 pace in the evening felt effortless and like I could keep going forever. Tuesday = run with a friend = always the best miles of the week, even when they involve freezing rain. Wednesday was 13 miles on the old treadmill before a swim. Seriously- I felt my character being built. Hmmm, what other runs were special? Thurs/Friday, not so great. I felt most exhausted that day. Saturday, I woke up super-early to run pre-bakery in freezing weather, only to find when I got off at 2:30, it was BEAUTIFUL sunny and warm out. So I put in a few more lovely miles.

So today- the long run. I was flying solo again today, with 20 miles on tap. I procrastinated by getting up early and cleaning my whole apartment, washing sheets, and getting together tons of clothes to donate. I was hoping it would warm up, but it didn't really. Low 30s, which isn't terrible, but the wind was strong. I planned a new route, hoping that it would be fun. The first loop was intended to be 10-11 miles, then I would get some water at my place and head out again. However, I sort of turned it into a game where as I approached turning back toward home, I turned the opposite way and kept adding on miles. I felt like every time I extended it before going back to my apartment, I was getting 'ahead.' Random, I know. By 13 miles though, I was getting pretty thirsty and paid 2$ for an apple juice at a gas station that I downed in 30 seconds. The thing about this route was that it was HILLY. I am the first to admit that I hate hills, and although the town I live in is hilly, I try to avoid them as much as I can- especially on long runs. Mostly this is because they effect my pace so much and I am a slave to my pace sometimes. Well, today I just sort of embraced the crazy hilliness and kept doing what I could to challenge myself. Which was basically going out of my way to make it hard. My legs were very fatigued by the end, which was expected, but I was satisfied with this run, not because of pace (8:27, although considering the route is decent) but because I really stretched myself outside my comfort zone. And that is what running is all about, right?

Random things on the run observed:
1) A nun walking on a dirt road about 3 miles from civilization, dressed in full-on nun-clothes
2) A HUGE deer road kill that I literally came millimeters from stepping on as I was zoning out during the run. Then I proceded to jump 20 feet in the air out of surprise!
3) 2 seperate occasions I saw near car-deer collisions, which reminded me of #2
4) I man running FAST up a steep uphill next to me in jeans and running shoes
5) The fact that I have the most random..errr...eclectic music taste ever.....thank ipod.

So yeah, another week begins. Hoping to up my milage from the 71 miles of this past week. But we will see. I really gotta get these health things worked out and go from there.

Hope everyone had great weekends and great runs! Enjoy the new week! :)

skip a week....here i am!

2011-03-13T14:43:00.000-04:00

I know you were all worried, but I didn't completely fall off the face of the earth....

Actually, the week before this past week turned into a total bust. First, I totally messed up my hamstrings Tuesday night taking a strength training class. The combo of the class and my complete lack of muscular strength, some tempo miles that night, and a slightly inclined 13 miles on the treadmill the next morning, left my legs completely zonked. Which made me have to pull back a bit on my milage for the next few days in hopes of rallying for my long run on Sunday. Which didn't end up happening because I got extremely sick Saturday night (due to some GI problems I have) which made it impossible to run more than a few, slow, dehydrated miles on Sunday. So basically, the week turned into a wash.

This past week has been better though. Although the said GI stuff isn't completely gone which has decreased my eating and hense my energy level more than I would like. Other than feeling more sluggish and labored on runs than I should, they have been good overall. Highlights included an 11 miler on Tuesday with 7 miles at 7:29 pace. Wednesday was a wet and freezing 14 miler outside at a oh-my-gosh-my-legs-are-moving-so-slowly pace. Friday I did 10 miles before cycle class right around 8 min pace, and then had a really great cycle class. Since I had to work today and not yesterday, I did my long run yesterday. 18 miles of not-so-confidence-building running. I'm not sure if it was the week catching up to me or what, but I felt exhausted and run down the whole time. And the wind was bad. My pace was slow. But I got it done.

Really what is stressing me the most right now is not the milage or putting in the work or the actual runs I'm accomplishing, but how they are feeling. It's not a matter of being able to run X:XX pace or whatever, but it is the level of effort that I'm feeling when doing so. I was hoping by now my pace would be dropping more, but also it would be getting easier to accomplish that pace drop. So I guess my confidence is a bit shaken right now in that regard because it is difficult to imagine doing what I want to do over 26.2 miles. Oh well, still 12 weeks until Newport.

Overall, good week:
- 2 core classes
- 2 cycle classes
- 2 lovely swims
- 81 miles :)

Let's get the next one started!

Reality, here I come...

2011-02-27T17:48:00.000-05:00

This past week has been sort of an alternative-reality for me: I've been sick, my workouts all over the place, and I had the week off from teaching. Because of this, I'm actually feeling so ready to get back to my 'normal' this week of training and working both jobs. I'm finally feeling almost 100% from this ridiculous cold I had and I think my lighter training volume this past week has made me more ready than ever to tackle a good week coming up.

The last few days were filled with short, easy runs, so I won't bore y'all with the details! Today brought about a lovely 20 miler with my friend. What is it about runs with friends that make the time fly by? I really enjoyed everything about the run, except for the fact that stupid snow-banks kept cropping up- I'm so beyond ready for winter to be over! Atleast I felt like I'm back on my training-game and can tackle a good week head on!

Alright, I guess this was a pretty lame-o post! I'm just in the habit of Sunday night posting. Hopefully I'll have some better workouts to report in the coming week- Newport Marathon in less than 14 weeks! Eeeek!

Have a good week everyone!

Love for the Parents' House

2011-02-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

So I decided to do a post on a lighter note after my post yesterday. And, since I came home this afternoon after work to my parents' house to a) go to the doctor to make sure I'm not dying of pneumonia (I'm not) and b) hang out with my mom tomorrow since it has been an entire month since I saw her (much too long!) I decided to do a post about my love for my parents' house. Plus, this provided a much-needed diversion from planning my next unit of 7th grade science!

Things that my 24-year-old-soon-to-be-25-year-old-self still loves about coming "home" to my parents' house:

- Oliver, the world's cutest cat
- not one, but two big TV's with 600 channels!
- the fact that there is never any food, the milk is dated 2/16, but there is always a bag of chocolate chips. toll house. yes, you are correct in assuming that was lunch. ;)
- wireless internet. scratch that. internet in general that is reliable and consistant is pretty sweet.
- the fact that my mom always washes my towels and puts them in a little clean stack in the bathroom! so cute and mother-ly!
- doing my prep work at the big kitchen table....
- ....spreading my stuff out and thinking about doing my prep work while blogging/reading blogs at the big kitchen table
- and when all else fails...there is always more chocolate chips!

Pumped for a day tomorrow with my mom! Only a few more days until I'm back to the real world of working both jobs.....better get back to this prep work.....the glamorous life of a teacher, lol. :)

Dedication vs. Obsession

2011-02-23T19:07:00.000-05:00

What!?! A mid-week post from me?!?! You can tell I'm not at my normal Wednesday night workout. Which brings me to the topic of this post.....

So here is something that has been on my mind for awhile, and has recently come to the forefront of my mind during the last few days as I have struggled through working out while sick. Here goes.....

The thing is, I think of myself as a dedicated person. Dedicated to doing my jobs well, making money, creating a life for myself a few years out of college, and of course, dedicated to my running. I also would describe myself as a bit OCD on lots of levels- nothing crazy, but I'm a neat-freak, list maker, and most of all, very OCD about my running/training. When I see it all mapped out on paper for the week, I have it in my mind to get it done. I always allow for flexibility in case something comes up at work, or I switch runs to run with a friend, but in the end the training will get done.

With that said, I mentioned how I had been feeling a bit under-the-weather since Saturday morning. I got through my short run then, survived my LR on Sunday, but things just weren't getting better. I got up at 3am to run before work on Monday, only to come home after work and crash hard, not getting to my Monday night Core Class. I tried to 'get-ahead' on miles yesterday, by running 13 miles on the treadmill and taking a cycle class. To me, this is part of push-through-it, suck-it-up, sometimes-training-is-hard, dedication. However, in between all of this, I felt terrible. I've been sleeping pretty much every second I'm not at work or working out, and my throat feels completely closed up. I was looking forward to today most of all because since I didn't have to work, I planned to do my long workout on the treadmill, a swim, and then my night Core/Cycle class. In my head, it was going to be the perfect day. However, my body had other plans. I woke up feeling worse than ever, and finally made a doctors appointment for tomorrow after work. I decided the dry air of the gym wasn't doing my throat any favors, so I took my run outside. Thankfully, my Garmin had no batteries because my splits on my 6 mile run were so terrible. And the swim post-run wasn't any better.

But, it occurred to me during today's run that I was crossing the line right then. The line from being "dedicated" in my training, to being "obsessive" about my training. Probably the reason I'm not getting better is because I'm not taking the time to rest. I get so hung up on getting it all in nomatter what because I don't want any regrets when I hit that starting line. If I run a bad marathon, I don't ever want it to be because I didn't work hard enough in preparation. But I'm so afraid of those feelings of self-doubt and regret, that they are driving me to an unhealthy place right now. As my mom so "mom-ish-ly" put it on the phone to me earlier- "Nothing you are going to do today is going to effect how you run a marathon 3 months from now." And I know she is right. Training is consistancy over the long-haul. But I get so caught up in the day-to-day sometimes that it is hard to see that. And I'm so excited about where I'm at training wise at this point, I hate to lose it all.

I don't want this post to come off as all self-centered-ish and poor-me or anything. I just know there are lots of runners out there who are like this and I think we have to get real with ourselves sometimes. I'm not a bad person or a bad runner because I 'only' got in a short run and swim today. Today alone will not make me more or less prepared in Newport, Oregon on June 4th. But today I did realize that I need to be honest with myself and where my actions are rooted. There are only two emotions: Love and Fear.

Hopefully this didn't come off totally crazy/random! I hope you are all having great weeks- take THE BEST care of yourself!

Shorts -> Snow

2011-02-20T19:07:00.001-05:00

I totally need to make an attempt to blog during the week because I think of all these interesting, witty (well, witty in my head!) things to say during my runs throughout the week, and then forget everything by Sunday night, when I sit down to blog!

Oh well, here's the recap:

Monday- Ouch. Legs were TIRED from legit run on Sunday. Same old recovery day- 10 miles split into 6/4. The 6 in the morning were hard- hilly route + wind = bad decision. The 4 at night were nice/faster up to core class. Core class was good. I got into a jump rope competition with another guy. Don't worry, I dominated him. 86 jumps in 35 seconds. We'll see if I can beat that tomorrow!

Tuesday- 10 miles. On treadmill. Wish I could have had some faster ones in there, but my leggies were still pretty wiped. My recovery this week has been terrible in general, so I'm glad that I got this done. I think it was 8:20ish pace? Swim afterward felt amazing.

Wednesday- a character-building 15 miles on the treadmill. This was a complete mental battle, as opposed to a physical one. The thought of getting on at 6:30am, and watching the clock make two complete circles was messing with my mind. But I'm really happy I am pushing through these runs. 12 miles in, I felt great. Hit the last few miles around 8.0mph. Overall, good run. Post-work, I had a session with a personal trainer. She showed me some stretches and some hamstring-strength exercises. It was actually really good/interesting. Then, core class. Then, cycle. Both were lovely, actually. New instructors than when class started, but I can roll with that. Wednesday's are good days.

Thursday- Didn't have to work at the bakery (yay!) so I flopped my Friday milage to this day so that I could swim on Friday. Did 6 miles, nice and easy before work. Then, met up with Mike for 8 more miles, after work. This was a really good run. It was warm and Mike and I always run fast without trying. I have to admit that my legs were tired by the end though. 8 minute pace overall. 14 mile day, which was good.

Friday- Outside run in shorts and a t-shirt at 3:45am- awesome. It was breezy out which added a eery feeling to being out that early. Was right at 8:00min pace again, which was amazing because these super-early, super-dark runs I'm happy to hit 8:30pace. 90 minute cycle class was fun too- I am trying to push myself more in these classes lately. Post-cycle, I completed the morning's reverse triathalon with a swim (mile-ish?). Awesome way to start out the day. Equally awesome is coming home from work and taking a nap.

Saturday- Ugh. Woke up feeling terrible. Cold/flu symptoms and totally run down. It was 4am, and I debated going back to bed, but hated the idea of 5 easy miles hanging over my head all day at work. So, I took them to the treadmill and squeaked them in in just under 40 minutes. After work, I proceded to nap from 3pm-6pm, then sleep again from 8pm-9am this morning. Either I suck at recovering, or I am sick.

Sunday (today)- 17 mile long run on the schedule, luckily with no MP miles. I decided to go the complete opposite of last week and *not* be a slave to my Garmin and just run as I felt (because I still was feeling so blah.) Headed out on my favorite 15 mile loop that I could now do because it was actually light and most of the snow had melted. 8 miles in, I started feeling pretty bad. Slogged through the end, actually. I'm really happy I pushed through and got it done, but I'm really hoping my body feels better soon. 8:13 pace, which is good, but the effort it felt like I was putting out the whole run was terrible.

And since I finished my LR on perfectly dry pavement about 6 hours ago, about 6" of snow has fallen. Ugh. I hate winter so much, and was so excited about it not being here anymore! Good news is, I'm on winter-break from teaching. Bad news is, I decided several weeks ago when talking with my boss at the bakery, that it would be a good idea to volunteer to pick up extra hours there this week, rather than just chill out and reap the benefits of being a salaried teacher. So I'm working more at the bakery. Starting tomorrow at 6am.

So that is it from here. Recap:

2 core classes
2 cycle classes
2 swims
77 miles :)

This week is a 'cut-back' week, and as much as I usually hate that sort of thing, I'll take it right now. I may even have a full rest day in my future as it has been 6 or 7 weeks at this point. We shall see how it goes!

Hope everyone is ready for the new week! Hope it is filled with Peace, Love, and Running! :)

running in shorts....priceless.

2011-02-13T19:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, this post may get a bit lengthy because I'm on a total post-run high right now and all week I've been running and thinking of the most random things that I wanted to blog about, but never having the time until now! So here goes with the play-by-play recap....

Monday: "easy" day = 10 miles split- 6 in the morning (on treadmill) + a nice swim, then 4 at night up to core class + 60+ minute core class with running group. All of this went well. Swimming felt great. I honestly love swimming in a way so different from running. It is so natural to me to be in the water and I really think it helps my recovery, although I didn't have a whole lot to recover from without a LR the day before. My paces were fast too, which I tried to hold back a bit because I really need to focus on keeping hard days hard and easy days easy.

Tuesday: 8 miles. Post double-work day, on my favorite random-off-the-freeway route. This run was unexpectedly great. I spent the first two miles going into the sub-zero freezing wind uphill. The whole time I wasn't looking at my Garmin, but instead thinking how great it would be when I got to "Joy" (yes, that is literally the road's name) road and got to run with the wind at my back. But when I got to Joy, I realized that since it is a not-very-travelled dirt road, it hadn't been plowed. Fail. So I slipped and slided and had a really hard time keeping pace. Once I hit pavement again, I pushed it in to get done before sunset. 7:38 pace. Very pleased, especially considering the conditions.

Wednesday: Quickly becoming one of my favorite training days. 13 miles on the treadmill before work - I feel like this is building me mentally more so than physically, which is good. I did it progressive style, starting at 7.0 and working up into the high 7 mph for the last part. Again, this is something that is not natural for me, so I'm glad I pushed myself to do it. Ended at 9.0. Ouch. That was a hard 1/2 mile. No time for a swim though. Spent much of the run wondering why anyone would work out inside in pants. Isn't the whole point of working out indoors in the winter that you don't have to wear alot of clothes? Digress.....
Post work, I got a 'fitness assessment' at the new gym I joined. Moral of that story = my flexibility is in the toilet. Hmm, maybe I should try that stretching thing? Then, it was core class and cycle class. Favorite instructor wasn't there. :( Replacement instructors were pretty good. :) Lots of working out on Wednesdays makes me happy!

Thursday: Another bakery morning = easy run at night. 6 miles that were by far the worst of the week. I left G-man at home so I have no idea my pacing. All I know is that it felt uphill and against the wind the whole way. It was a loop so that probably wasn't the case. Blah. Glad I did it though!

Friday: GREAT day. Did 9 miles on the treadmill at 4am before cycle. 8.0mph for the last few miles felt effortless. That hardly ever happens, lol. 90 minute cycle class was good too. Very different instructor at different gym. Lots of folk music. Somehow it works though. Did 2 more shakeout miles afterward on the indoor track to make it 11 for the day.

Saturday: Early. 4:30am run. 8 miles. Very windy, even early and I made the mistake of running 4 miles with the wind first. Fail again. Not a great run, but glad to get it done before 8 hours at the bakery.

Sunday (today): Good, no GREAT run. Had to work again at a market, (blah, 7 day workweek!) but only from 9am-2:30pm. I am a terrible run-late-in-the-day person, especially for my LR. But there was no other option this week. I knew my leggies would be a bit tired after standing all morning, but I decided to run where we were at the market for a change of scenery, and because if I just changed and went right after, there would be no time to procrastinate or change my mind. The city was totally geared T-mart style - open, flat, roads (but very windy.) I actually ended up running all 19 miles on one road that was about 5 miles long. My schedule called for some marathon-pace miles, but I'm deathly afraid of doing that, so I thought about scrapping it. So I just started running. Mile 1 = easy = 7:25. From there, I decided to just go for it, and hit the first 5 HARD. 7:07, 7:07, 7:04, 6:52. Average = 7:09 Woah nelly. I stopped and reset my Garmin, planning to run back "easy." First "easy" mile was actually at MP - 7:32 but it felt slow. So I decided again to go for it. 7:25, 7:17, 7:14, 7:06. Average = 7:18. First 10 miles @ 7:14 pace. At this point, I knew my legs were pretty tired. I decided to stop being a slave to my Garmin and just *run* the last 9 miles. They felt soooo good up to the last couple. Pushed it at the end and hit 8 miles @ 7:58 pace. (then did a very slow mile to end.) 18 miles at 7:33 pace. 1 second under my PR marathon pace. I realize that they weren't at all even, but I was really pleased to hit sub-8 pace after the initial 10 hard miles. By the end, I'm pretty sure my fatigue was due to the fact that I hadn't eaten or drank anything during the run and it was warm (40s!). But I loved that. Running in shorts. Melting snow. Freedom.

Now, I'm sitting here with my calves twitching like crazy (anyone else have a horrible time with this?) I'm sure I will probably feel it a bit tomorrow. I so wish it was Saturday because I feel like it should be and I'm headed back into another work week without any time off. Yucky. Oh well, thus is life.

Recap:
2 cycles
2 core
1 swim (boo, I wish it were more!)
75 miles :)

Bring on the next week! Love me some training!

Peace, love, and Running,
T-mart

Another week closer to spring!

2011-02-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

And yikes, I am totally ready! Got snow dumped on us this week (snow day, yay!) but I would have totally traded a day off from work for NOT having snow.

But anyway...

This week, training-wise was *ok.* I actually felt kind of bad about it on a daily basis, but looking back over the week, I'm satisfied. I'll just hit up the highlights, rather than hitting it up day by day, because that is what I'm feeling tonite.

Wednesday was the snow day ie: 12 miles on the treadmill. I'm actually getting kind of 'into' these mid-week treadmill runs as a way to build some mental toughness. This one was rough because I was home at my parents' house so I went to the tiny gym (where I've literally never paid for in years). We got there at 10:30ish (my mom and I) and they were closing at noon for some reason, so I had incentive to hurry! Busted out the 12 miles at 8:08 pace or so. Shout out of thanks to my mama for finishing her workout and walking to Kroger to get me a Crack-berry Zero. (aka the best powerade zero ever). Yessir, I was sweaty! Shout out also to the snowday for allowing me to sleep for 3 additional hours, post-run/lunch. Yes, that was nice.

Thursday was my pseudo 'long-run' day because I was planning to race a 5K this morning with my friend (more on that later.) Unfortunately, I had to split it, because of work so I know it is not *quite* as good. Hit up 10 easy miles on a good treadmill pre-work. Post-work hit up the country roads in the falling darkness for another 8 miles. I challenged myself to hit the first 4 below MP. It was an out and back 2 miler each way, and since I didn't have my headlamp, I had to get it done before dark. The first 2 miles felt easy, but as I turned around I realized it was because the wind had been at my back! Running back into the wind was character building and I was falling apart by the last mile. Splits = 7:34, 7:15, 7:17, 7:07. Nice. The last 4 miles felt easy. All was well with the world.

Triathlon Friday = run, bike, swim. All went well. Love me 3 hours of work-out bliss before work!

Saturday- saw an awesome shooting star at 4:30am, during a 10 miler. My eyelashes froze to my face. It was awesome.

Sunday- was supposed to be my 5K day, but my friend was too sick so I too opted out and instead slept for a glorious 14 hours. Then did 10 miles. Negative splitted them to get exactly 8:00minute pace average. Which I'm happy with considering the weather/terrain, but unhappy with how difficult it felt. All week, running hasn't felt as 'effortless' as I would like. Hopefully that is because I am increasing my milage and also cross training much more (which I haven't included in this recap so much). Dunno. My whole right leg was sort of numb and not really moving well by the last mile. Totally strange.

So yeah, there you have it. I skipped some stuff I did, and obviously the runs/workouts on M/Tues but overall, those were the highlights. Hoping this week feels alittle better. Happy to hit 72 miles though! Now I'm off to eat and pack up for the week! Stay warm and snow free everyone and have fantastic weeks!

First "official" week of training = done and done

2011-01-30T16:02:00.000-05:00

Ahh yes, the joys of being at my parents' house on a Sunday. Heat, internet, and cable TV. Why haven't I been here in 3+ weeks again?

So yes, reliable internet means two things to me: paying bills and blogging. I'll sum up the week again like last time because it seems that weekly updates are happening more often than daily right now for me....

Monday- pretty much a reserved easy day this time around because of doing LRs on Sundays most weeks. 6 miles in the AM + an easy swim. PM was my 60+ minute core class at the running shop. Pushed myself in that area this week, which was a good thing.

Tuesday- bakery morning = one run later. This week, it was an 8 miler outside in the area around where I teach. Got to run in shorts, which was nice although the snow hitting my legs was not. Think it was about 8 minute pace, which was also pretty pleasing as I stink at running well later in the day. That night was a late (for me!) soccer game. Since I stink at sprinting, yet am super competitive and crazy, it is actually a pretty good workout. I always leave dripping in sweat so it can't hurt my training I guess!

Wednesday- LOVE IT. Did 12 miles on the treadmill early- progressively faster. Nothing too fast or too amazing, but just the idea of speeding up throughout a run is a novel and difficult thing for me. This I averaged around 8:10s but I'm not sure because the treadmill shut off and restarted. Then, swam for about a mile at the gym. This pool was colder than I was used to as I was at the new gym I joined, rather than the Y. Cold pool = faster swimming! The workout fun continued post-teaching with a 30 minute core class, then 60 minute cycling. Love the intructor. Love the vibe. Love the company. ;) You better believe the 5 hours of sleep I got that night were hard.

Thursday- Much-needed easy day. Bakery blahs in the morning, so running group at night was my workout. It was dumping snow and only myself and my friend Mike showed up. We slogged through 6 miles of feet dragging. Both of us had dead legs and basically cursed winter the whole time!

Friday- Hard day as well. I was up early-early and on my apartment gym's treadmill before 4am to knock out 7 miles. 7:45 pace or so. This run felt really good and I was finishing at 8.5 mph wishing I had time to extend the run. But, I had to get back, change, and head to the Y for my 90 minute cycle class. This class is totally different than Wednesday nights, but enjoyable. Post-cycle I finished my milage for the day with 4 easier miles on the treadmill. Nice way to start the day!

Saturday- UGH. A total slog through deep snow at 5am. I knew in my head I should hit up the treadmill to run before bakery at 7am, but I just really didn't want to. It snowed a decent amount over night and it was sort of freezing-snow-raining at the time. 7 miles of slowness later, I was done. My garmin was covered in a sheet of ice and my legs were totally shot. It was rough to go to work on my feet all day, especially with the idea of a LR on the horizon.

Sunday- which brings me to today- an unconventional LR of 20 miles split into 10/10. The first 10 were done with a friend around her neighborhood. Miles with a friend = exponentially better than alone miles. These flew by and were very enjoyable. After a 30 minute drive home, I literally jumped out of my car at my parents' house and headed out on the second 10. These were much harder. My legs felt good, but they are cutting costs in my parents' town by literally not plowing any streets. So I spent the whole run trying to find pavement only to be drugding through unplowed snow or slipping and sliding over streets the whole time. Any time I picked up the pace for a few strides, I would be stopped dead by deep snow. So it was frustrating in the sense that I felt like I had more to give, but conditions were favorable. I was still really pleased overall with my pace considering the conditions. I got back to the condo complex where my parents' live (that is plowed) and knocked out the last mile in 7:42 which showed me that despite how tired my legs were, they still had alittle something in them. Now I just have to be patient with my runs and training and peak correctly.

Recap:
2 swims
2 cycle classes
2 core classes
1 soccer game
70 miles :)

Going forward, I would like to get in another strength/core type class during the week so hopefully I can find a small gap in my schedule somewhere this week that works. But, my milage will also still be increasing. We are also suppose to get a foot of snow Wednesday (WTF!?!) so we will see how that influences things...

Which brings me to my big announcement: I've signed up and committed to my MAIN marathon- The Newport Marathon in Newport, Oregon on June 4th! I'm really pumped- after lots of research, this seems to fit my criteria between timing, course, a new place I have never been, and weather. I'm running a 'tune up' marathon 4/17 close by, but Newport will be my main focus for the next 18 weeks or so. Yay!

Off to grocery shop at my favorite market, and rustle up some fro yo for dinner. Yes, I sometimes use long runs as an excuse to eat fro yo for dinner the night before, and the night of the LR. Addiction? You bet.

Have a good week everyone! :)

Wait...another week went by!?!?

2011-01-22T19:22:00.000-05:00

That title is seriously how I feel! Time is flying- between workx2 and workouts and driving and suddenly the week is over!

I'm going to make this snappy because I'm at a coffee shop (stupid internet is STILL completely MIA) and I'm hungry and ready for some fro yo dinner- post 'LR' treat! :)

This week went really well, training wise. Well actually, it went really well in general- but I feel like my small number of readers cares mostly about the running'/training. I'll sum it up, as quickly as I can since I'm not posting daily anymore!

Monday- Did an easy 6 mile recovery after LR on Sunday. It was early and freezing but my legs legit felt great so I through in a couple of 0.75 mile hill repeats. Reminded me of Boston training last year! Ugh. I hate hills. Then, I swam which felt amazing. PM brought about 75 minutes of core training with a group. Lots of squats and lunges = hurts so good.

Tuesday- VERY good workout. I had to make it count in a limited amount of time because I was working 4am-4pm between the two jobs and then had a soccer game at 8pm. I was sleepy, but it ended up being an unexpectedly good run with 7 miles @ 7:10 pace (2 @ 7:35ish, then 5 @7:00ish) Finished off the 10 miles with a slow 3 mile cooldown. My legs were pretty tired after this, but I still dominated at soccer...lol...kidding. My team lost miserably. I think we're in a 'building' year.....

Wednesday- hit up another early 6 miler. Slow. Dark. Icy. Post-work a ran a few more treadmill miles before core class then cycle at the new gym I joined. Love the instructor. Love her music. It was spritual. Only downfall is being out until 9pm before working Thursday morning. Ha, I'm such a Grandma!

Thursday- again working at the bakery means only 1 workout. This time it was a snowy 7 miler at run club with my friend Mike. He is training again after 6 months off due to injury. This makes me happy.

Friday- LOVED Friday. Got up early early and was on my apartment treadmill before 4am. Knocked out 6 miles at 7:50 pace which I consider "speedy" for the early morning...lol....because my body is pretty confused for the first 3 miles or so. Got caught up on random TV news shows. Then headed off to my cycle class from 6am-7:30. Besides hurting my butt, it was good. Finished off with a swim. A reverse triathalon. Picked up my favorite coffee and lots of food from a local place I love. Then, got to hear my coworkers talk about my food...ugh, so annoying. Always commenting on what/how much/how little/how often I eat. Laaame.

Saturday (today)- had to work at the bakery at 7am. Set the alarm for 4am to hit out my run beforehand. Alarm went off- I hit snooze. Went off again- and I reset it for 6:30am. My body was not moving. Went to work and debated a rest day before my cut-back LR tomorrow. Then got the brilliant idea to just do my run when I got off work. It was 7 degrees out, so I didn't have to worry about a heat wave running at 3pm. Got off work. Headed home. Changed without thinking. Started running. Decided to do the full 15 miles right then and there. Hit the first few sub 8s, even though my legs were so stiff because I couldn't feel them. Decided to 'make it hurt' a bit and keep the pace throughout. The whole run I kept even pace (between 7:35-8:08 = even for me!). I felt like I was running away from the 2 hour mark the whole time! Finished hard- the last mile hurt- in 1:58 and change. Really happy. Faster than I was training this fall, but I still have a ways to go. Proud of a good run in tough conditions after work. Now it is off my plate for tomorrow!

So yeah, there you have it! Easy run for tomorrow to cap off 60 miles, plus I am planning on legit sleeping for 13+ hours. Looking forward to not going anywhere tomorrow besides the grocery store (which I never got to last week meaning I ate PB and old freezer-burned GF bread all week for dinner). Prep work, cleaning, is it sad that I'm looking SO forward to this low key day?

Ok, that isn't such a short post after all! I do have to go though because I'm getting weird looks for refilling my water glass so often here...hmmmm..

Fro yo time! Have a good night everyone!

Weekly blogging = laaaame

2011-01-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

So I totally am not meaning to blog this infrequently, but my internet situation has gotten dire. As in, my internet rarely works anymore at home (read: never.) So, it is impossible for me to blog. Never fear though, I braved the Sunday night coffee shop crowd in order to inform y'all what I have been up to- I know that many were sitting on pins and needles wondering....

This past week was very legit, workout-wise. My cross training has been going well and I can't wait to progress further with it. I hit up 2 spin classes last week, including a 90 minute one at the Y that left me sweating more than humanly possible. I also got in 3 core/strength classes, and a couple of swim sessions. My milage is still on the low end, just under 60 miles for the week I believe? But, although I know that I still have lots more work to do and need to continue to build more into my schedule, I'm feeling decent about where I'm starting from.

Today was a very nice day for a long run! Although it snowed waaay more than preferable yesterday, and the temps were lingering in the teens all day, the sun was out and that in itself was a mood booster! I biggest mood booster was getting to run with a friend in a new town! There is something about running with good company that make the miles so much more enjoyable. We did a 3 loop route which broke up the run nicely (4.5, 8, 4.5) for a total of 17 miles. Since I haven't been running more than 8 or 10 miles at one time (and my longest run since Chicago last fall was 11 miles!) I was pleased that I was able to hit 17 without it being too bad. Maybe all hope is not lost on me yet? Only time will tell...

I also braved the ice bath post-run. It was tough though because by the time I drove home and got ice, I was freezing! I think that it helped my legs, but tomorrow will be the judge of that. They are feeling great right now, so I'm hoping some foam rolling and an early bedtime and all will be well!

Well, I'll *try* to update more if my internet magically starts happening. Until then, I wish everyone good runs and good times! :) Bring on the new week!

Ididarun and running through a newbe's eyes

2011-01-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

So when I last left you, I was feeling a bit down and was headed to the "Ididarun" which was held last night. This is a crazy race held in a small town through a snowy trail. 4 x2 mile loops which makes for a slow 8 mile race, given the conditions. It actually went pretty well and gave me hope that all was not lost yet in my training! I ended up completing the course in around 65 minutes (I think 8:06 pace or so?) which was waaaay faster than last year, and I was actually really pleased with, considering this course. Unfortunately, some crazy girl ran much faster than me, so my time was only good for second place. I actually felt really good, and if it wasn't for my stomach giving me some...umm...trouble...the last 2 loops, I think I could have negative splitted and hit a sub-8 pace. Again, this is not that impressive outright, but running through darkness and snowy trails makes it *slighty* more comforting to me. So all is not lost....hopefully....

This morning/afternoon I drove back to the area where I teach (ugh 40 minutes) to meet one of my students for her "long" run. She is training for a 1/2 marathon (her first) in Miami in a few weeks and has raised over $3000 for charity in the meantime. As an 11th grader, I am totally impressed at her dedication and volunteered to run with her as needed. Well, today we tackled 10 miles, her longest run ever (previously I did an 8 miler with her as her long run before break). It was steady run-walk process that took us all over town. Although it was cold and snowy, we made it and she finished feeling so proud/excited/pumped. And kept commenting how "it felt like it went by so fast!" Which made me happy because I am always worried people are totally bored with me when they are running with me because I am random and tend to ramble about stupid things (I know, shocker, if you are a blog reader you would have never guessed.....) Anyway, the moral of the story was that it really makes me appreciate running when I see it through the eyes of someone who is experiencing it for the first time. I get so hung up on the fact that I'm "out of shape" right now, or can only hit x:xx pace, or only run XX miles a day or week or whatever, but the truth is, running is amazing. Hands down. I wish I could have harnessed the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that she was feeling. It was so pure and refreshing. I'm so happy that I got to be a part of it, even if the drive time + run time ate away a pretty huge portion of my Sunday!

Now, I'm leaving the coffee shop (and internet...boo) to get ready for the week. I'm determined to make it better, all around than last week and hoping that I finally feel better in a day or two. Hope everyone out there has a great start to the week! Send thoughts of working-internet my way! :)

Hoping they get better from here...

2011-01-08T10:19:00.000-05:00

Well, unfortunately my blogging didn't happen as often as planned this week. This was mostly due to the fact that my bootleg internet at my apartment decided to be 100% absent once I got back on Monday and throughout the rest of the week. :( Not cool.

Furthermore, despite my best laid plans, my training didn't go as great as planned. Monday- Wednesday were good but Thursday and Friday it was not possible as I was sick. I hardly ever take unplanned rest days, but it simply was not possible. So I feel like I gained some momentum, but am now 'starting over'. Which is frustrating.

I'm also looking into joining a second gym (thanks to a new friend I met through the blog!) I'm really excited about the prospects of this gym (more classes, crosstraining opportunities, multiple locations, better hours) but stressed about the cost. I'm also trying to save for a destination marathon as well is well....survive financially....so the decision is a big one. If I can make it work though, I really want to do it!

Today, I did a quick 5 miler this morning. It was 9 degrees. I'm so over winter! Tonite I defend my title at the "Ididarun" - a crazy trail race that I did last year and ended up winning (probably because it is through a foot of snow for 8+ miles, in the dark, and it was 5 degrees so there weren't many people!) Anyway, I'm excited to reconnect with my running group and do the race for fun- no pressure- as I am still not feeling 100%. Should be a good time.

So this is just me saying that I did not fall off the face of the earth (and blogging) yet, and will hopefully do a better job with blogging, training, and life in the week ahead! I'm hoping I still have a few blog readers out there and I promise that I will attempt to make these posts a bit more interesting!

New Year, Fun Training, let the good times roll!

2011-01-01T17:47:00.000-05:00

So how 'bout that blog?

Truth time: I took some time off from blogging. Honestly, my training has been pretty chill and my schedule has been pretty anti-chill (ie the usual crazy). As much as I've enjoyed the 'run and exercise as you feel' philosophy I'm really excited to start up training (and blogging!) regularly again. I'm still working to finalize my races for this spring, but despite my crazy indecisiveness and inability to make a decision, I have decided to embark on a training plan this Monday. I just really feel like I need some guidance and structure to my training in order to feel like I am making some serious gains in fitness. Plus, I have alot of new ideas and a new outlook on my training and I honestly can't wait to get started.

Ok, now is the time when I get all philosophical. The thing is, I've done alot of thinking and reflecting on my Chicago experience and my racing in the last year or two in general. And for a time, I considered 'giving up.' Not in the sense of stopping running or exercising or anything, but in the sense of being in my mind a 'legit' runner. Chasing PRs. Structuring training to work toward something that means so much to me. I felt like it has been so long since my running has been good that maybe I'm too late or too old or too whatever to hit my goals. But the thing is, I'm not. Plain and simple. I'm not ready to stop working toward my 1/2 and marathon PRs. I'm not ready to stop training like crazy as my 'third job'. If anything, I am more positive and more hungry for the good things to come. I have to work harder and smarter and with more focus. I have to retrain my mind to overcome the mental barriers that have previously sabatoged my training and racing. Although my recent racing history reads like a bunch of 'failures' it really is just a bunch of learning experiences that will take me into being a stronger and smarter runner. I am so physched to see where I can go from here!

It is New Years and all. And I do have goals for 2011 in running and life. But for now, I will just leave it at what I said. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season and are ready to tackle the new year head on! Check back as blogging will now resume and I hope to have more specific training and racing plans laid out tomorrow!

Thanksgiving and other things

2010-11-26T11:05:00.000-05:00

Good day blog world!

Amazingly, I am blogging only a few days after my last blog! Yay! Even more exciting, I am up north, which has been lovely. We all arrived Wednesday night and had a great Thanksgiving full of my favorite things- running with both of my parents in the morning, lots of cooking, a NAP! :), wearing sweatpants the whole day, and of course EATING. Yes, it was lovely.

Today, the weather is crazy cold/windy so I went out for a short run with my mom. Currently, we are all sitting around debating going into town for some shopping or something. Personally, I'm going alittle stir crazy at this point, but my family seems immune caring about being in the house this long. I am starting to go alittle nuts, as I am incapable of sitting around all day! If we don't get going soon, I may just hijack our truck and bounce!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! :)

Apparently I stink at Blogging....

2010-11-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

So yeah, where did life go? My life is so crazy busy it seems, plus I have like no set schedule with anything so I've gotten out of the blogging habit! Hopefully, I can get back into it!

Soo...what's been going on?

Work, work, work. I will spare y'all, because if you are a reader, you know I already whine about that enough! So what do you do when working sucks away your life/blogging time? Blog from work! Currently my 7th graders are working on a paper so I took this opportunity to sit in the back of the class and blog..lol. Teachers are human too! I'm currently on day 9 of work in a row, with one more day to go before I get 4 WHOLE DAYS off from both jobs! I did an extra market on Sunday (my normal 'weekend') and therefore, headed right back into this short week with no break. Needless to say, I'm SO READY for thanksgiving! Tomorrow will be a super long day; bakery morning, teaching until 2:30pm (seriously, who does that?) then driving home to my parents, dumping all the food that I bought for thanksgiving at the market into their car along with my stuff, and leaving for up north packed into the car! 4-5 hours later, we will get there...hopefully. My sis and bro in law will be meeting us tomorrow night too. I. Am. So. Pumped. I picked up a 20lb. turkey from a farmer at the market that sells in the booth next to us. 20lbs of turkey, 5 of my family. Yeah, there will be alot of leftovers! But, I'm totally OK with that. Mmmm, turkey. My sis and I actually have a really good menu planned of mostly in-season, local foods. I repeat- I. Am. So. Pumped. 4 days of food, family, and no work. Yess indeedy.

So running. Yeah. It's been...going. I actually got in a few quality swims in the last week, plus core work. It feels great to be in the pool. Last Tuesday was the light fest run, that I mentioned. It was freezing rain, but alot of fun! Two people from my running club and I ran together and had a good time taking pictures by the light displays and messing around. Nothing else really monumentous. Honestly, with work, my exercise in general has been much less than normal, which I'm OK with right now. Yesterday was good though- 10 miles split. It was misty and rainy but WARM. T-shirt and shorts weather. I did 6 miles in the morning, and couldn't resist tacking on a shake out 4 miler after work. Amazing. Except when I fell. Yeah, I'm a dork. I have a headlamp, but didn't wear it because I was running in the 'city' at night (vs. country roads). There is one spot going uphill with about a 1/2 mile to my apartment that is pitch dark. A car came over the hill with its brights on and I was temporarily blinded while I tried to move into the dirt shoulder (I was already in the bike lane.) I rolled my ankles and got totally dirty and alittle scraped, but mostly my pride was injured!

Today started out warm and rainy, but the temp has been dropping all day. Unfortunately, my run has to wait until the evening as I was at the bakery at the 4am hour today. Popular bakery + days before thanksgiving = craziness. I was actually HAPPY to get out of there today to go teach! I'm thinking a pull-off-the-freeway-randomly run is in order for tonite! I will wear my headlamp though! Even though I look like a freak in it.....

Ok, that's it from here! My head is spinning with all of the stuff I need to get done and packed up and such in the next 28 hours or so. And what is really on my mind is Thanksgivingthanksgivingthanksgiving..........

And being UP NORTH! Its been since Labor Day...much too long! :)

Long time, no blog!

2010-11-15T21:24:00.000-05:00

Oh man, I haven't blogged in FOREVER. I'm sure my devoted few readers missed me. Honestly, I feel like I haven't had a whole lot of blog-worthy stuff going on. My running has been good, but unplanned and pretty low milage. The rest of my life is spent working or driving! Hmm, I'll try to sum up a few highlights from the last week or so.....

Stream of consciousness time...The top 10 of the week:

1) I FINALLY got back in the pool for a formal swim session on Friday. It has been atleast 6 months since I did any formal pool work and it felt GREAT. I did 30 minutes on Friday and felt good except my triceps were sore/tired afterward! Which was OK by me, especially since that is an area I really want to tone up. I was looking at pictures from my sisters' wedding 2 years ago (when I was swimming alot at the time) and LOVE how my arms looked in my strapless dress! So I'm a bit motivated by vanity...lol. Today I hit up the pool for 45 minutes of straight freestyle. Felt amazing.

2) I've also started strength training regularly. I took a core class at the local running shop last Monday, then repeated the routine again on my own last week. I really need the core work and I'm *trying* to get into it, it is just hard because I always go for the running when crunched for time. But, right now I'd rather hit up lower milage + core vs. extra miles. It is the 'off season' for me afterall!

3) The best run of my week by far was yesterday when I met up with a new friend/blog reader for a lovely winter-y feeling run. We cruised the roads along a new route for 7ish miles where we met up. Then, proceeded to drink coffee and chat it up for 2+ more hours! Such a nice treat on a blustery Sunday! I'm hoping for more of these runs to come!

4) Second best run was tonite when I met up with my mom post-work for a quick sunset run. I love running with my mom! And then we made grilled cheeses! Niccce.

5) I'm currently watching "Dancing with the Stars" with my parents. Being at their house for the night = nice. This show = lame. My parents' quarkiness = awesome.

6) I am sooo ready for Thanksgiving. Up-north. 4 days off from both jobs. Good food. Family. Enough said.

7) I feel totally weird not having any race goals set in stone right now. I really don't mind not having a training plan, but I'm getting anxious not having a set race on the horizon even. This may need to be remedied soon.

8) I don't have to work at the bakery tomorrow morning. Best. Morning. Ever. So, I will get to run, and do core before work! Plus, post-work I'm running again with my running group at a "light fest" run. 2x running and 1xjobs = how ever day should be.

9) I've noticed my bullet points are getting shorter, which further exemplifies the fact that I don't have a whole lot of exciting stuff to talk about.

10) Yeah, I better just end this now.

Ok, well that about sums up my life. I'll try to keep updated more regularly from here on out! Have a good night everyone! :)

back at it!

2010-11-05T16:26:00.000-04:00

I feel so weird not having a 'countdown' on my blog title! But, honestly I have nothing to countdown because for the first time in a few years, I am not signed up for another marathon. That's not to say I won't be doing one soon, it is just a fact that I haven't decided and am trying to be free and flexible right now.

As for running, I'm back at it! Started last Sunday with a few miles with my mom. Then, (perhaps stupidly) decided to run home from my mom's work on Monday. 10.5 miles in the dark in sub 30 degree weather the second day back running after 3 weeks off.....not so smart. It felt pretty good, but I was a bit sore the next day. The rest of my week has been filled with shorter, easier runs when I could squeeze them in between my jobs and 12 hour workdays. Really, work is what has been dominating my life the past few weeks. Hense my lack of time/motivation to blog. I've of course been teaching as usual, but also taken on extra hours at the bakery. Suddenly, my 15-20 hours a week there, turned into 30 hours! It has been difficult, but I'm really trying to save up extra money for that yet-to-be-determined spring marathon trip. We will see though. My sanity is not worth any amount of extra money! Plus, too much work = not enough time to train = sad me.

So yeah. Atleast the 'school week' is over. I got 12 hours at the market tomorrow, but if you've been reading my blog you know I have a slight obsession with the market. I'm alittle nervous because it is supposed to be 20 degrees...yikes. I'm hoping people will still be out and willing to buy bread and pastries from me though! I don't have very many weeks left to go down there, and the more I sell, the more likely my boss is to keep me going! Pressure is on!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Picture Time!

2010-10-25T21:01:00.000-04:00

No don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my blog, or my loyal blog readers! My life has just been work-work-work lately so I don't have a whole lot to blog about, seeing as I expect very few people want to hear about the drama of teaching middle and high school science or working crazy early shifts at a bakery. However, my sis sent me a few pics from the marathon, and I decided to share! I mostly look like a freak, but that's ok because we're all friends here!

This is me in front of the big ass 10-10-10 sign. Since I'm a super-nerd, I'm holding up ten fingers in honor of my 10th marathon on 10-10-10. Ha. Props to my sister for shooting/successfully cropping out the 1001 other people in the area attempting to take the same picture, lol. Although probably no one was quite as cool as me having it be their #10....

And this little beauty above must be from some point late in the race, as the word 'struggle' is pretty much written all over my face! Actually, I don't look *quite* as bad as the guy grimacing next to me! I do like this picture because of what my sister did making it black and white and the contrast and everything. My sister is actually a really talented up-and-coming photographer. You should check her out on her flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessmartin24/

And last, but certainly not least is a lovely picture from post-race. Yes, that is a bad of ice on my head. Yes, it felt amazing. This is myself and my bro-in-law waiting for the El. I am attempting to give my signiture 'peace sign' however, it seems the heat and fatigue of running a killer-bad marathon has effected my fingers' ability to straighten. Therefore, I look more like I am giving bunny ears to an imaginary friend or something...

So there you have it. Pictures! Such a rarity on my blog, especially since I put my sweet digital camera through the wash last winter....

And with that, I leave you. I have an extra early, though extra fun day tomorrow. I must be at the bakery a bit after 3am to get my morning stuff done. Why you ask? Because I am then going to this conference in Lansing about "Making it in Michigan." Basically, a conference devoted to seeing if you have a food product to market and how to make it happen. This is exciting because as you may know, it is my goal in the not-so-distant future to have my own bakery. Plus, I am very into buying local and keeping my $$ spent on Michigan made products (hey, somebody has got to support this stuggling state!) So, I get to spend a whole day (after the early bakery hours) listening and learning and sampling products. While a sub babysits...err...teaches my students. This is what I call a personal day! :) I'm very excited.

Ok, with that I am off. I don't think I have ever had to set my alarm for 2:xx am. But tomorrow will be a first....

T +7 days....The Recap

2010-10-17T13:51:00.000-04:00

My Local Readers~

Ok, I finally have a time when all of the stars have alligned- 1) I am far enough away from the marathon where I can actually think about it 2) I am close enough to the marathon to remember it, and 3) I finally have a spare second to sit and write it all out. So here goes....

My 10th on 10-10-10. I have to say, my first thought is to write that it went 100% differently from the way that I had hoped. But, upon further consideration, I think that is overly dramatic. So, like any good teacher, I will start with the good and THEN go to the bad. Always helpful at Parent-Teacher Conferences. But I digress.

The good: I was in Chicago. I made it to 10-10-10 with alot of training and pretty much no injuries (knock on wood- even though its over, I still must knock on wood!) I finished the marathon. My sister and brother-and-law were amazing- even setting a record for their cheering skills by seeing me 5 times on the course! Which is amazing considering the craziness of the city and layout of the course. There were fun *parts* of the marathon itself (ie the first 8 miles when I actually thought it might be an ok day). Hmm, yeah, that about sums up the good.

The bad: Well, I might as well just come out and say it as I already alluded to: I ran my slowest marathon ever. Yes, with the most training I have ever done, on the day where I had originally hoped to run my best ever, I ran the complete opposite. 4:05:something. And honestly, it still feels unreal to me. I came into the race knowing that it wouldn't be a PR, but I didn't even know I was capable of running that slow. I have NEVER trained that slow on ANY run. Literally, the second half was at a pace I haven't seen before in my life. It was so weird. It was like it wasn't even me running it. My long runs always average betwen 8:15-8:40, so the fact that I ran a pace so much slower during an actual race is mind blowing. And I simply don't know why.

Well, that's a lie. I do know sort of why. I was facing a burn out going into this race and the last month of training, as I mentioned on the blog before. It wasn't necessarily a burn out due to the summer of training, but rather the consistant 2 years of training I have been going at since starting training for my first Boston in 2009. That feeling of going from marathon to marathon with little to no time between training cycles, all the while adding milage and racing anything from 10 mile races to half marathons to a 50K mixed in. I expected this would lead to a PR, but more is better only to a point. And I think I got to the point where it became counterproductive to my goals. My paces weren't picking up and my motivation (gasp!) wasn't where it had once been. I feel like the last month of training was an exercise in survival. One bad run led to a lack of confidence which led to another bad run, which lead to more self-doubt, and so on. Coupled with a body that although it was holding up well, was just plain tired, and I arrived at the Starting Line feeling like I should be arriving at the finish line already! So I guess in that since I am proud that I did it.

Outside of the running craziness inside and outside my head, was my work schedule. This year feels particularly challenging for me. Teaching above full time at my school, with new classes to prep for has been alot. Added to that, my boss at the bakery has been continually scheduling me more to the point where including the market I am working almost 30 hours a week at the bakery- on top of my 'real job' teaching. So these 6 day workweeks that are many times 12 hour days, plus having to cram all of my prep work for my classes onto my 'weekend' on sunday has overwhelmed me. I'm honestly not saying this because I think I am all that great or anything- I understand lots of people work long and hard to make ends meet- but rather because although these aren't 'running related' necessarily, I think work + crazy commute contributed to my end-of-the training blues.

On a purely physical level- it was hot. 85-90 degrees, which would have been fine in August, but I felt like my body adapted to the cooler September temps and the heat was a shock to my system. And for some reason, I didn't handle it well. The whole right side of my body started hurting by mile 10 and I knew it would be a long day from there. I felt so sad and embarressed. But when I finished I was so happy just to have it over with. Despite how poorly I did, I just laughed it off for the rest of the day with my sis and bro-in-law and with my parents (via the phone.) It was only that night, when driving home from the airport late that it sunk in and I just let the emotion of everything take over. It was so hard to fathom all of the time and training that I put it, to run a marathon I probably could have done with 1/4 of the time and training. That has probably been the most difficult idea to come to grips with.

So where to from here with me? The good news is, I have proved that I can handle a new level of training. And I liked that. But, that doesn't mean that I need to train like that 365 days a year. This is the first time in over 2 years that I am not signed up for my next marathon. Yes, I have a few ideas on the horizon, but nothing official. So I'm taking that time. I'm keeping my workouts completely slim-none for the rest of the month. I feel like especially with my work schedule right now, I need the physical and mental breather. In November and December I will get back to it, but with running just as a part of my workout routine, leaving more time for swimming and strength training which I have missed for the last few months or so. That will also give me time to decide my spring plans. I don't plan to start any 'formal' training until atleast the new year. I want to be totally hungry and focused when I start up again.

I did run once with my friend this week. He was running a marathon today, and I am still awaiting the results. He took me out to dinner afterward to celebrate my 10-10-10. It was super-sweet thing to do. The run was on Wednesday and it was hard. I'm glad to be taking time off right now.

So yeah. I feel like a 'fraud' runner right now, after such a less-than-ideal performance. But, I have to get over that. I'm looking forward to some time away from formal training and to getting my body in better all-around shape (ie better arms and core that come with strength training and swimming) over the next couple of months. We'll see where I go with the blog from here. I'm sure I'll be around.

Peace, love, and running,
T-mart.

10th on 10-10-10

2010-10-13T21:24:00.002-04:00

Race report to come! Never fear, I haven't forgotten about my loyal readers. I just need a spare second to write....after I actually figure out what happened on Sunday.....

10 marathons and #10 was the slowest. Ever.

Stay tuned...

1- tomorrow is it.

2010-10-09T19:21:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that this countdown started from 100+ days, and now the marathon is here? I have run countless 90-105 mile weeks, 5 20+ mile runs, and thought a million hours about it. My beloved 10th marathon on 10-10-10 has arrived.

So yeah. Today was good though! Biked down in the morning to the Farmer's Market in Lincoln Park with my brother in law. It was cool to see a different market and help him get a few things for the week. Afterward, my sis and bro in law went to the gym, and I went for a quick 2 mile shakeout. Then, I met up with them and we zip-car-ed to the expo. It was really weird being at the expo though, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I was/am feeling nervous, but it wasn't the same as usual. Like I don't know quite how I feel about it all. I couldn't switch my corral because it was too late, so I'm stuck in the 'open' corral which stinks, because I really wanted to hook up with a pace group. And, I know it is going to be super-crowded at the beginning because the FASTEST in the open corral is 4:00 pace. Yikes. So, I'm a bit nervous for the beginning and getting too boxed in. But whatevs. I just have to work with it and do the best I can.

Now, we are all chillin discussing 'strategy' for tomorrow. Ie: where my sis and bro in law are going to see me and such. I have my normal 'cramp' of nerves (my stomach feels like there is a gas bubble trapped in it...weird, but it always happens pre-race.) I just feel not-at-ease in my head, but I don't know why. I know a PR is not really a possibility for tomorrow. That is not pessimism or anything, but merely me being realistic about where I am at right now from a physical and mental stance. But, I put in SO MUCH this summer to this training cycle and I find myself questioning 'why?' What was the point of it all if I run another 3:30+ marathon? Sure, I love the training, but I also love seeing results. And I feel like I was so ready at my marathon in Saginaw when I ran a 3:29 without even trying and now that whole idea feels lightyears away. Keeping even a moderate pace seems so unabtainable. I know this is all part of the mental burnout I am feeling after the last 2 years, but that doesn't make the feelings any easier or less real.

So the plan is to ENJOY it. Seriously. I know lots of people say that, and I am not usually one of them to admit to not 'racing hard' but I feel like it is right for tomorrow. I have run well this training cycle. I have learned alot. It was not all for nothing. There will never be another time that I run my 10th marathon, what's more on 10-10-10. I can do it painfully, or I can love every minute. I choose the ladder.

So we will see how it goes. That's all there is to it. The one thing I have learned is it doesn't get any easier- even on the 10th time. There will always be self doubt. There will always be the uncertainty. There will always be the anticipation of pain. But the thing that does get easier with time is KNOWING that I can deal with it. That I can push through. I've run a marathon with a stress fracture (my 1st). I've run my second in 90 degree heat. I've run Boston/Bayshore within 5 weeks of each other- 2 years in a row. I ran Saginaw at the end of a 100 mile week. I'm not saying these things to 'toot my own horn' but rather as a reminder of adversity that I have come through. This should be easy then... ;)

Anyways, the weather man just said it would be 80+ degrees during the marathon and hense no PR's should be expected. He was also comparing this year to the year of 'death' ie 2007, ie the last time I ran Chicago. I always say how much I love the heat! Now it is time for me to put my money where my mouth is!

See y'all on the other side.....Peace. Love. Running.

2- CHICAGO!!!

2010-10-08T21:02:00.000-04:00

Well, thanks for the comments/messages! I'm feeling *slightly* better today after some good sleeps last night. And, I'm in Chicago at my sis' and bro-in-laws, so there is no turning back now!

Getting to the airport was a bit of an adventure though. Traffic forced me to reroute completely on all side streets, rather than the freeway. Then, half of the security terminals were closed, forcing everyone into one place. After waiting forever, the security guard yelled at me for not taking off my sweatshirt (but I wasn't wearing anything under!?!?!) and then they had to pull me aside and frisk me and touch the bottom of my feet?? for some reason while all of my stuff (laptop, phone, bags, were someplace else I couldn't see. Annoying. Then, I dropped my ID and boarding pass on the bathroom floor, which would be OK except I am a total germaphobe......Good times. But, I made it here at last. We visited "The Worlds Biggest Whole Foods" for dinner tonite and a few groceries. They even have a "trail mix bar" (ie my favorite food ever) which was stocked with all of my favorite things. So, I got a great mix for POST marathon. Which is sealed luckily.....

Anyways, it feels great to be here and be able to chill. No running today, and a couple mile shakeout tomorrow. We also have a farmer's market visit planned along with the expo. And of course THE big game (ie U of M vs MSU). My sis is a die hard U of M alum. And, although I'm not die hard....I am an alum. So we should have a nice afternoon of game watching and relaxing. Sounds perfect to me!

Have a good day everyone! :)

4, 3 nervous. breakdown.

2010-10-07T19:32:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I feel like my posts have all been such buzz kills lately! I really hate to whine/vent on the blog, but sometimes it has to happen. Like now.

This week has been crazy. Honestly, it has been too much. In my head and body, taper maddness is in full force. Which I could deal with if it wasn't for my schedule this week. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Today I was up at 3:30am and at the bakery by 4:30am. Teaching from 10:30-5, killing myself in traffic because every road in Michigan is under construction. Running after work. Getting home by 7 or 8pm. Too. Much. Today, I seriously almost had a nervous breakdown. I busted ass to get to my school on time, after working all morning making pasties at the bakery. Then, I got to the parking lot and just sat there and wanted to cry! It was so ridiculous, but for a couple of minutes I couldn't even force myself in! Thursdays are particularly bad because I teach PE too, so my 'prep' period is no longer and I have to teach 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th periods straight. 2 x 7th grade science, high school girls PE, high school physics, high school chem, and honors high school chem all in a row. Which was especially rough today. Which I think is why I just wanted to sit in my car and start crying! Uggghhh, I'm so lame!

The only good news is: I survived it. Today. This week. And, I will not be working tomorrow as I am flying to Chicago! So, I will be going to bed by 8pm tonite and plan to sleep until 8am. I'm hoping that will screw my head on straighter than it is right now.

And running. yeah. Bad news is, my legs feel like lead on the riduculously short runs I've been doing the past couple of days. Good news is, my paces are decent. Yesterday, I met up with my dad at his work (he works ~ 5 miles from where I work) and ran. I first did 2 miles on my own, then 3 with him for an easy five miler. My miles = 7:19, 7:20. Woah there tiger! Today, I did 3 miles. I almost blew it off completely to be honest. My legs felt dead and my whole body felt jiggly. Miles = 7:34, 7:44, 7:54. They felt like about 10 minute pace, and I couldn't imagine doing any more! I'm hoping it is just cuz I'd been working allll day before I ran. Jeez, I'm freaking out!

Ok, that's it. I'll hopefully have a better update tomorrow. For now, I just feel exhausted and it is messing with my head. I feel slow, fat, crazy, and insane! Need. Sleeps.

I'm out...

6, 5 - Freaking. Out.

2010-10-05T19:49:00.000-04:00

Yeah, true story. I'm freaking out.

I'm working tons this week Tuesday-Thursday, yet my mind is on the marathon pretty much 24/7. I feel completely out of whack in terms of only easy/short running and getting so nervous. My eating feels all screwed up too- either I forget to eat/feel horrible and not hungry, or am eating for like 24 hours straight...which also ends up feeling not-so-good. I blame it on the fact that my body isn't used to this little running! And, sleeping is nonexistant. Getting up at 3:30 was rough today, not only because it is 3:30, but because it is basically the middle of the night, I am always worried I will sleep through my alarm and so therefore I wake up 30000x during the night, which never usually happens for me! Ugggh. I just need this week done.

Teaching is going OK though. I'm pretty on top of things in that area, which is always nice. And my students like to ask me 101 questions about my running which always gets us off task and on tangents, but I never mind because I have a small obsession with running (in case you haven't got that yet) and I love telling my students about its joy!

Yeah, so I guess not much to report here. I'm at a coffee shop because I was feeling like I needed to get out of my apartment after I got home, even though I'd been gone for 13 hours. But I had already cleaned out my car, the kitchen, done tons of laundry and other stuff to get my jitters out, which wasn't working. So I choose coffee shop.

Ok, I gotta go. Alarm is again set for the pre-4am hour. One day closer....

8, 7 - ONE WEEK

2010-10-03T19:55:00.000-04:00

Ohhh man. I keep having waves of nervousness over me when I think about the marathon. It feels "so close, but yet so far." As in, too close for comfort but so far away that I still have tons of crap to do/get through before it. Yikes. And, I'm working at the bakery 5am-10am Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before teaching 11am-5pm (yes, true story I have to teach again.) Which stinks cuz I miss out on pre-marathon week sleep. But is good because I need to make up for the 12+ hour shift I am missing this week by not being at the market Saturday. Thus is life.

Today was a GREAT run though. It was my last 'quality' work before the marathon and my last 'long' run, ie: 10 miles. After a long day yesterday at the market and a long sleep last night in my freezing cold room (hell yeah I sleep with the window open when it is 35 degrees overnight) I awoke feeling hyper and ready to get 'er done. I drove to a neighboring town to do a new route on the roads before visiting my friend at the town's farmer's market. Let me tell you: this route was exactly my style. Mostly flat except for one uphill, and all on sidewalks along the main road. I could just look ahead and see sidewalk stretching ahead of me for a mile and attack it! Love it.

I started off and immediately felt good. I decided to just go with it and see how it went. I was going directly into the wind for the first mile or so, but knew since my route was a big rectangle that it would get better. And so I went. I could tell it was fast, but honestly it felt good! The temps were in the 40s, the sidewalk was open and I let my legs go. I decided at mile 6 to push the last 2 slightly, then relax on the last two. Mile 7 = 7:22. Mile 8 = 7:16! Overall = 8 miles at 7:26 pace. My fastest training run in this cycle. And my splits were close (for me!) too. Everything between 7:16 - 7:37 (uphill mile). I feel happy that my 'slow' mile was still only seconds off GMP. Then I did 2 miles easy. Totally a confidence building run. I'm not saying that I feel less worried/doubtful/revising my goals about Chicago, but this was the best run that I have had in a long time. I'm hoping I'll be even more ready after 1 final week of hard core taper.

Speaking of which, tomorrow I rest. I sleep in, teach, prep, and go to bed. That is the plan. Taper is madness to me, one who took about 3 rest days during this cycle. But it is a madness I will endure to get my legs primed and ready at the line next Sunday. Plus, I have to actually focus on my job this week. Imagine that. Lots of young minds to mold in the areas of 7th grade science, Physics, and Chemistry. Let the good times roll. :)

11, 10, 9 - its on the forcast...

2010-10-01T16:52:00.000-04:00

I don't know what is going on with me, but somehow the marathon nerves + my decreased milage have made me stay away from my beloved blog! But alas, I am back.

Yes, it is true- marathon day is on the forcast. Calling for 51-67 degree temps and showers in Chicago. Yikes. Actually, I'm ok with that. I fear wind the most. And showers = cloudy skies = less chance for wind. So yeah. We will see. It is bound to change about 100x before 10/10/10.

The second half of my week has been...ok.....I haven't been as productive as I should have, but I have still gotten a decent amount of work done. My mental funk is still alive, but I'm trying to kick it to the curb. I have got a nice amount of sleep this week, which makes a huge difference in my mental status so that is good. Running wise, Wednesday was some sort of easy run with a massive hill repeat ('heartbreak' that I trained on last spring). 8:17 pace overall? Maybe?? Yesterday, I did 10 miles split into a decent 6.5 miles in the morning, and a short 3.5 shakeout with my running group. The morning run was at 7:41 pace, which felt a bit harder than I wish it did. Then, at night after doing the first couple miles with my group, I broke off to go back early (which took major self restraint on my part!) The first couple of miles with them were at a 9 minute pace, so I decided just to see where my body naturally went on it's own after. Splits: 7:42, 7:22! That was good, because I seriously barely felt like I sped up!

Today, I contemplated doing my last 'long run' ie; 10 miles because I've been doing my longs on Fridays. But, with 9 days and knowing I will be majorly tapering the miles next week, I decided to hold off until Sunday. Although I hate pushing back a long run, I figure that 10 miles isn't really long so physically and mentally it shouldn't be too tough after market day tomorrow. So yeah. Easy run today. Felt OK. I'll leave it at that. I left G-man at home because I didn't want to obsess about pace. At this point, it is all about relaxing, staying loose, and trying to stay fresh for the next week or so.

The rest of today has been spent writing tests and reviews and doing tons of errands. I want to be really prepared because I know next weekend = zero time for prep work so therefore I need to be fully ready to teach for two weeks. And, I'm trying to get a really good handle on my "October Finances". I am very financially responsible, but need to keep better track of things as I am saving money now with my 2 jobs. The joys of adulthood....

Off to keep at it! Happy Weekend!

ps. I changed my blog layout. Because I'm wild and crazy like that! Hope it is more pleasing to the eye!

12- not having to go to work = priceless

2010-09-28T19:59:00.000-04:00

Getting paid the same and not having to go to work = beyond priceless. I don't think being salaried will ever get old....

Tonite I'm back at the apartment. So glad I spent the early afternoon cleaning on Sunday before I left- I absolutely love coming home to a perfectly clean place! I did a quick 5 miler this morning in POURING rain. And since I had no jacket, I had to wear my dad's. Which was a wee bit big. By the end, I'm sure I looked like a drowd rat, and the oversized jacket weighed about 10lbs. Sweeet. Then, tonite I went to the running club that meet right by my place. We did a 7 miler through some seriously wet and intensely hilly trails. It was fun though. Since this isn't my normal group (Thursday night group is a different group/different shop) I am much more quiet and reserved. It is kind of nice just to run and listen to other people talk. I'm very much a talker, so it is a good reminder just to chill out and listen! I've come to realize that it is this groups MO to start off very slowly but pick it up each mile. Which is tough because the last few miles are always uphill. But it is good practice for me, because that is NOT my nature ever.

12 mile day = good thing. Working EARLY at the bakery tomorrow = rough. Especially when I've been sleeping in these past few days. But, my shift is short. And I have lunch with Mike planned to celebrate his Bday. Should be a good day.

I'm off to watch Biggest Loser. I'm hoping it gets better because I found last week's premier to be incredibly boring and repetitive. Which stinks because NBC is one of the 2 or 3 channels I get in my cable-less world!

15, 14, 13 - SURVIVOR

2010-09-27T19:23:00.000-04:00

True story: I came home to my parents' house last night to catch up on the next season of SURVIVOR that just started. Yeah, they have Comcast and DVR and stuff I don't have, so I can catch up on the first two episodes. My dad and I have been watching Survivor since the 2nd season when I was in 8th grade together. We try to get together every few weeks and watch the episodes together when we can. It is one of the only TV shows I really follow anymore, due to my life + the fact that I don't have cable and only get 2 or 3 channels at my apartment. So this post will be quick so I can get back to the first episode before my dad gets home and we watch the second together.

My weekend was crazy, as usual. But, my week is much more chill being off from teaching. I actually got alot of prep work done today at my parents' which is good. It is so nice to have a big table and 'office' to spread out in, as well as internet. And copious amounts of coffee. And Ollie the cat. Something comforting about being at 'home' even when I am old and consider my apartment 'home' now.

Running wise, meh. I'm trying to keep this week at around 50 miles. Less than 2 weeks and at this point, I think less is more. Today I did 8 miles total- 5 easy this morning on a nice familar loop, then 3 this evening with my mom when she got home from work. I totally yammered on about the marathon and stupid stuff the whole time. I love my mom for putting up with it! It must have felt like a long 3 miles! We went to the gym afterward, but I kept the strength training to a minimum and did some stretching because at this point I don't want to do anything too crazy/drastic and I've been doing zero strength training.

Tomorrow I'll hang out here for a bit, then head back in the evening and perhaps hit up the group run by my apartment. I have to work at the bakery bright and early Wednesday. Hopefully the prep will continue to go strong during the day. Although I welcome suggestions for sweet 7th grade science activities!

17, 16 - enjoyment = up, productivity = down

2010-09-24T17:05:00.000-04:00

Hmm, yeah, that title describes my last two days......I'm accomplishing stuff, but not nearly enough. Must. Get. On. That.

Both days have been awesome though. I've been 'working' but not at either job, which is lovely. Yesterday began with a quick 6+ mile run at 7:44 pace. Felt good. Dirt roads were fun. Then, I hurried to meet my friend for coffee at my favorite hippie coop downtown. She is actually an old boss of mine at the restaurant I worked at for 5 years up north in the summer. So fun to catch up! Before we knew it, it was 2:30pm! I was starving and my dad was stopping by my apartment to drop off my bookself, so I busted my butt home, got to see my pops for 2 minutes, and he was off. My bookself looks awesome though, no more crap piled in the corner! And so much more accessible. And, my pops brought my Chicago confirmation....yikes......

Then, it was running group time! (see what I mean about productivity....) Since Mike is still not able to run, I ran with some other people at a nice, relaxed pace. We did 6.5 miles then had to 'packet stuff' again. But it is actually really fun because everyone just chats it up and Mike was there too. Him and I get really intense/competitive with the packet stuffing which ends up resulting in us laughing but also getting alot done! It was kind of sad though, because we are prepping the stuff for "Woodstock" which is the 50K I did spur of the moment last year, and one of my first "real" posts. You should read it! ;) Anyway, I'm bummed because I won it, and would love to go back and defend my title, but a 50K two weeks before my marathon doesn't seem smart. Last year I still had lots of weeks until Philly so it was OK. But anyway....I guess you can't do it all!

I got home late from all those good times, ate a half of a squash for dinner (dont' judge) and passed out.

And then it was today!

Today = "long run" which now seems short because I did my last 20 miler last Friday so today was 'only' a 15 miler. I decided to do it on the same course from last week, and just cut off the loop down to campus to make it 15 instead of 20. The temps were in the 80s, and I was OK with that until the weather man told me there was a "wind warning". I didnt' even know there was such thing! 40mph winds were predicted with 55mph gusts!?!?! Oh boy.....

The run started out OK. My Garmin wasn't charged, so I had to go old school with my stopwatch. The first 4 miles felt really fresh......until I turned and realized that was because I had been crusing with the wind at my back! The next 7 miles were some of the toughest ever. In two directions of the 'square' of the run, the wind was right in my face. The first 3 of those 7 miles were hard- until I turned and realized that they were nothing compared to the next 4 miles I would face. Honestly, I had to laugh when it started to rain horizontally! My wrap-around ear buds kept blowing out of my ears, which really didnt' matter much because it was hard to hear my music over the wind anyway! I knew roughly where the mile marks on the course were, so I kept checking my pace and realizing that it was decent- especially considering the conditions. My quads were screaming though! I just kept repeating "I am hard core" in my head the whole time. Including when I almost got blown off an overpass....over the freeway...yeah, true story. Good times.

I did a good job pushing the pace until the end. I'm not sure exactly without mile by mile splits, but it felt pretty consistant, in spite of the wind. Overall..... 15 miles at 8:13 pace. Yeah, I'm actually really pleased.

My afternoon has been spent working at the coop...while blog reading. Atleast my grading is done. Reading papers written by 7th graders about "States of Matter" requires lots of coffee....and blog breaks......

And tomorrow is the market! :) Other than the 3:33am alarm, it promises to be a good day!

Happy Weekend!

20, 19, 18 - back to blogging

2010-09-22T18:34:00.000-04:00

The combo of my buzz kill post Sunday, lack of time, and spotty internet made posting the last couple days not happen. Hopefully this will be a quick recap.

Monday I ran. Standard run. Honestly, I dont' really remember much of it. 8:16 pace maybe? Felt ok.

Yesterday was a good day though! Did 6 miles in the morning at 8ish pace. Then, busted my butt through traffic after work to meet up with a running group that meets at the running shop that is literally 1 mile from my house at 6pm. It was really fun! The pace started out reallly slow, so I worried at first because it was downhill at the beginning and I just wanted to *go*. But, it was good self restraint for me! I ended up just listening to other people's conversations for the first few miles. Our leader led us down to these cool trails and this dam that I didn't even know existed, even though it ajoins to a park that I run in all the time! So, that was cool. Each mile we kept picking it up a bit. Finally, I was pushing the pace with another guy who had recently done a 50 mile race. Since this is on my horizon for sometime in the future, I grilled him about it! We stopped at a water fountain about 5 miles in and from there, ran back to the shop. It was ALL uphill including the mock "heartbreak" hill that I did repeats on last spring pre-Boston. And have avoided ever since. Me and the guy were still pushing at a 7:30 pace at this point up the 3/4 mile hill and I was trying desperately to keep up with the conversation while having it seem effortless because I am vain and like to look bad ass! We finally crested the hill with less than a mile to the running shop and me and two guys really opened it up. My legs were shot, but it felt great. All in all, a great 8 mile evening run to round out 14 miles for the day.

Today I kept it short and sweet as I'm trying to hold my miles to the 70s this week. I was at the bakery SUPER early ie: 4am, because there was a butt load of special orders and additional things on tap for the day. I was out by 9am though and conviently I am off from teaching for awhile so I could head home and run. I don't know if it is the combo of adrenaline from getting up early or the infinity of caffeine I ingest in the form of coffee at work, but these post-bakery morning runs seem to be pretty decent. I headed out into the 80 degree/humid morning as summer seems to have returned to Michigan. I headed downhill of course from my apartment, making up a loop as I went. My shins are really killing me lately so I tried to hit up some dirt roads. I actually felt *smooth* for a change. Like my body and my mind weren't fighting me the whole time like usual. Which was nice. So I went with it. I did 6 miles at 7:42 pace with splits between 7:27 and 7:50 the whole time. Even on the uphills! :) Then, I did two easy miles at 8:25 pace to shake everything out. All in all, a pleasing 8 miles and I was done for the day.

I'm still feeling the mental funk a bit, but trying to pull through. I'm not sure if my running is making me feel bad mentally, or if my mental state/life stuff is making me think about/run bad. Oh well. I will give it time and see how it goes.

Good news is, I am off from teaching for over a week! We start in the middle of August because of a break that happens now. I need to prep for the next three months though (literally) so I am making myself work a set amount each day so I stay on task. It is times like this though, when I am happy/fortunate to be a salaried worker. Today I made the same amount as I do everyday! :)

Tomorrow I have a coffee date with an old/good friend. And my dad will be in town so he is bringing a bookself I bought last week. And run club at night. Coupled with a morning run, should be a good day!

22, 21 the fire is flickering.....

2010-09-19T16:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, update time. I'll explain the post title in a second......

Yesterday was a normal, long, crazy, Saturday of market for 12+ hours and fitting tons of junk in around that. The highlight was the fact that my parents' surprised me at the market because my dad wanted to see it! So nice of them + they bought me some of my groceries including local squash, my weekly 1lb bag of spinach, head of broccoli, and peaches. Sadly, the much of it has already been eaten in the last 24 hours. Alas, thus is life.

Then I slept. For a glorious 12 hours. And I could have/would have kept going if I didn't actually have to get my crap together today.

Starting with my run. Since I already did my 20 miler on Friday, today was a simple 10 miler. Although I didn't "garmin" it, I think that it was just under 8 minute pace, which was good I guess. But, here's confession time. With running right now, the fire is flickering. I think that analogy suits how I am feeling right now because I wouldn't call what I am experiencing a full-on burn-out, but I am feeling the cumulative effects of training on my physical and mental well being and it is tough.

I got really honest with myself while running today. Honest in the sense that I know I need a break from training. It is not just the last 15 weeks of training for this marathon, or the 95-105 mile weeks I have put in during that time. It is more of a culmination of almost 2 years of training consistantly (starting with training for my first Boston in 2009) with very little time off, even between marathons. Heck, I ran my second fastest marathon this summer and then ran 12 miles the next day! What I'm saying is not a 'yay me' party, but rather the opposite. I am completely spent on every level. For every 1 quality run I have, I feel as though I have 4 terrible ones. My legs feel worse than ever, not from an injury standpoint, but from a deep and overall fatigue standpoint. In my quest for my PR over the past 2 years, I have lived my the mentality of 'more, more, more.' Adding more miles, training twice a day when I could, trying to get speedwork in. Even more so, fixating my life around running. And you know what? I wouldn't change any of that. I've honestly loved every minute of it. But I feel myself getting obsessive and caught up too much in it all, thus exhausting me and making it harder than it has to be. Here I am 3 weeks from my 10th marathon and I sometimes can't imagine getting to the starting line, not to mention the finish line.

And I hate saying all this because running IS ME. It is who I am and defines me almost completely. And again, I love that. But I just feel like if I am ever going to reach my potential as a runner, and my lifelong goal of not only PRing and going sub 3:18, but being a sub 3hour marathoner, I need to take a step back. I am proud of what I have accomplished, but I know as I keep pushing, I am making it impossible for me to accomplish even more.

I don't know why I am saying all of this really. This is much more personal than I usual go on the old blog, and I know I don't have that many readers. Everything just seems very hard now. Teaching full-time and the drama that comes with it. Keeping up with my part time job 2-4 days a week. My 100-mile-a-day-in-traffic commute that is driving me nuts. And oh yeah, trying to run 10-15 miles a day. Hopefully I'm in a funk and will get over it, but right now I just want to crawl into bed for 2 weeks or so...lol.

So anyway....

I must get back to the mountain of grading that piled up last week. Grading 7th grade science tests = mind-numbing.

24, 23 dead legs, longggg run

2010-09-17T17:03:00.000-04:00

I had full intentions of posting last night, but my spotty internet was gone again! So annoying.....So, this is a double post!

Yesterday - bad day. My runs were slooow and sluggish and my legs felt dead. Starting with an 8 miler in the morning before work. Then, my work day was terrrrible. Lots of crap happened that I had to deal with as a teacher, and it basically bummed me out and infuriated me. I won't bore you with the details, but lets just say sometimes my school drives me nuts. Plus, on Thursdays I teach 6 periods in a row with no break besides 20 minutes for lunch. And I don't have a 'classroom' so I'm running around between rooms and the gym (one period for PE) And a particular teacher thinks it is cool to stick her Lean Cuisine in the teacher's lounge microwave for 10 minutes when I only need it for like 30 seconds. Yeah, that's not cool. So I have about .3 seconds to eat. Buzz kill.

Then, because I had to deal with the crap of my day after work, I got on the road 15 minutes later than usual. Which meant I SAT in traffic. My commute took almost 2 hours, which meant I missed running with my running group. I was so pissed that I just parked my car 6 miles from the store we meet at, and ran there. Everyone was 'packet stuffing' for a race this weekend, which is something we all volunteer to do every few weeks in exchange for race entries. So I got to hang out for a couple hours and chat, which was nice. Then Mike drove me back to my car, which was also nice because my legs were totally wasted and I hit my 14 miles for the day already and it was 9:30pm.

Whew!

So on to today.....

I had intentions all week of doing my long run today ie: my last 20 miler before the marathon because a) I didn't have to work either job and b) I HATE having to drag my tired butt out of bed Sunday morning after working a crazy long/tiring day at the market Saturday. But honestly, I wasn't sure if I could do it today after this week of training. My legs felt so terrible yesterday, I wasn't sure if it would be worth it if I was hitting 10 minute miles or something. I slept in though, and decided to make the decision in the morning. I was scheduled to have coffee with a friend at 2pm, but when I got up at 8am (yessss, amazing) she had cancelled. I took it as a sign because this meant I had nothing 'scheduled' until 6:30pm tonite. Although I'm over my head in grading....but that's besides the point.

So I decided to try.

I knew that my 'other run' ie: what I will do on Sunday had to be 13 miles, and so I gave myself license to stop then if I wanted and do 20 on Sunday. But honestly, who am I kidding. There was no way I would stop at 13 miles!

So I set out on a 'new' loop that I only did once last spring as a 15 miler. Honestly, my legs killed but the run itself went by really fast. I ran by horse farms, almost got hit by oncoming traffic on a too-narrow county road shoulder, ran through fresh tar leaving footprints, and counted road kill (15 road kills in less than 10 miles including snakes, birds, racoons, and un-identifiable rodents.) I also ran by this cool farm market that I ended up driving back to this afternoon and scoring some cheap, Michigan-grown produce! 14 miles in, I was back in town and grabbed a drink at a waterfountain in a park. I hate waterfountains, but I make exceptions when running. I realized how dead my legs were at this point and almost had a mental breakdown. But, then I decided that 6 miles was nothing and I turned on my ipod for the first time during the run, which helped. Having to run from town -----> my apartment pretty much all uphill at the end = not cool. But I did it. And honestly, that is what today was about. When my Garmin hit 20 miles almost exactly outside my apartment, I felt proud. Was it a fast run? No. Did I feel great? No. But I did it. And honestly, you never regret a run.

20 miles @ 8:38 pace. Today, that was all I had.

I then proceded to eat frozen grapes while soaking my legs in the freezing cold pool at my apartment. Then, I was freezing so I jumped in the jacuzzi. Good call.

My legs? Basically they are hurting. I feel like I'm really tapped out right now from a physical and mental sense. I'm a few days over the 3 week mark and my body feels very much in need of a rest. I just hope I can hold on for a few more weeks.....

And now I must tackle the mountain of grading. Market allll day tomorrow, which I get strangely excited about. Other than the fact that it is an early, physically exhausting day, it is alot of fun. Or maybe I'm just a dork? Hmmmm

Happy Weekend! :)

25- "You know I can't slow down, I can't hold back...."

2010-09-16T07:09:00.000-04:00

Yes, that quote from Cage the Elephant's "Aint No Rest for the Wicked" pretty much summed up my day and my run. Good song too!

Well, the pre-4am hour dawned extra early today and I spent a good 5 minutes in bed whining in my head and feeling sorry for myself that I am a top-college educated person with a legit full-time teaching job, yet I still have to work a second job to make ends meet. Then, I got over it and got out of bed. Lol. My legs were not really sore, but felt super tired from yesterday's 14 total miles with 3x mile repeats at night. But, I view tiredness as a good thing. Means they were working hard!

It was a bakery morning, followed by the customary speeding commute to teach while changing in the car. Classy. Teach x 6 classes (made my middle school girls run today in gym...too funny!) then a staff meeting. It was near 5pm when I got done, and the thought of traffic was unbearable. So, I did what I usually do and pulled into the nearest parking lot by work, changed, and was off!

I knew my legs would be sluggish from yesterday's speedwork + my 12 hour workday, so I gave myself permission to go SLOW and SHORT. I had no pace or distance in mind, just decided to feel my way through town and hopefully get back to my car eventually. I decided to check my mile splits as they came, which I don't usually do, but I wanted to make sure I was going slow enough. Honestly, my legs felt totally dead. I felt embarressed because I was sure I was going so slow and cars were probably pointing and laughing. I missed my first mile split, but looked down in time to catch mile 2. I prepared myself to see upper 8's....

7:42.

Seriously, you would think after running my whole life I would be better and knowing what pace I'm at. Honestly, it felt so slow and easy! I decided just to 'maintain' and not push my effort or not slow down and see what happened. I tried to keep everything really light feeling.

Mile 3: 7:42

And so they remained in the 7:40s for a few miles. It didn't feel hard, but I could tell that my legs weren't recovering necessarily. The route was very scenic, slightly hilly, but not too bad. Only bad when I ran out of sidewalk and was sandwiched running between overhanging trees and rush hour traffic for awhile. Ha. I made the decision at the 6 mile mark to run 10 miles. But, I decided that I would push mile 7, then force myself to do the last 3 easy.

Mile 7: 7:29 Sooo happy!

I stopped and reset my Garmin at this point. I had done 7 miles at 7:44 pace which I was pumped about considering yesterday and my day today. And how easy it felt. I told myself to do 8:30s for the last 3 miles. They ended up being 8:17, 8:22, 8:06. And since I was 'forcing' myself to slow down, they seriously felt like 9:30s.

So good run. I'm trying to appreciate it because I have been whining about my bad runs lately. This week has been good though, so I'm hoping it continues. Tomorrow I am REALLY making myself go easy because I want to be fresh for my last 20 miler this weekend. Yes, that is the plan.

And the best part....it was 6:30pm by the time this was all over. Traffic = gone. Drive home = 40 minutes rather than 60+ minutes. Yesss indeedy. I am easily pleased.

My stupid legs are still twitching like crazy! Time for me to slap on my compression socks and jump in bed! So excited to 'sleep in' until 6:30am tomorrow morning and not have any bakery! :) Again, it's the simple pleasures....

26- nice to meet you, speedwork

2010-09-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

It has been much too long since I did any kind of formal speedwork. With my running partner sidelined with a foot injury, my motivation to do anything formally fast declined rapidly. Read: it hasn't been happening. Buttt, tonite I changed that.

First, this morning. It began with a glorious sunrise 8 miler around my parents' house. It was 'chilly' in the 50s and although my legs were tired, the run went by fast. I think it was an 8:13 pace? I dunno. I tried to keep it easy so I would have something left for tonite.....

Then, I molded minds all day. ie: I taught. Atleast tomorrow is the 15th and it is FINALLY our first pay day even though we have been working for 3+ weeks. That's all I have to say about that.

Rushed home, dumped my stuff and changed, then sped to campus where my cities "Track Club" meets on Tuesday night to do workouts. I met with them a few years ago in college for a few weeks, but then dropped off when I started running club for my school, and training for marathons. Well, I looked them up online and tonite's workout read 3x1 mile with 400 jog rest. Uh oh.

I did a warmup, met some people, then much too soon, the workout began. My goal was just sub-7s for all of them because my legs have so many miles on them and I haven't done this short of speedwork in forever. The first one felt effortless, and I hit it in 6:13. Ooops. Yeah, bad plan. The second one was much harder. 6:32. The third one, my legs were screaming! 6:50. Crap. I suck at pacing. But, I was pretty proud of that considering everything. I'll take it.

Randomly, I am getting internet at my apartment tonite. Ironically so because I FINALLY bit the bullet and ordered wireless service. So. Much. $$$$. Alas, thus is life.

Alarm is set for 3:53am! Bakery morning, teaching afternoon, run after it all. Blah. I hate doing things in that order!

27- split run(s), good run(s)

2010-09-13T20:34:00.000-04:00

Ok, a couple minutes to blog....

Unfortunately, my crazy family weekend + the market + unexpectedly having to drive home to my parents' house last night so I could have my car brakes fixed today (hello $$$) meant that I got very little....read: no....prep work done this weekend. So, I'm sort of taking teaching day-by-day this week. Which I hate. So I must get back to it!

But first: quick weekend run down!

Time with my sis and bro in law Friday night was fun! Local burgers = epic. The market dawned bright and early Saturday morning and I was running on about 1 hour of sleep after staying up later with my sis and bro in law + sleeping uncomfortably on the couch so they could have the bed. Yeah, I'm that nice. But, I do really like the long, crazy, market day and plus my sis and mom came down to visit + bought me veggies because I have zero time to 'shop' when I'm there, manning the booth. When I finally got off at 5pm, I high tailed it home, then drove another 45 minutes to our family reunion thingy which was fun but lasted until almost midnight. Ie: by then I had been up for 20+ hours and was sleeeeepy. Upon driving home, I realized that my brakes were messed up. Awesome. Atleast my sis kept me awake!

Finally getting to sleep at 1am, I set the alarm for 6:45am and woke up feeling horrible. Hungover, even though I didn't drink??!?! I considered blowing off my 10 miler, but after drinking some juice I felt better so I headed out. I felt really good and speedy, but my pace sort of buzz-killed me when it came back as a 8:17 average. Blah. Post-run, my parents drove out and met my sis, bro in law, and I at this amazing high-class brunch buffet. Yum. I got my money's worth, but unfortunately got "glutened" somehow which made the last 24 hours or so...not very....pleasant. But atleast it was delicious! We celebrated my mom and sis's b-day so presents were involved. Then, off they went back to Chicago. My dad then determined my brakes were broke, which meant I drove back to their house so my dad and I could deal with the car today and I could still get to work. (my dad and I work about 5 miles from each other!) Lots of $$ later, it was fixed. I guess that's the joy of the fact that I'm on pace to put 30,000+ miles on my car this year. Oye.

Running today was supposed to be 12 miles, split into 6/6. It was close to that, and honestly went really well. This morning, I had very limited time after dropping off my car and driving my dad to work, before I had to get to work so I knew I had to go fast. Here's how the 6 miler went down:

7:48, 7:34, 7:29, 7:40, 7:35, 7:11 = 7:33 average; pretty 'negative' splits for me!

Then, post-work my dad asked if I wanted to do 3 miles after we picked my car up. But, he wasn't ready to leave work yet, so I did 3 miles right away around his office alone.

7:53, 7:30, 7:15 = 7:32 average; one second faster than this morning! :p

Post-car pick up my pops and I did another 3 at a 8:25 pace. It was really good chatting time, although lots was about my finances and future. Thanks pops.

So yeah, that about catches everything up. It is 8:34pm and I'm still not ready to go for tomorrow, and still haven't had dinner. Time to get on that!

Peace out!

29,28 - i need a weekend from my weekend....

2010-09-12T19:42:00.001-04:00

Nuff said. 10 mile run, lots of family time, broken car. Boo. back at it tomorrow. blogging will resume.....

30- Long Run, short day

2010-09-10T19:00:00.000-04:00

Where has today gone? Between my long run, running errands, and cleaning my whole apartment...all 700 square feet, lol...the day has flown! Now it is 7pm and I'm at a coffee shop waiting for my sis and bro-in-law to get here so we can go to dinner! Long run = hungry me.

Butt, the run itself was not-so-great. The route was nice, sort of a combo of roads and a long stretch through the network of parks for about 7 miles, then ending with a character-building three miles up "the parkway." It actually got pretty hot out, since I left at 10am and all and the sun was intense and reinforced my sweet double watch tan (on wrist I have my 'always on' sports watch, and the other, my Garmin when I run.) I actually went on a 'forbidden trail' that meant I had to hop through a fense. And then I had to backtrack when a bunch of guys + a huge shovel-machine thingy were in the way. Ha, oh well. Sadly, I think the highlight of my run was a spontaneous popsickle. I stopped to get a drink of water at mile 15-ish at the park at the foot of "The Parkway". Suddenly, I saw that because the park is also a canoe livery, they have a snack shop. I was deseperate for anything because water just wasn't cutting it. I saw a popsickle and went for it. I realized that 80 calories of popsickle on an 18 mile run probably aren't going to help a whole lot physically, but I was hoping for more of a mental life. Not so much. The parkway went by fast, but was tough. I rallied to finish the last (uphill) mile in 7:52, but that didn't help my 8:32 pace overall that much. Oh well. I'm happy I did it, and now can enjoy my 12 hour market day tomorrow, then family time, and brunch on Sunday.

Hoping that my sis will get here soon. We are going to a place that serves all locally made/grown burgers! Burger after a long run = perfection.

And my legs are still twitching like crazy, but I am going to go with marathonmaiden's suggestion that that means I'm building muscle. I like that thought! :)

I'm off!

31- changing plans and tired legs

2010-09-09T17:13:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, a day off of work. Niceeee. It is times like this when it was worth it to start teaching 2+ weeks before all other schools so that we can have holidays off.

So today....

It is amazing how much differently I can feel on runs from one day to another. Today, I did 10 miles at 9:30am (probably my fav time to run) in cool temps and felt TIRED. I did a route that I did lots of times when I first moved last spring, but hadn't done all summer. It was similar in topography to yesterday's run in terms of downhill, then uphill. I wish it felt as good as yesterday...but it did not. Still, I rallied in the end for a negative split of 7:45 last mile and 8:06 pace overall. So, not as great as yesterday, but judging by how I felt I was thinking more along the lines of 8:30s-8:40s.

About 5 minutes after I got out of the pool after running (and the jacuzzi :) I realized that I will not be able to do my long run on Sunday because I have plans with my family. This bummed me out because I was planning to do the run with a running group that meets at the running shop about 3/4 of a mile away from my apartment. Sooo, I must do it tomorrow. Hopefully.

Then, for some reason, all plans for productivity went out the window when I realized how insanely tired I was after lunch. I seriously had no power over the tiredness and passed out until 4pm! And could have slept longer, but my legs kept twitching and it was driving me nuts! Anyone ever have this happen? I do every one in awhile, but I feel like my calves/hamstrings/quads have been twitching for two days straight! I dragged my butt out of bed to go to the coffee shop to work (errr, blog read....) I'm not running any more today because I really would like to have a quality long run tomorrow and I'm so exhausted, which is lame because I didnt' even have to work today.

In exciting news, my sis and bro in law are coming tomorrow night! I haven't seen them since early July, so I'm pumped. They are staying with me and we have this family reunion thingy on Saturday, followed by birthday brunch for my mom and sis on Sunday (hense the long run shift). Plus I think they are coming downtown to see me at the market on Saturday. Sooo, I should probably actually get work done now!

Send me your remedies for twichy legs! They are driving me nuts as I sit here typing in my recovery socks!

32 - love it or hate it

2010-09-08T17:12:00.000-04:00

Today has been a lovely, semi-productive fall-feeling day!

When I last left you, I was at work. On the way home, I pulled off the freeway to run in a random town. However, my Garmin was dead so I had to run for time. And my legs felt like lead. So I did 4 or 5 miles and called it a day. 14 or 15 was good enough for the day!

Today = no teaching! :) Today = 4:30am bakery :( Today = leaving at 9:30am! I got my evaluation at the bakery and my (amazing) boss was really complementary. We talked alot about the market too, which was good. And, I got out of work and didn't have to drive + teach and it was Wednesday, so I went to the farmer's market in town. And scored some awesome broccoli. Roasted broccoli = my new obsession.

Then, it was run time. No expectations for my run today. I had a route planned out in my head to try, but had no idea how long it would be. I figured 9-10 ish. So I strapped on my (newly charged) Garmin and went at it, deciding not to check the Garmin the whole time and just GO. The route took me through the streets the long way to a park by the river. Then, it followed a path through the park and came out at the mouth of the notorious "Parkway" (ie hill-tastic road). The run to the park was nice, about 5 or 6 miles of gentle hills trending toward downhill. Temps were nice too, 60 degrees ish, but REALLY windy. Through the park it was against the wind, but I *hoped* the trees would block it a bit. They may have, though it was hard to tell because the wind was still pretty strong! I'm completely a road runner at heart, but this particular path was nice (and paved!) so it was good times.

Then, it was onto THE parkway. I figured I was at 7 or 8 miles at this point. This particular road is known by area runners because of it's upslope. As I have mentioned before, basically all roads are uphill to my apartment. Which is where the title of this post comes in. I HATE hills, but I LOVE the fact that I know they are good and are making me a stronger runner in the end. And it makes my pace feel more bad ass when I know I've done it on a hilly route! The parkway has wide sidewalks on both sides, and is a huge 4 lane road seperated by a boulevard. I ran on the opposite side than I usually do today, which actually was a huge mental lift. It is a tough road in that at first, the upslope is gentle to the point where one may think that it is just tired legs causing that feeling fatigue. But, the hill just gets steeper until the last 1/2 mile you want to cry. Or die. But I digress....

Finally, after conquering all of the hills and the parkway, I checked my Garmin when I was about 1/2 mile from my apartment. This showed me that a) I was at 10.18 miles (which means I will go 11 because I always run to the next even number) and b) I was AHEAD of my virtual partner (ie 8 min pace) which I didn't think I would be. Since I was barely ahead though, I had to push the last little bit. Which felt good. All in all, hit up 11 miles at 7:55 pace with the last mile at 7:32. Not bad for a relaxed run.

Honestly, I think the weather helped too. As much as I am a heat and sun worshiper, I ended today feeling good and like I didn't need to jump the nearest pedestrian for his water. Which is always a good thing.

Anddd, now I'm 'supposed' to be getting work done at this coffee shop, rather than blogging/reading blogs. Yeah, it will happen eventually. My crock pot is cooking me soup full of local vegetable for dinner. Thanks crockpot. I actually laid down for 30 minutes this afternoon and it was amazing having cool fall air coming through my window, and the smell of soup cooking coming through my door. Ahhhh, yes.

Oh! And the phone! I finally got it last night! I'm obsessed. As in, I can't put it down. Although I dont' know how to answer it yet....I've hung up on my mom twice and had to call back. Oh well. Me and technology are still getting to know each other....

So before this post gets any longer/more random/more lame/more like me being a 13 year old writing in diary, I will go! Work time for realz!

36, 35, 34, 33 - ohhh man

2010-09-07T14:37:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so apparently I gave up blogging for a few days.....ironically though because I actually have internet at my parents' house up north (unlike my apartment). Butt, in my defense, I was too busy recovering from my crazy week....lol.

So yeah. Recap time.

Saturday = market day. It was sooo cold. Ironically again, because the last few weeks it has been unreal-ly hot which stinks when you are loading and unloading a huge van full of tables, bread, pastries, cheese, etc. But somehow our booth is in a wind tunnel and it was terribly cold allll day. I did have my Boston jacket on which was bad ass looking, but not-so-warming. So yeah. Cold day. Sales were insanely good though. Unlike driving 4 hours after work. But I got up north, which was nice.

Sunday was a good day. 10 miles that were effortless. I did the first 6 alone, then met my mom for the final 4. It was nice that I did my long run on Thursday, so I could just do the 10 and be done. Monday, was good too- 8 miles around our lake....4 with mom, 4 with pop. yeah, they drive halfway and switch the car...lol. i love my parents.

Otherwise, the weekend was spent doing prep work, sleeping in, chilling out, and chatting with my parents' about my life goals and dreams. true story. Plus, seeing "The American" with some friends. Terrible movie. I'll leave it at that. George Clooney is hot. Nuff said.

So now, I'm back at it. Luckily, I only have to teach one day this week..ie today...because of holidays. Actually, I'm 'teaching' right now. Awesome. I gotta do the bakery thing tomorrow morning, but after that I got nothing 'scheduled' until Saturday market day. And my sis is coming Friday! Yay! So, this week should be alot better than last week. Time to get ahead on my prep work and hopefully bite the bullet and get internet for my apartment.

Oh! And running! Today, I did 10 miles before work around the flat-ness of my parents' house. Tonite, I'm planning another 4-5 more, depending on my timing and motivation level. Plus, a trip to Verizon to get a NEW PHONE. Yeah, my phone is from high school. True story. This is an epic day. Even though I've already been to 2 verizon stores today with no luck, I'm determined to make it work tonite when I'm back in my town. Yes, this is the plan.

Ok, I gotta go finish my workday!
Yayyya!

37- almost there....

2010-09-03T18:44:00.000-04:00

One more day until I can finally catch my breath! I can't believe that I've almost made it!

Today was crazy like the rest of my week. Starting with being at the bakery by 4:30am, followed be teaching, running, and rushing off to a work meeting. And now, coffee shop blogging. My run was actually really solid though. I only had time for a 5 miler, and debated skipping it cuz I was so sleepy and I knew that was "all" I had time for, but I'm so glad I got out there. I felt really good, and my splits were spot on: 7:46 pace; 8:02, 8:08, 7:47, 7:31, 7:20. Y'all know that I NEVER negative split but it felt really natural today, which was nice. And, I showered and was out there door to my meeting in about 3 minutes. Heck yes.

Now, I have about 0.1seconds to do online stuff before heading back home and packing all my crap up. Market day tomorrow. The plan is to be all ready and packed so that when I go to work at 4:30am I can be ready to leave to drive up north when I get off at 5pm. It is going to be a quick 2 day trip up, but I'm so excited. I need to leave the stress of this week behind and regroup. Happiness.

Ok, that's all I got! Have a good one! :)

38- is it saturday night yet?

2010-09-02T19:42:00.000-04:00

Seriously, this has been the hardest week ever. I don't want to turn this blog into a festival of how busy and stressed I am (cuz c'mon, aren't we all?) but this week has been very tough. Long hours at school, too many bakery shifts, plus fitting in runs.

So yesterday....
Yeah, crazy. I worked 4:45am-9am at the bakery, drove to work, had a TERRIBLE day teaching my students from 10-4:30 where everything just went *wrong* despite my best intensions to plan 'fun' hands-on stuff, drove home to my parents, was running alittle after 5pm, and was back at school by 7pm for "Back to School Night." Spent 2 hours being intimidated by parents who are twice my age, while trying to pretend like all of their children hadn't driven my nuts today. Then, got back to my parents' house by 10pm. I think I was asleep by 10:30pm. No joke.

The best part is that I planned to do my "mini" long run this morning, early before work around my parents' house. I don't want to wait until Sunday because I'll be up north and I want to just do up north things and not worry about devoting 3 hours to running on Sunday morning (my one full day there). So this morning was my only option. I settled on a 20 mile day- 15 this morning, and 5 tonite back at run club with my friends. So after my day from hell yesterday, I dragged my butt out of bed at 5:30am and went....

Let me tell you- it was a GOOD run. I think maybe it was the fact that I just had to *run* for 2 hours and not think about anything, but I really was feeling "on" from start to finish. I decided that I never felt *fast* per-say, but SMOOTH. It is that smooth feeling that I have been lacking lately, and this morning I finally felt it. I have a love-hate relationship with the area I grew up in - it is true suburbia, flat roads, concrete, and all the roads are in neat little square miles. So it is always a matter of doing "4 squares" (4 miles) or "6 squares" or whatever. Today, it was a 14 square with some tacked on at the end. I felt so light starting out, but lately that has been the case and then I die 3 miles in. Today, I told myself that I wanted to feel equally good at the end of the run as I did at the start. And honestly, I did. The only regret was that I didn't have more time to make it a 20 because my splits were consistant and I felt so good. But, it was ok to sort of leave it at a good run. My Garmin died at 14.91 miles, which was ironic, but OK. Ended up being a 8:13 pace, but the best part is that all the miles were + or - 10 seconds, rather than starting off at 7:40s and ending at 8:40s as I have been doing. Good run. Very satisfied.

Oh! Funny story- so I ran near the shadier Southeast corner of the city and found this coffee bar called "The Hot Spot". Literally, it is tiny booth in the middle of a parking lot. They were advertising "Bikini Thursdays" so I looked in the booth as I ran by (and cuz there was like 100 cars lined up in the drive thru line) and all the baristas were wearing tiny bathing suits! Random much? I guess that's one way to wake up in the morning!

The rest of my day was spent trying to do damage control at work from all the activities-gone-bad yesterday and trying not to kill my students...i kid...sort of.....

Then, I fought horrid traffic to get back to Thursday night group to run with a couple of friends. We chatted through 5 miles, it was nice to be back.

Overall, good running day. Finally. Now, I just have two more crazy days until my 'weekend'. I'm so ready.

One last thing. Today, I was feeling super stressed and thinking about all that is going on while I was running, and I sort of just paused for a second and gave myself permission to be really happy and proud of myself. Yeah, that sounds totally cheesy and it is! But it made me feel so good. How many people would have a day like my yesterday, and still fit a run in? Then, get up extra early to run long before a full day of work? And pick up extra shifts at the bakery to help out? I really appreciated myself and my work ethic- something I never do, even inside my head because I think of it as being stuck-up or something. Even though no one but me knows. I say this not because I think I'm so great or anything, but because I know alot of you are like me, with big committments, crazy time schedules, and lots on your plates. Take a minute to be really impressed with all you are tackling! Is it silly? Maybe. But that's OK because only you have to know! ;)

Ok, alarm is set for 3:43am. I gotta get home and to sleep!

39- longest day of my life

2010-09-01T22:14:00.001-04:00

See title. I need sleeps. Update tomorrow.

41/40 - no internet, craziness

2010-08-31T19:07:00.000-04:00

So my internet is officially non-existant like it was this summer. And this week is so busy I have zero time to coffee-shop blog, but I stopped in anyway tonite because I needed to do some other stuff, I didn't want y'all not to be updated! ;)

Ok, running first. Hmmm, not terrible, but not great. Yesterday I did my normal recovery thing- 11 miles split into 5 at 4am, and 6 post bakery and teaching. The morning run felt great- my fastest early morning run yet, 8:02 pace. It was so freeing to fly through the dark streets as I hadn't done *that* early of a run in ages. After work, I decided not to sit in traffic on the freeway and instead got some work done, drove one mile from my school to a random Meijer, parking-lot changed, and was off. I ran up to the bank, cashed a check, and kept running- laughing at the cars that were actually moving slower than I was running! This run didn't feel 'effortless' per say, but fairly good at 7:44 pace. It was nice to drive home at 7pm and not have to sit in traffic too, plus have my run done. Then I crashed by 9pm after being up since 3:45am.

Today, I hit up a good, hilly 10 miles this morning. Down to campus and back out. Campus is getting busier as classes are starting soon. My legs never felt great, but not too bad either. I think it was 8:20 pace or so. This afternoon I busted out of work to try to beat traffic, but no such luck. It is 95 degrees here, so I decided to hit up some trails to do a few miles of shakeout but ended up getting stuck in more traffic to get to the trails. Then, once I got changed and headed off, I realized at the trailhead about 1/2 mile from my car that the trails were closed!?! WTF. Yeah. So I ran 4 miles basically around in circles on this short trail and up this cliff and back down. 8:10 pace, so not terrible. My legs were stiff.

So life stuff. Yeah, like I said before, this week is crazy. My tomorrow is complete madness. Bakery at 5am, teaching a long day, squeezing in a run, then rushing to get all ready (at my parents' house =closer) for "Parent's Night"from 8pm-9pm where I have to look teacher-y and legit even after being at work all day. Yeah, wish me luck with that. Then drive home. Oye.

School is good, but wild. My students are extremely energetic and I'm really trying to do a good job this year. Which is causing more stress and work for me. But in a good way, I guess because it means I care. We'll see how long I can keep it up!

Ok, gotta run and pack the 1000 outfits I need for the day ahead tomorrow!

42- caught up....for now.

2010-08-29T18:23:00.000-04:00

Today was totally the day I've been dreaming about for....weeks....I got a chance to catch up on stuff and deep clean my apartment, as well as pack up and actually feel ready for the week. As in, all my prep is done for all 5 days, yay, plus my apartment looks great and is complete with fresh sheets and towels (which doesn't happen nearly as much as it should....) And I cooked a local organic chicken I bought from a farmer at the market yesterday. So I have meat for the whole week! Or atleast a few days....And I slept for 12 hours. Double what I've gotten the last week per night. nicccce.

Basically, all is going well- except running. I took this week super-easy, including *gasp* a couple of days off, and decided today just to do a 'run' not a 'long run.' But it was bad. 8 miles and the last two seriously were torture. I don't know how I've gone so downhill in the last week or two, but I have. And I'm freaking out. I only have 6 weeks and I feel like I've gained nothing from my training and am worse off than ever. And it sucks. And I don't know what to do anymore. I'm going to jump back on my training schedule tomorrow, but my confidence is way down at this point. We will see how it goes.....

Tomorrow marks day 1 of my 4 bakery shifts this week on top of teaching. So its 6am-10am bakery, 10am-11am drive, 11:15am-4:45pm teach. Then, I'm going to try to make all my copies at school after work and probably run around there. Then drive home when traffic is clear so I can maintain my sanity! Ha, we will see if that happens too!

I'm out! After a productive day, I'm going to read and relax before the craziness begins!

43 - i got nothing part 2.

2010-08-28T19:17:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I'm a bad blogger. I'm just too tired to write anything. Working 4:30am-5pm today was tiring, but fun. I actually love the market, such a good vibe.

I will write more tomorrow, I promise. For now, I'm off to bed and SLEEPING IN! My weekend is finally here!

44- i got nothing.

2010-08-27T19:35:00.000-04:00

My brain is fried from being up super early (3:45am), working both jobs, and trying to actually be productive this evening so I don't have to prep alll day on my one-day weekend Sunday. I think I'll just leave it at that and go to bed. It may be only 7:30pm, but the alarm is set for 3:30am tomorrow morning......

Happy Weekend! :)

45- True Life: I'm addicted to the Kroger 10 for 10

2010-08-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

For those of you that don't have the pleasure of having a Kroger grocery store by you, allow me to enlighten you about the magic that is the 10 for 10. This means that something in the store is on sale 10 item for 10$. Although I get the majority of all of the food I eat now at the Farmer's market and I buy about 95% local, I am hopelessly addicted to grapes. So, today as I went into Kroger for something I need for my class tomorrow, I got ridiculous excited because grapes were 10lbs for 10$. So I bought 6lbs of grapes. For 6$. I'm hoping that they atleast last me a week, but I'm not counting on it....

In other news, I survived my first day! I was actually pretty fun, although tiring. I'm teaching 5 classes and my voice is seriously sore from yammering on about syllabi and class policies and such. I'm just really glad to have it behind me. My classes are much bigger than last year (by private school standards) so I have lots of names to learn and more management (ugh) to do. But, all the kids seem decent so I'm pretty pumped. Plus, I like being around them. It's a lot of work, but at the same time I sometimes laugh about the fact that they are paying me! Unfortunately, school goes later this year until 4:45 rather than 4:30 so my just-bearly-beating-traffic of last year doesn't happen and I get stuck in horrendous traffic now getting home. I'm not good at traffic. Or being patient. The commute is already 40 minutes on a perfect day, and now it is another hour to get home. Which is a bummer.

And running. I did that today. This morning actually. Felt bad still. boo. I dont' know what's up with me...

Tomorrow = crazy. I'm up at 3:45 to get to the bakery before 5am to work a short shift until 9am to be teaching by 10am. And then run after. Atleast it is Friday, which is really my Thursday because I gotta market it up on Saturday. Good times.

I'm out to prep and pack all my crap up for the day.

46- tomorrow's the day!

2010-08-25T20:14:00.000-04:00

After 3 days of meetings, we finally have students tomorrow! I'm ready, but nervous. I've never had a 'first day of school' as a teacher because I came one month into the year last year. Plus, my 7th graders scare the crap out of me because I SO don't know middle school. Oh well, it will feel good to get started. Today was orientation for students, and I must say it was nice to see some of my students from last year. When they ran up to me and were super excited it was a pretty good feeling. Just sayin'.

Anddd, since I came to my parents house to download music (long story) and am staying tonite (closer to work anyway), and my mom came home from work needing to go work out, I went for a SHORT run with her today. Plus lifting alittle. I'm hoping to resume regularly scheduled running and I'm hoping the last couple of days will make me refreshed and ready to go.

Ok, I gotta go get ready for tomorrow! I'm nervous but excited!

47- gotta know when to hold 'em

2010-08-24T20:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I took the advice of my two commentors (as well as the advice that my own intuition was already giving me) and didn't run today. Honestly, I didn't like the fact that I have been feeling like a slave to my training schedule. Like if I don't stick to it exactly, I'm a 'slacker' or a bad runner. I didn't like the OCD-ness I was feeling. Since I began training 8+ weeks ago, my only rest day is when I worked for 12 hours, then drove 4 hours up-north. And, although I don't think I need alot of rest days and I do like the feeling of a 'running streak' I don't feel like my head has been in a healthy place the last week or so and has caused me to be a complete slave to my milage. So, today I didn't run. And, I don't think I will tomorrow either. That way I will for sure not hit my milage total for the week and will just have to get over it! I'm alittle less than 7 weeks out from Chicago and I KNOW I've put in the base work. Now, I just need to fine tune my legs. But really this 'break' (ie 2 days) has about 10% to do with how I'm feeling physically, and 90% about my mental state right now. Running is my favorite thing in the world. I plan to keep it that way for as long as possible. :)

But enough of that ramble...

This was all decided at about 3:30am, when I knew my alarm would be going off at 4:30am for a run. So, I reset it for the 'late' hour of 6:30. Nice. Today was professional development #2. I actually got really physched to teach today. I got the new books for my 7th graders and something about getting to work with brand new text books gets the nerd in me all excited! I'm actually really nervous about teaching middle school. My only experience last year was teaching girls middle school PE once a week. I'm totally not good at interacting with little kids and I'm having a hard time getting the planning down (ie they have limited study/notetaking skills to work with.) Anyway, me and the other science teacher talked and I'm feeling a bit better about stuff. Plus, I'm much more organized now. Still alot to do, but I feel like I'm clearing a path and have a direction!

One more day of meetings tomorrow, before it all begins! Students arrive on Thursday! Yikes!

Hope everyone has a good night!

48- and so it begins...

2010-08-23T21:18:00.000-04:00

Short and sweet tonite, because honestly I'm just not feeling it...

First day back at work today. No students, just professional development. Honestly, it was good. It felt good to run, get cleaned up, put on a nice outfit, "do my hair" ie not ponytail it, and drive on the freeway for 45 minutes with my cup of coffee to my 'real job.' Not that I don't love the bakery. It just makes me feel more legit to be a teacher. Is that bad? Plus, I just roll out of bed in my sweats and go there. It felt kind of good to actually care about my appearence. Although the day itself was fairly boring it was nice to see everyone again and catch up. I don't have any close teacher friends at my school, mostly because I'm so young/single/am SO different than them, but I do have a few acquaitences that were nice to see. Plus, we basically just sat there all day which I didn't mind because both my jobs (ie bakery and actually teaching) are so active. It was nice just to stare at the speakers for a few hours.....which is good because it will all be happening again tomorrow. Plus, I got my pic taken for the staff board and it looked really good! :) Just sayin.....

So how about running? Yeah, I'm honestly really not feeling it. This morning was another pre-dawn run because I had to be at school at 8:30. I ran 'fast' for pre-dawn, 6 miles at 8:17 pace. I usually never break 8:30 pace because it is so early, I haven't eaten, and it is pitch dark. So that was nice. The last thing I wanted to do was run again when I got home at 4:30 though. I really had to push myself out the door. Plus, my stomach was killing me and it was windy and humid. I did my 'country' 6 mile route where upon I saw 5 road kills in the first 2 miles. Nice. My Garmin died at mile 6, but I think it was about a 7:52 pace. It felt hard the whole time because mentally I wasn't there. I don't know what is going on lately with my running. But it needs to stop. Any advice out there?

Atleast 12 miles of recovery is in the books for today. I got alot of my stuff organized tonite too at my apartment since I still hadn't unpacked from the time up north. So that is good. I'm off to bed soon so I can do it all over again tomorrow....

49-finallllly blog time!

2010-08-22T16:25:00.000-04:00

Oh man, it has been a whirlwind of a few days. Between working and running and trying to get my life in order (fail) I have had zero time. I hate to backtrack with life, so I'll try to make it quick....

Friday, I had to work 6-1. I decided to do both of my 'recovery' runs after work. The first at 1pm was terrible. It was so hot and after about 2 miles, my legs died. It was only supposed to be 6 miles, but I did 8 because that is my loop from the bakery. 8:16 pace felt like torture! I seriously had to stop at 7.5 miles and debated if I could run a half mile! Ugh. Not good. Later that night, I stopped on my way home at a popular park and ran 6 miles. It was cooler and fairly scenic, so it wasn't quite as bad. 8:09 pace, which was fine for recovery. Saturday was rough with everything from start to finish. As much as I love working at the market, it is a 4:45am-5pm day that forces me to run later when I'm exhausted. And have a long run to do the next morning. Yeah, not ideal.

So today. Long run. I actually did something I haven't done alllll summer- I got up early to do a long run. My running friends were running a race at 8:00am in a neighboring town and I haven't seen them in forever (especially Mike, who I train with), so I decided to run there. I left my alarm set for 3:50am from yesterday, and got up then and was out the door at 4:50ish (I need time to eat a muffin and drink 1000x coffee). The race was exactly 10 miles from my house, so I first decided to do a 10 mile loop back to my apartment to change my shirt and drink, then run to the race. My normal 10 mile loop is out in the country (no lights) so I did a new-ish loop into downtown and campus, then back out. It was pitch black the entire time which wasn't too bad because when the run came out about .5miles into the second loop it felt like I was just starting! Despite the fact that I was wearing my ipod but never turned it on (security blanket) and that I was running crazy slow, the first loop went by fast. I took about 2 minutes to pound some crack..aka blue powerade zero and change my shirt, and was off again. The next 10 miles felt decent too, although even with the sun up my pace was slow. My legs didn't feel tired at all until the last 2 miles which I think is just because I wanted to be done! And, knowing that I didn't have to run back was nice!

I got to the race and couldn't find any of my friends, including Mike! I had a momentary freakout because I didn't bring my phone (or anything) and I was 10 miles from home and as much as I love running, my legs were in no mood to make it a 30 mile day! I did find them eventually and got to watch and catch up with Mike, which was good. And, he drove me home. :) It was pretty insane to be done with a 20 miler before 8am. Insane in a good way. After standing around for forever in a soaking shirt, I was freezing and so I immediately got in a hot shower, ate the world's most delicious peach, and passed out in bed for 2 hours. And woke up starving. Yeah, post-run sleep trumped post-run eats today.

So now I'm busy trying to get my life in order. Tomorrow is D-day. Back to teaching full-time. Meetings M-W, then students come on Thursday. Even though it is a law in Michigan that school can't start until after Labor Day (to promote tourism), we are so lucky that we are a private school as is above the law......Plus, we get like 1000 random holidays off, so I can't complain. I'm ready to get going. My life will just have to get in order piece-meal.

Here we go........

50- tomorrowwww

2010-08-21T19:28:00.001-04:00

is when regular blogging will resume. For now, it is 7:30pm, and i'm going to bed....

51- too tired...

2010-08-20T20:33:00.000-04:00

...to blog. Got in 14 miles today around work and such. They were bad, again. Blahh...I'm exhausted and I gotta do the market starting pre - 5am. Perhaps some details tomorrow.....

52- home again

2010-08-19T21:23:00.000-04:00

Well, I did it. I'm back home in my apartment with a mountain of cleaning and unpacking to do. Living out of a clothes basket at 2 houses all summer has left my apartment in shambles so I'm anxious to get it all sorted out! Too bad I have to work the next two days....

Running wise, it was not so great of a day. I got up EARLY to do my mid-long run of 15 miles up north, only to find there was storming and horizontal rain happening with huge winds. Boo. I waited it out as long as I could, but by the time I got out there, I knew I would only have time for 10. Which worked out because the 10 miles felt like 15..lol. My legs would not fire and were sooo tired. (hey, that rhymes!) Plus, I was super hungry before I started, and even though I ate something I was hungry by 4 miles in and stayed that way the whole time. By the last mile, I seriously felt like I was walking and felt hungry, thirsty, and zapped of all energy. My pace ended up being in the 8:40s which didn't make me too happy. Plus, I was looking forward to only having one run today, but now I knew I still had to get in 5 more miles....

Fast-forward my drive, unloading and it was 4pm. And 90 degrees. So I headed out. It felt good to be on my old streets again, as the routes up north were kind of getting old. I did my five mile loop which felt equally terrible as this morning. Atleast I managed a 7:58 pace. I rushed over to the Farmer's Market before it closed so that I could stock up. The reason I had to be back here was my dad was in town with business and he was stopping by to help me with some stuff around my apartment. Because I'm 24 and am not currently seeing anyone, I need to still rely on my dad for stuff-that-you-need-a-guy-to-help-you-with. Plus, I got to see him. :) Anddd, once we got done with everything and it was 8pm, and my dad just so happened to have running clothes with him, we did a quick shake out 2 miler. I can never turn down an extra run, especially not with my Pops! Surprisingly, my legs felt the best on this run, even though it rounded out 17 miles for the day. I'm looking forward to a couple days of low-ish milage now before my Sunday long run. I kind of shuffled my days this week in my training schedule so that I could get the milage early in the week and have less to squeeze in on my early work days. My legs are paying for it though....

Off to read and set the alarm for 4:45am...ugh....

53- crazy busy + 18 miles

2010-08-18T21:47:00.000-04:00

Whew! I'm just sitting down at almost 10pm to blog- today has been crazy busy. I'm leaving tomorrow to OFFICIALLY go home from up north, and will probably not be back for a very long time (besides maybe a day or two at Labor Day if I can sneak up between jobs) Between shucking and poaching a boat load of corn to freeze (Michigan sweet corn is almost done :( cleaning the entire house and running errands for my parents so that things are good here when they come back, packing up all my crap, and of course running- I have been going all day! It will make my morning tomorrow easier though, because stuff will be ready to go and cleaned up so all I have to do is run, shut the house down, and get on the road. I am so sad about leaving and summer ending that I can't really bear to dwell on it right now. I just need to move on......

So about running. Yeah, not so hot today. I think that although it has been fun to do my evening runs faster and I pretty much like just going with the flow pace-wise, I am not really using them to their full purpose- ie: recovery. ie: 8:30-8:45 pace, not 7:25-7:40 pace as they have been. This morning, I think that they caught up to me. I did 12 miles with 1x2mile repeat at 7:13 pace. I wanted to do a second repeat, but honestly, I was 6 miles into the run and my legs were dead. I kept stopping and trying to stretch them, but nothing. It turned out to still be a decent run- 8:06 pace overall, with the last mile at 7:42. Just not a great workout. Tonite, I did another 6 miler in another small town because I had to do an errand there anyway. Pretty effortless run, at 7:55 pace with the last mile at 7:30. I'm glad that I'm atleast doing better/working hard to negative split because that is a huge weakness of mine. And sub-8s are feeling nice and comfortable up here where it is hilly and everything. All in all, a decent 18 mile day, but not a great one.

Ok, I gotta finish this cleaning up so I can get to bed! Friday my life of 2 jobs, 6 day workweeks, and 14 hour days begin.....I miss up north already and I haven't even left!

54- PSA

2010-08-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

My PSA tonite is this: do not go to Border's and Target for 'quick errands' before your evening run. Those two stores are total time sucks, and you will be in them for twice as long as expected. Especially if you are easily distracted like me. Allow me to explain...

After a lovely morning/early afternoon consisting of a nice windy 10 mile run (8:01 pace, not bad) and prep work (half way done with Physics planning, woo hoo!) I decided to go into the 'city' to do some errands and my second run there. I went to Border's for one book (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) and came out about 30 minutes later and with 2 books and a magazine. I just start wandering and looking at books and before I know it, time has flown by! Then, I went across to Target to get JUST a cooler. My current cooler isn't very sturdy and is old and gross so I wanted to get a new one before the year starts. Let me tell you, I don't understand how people operate with just lunch boxes or bags. I need a serious family sized cooler to carry all my food. I feel silly, but I've decided this is because:
a) I am a tree hugger and pack everything in reusable containers which take up more room than plastic baggies
b) I am OCD and hate packing stuff already assembled (ie salads/sandwiches get too soggy, so I like to pack the components seperately and put together before eating
c) I am gone sometimes for 14 hours from my apartment so there is atleast 2 meals and 2 snack to pack
d) I'm a runner. I run around 100 miles a week right now. I'm hungry alot. I eat alot. Duh.
Sooo, in the end, I found a decent cooler to help with the forementioned points. Unfortunately, I also got distracted by the school supplies section. Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with school supplies. The best part about being a teacher, is that I still have a reason to buy them!
At this point it was well after 5pm. I pulled into a road side park at the opposite end of town, but honestly I wasn't feeling running from there. So, I just started driving and I realized that a neighboring small town that I had never run in was only 10 miles away. And I knew the drive was pretty. (think lots of rolling hills full of cherry orchards with Lake Michigan on the side). So I went. If you are a reader, you know by now I'm pretty random and spontaneous with my running.

I love the small towns up here, because they are so proud of their sports' teams. Pulling into town, there was a sign that said "Elk Rapids: Home of the 1997-98 Class 4 Soccer State Champs". Lol. Over 10 years old, and their still proud! That was actually a fairly recent sign- I've seen one's in towns that date back to the 80s! Crowning glory I tell ya...

So, I pulled into a marina and was off. I was stiff at first, so I decided just to chill out. I have a good knack for finding my way through towns and making loops even when I don't know the streets. This route was a good one- through the downtown area, along the water, along the main road, and back through downtown. It felt nice and chill, my stiff legs loosened up and I felt good by the end. I felt even better when I got done and and saw I had hit 7:39 pace on an easy feeling run! :) And, my first mile was 8:04 and the splits pretty much were negative from there, with the last two miles at 7:28 and 6:57!! respectively. Happy days. Then, I proceded to find this cool little secluded part of the beach where a river hit lake Michigan that was perfect for a swim. And I had it all to myself!

At this point it was late and I had to high-tail it back to town to go to my favorite hippy coop one last time to pick up some things. They were almost closed, but I grabbed the essentials and was off. I am usually a BYO-bag girl (yay tree hugging) but I forgot today. This is the type of place that gives you the stink eye for that! The bagger packed all my groceries in one bulging paper bag. Now, I'm all about saving the earth, but I'm not all about my $100000/lb organic grapes getting mushed, thank you.....

Since it was well past dinner time, my only option was to get Fro Yo again...obviously. Which I am going to eat in about 4seconds. I keep telling myself that I need to stop eating it for dinner every night, but it turns into 'starting tomorrow.' Honestly, I eat really healthy/whole foods other than that, but something about settling in on the couch with fro yo.....comfort in a cup!

Ok, I'm off! I can rest easy after a productive day, including 16 miles total that averaged well below 8min pace. I feel fortunate tonite! :)

55- in a funk

2010-08-16T19:51:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year- reality is about to hit fast. That thought has put me in a mental funk today. Don't get me wrong, I love my job(s) and being busy and my life, but the eb and flow of my life is such that this time of year makes me a bit melancholy. And it sort of all hit me today. I have a couple more days up north but then-wham- that's it. Over. It is hard for me to get back up here once I start teaching because I work Monday-Saturday then between both jobs. And although I didn't 'live' up here this summer as I have summer's past, it is still hard to leave. Oh bother. I'll get over it....

On to the good stuff- running! Monday = recovery day as usual. Today was the normal - 12 miles split into 6 morning and 6 evening. The morning ones were uneventful, 8:06 pace which felt good. I then proceded to prep for like 4 hours straight, which was awesome although progress is slow. I knew I had to get out there again for my second run and honestly, I was itching to get up and move. I do not do well sitting still for more than 20 minutes! I also have an OCD about not going anywhere in the car all day. So, my mom suggested that I go into the town nearby and run along the water for a change of scenery, and then pick up fro yo for dinner from a new place (she knows me so well!) The run ended up being AMAZING. It is super windy here, but otherwise the temp is great. I felt decent, and, since I don't look at my Garmin until the end, didn't know my pace but figured it was just under 8min pace. The route was beautiful, out along the bay and back. I tried to pick it up at the end to insure if I was close to 8min pace, I would get under it. So, it was pretty surprising/pleasing when I looked at my Garmin and saw 7:24 pace! :) My splits were good for me too; 7:35, 7:26, 7:30, 7:19, 7:27, 7:09. I. was. pumped. Because it actually felt free/easy. Finally, a run that went well!

I celebrated by going swimming at the beach where I parked. It was mostly empty because it is Monday and the weather was windy/chillier. Then, I picked up my fro yo (mocha flavored..mmm..) for dinner and brought it back home. Hopefully it is as good as the fro yo from my normal place..I'll report back on that one when I'm done!

Hoping to pull out of this sad spot I'm in right now. Transition is hard. But having a good run makes everything better, right? :)

56- more of a rest day, than a rest day!

2010-08-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

Today was my 'long run' day- but a cut back long run. It was interesting in that today felt more like a rest day than my actual 'rest day' yesterday, just because I did hardly anything besides run! Slept in, went running at 11am, swim, napping/reading in bed, chatting with my sis on phone, and the 'big errand' taking the recyling into town. And of course picking up fro yo for dinner- always post long run. Ready to be consumed when I am finished posting.

So the run. It was a good one. Not because it was particularly far (it wasn't, only 16 miles). Not because it was particularly fast (it wasn't). But because it was sooo hard mentally to get out the door (hense the 11am start time.) I don't know what it was but I just was NOT feeling it today, even though that is totally lame because it was such a short long run. I was considering taking a *gasp* another rest day, or just doing a short run. Butt, thanks to my mom helping me craft a new-er route, and agreeing to meet me for the last 4 miles, I set off. My dad ran the first 1.5 with me, then turned around. The weather was much more agreeable- although still mid-80s and sunny, less humid and very windy. I.e. I didn't end the run drenched. It actually went by fast and I felt strong the whole time and have little fatigue later in the day. Which is a good thing. So, although it was not epically great, it was still better and satisfying.

The weather made it perfect for opening the windows and letting the breeze blow through the upstairs. Hense an afternoon reading/running journaling/sleep session. Perfect. I've missed that refreshed feeling after a summer of sweating/having the AC on.

I'm excited to get back into more intense training this week. I feel refreshed mentally for running after lower milage and the mental 'low' this morning. And of course, a few more days of low-responsibility up north are lovely before my life starts moving 1000 miles an hour again with workx2. Although I am excited to start getting my regular teaching salary again. ;) Not too many people are excited about a teachers' salary, but after part time bakery working this summer, my standards are set pretty low...lol.

:) :) :)

57- once every 51 days...

2010-08-14T22:29:00.000-04:00

...you should take a rest day. As much as I feel like a slacker, after 51 days straight of running, I had to take today off. I was up and going at 4am, at work by 5am, off work by 5pm and up north by 9:30pm. No. time. to. run. I'm thinking of it as my halfway point of the training cycle. The only downfall is although it was techincally a 'rest day' I don't feel like it because I'm exhausted from the physical work on the market and driving all day and being up early.

Oh well, atleast I'm back up north! Doesn't even feel like I left! Long run tomorrow...

58- home and back

2010-08-13T21:33:00.000-04:00

I seriously almost forgot to blog tonite! What would the world do without an update from me..lol.

Somehow magically when I arrived at my apartment, my computer was picking up bootleg internet from somewhere. So, I didn't have to crash the coffee shop tonite! Yay! I drove back because I'm working my first 'solo' market tomorrow for the Bakery. It promises to be a long day with a 4am wakeup call, 5am start to my shift, packing up the van and driving to the market (45 minutes), unpacking + market from 7am-3pm, and then repacking, driving back, and unpacking everything at the bakery. Then, the kicker is the I am going to go right up north from there, so another 4 hours in the car, after just doing it today. Blah.

But enough about that, honestly it shouldn't be too bad.

Today's run(s) on the other hand- bad. I feel like I haven't had a really solid run in a couple of weeks and just feel TIRED. Which is lame because I haven't been working and although I've been doing stuff up north, it is no where near my normal level of busy. I tried to beat the heat by running 'early' at 8am (rather than 10am as I have been) but honestly, it still felt terrible out. 13 miles at a lame pace that I just wanted done. I was dripping wet in the end and these two women looked at me like I was gross/crazy/weird as I stood ringing out my shirt and shorts at the top of our driveway leaving a puddle. Classy, I am.

I then proceded to drive drive drive. I had about 30 minutes when I got back to my apartment before leaving for an appointment so I squeezed in a quick 2 miler on the treadmill in the air conditioning. + a quick swim. Good call.

In other news, my back is really messed up. Ironically, it hurts the least when I run, and the most when I sit/lay/sleep/drive for 4 hours. I'm hoping it gets better soon! I need to be pain free and I need to ski more!

Ok, I'm already up much too late for a 4am wakeup. Tomorrow might (gasp!) end up being a rest day, simply because I have zero time to run and would have to get up at 2am or something crazy to get it in. I've run for the past 51 days straight, so I hate the thought of a rest day, but alas, it happens!

I'm off! Have a good night!

59- 15 miles + my best ski ever!

2010-08-12T21:29:00.000-04:00

This is by far the hottest summer we have had in Michigan in awhile. I'm not complaining because I love the hot weather, but for running it has been alittle rough. This morning, I did 12 miles- 8ish alone around our lake, then 4 with my mom. My lap around the lake felt super-sluggish. I'm not sure if it was the heat or the light speedwork from yesterday, but it was rough. My Garmin died halfway through and I was hitting about 8:17 pace up until then but it felt hard. Running with my mom = better. Time always goes by fast when I am with her! Then, tonite I did a 3 mile shakeout because I didn't have much time but wanted to get 15 miles for the day in. It was opressively hot and sunny, but the run was so short that it didn't really matter.

My mom and I busted out lots of cleaning and errands in the daytime. My dad ended up getting back up here from downstate just a few minutes before sundown. The lake was glass-perfect for skiing. I messed up my back the last time I skiied when he was here (I think Monday?) so I wasn't sure if I wanted to go. Buttt, I lack any self control when it comes to being on the boat, with my ski, and the lake being glassy-flat. Plus, I had gone thru all the work of uncovering the boat and getting it out of the hoist so it was ready when my dad got there. You know where this is headed.....

It KILLED getting up because of my back. But, once I was up I was like 'screw it' and just went for it. My skiing was GOOD. It was nice to have a good run becasue I really haven't been able to get in consistant enough skiing this summer to improve. Tonite, I totally got in the groove though. I knew it was a good run when my dad (who was driving) kept giving me thumbs up after my cuts, and my mom kept mouthing 'stop it!' because she's a mom and didn't want me going too hard. Anyway, it was a great, long run that left me out of breathe and smiling at the end. My idea of a great way to end the day! And, my dad had a great run too!

15 miles + good skiing = good times.

I'm off to bed early-ish, so I can try YET AGAIN to get up earlier to beat the heat. Plus, I gotta jet home tomorrow to work the Market again on Saturday. Busy, busy!

60- speedwork, what!??!

2010-08-11T20:27:00.000-04:00

I did it- I FINALLY forced myself to do legit speedwork today, on my own. My training plan is pretty light in speedwork until the last 8 weeks, and I've been following my plan closely so I haven't "had" to do speedwork until now per say, but at the same time I'm also really scared of it. It's just the idea of failure and of not being able to hit my paces that freaks me out. But, today I bit the bullet and did the perscribed workout. Slowly, but I did it!

On tap, 10 miles with 5x800 repeats with jog rest. I started with 3.5 miles of warmups along the roads/hills. It was super hot as it has been, but I'm pretty much used to it by now and the sun wasn't out, so it was nice. I ended my warm up at a road nearby the hugs one side of the lake and is alittle under a mile long. And fairly flat. Which is rare for around here. I set my Garmin to do the workout for me, so I just listened for its' beeps. I ended up doing the repeats at tempo pace, around 3:28 per half mile. It would have been better to have them closer to my 5K pace, but honestly I was really proud just to do it! 1.5 mile cooldown after rounded out my 10 miles. Then, I preceded to ring out my shirt and shorts. Yeah, hottt. I left a puddle...lol.

Tried to get some prep done this afternoon, but my mom and I were not good at focusing. We ended up watching Oprah (ha) then going for a 4 mile walk. I had some frustrating things happen regarding teaching (regarding my prepping) and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with it all right now. I was hoping to be more on top of things and I'm not. Less than 2 weeks until I start, and two week exactly until the students start. Yikess....

Time to watch mindless TV and chill.... :)

61- good day

2010-08-10T21:13:00.000-04:00

I won't go into details about my day, because I don't want to bore y'all. But, it was a good one! Lots of time with my mom and fun purchases! I love vacation.

Run was a good one too, even though it was SO hot. Seriously. I was wringing out my shorts and shirt by the end of 10 miles. Did the first 6 alone at 7:57 pace, then the last 4 with my mom. Other than the hot-ness, it was a good run. I'm enjoying the low milage of this cut back week for now.

I'm off for sommore chill time! Gotta soak it in while I can! :)

62- exhausted

2010-08-09T20:41:00.002-04:00

recovery run. 8 hours in the sun. boating. swimming. grilled chicken.

yes, it was a good day. :)

63- I have the best parents.

2010-08-08T21:16:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo! I hit a milage PR this week and am SO proud. 103 miles. Yessir.

But backing up....

The day began with a 20 miler. Unfortunately, this put me out of the morning ski rotation. I hate to pass up a ski, but it was already 10am and I knew if I didn't get out and at it, I would pay. Dearly.

The plan was to sacrifice boredom in favor of convience and no-brainer-ness. So, I was to run 3x around the neighboring lake to ours. Plus, a mile and a half to get to the road and same back. So, I ran the first loop + some to the boat launch. 9.3 miles. My pops then met me up at the launch and ran around the lake with me for a second time (just under 6 miles). This also allowed me to drink a bit. Although cloudy, it was super humid and my entire self was dripping sweat. Grooosss. Running with my pops, the sun came out, making the first half of the loop hot and full of traffic. Soon enough, we were back at the launch. My mom met us there and her and my pops switched off. My mom and I then completed the third loop + the 1.5 miles back home (just under 5 miles total.) In total = 20 miles. This was my fastest 'long run' up north so I'm happy. I am so appreciative of my parents tailoring their schedules and their running to help me with mine. It made the run so much more mentally effortless and I cherish times to run with them. I am also lucky they are so kick ass that they can keep up! ;P

Unfortunately, my skin is not doing great. The ugly truth is that I am pretty much chafed everywhere. My shorts were soaking wet and rubbed the front and back of my legs raw. As well as the waistband on my back. Plus, my sports bra is basically tatooed onto me with red scars. Not cool. And the blisters on my feet are getting blisters. It's all worth it though. ;)

Solution: spend the afternoon in the water. We took the boat out into the middle of the lake to listen to Jimmy Buffet (lol) and float around and tan. However, after about 5 minutes of attempted tanning I had to abandon ship (literally!) because all of the chafing was burning in the sun. Instead, I strapped on a lifejacket, grabbed our tow rope, and my pops pulled me behind the boat at about 5mph. Felt. so. good. On my legs and my skin. Perfect way to spend the afternoon!

This up coming week is a 'cut back' week with my training cycle. Milage drops back a bit after the last 3 weeks right around 100 miles. We'll see how it goes!

I'm off! :)

64- you know it's summer when....

2010-08-07T20:17:00.000-04:00

- your morning starts with a sunrise 10 miler
- the big trip of the morning consists of attending and strolling through a local Art Fair, complete with fresh squeezed lemonade
- lunch is eaten on the deck
- an hour bike ride followed by jumping in the waves constitutes afternoon activity
- productivity involves working with all the windows open
- fro yo = dinner of champions
- ending the night with "Mean Girls" yesss...quality TV!

Long run in the morning! :)

65- up north daze

2010-08-06T20:33:00.000-04:00

Oh man, up north days....where do they go?

Today on tap: 18 miles, split into 14 in the morning and a shakeout for later. The 14 went decent. The temps were a bit cooler. I did the first 9 alone at 8:04 pace. I was 'racing' my virtual partner on my Garmin at the end. Yeah, I'm a dork. My mom met me at the top of the drive and we continued on the 5 mile 'hill route.' Good times as usual. Despite the fact that my mom and I live together right now up north and are together alot, there is seriously not a moment of silence on our runs. We talk constantly. I love it.

Then, somehow the afternoon slipped away. Between boiling and de-cobbing a million ears of 'the best' corn with my dad for freezing, trying to fix an old computer, and falling asleep in the hammock (so breezy and perfect out!) it was 4pm and time for my shakeout. I did it totally 'unplugged' with no Garmin, watch, or ipod (usually I where all three!) It was actually really nice and freeing, and my tight legs felt better by the end. Then, I went into the 'city' where there was a huge street sale on main street with live music and entertainment and stuff. All of the stores had tent sales and it was fun just to wander around. I went to the running store and saw one of my 'running mentors' and tried to work him for a good deal on shoes. No luck, lol. I stopped by my favorite cafe to get GF stuff, then picked up fro yo on the way home. I justed pulled another batch of zucchini muffins out of the oven while watching really quality TV...Aka Wifeswap.

OK, so this has totally turned into my diary of my day. Lame. But it was a good day! 18 miles, some relaxing, some productivity and some non-running related fun!

Peace, Love, and Running! :)

66- better, much better

2010-08-05T20:25:00.000-04:00

Today was a much better day in the world of running for me. I had to make up the milage of yesterday, but still use it as a 'recovery' day. So, I knew 17 miles were on tap total for the day. I started the day with a new route that took me to the beach, along some sand trails, and back out onto the road and to the boat launch to meet my mom. It was great to have a new loop that ended up being about 7.5 miles and I hit an 8:08 pace, which I am pleased with since it was on trails for part of it. My mom and I ran 4 miles on a shaded road which went by really fast. Actually our pace was really fast which was fun. I like to push my mom every once in awhile! ;)

Morning run 11.5 miles, done.

Then I worked. I actually got a ton of prep done and it felt great! My mom was out with a friend, and the house was quiet and cool and breezy, so I SO wanted to nap. I kept telling myself 'just work 10 more minutes' and pretty soon, my mom returned and I had been focused and nap free for 2 hours! This. is. huge.

Tonite's run happened later than anticipated, but was awesome. I did the "hill" loop. This loop starts off going up a mile long hill. Actually, the street is called "Mountain Road" which generally isn't a good sign for runners. My Garmin never fired up until the top, so I don't know how ridiculously slow my pace was. Buttt, the next 4.5 miles after Mountain were great! 7:50, 6:37!!! (downhill), 7:21, 7:25, 7:25 for a 7:19 average! That is the fastest I've run up here all summer, so I was pumped.

Evening run, 5.5 miles, done.

17 miles in the books, and turkey meatloaf for dinner. Can't complain about a day like that!

I'm on a prepping roll so I'm off to tackle sommore! :)

67- meh

2010-08-04T21:25:00.000-04:00

Ok, this one is a quicky for sure.

Today was a run FAIL. Despite heading out 'early' at 8:30am, it was majorly hot and humid. I picked a very hilly route that I've been avoiding all summer until I was more ready. 15 miles with crazy elevation changes on roads with no tree cover. Although, it wasn't terrible, I didn't drink until 11 miles in which I found out later was too long. The last 4 miles consist of 3 miles of a crazy uphill, followed by a steep downhill that deadends into the Bay in town. I literally ran right into the water. My pace wasn't great, but OK for a hilly 15. However, my mom picked me up and as we were driving back home my stomach started KILLING me. As in, I couldn't even sit up straight. Total buzz kill. It didn't get better for hours after until I finally forced myself to drink. As it turned out, that helped tons, so I think that it was major dehydration. Ohh summer. I do love you still, no worries.

So because of that, and because my mom and I had to postpone our trip into the city because of my stomach, I didn't get in my 6 recovery miles tonite. I'll have to do them tomorrow along with my recovery miles, but that's ok. Flexibility is a good thing. Speaking of which, I should probably go stretch for the first time in about oh, 2 months...

My mom and I got some good shopping in. I got some skirts for work (I have to wear a skirt everyday where I work, and it is really hard to find work-appropriate skirts that fit my insanely long legs). Plus, some other randomness that I needed. Good times.

Ok, I'm out for reals now! C-ya!

68- i did prep work..what!?!?!

2010-08-03T20:32:00.000-04:00

Yup, it's true. Today, I actually devoted a serious amount of time to getting my butt in gear prepping to teach. And you know what? It feels so. good. I have my complete first unit for physics all planned, written, and printed and it is awaiting a fresh new binder to jump into! For those who don't remember, I started teaching about a month into the school year last year at my current school, so I don't have anything for the first units in any classes (even physics which I taught last year.) So, I'm planning those from scratch. It just felt good to finally buckle down and get the ball rolling. Although it is just the tip of the iceberg, it feels good to actually SEE the iceberg, and start chipping away at it!

In other news, I ran today. :) The past few weeks my training plan has been really heavy on the milage/doubles early in the week, and then less so later. This worked out really well with my work schedule. This week though, my schedule is more balanced, ie spread throughout the week, which works out cuz I'm not working! Sooo, today was simply a 10 miler 'aerobic' style. I drove to the beach, parked my car and ran the 'hilly route' home (5 miles). My mom met me at the top of the drive, and we ran the 'flat-ish' route back. 'Flat-ish' because there is no where flat up here! I ended the 10 with a half mile or so of barefoot running on the beach, which felt great! Almost as great as jumping in Lake Michigan afterward! Ahhh, mazing.

The rest of the day was spent prepping, and sweating. And making hommade pizza. It is seriously hot here, my mom and I finally caved and put on the AC. The upstairs is so hot I may have to crash in her room. Tomorrow = lots of running + a fun trip into town with my mom. We are trying to squeeze in all of our summer traditions before we both have to head back downstate to be teachers!

Thanks for the comments about my random side-of-the-road running. I don't know why, but I love it. That's just how I roll, I guess. :)

69- up north! let the fun begin!

2010-08-02T21:57:00.000-04:00

I'm up north at last for my vacation time! Which means a) good times and b) actual in-home internet! Woo hoo!

So Monday is my 'recovery' day which is almost always an 11 mile day split into 6 morning, and 5 evening. I headed out on my 6 mile loop at about 7:30am. I didn't think my legs were tired when I got up, but they felt TERRIBLE before making it out of my apartment complex! I thought they would loosen up- nope. It was pretty much me dragging myself through 6 miles at about the same pace as yesterday's long run. Which is acceptable for a recovery run, but felt less than ideal. So yeah.

Then, I hopped in the car and started driving with my tired legs and all. I was thinking about how terrible my recovery has been lately, and it was kind of bumming me out. Plus, I knew I had to get 5 more miles in this evening, which is such a short run but was mentally killing me. So, I did what I always do when I'm overthinking a run while driving...pull over to the side of the road and just RUN.

I was actually driving by a lake in the middle of the state that I have thought about running around before. Confession: I have a small obsession with running around lakes. The thought of running around a 'new' lake is slightly more exciting than it should be. Plus, driving through mid-Michigan is pretty much the most boring place on earth, and I was falling asleep behind the wheel. I think it is unnatural too how when I drive anywhere, I think about how it would be to run in there, and picture myself running in the location at the side of the road....yeah, I think that's weird, but true.

So anyways.....

I 'eyeballed' the lake and comparing it to our lake, I figured it couldn't be too much further than 5 miles around. Pulled into a roadside park, roadside change....and was off! Since my legs felt so horrible earlier (and it had only been about 4 hours since) I literally told 'them' (ie my legs) outloud that they could go as slow as they wanted. The first few miles felt stiff, but good. Until I looked at the lake and realized that I was running with a serious tail wind. Yeah, that pretty much turned into a headwind on the way back....Anyway, it was so nice to have a new route and the miles really clicked by. I just sort of kept the lake in sight on my left and picked roads that *I hoped* leg around the lake and back to my car! I knew my pace had to be wicked slow because of the wind and my slowness in general, so I decided in my head that I was running 8:45's. The lake was great in that it had a path right along the water for much of it, unlike our lake where the road is away from the water. Despite the wind, I got back to my car in one piece. Imagine my surprise though, when the route ended up being 7.1 miles and I hit an average of 8:08/mile pace with very even splits! Yeah, I was pumped! Not because that is such an amazing pace, but because it felt about a minute slower! I guess running is alot mental.

Back in the car, and I finished my drive nice and refreshed! My parents had house guests over the weekend so there is an amazing amount of delicious food that I partook in for 'lunch' at 4pm. I got to swim with my dad too, before he headed back downstate this evening. Now, it's just me and my mom. We've got some fun planned but we both also have to work on getting our prep ready (the life of two teachers!) I'm excited though to be settled in, get to sleep, run, and enjoy not working for a week or so.

Yikes, this post was particularly long and boring. Oh, well...thus is life!

Quick recap:
-13 mile day, split into a bad 6 miler and a random/good 7 miler
- up north and work free for 10 days
- good fooood :)

70- apparently I'm a slow learner...

2010-08-01T17:17:00.001-04:00

70 days = 10 weeks = eeek!

So, although I call myself a runner and am an educated person, sometimes you wouldn't think so! Today I made all the mistakes regarding my long run that I have been making and then blogging about during this training cycle. Hmm, let's list them, shall we?

- waiting to leave until almost 11am when the temps are 85-90 degrees out and the sun is up full force
- planning a 'new' route that "probably" goes by a gas station so I can get some water...um yeah, that was a fail.
- going out too fast before realizing that there would be no water coming for awhile
- wearing my ipod even though I never turned it on! hense just adding dead weight to my arm and reinforcing my bad tan lines...

So yeah, lots of stupidity led to a slow-ish run. 18 miles at 8:38 pace. I would have liked it to be longer and faster, but you can't win them all, ya know? The route was really pretty, dirt roads and rolling hills for the first 10 miles or so. I'd do it again- just not in this heat! I got just under 100 miles in this week so that is good. Plus, I have time off from the bakery which means that my sleep won't (hopefully) be so deprived by my long run day next week and can do it at a reasonable hour! Heck, I might even 'treat' myself to doing it on Saturday because this Saturday will be the first Saturday I have had off in forever and the last I will have off in forever for the markets.

Other than that...hmm, that was basically my day. I guess that's what happens when you sleep in entirely too late, run long/slow, swim, lunch, nap, then drive up to Panera to go online! I do have to tidy up/pack up tonite to go back up north tomorrow morning. So. Pumped.

Hope everyone had a great day!

71- market day + vacay

2010-07-31T19:37:00.000-04:00

Ha, I made a title that rhymes!

Looong day today. Got to work alittle after 5am, and didn't get back home till after 4pm. Exhaustion led to a couple bowls of cereal, then passing out on the couch, only to realize by 6pm that I still had to get a run in...uggghh. I really wasnt' feeling it, especially knowing I had to do my long run tomorrow morning. But, Saturday is my easiest day and the thought of having a 'blank' in my training log pushed me out the door. Plus, it was nice to run in the 'country' by my apartment. All summer, I haven't been able to because I run too early (and stick to city streets), or run from the Bakery or other places with people. 6 cloudy miles at 7:57 pace, and I was back. And happy. But honestly, do you ever regret a run?

The market downtown was really fun. Me and the guy I'm taking over for went down together. We sold out of almost everything, which hasn't happened since the first market (when I worked!) I like to think it is my sales skills, but it is probably just luck! I was really tiring though- lots of set up and heavy lifting and moving product and such. But such a nice change from being chained to the savory kitchen doing prep work all Saturday like I usually am. Plus, more hours = more $$.

The cool news is I'M ON VACATION now. I told my boss at the bakery that I needed a couple weeks off to get ready to teach, and thankfully she gave them too me. I'm really behind and overwhelmed with my prep work and I feel like I never have a block of time to work because I'm always working or driving or running, and it is hard to do 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there. Plus, I've worked since May 2009, pretty much without more than a couple days off so I really just want a mental breather to go into the teaching year refreshed and ready to go! This means that I will hang out here tomorrow, then go up north for a week and a half! I'm really excited to be up there for a block of time, rather than just 4 days in a row. My mom and I have lots of fun things planned, and honestly, I am really looking forward to getting ready to teach. And not having to get up at 4am for a couple weeks sounds pretty good. So yeah. I guess you could say I'm feeling pretty good right about now. The market on August 14th will be my next work day. Yessss indeedy.

Ok, early to bed = more sleep = long run time. I'm off!

72- 85 degree cold front

2010-07-30T20:01:00.001-04:00

You know it has been an amazingly hot and lovely summer, when you get excited about running in the 'cool' 85 degree temps at 2pm. Yep, I did.

11 miler immediately following the bakery shift. I did my normal 8 mile route from the bakery, but added some distance downtown and such. It went really well, except for the last mile when I started feeling pretty dehydrated. 8:13 pace overall, so decent enough. That is the bad part about the bakery- I generally drink 2 cups of coffee and nothing else. Yeah, bad call. I still finished the run pretty strong and it was nice to just have one run to do because I've been doing doubles Monday-Thursday lately. And all dehydration can be fixed by XL fountain diet coke from McD's.....

Other than that, I'm pretty pumped for tomorrowas it is my first day at the market downtown. Well, technically my second since I did it in the spring, but my first of 'taking over.' I'm going down there with the guy who's been doing it so he can show me the ropes before I start alone. Should be a nice change of pace, although it will be a long day. Gotta be at the bakery, ready to go at 5:30am.....ugggghhh

The granola bar I bought up north isn't gluten free. :(
It is pay day! :)

Happy weekend all!

73- cross country..what!?!?

2010-07-29T20:49:00.000-04:00

So, coffee shop time for me again tonite. Back at the internet-less apartment. So let's get to it!

Running wise, today was a designated 'recovery' day with 11 miles; 6 morning, 5 at night. I started the day with a nice run in town with my mom. We did a new route together that was actually really shaded and pleasant. Good times. Then we randomly bought sweatshirts at the old bakery that I worked at for the last 5 summers. No worries that it was like 90 degrees....that's how we roll, spontaneous purchases! Then, I took my mom on a scenic drive home because I wanted to go by the hill I ran up on my 14 miler yesterday because I thought it was sooo hard but I was worried I was just being a pansy. It was decided that I wasn't as my mom said "I want to puke just driving up this hill!" lol.

Then it was driving, driving, driving, downstate.

So in lue of Thursday night running club, my club decided to do a low key cross country race that supports a small, local college. I thought "5K, no big deal." Oye. I forgot how intense XC is- NOTHING like roads. The course was hilly, with rough footing and in ankle deep grass. My 7:30 pace felt harder than my marathon! I survived though, although Mike beat me....we then did some cool down miles before deciding we were too hungry! So, I got my milage in, but it certainly didn't feel like 'recovery!' lol.

That's all from here! More bakery fun tomorrow, (plus running of course) then I get to go downtown on Saturday for work at the market! I love being up north, but I love being here too. Let the good times roll! :)

74- 'meh' run and ant attack!

2010-07-28T20:20:00.000-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen. After running a marathon Sunday, and having good training runs since, this morning's run was finally a FAIL. On the schedule was a 21 mile day: 14 in the morning, and 7 at night. Unfortunately, between being hot, hungry, and having a huge storm, I slept terribly. And woke up with some stomach issues that lead me to begin my run late and a bit dehydrated.....I picked a new route and didn't know that there was a 2 mile uphill between miles 5-7. I was dying of thirst and my pace was dropping fast when I came into town at mile 9. Even a powerade zero and my 'magic muffin' that I've been eating during longer-ish runs didn't help. Finally pulled myself home, but it was ugly. Ugh.....

Needless to say, I was less than fired up about my 7 miler. Butt, my excitement increased a bit when my mom agreed to pick me up from the beach. I LOVE being able to have a destination and not an out and back or a loop course. I seriously think of it like a treat! Luckily, since I was better hydrated, this run was much better. More even splits averaging 7:52. Goood times. So good to have a 21 mile day under my belt, glad I stuck it out.

On to the second part of my post title....

So I abandoned my powerade bottle and muffin wrapper in the bushes along my route this morning. Sooo, being the good citizen that I am, I drove back tonite to pick it up. I grabbed the wrapper and bottle, dumped them on my passenger seat and drove home. Apparently I'm the most unobservant person on earth because when I got home and picked them off the seat, I realized that there were TONS of ants EVERYWHERE on the wrapper! I seriously screamed, through them out the window, but there were still ants crawling in my car and on my purse! Sooo, I ran inside and grabbed the two quickest 'chemicals' - bug spray and windex! It must have looked pretty comical watching me windex down my entire front seats + purse + wrapper so I could throw it away! Yeah, I freaked out. I still feel like stuff is crawling on me, even though I took off and shook out my clothes. Ewwwww. I'm a dork.

Ok, I'm off to finish baking some muffins. Plus, have a snack so I don't wake up hungry again tonite! Have a good one!

75- a "me" day

2010-07-27T20:05:00.000-04:00

Do you know when you are asked (during an icebreaker or essay question or something) what your idea of a perfect day is? And most people have some extravagent answer involving being on a tropical island or traveling somewhere exotic or meeting a rockstar or something? Well, mine is none of those. Instead, it would very closely resemble today.

Allow me to explain...

First, sleep. Although sleeping in in the summer is a gamble running-wise in terms of temperature, it was a gamble I took today. I am a person who needs alot of sleep so I took today to 'catch up.' So good. After a relaxed morning, I drove into the 'city' to run. It was a perfectly sunny and hot day- just the way I like it. I ran a new route through the 'city' and around a lake there, resulting in me getting lost and making it an 11 miler, rather than 10 miles at 8:06 pace. The scenery and people watching were great and it was so nice to run somewhere different. Since I parked at the beach (of course) I swam immediately after which felt amazing. As well as getting a huge ass fountain diet coke from the gas station. yup, today I indulged in all my guilty pleasures...

Then, it was on to my favorite organic/hippy/coop cafe for lunch and prep work. Now, let me be clear that doing 'work' isn't necessarily part of my ideal day, however feeling accomplished and getting ready for the school year is a good feeling. More importantly, upon ordering my sandwich for lunch, the cashier informed me that they didn't have their normal hommade gluten free bread, and would have to put in on another kind. This was sad because their bread is so delicious and the sandwich is pricy so I wanted my money's worth! No worries though. Because this was MY day, the sandwich girl obviously was able to read my mind and made me TWO sandwiches, because she said the bread was 'smaller.' Don't even worry about it- I ate them both. TOTALLY got my money's worth!

Prep work + iced coffee + getting hit on my an old man......yeah that was weird.....

And it was off to my favorite market in town for their delicious Turkey Jerky. Mmm hmm, I saved that puppy for tomorrow.....

I decided to take the 'scenic route' back home along the water. It is a beautiful drive- the bay on one side, vineyards and cherry orchards on the other. Along the way, I found a road-side beach park. Since I needed to get in an easy 5 mile evening run, and I am a woman of crazy spontaneity, I pulled into it and changed into running clothes again (new ones, don't worry, I never travel without several running outfits!). I knew the area loosely enough and set out on a loop. I got alittle lost, and ended up running a bit extra, but it was all good. The bad part about running randomly in Northern Michigan is you have no idea about the topography. In this evenings' case, it was a VERY hilly route. I just kept repeating the quote "hills are speedwork in disguise" in my head, and before I knew it I was back at my car with a 7:58 pace to boot! Swim #2 followed, this time with lots of jumping in the waves because no one was around so it was ok to act crazy....who am I kidding, I would have done that nomatter what! Glorious.

Then, I headed home with the windows down! And here I am, reading blogs/blogging. The only thing that would make today more perfect is if I had some frozen yogurt for dinner. Oh wait! I'm going to have that in about 5 minutes! ;) What did I tell you- today was 'my' day!

Ok, that was waaay too long, so here's the recap of my 'perfect day':
- 16 miles of running in two places I dont' usually run
- swimming x2
- 2 sandwiches for the price of one at lunch
- iced coffee and accomplishing prep work
- frozen yogurt to come verrrry soon (+ chillin with my cat!)

Hope everyone's day was as 'ideal' as mine! :)

76- a summer day that slipped away

2010-07-26T21:53:00.000-04:00

Seriously, where did today go?

I feel like it was such a good day, yet it went by sooo fast. Running an easy 6 miler with my mom on our 'hill loop' this morning. Reading outside. Skiing the afternoon away. Falling asleep on the couch with the breeze blowing off the lake. Running 5 miles (partly with my pops). Eating burgers on the deck from our favorite take out place with my pops. And now, watching trashy ABC family shows while blogging. Yep, good day.

In running-related news, let it be noted that I felt NO effects from yesterday's marathon. I say this, knowing that I'm usually the most sore on day #2. But, the fact that I not only ran the day after a marathon (I usually take 2 or 3 days off) but ran 11 miles (6/5 split) was very encouraging. I ate a burger tonite, just in case, to top off my iron stores...lol. So. good. I'm really hoping to still feel good tomorrow and keeping training hard.(er)

I'm also in the middle of "Born to Run" which I admit I didn't like at all at first. It was slow to start for me and I waited to really get going on it. Now, I'm obsessed. I like the story and the stuff in the book. Although I'm not totally convinced on the whole "run barefoot through the mountains for 100 miles at a time" the book does have some good points. And it has made me rethink my own running/style/reasons/form. And, I kind of do want to try running barefoot through a corn field or something when I'm reading it!

Oh! And tomorrow will be glorious! Not only can I FINALLY sleep in after lots of early wakeups, but I have a 'me' day planned. Going into town to run along the bay, swimming immediately after at the beach, my coop for lunch (plus bringing my prep work along...), and getting Turkey Jerky from my favorite market in town. Yessss, good times ahead.

Happy days everyone! :)

77- surprise! #9 done and done!

2010-07-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon!

Finally up north with some actual in-home internet! Weee!

So I mentioned back after my Bayshore Marathon fail in May and my announcement/decision to run the Chicago Marathon on 10/10/10 that I have run 8 marathons. Anddd, since 10 is my lucky number, I wanted Chicago on 10/10/10 to be my 10th marathon. Do you see where I'm going with this?!? Yep, that's right this morning I completed my 9th marathon in Saginaw, MI at the smallest marathon I have run. And it was glorious.

Allow me to explain. I've been contemplating this marathon for awhile because I knew that I had to get in #9. There were lots of problems with finding a 9th marathon because I had so many restrictions. I have limited $$ so it needed to be drivable from one of my houses and require no hotel stay. I work on Saturdays. I wanted it to be atleast 2 months before Chicago for lots and lots of recovery/training time after. And I wanted it NOT on trails (trail marathons are popular in Michigan.) So this was pretty much the only marathon that fit those criterion. However, I also didn't want to treat it like a marathon. Hense why with the marathon I had about a 100 mile week this week. I wanted to just go out and have fun and treat it like my long run for the week. Today I had a 20 miler scheduled, so I just figured, what is a few more miles between friends? ;)

So, my day began bright and early when I woke up before my alarm at 2:45am. I actually slept really well, but awoke with the race adrenaline pumping! I arrived at the race sight (a high school in the middle of nowhere) a bit before 5am after multiple detours in the dark. Paid my $70 (gulp) for an oversized COTTON t-shirt that doesn't even say 'Marathon' on it because it was a 'festival of races' (ie 5K, 10K, 20K, and 'mini marathon' 8.66 miles) Did my normal pre-race prep stuff in the car, including changing the settings on my Garmin so that I could only see the milage and the elevation. That is how much I didn't even want to be tempted to look at my pace or time. I recently got a pair of Nike Lunarglides (I run in Nike Pegasus and Nike Triax but the running store guy convinced me I would like these). When I put them on before heading to the start they felt AMAZING. Extra cushiony and springy, even though I've wore them for a few runs. That is how I knew it would be a good day. :)

We headed to the start in the near-darkness of 6am. I lined up close to the front because there were no chips or chip start even! The course was 3 loops of 8.7 or so miles. I had stashed some crack (AKA blue powerade zero) and my magic training muffins that I have been eating on long runs, in the bushes next to the road so that I could get them on the loops. And then, we were off.

I saw one woman sprint out ahead, but otherwise it was just men ahead of me. I planned to try things during this race, foremost the idea of NOT going out hard and then dying. But no worries, I felt relaxed from the start. It started to get light, but was still overcast. The loop was very flat and paved, but was windy along the Saginaw River for the first few miles. About mile 3, the woman passed me which was odd because I never passed her. I found out later that she had stopped to use the bathroom. She was pacing with a guy which bothered me because I was basically running in no man's land with no one for the first 14 miles or so. There was also pretty much NO crowd support other than water stations every 2 or so miles. But that was somehow OK. It added to the feeling of relaxing on the run. The first loop felt great. I had no idea how fast I was running but I just felt FREE. I kept waiting to start feeling bad/tired (at Bayshore I felt terrible by 4 miles in) but it never happened. The last mile of the first loop I kept repeating "muff-in, muff-in, muff-in" in my head because I was excited to get to eat one! Not because I was in need of fuel as much as the fact that they are simply delicious!

I got to my muffin bag (thankfully no one had found/disturbed it), chugged a few sips of powerade, and took my muffin 'to-go.' At this point I had caught up to a couple of guys (who am I, actually passing people!?!? I'm the one getting passed always!) I must have looked odd biting the head off of the muffin while making 'mmm' noises. But I couldn't help it! It was so good and I just felt good enjoying the whole experience! Plus, trying to eat a muffin while running made the next mile go by fast! The second loop was great. I was dreading it originally, but I was so excited to get to the last loop that I felt energized. And suddenly, I was at the high school again and ready to start the final lap.

I wasn't feeling the muffin, so I just sucked down ALOT more powerade. I can't believe that I used to do all marathons/training runs with zero fluid. I still believe it is possible, but I think drinking provides a phychological advantage more than anything. I caught up to a group of 3 men about a mile into the last lap. We chatted it up for awhile- they too were training for Chicago and doing this as a training run. I told them my story and asked them not to devolge our pace as I still had no idea how long or fast I was running. It was actually really nice to chat with the one guy. I am a total social runner, hense why I love running with anyone. I am all for the zen "me" time of running to some extent, but I love the comraderie the most. Running the first 2 hours or so in silence with no one made me appreciate talking it up with strangers- even if about stupid things like my 10th on 10-10-10 goal. We were actually from the same town and the guys run at the running shop less than a mile from my apartment. Small world, huh? The one guy said they had planted a cooler in the middle of the loop ~ 4.5 miles to go. He offered me Gatorade when we got there. He also told me at this point that he was pacing the other guy (his friend) for a BQ. Judging by their age, I knew about what pace we were on at that point...

When we arrived at the cooler, I accepted the Gatorade. It had gotten very sunny and hot the last loop and I wanted the mental advantage. He also handed me a panty hose filled with ice (yeah, no joke) and told me to put it on my neck. This was pretty much the most random thing ever, however, I did it and it felt amazing. Him and his friend got alittle ahead of me at this point as I fumbled with the Gatorade and panty hose. Infact, this may have been my slowest mile. But, when I was done with it all I realized I felt GREAT and the last 4 miles would be lovely. I caught them with about 3 to go, yelled thanks, and pressed on. My legs didn't even feel tired.

The finish was anticlimactic. I actually went the wrong way, ie added time/distance as I started on a '4th' loop instead of turning into the high school. The woman from earlier beat me, so I was second place overall. But I didn't care/try to catch her. And the moment you have all been waiting for...

26.27 miles in 3:28:27

So. Happy. Not because this is a PR (10 minutes off of that). But because I did this with little thought/prep and I just ran so FREE. It was so liberating- it felt just like the day I PR-ed and I had *almost* lost hope that I would ever have a run like that again. And my splits (upon looking afterward) were spot-on. 7:56 pace and my miles were 7:40-8:08 which has never happened. This was my second fastest marathon ever and I have not run that fast in the last 2 years and 5 marathons. I guess today just showed me that I CAN do it, as cheezy as it sounds. 11 weeks until Chicago and I am more focused and excited than ever to train. Bring it.

3 hour drive later with my pink compression socks on, lots and lots of food, and I feel great. I was contemplating a few shake out miles, but the lake looks so inviting I may head in for a swim instead. Then, fro yo for dinner tonite. I may go crazy and get a medium! lol. And days ahead of me full of up-north-ness and not working. Yessir, I'm happy.

*disclaimer: I hope that this doesn't sound like I'm tooting my own horn, I'm just really happy with how today went and needed to let it out! I'm a very modest person in real life- honest! I still have a long way to go and a lot of work/learning ahead of me running-wise, but for today all was well.

78- work, short run, swim, packing, sleeps

2010-07-24T17:04:00.000-04:00

The title pretty much sums up my day....

I was so glad when 2pm rolled around and I was done with work today. Crazy storms (brought on by the crazy humidity) came through the area yesterday evening and knocked out the power. My apartment didn't loose power, so I didn't even think about it until I got off the freeway at 5:50am and noticed that no traffic lights were working and McDonalds and several gas stations were completely dark. Then, I had this fleeting excited moment in my mind where upon I would arrive at work and there would be no power and therefore I would leave and return home to my bed for a few hours before having the whole day ahead of me to enjoy.....yeah, that didn't happen. Although all of the other businesses in the industrial park area where we are located we off/closed, we were not. A huge ass generator was powering 'select' parts of the Bakehouse. (ie ovens, *some* lights, *some* fridges.) No AC. No lights in the bathroom. Several of our big fridges had been turned off so stuff was moved around everywhere. The kitchen where I work was 90 degrees, no joke. The whole day I spent sweating, and looking for stuff. Normally I don't like being called up to work in the shop during my prep shifts, but today it was actually nice because that was the one area in the building that had AC, lol. But, I just reminded myself that it possibly is my last Saturday prep shift, as I will be doing the markets from now on. And I forged on through sweat and salami....

Hot, short run, quick swim, and now I'm doing my online stuff early because I have to get up at 3am to race tomorrow morning. The race starts at 6am and is almost 2 hours away (toward up north) and I'm not signed up yet. So it will be an early morning. I'm pretty pumped, as I love racing. And this race should be...interesting...details to follow tomorrow, and I don't want to reveal too much now....

Gotta run! 8pm is my bedtime tonite! :)

79- humidity x 1000

2010-07-23T17:29:00.000-04:00

Today was a record level of humidity in Southeast Michigan. Ohhh man. I seriously thought I was going to die running at 2:30pm after work. I was supposed to do 11 miles, but I ended up running a new route and ending up at the Bakery at 10 miles, and honestly my pace had dropped to such an extent that I was questioning the effectiveness of teh run in general. So, I stopped. Tomorrow I have a very short run planned, as Saturdays' are normally my easy day, so I'm just going to tack on an extra mile then. Anddd, I'm racing on Sunday. Which we'll see about...It was just so gross that I literally could 'ring' my drifit shirt out of sweat after 4 miles...ewww. It felt like someone was breathing hot air on me the whole time. Yeah, y'all know how it is. I'm just glad to have that run behind me....

Now I'm a the coffee shop and it is pouring. I'm glad that it is only 5:30pm and I don't have anything else to do tonite...besides prepping my classes...which I'm avoiding...I don't even have to pack because I am not going up north until Sunday (my race is halfway up, so it makes more sense. Good times.

In un-running related news...I got a good offer from the bakery today. The person who normally takes our product to a huge farmers market downtown on Saturdays can't do it anymore. So my boss offered me the position! This is cool because a) I love doing farmers' markets (ie talking with people about our products and selling them! b) This will replace my normal shift of 6am-2pm on Satudays and be more fun then doing prep work all day, and give me more hours because the market means an 11 hour workday and c) 'more responsibility = more money' = I GET A RAISE! :) Alll good. I love my boss and the bakery. So. Pumped.

And I'm off! Have a good Friday everyone! I gotta scronge in my purse for spare change to use to buy the little chocolates that they have sitting by the register here...

80- mmm, coffee shop internet!

2010-07-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

Hello blog world!

Back at the coffee shop for an evening blog/email/read blog session. Today was quite a day. Not everything went as planned, but I got it all done.

Starting with the bakery at 6am.

I didn't run pre-work because I was supposed to do a 5/6 split today, but planned to do 8 with Mike tonite at Run Club. So, I thought I'd just squeeze in the miles pre-Mike because today was a 'recovery' day anyway. Besides, I wanted my legs to have a bit extra rest after bigger milage yesterday. Anyway....

I was dreading work, but it actually went by fast. Lots to do on Thursdays and this week is especially crazy because this huge Art Fair is in town (seriously, it is a huge deal.) Since our bakery is "kind of a big deal" it really increases our business. Ie: I end up making 100x more sandwiches then usual which increases my prep work for the next day and so on. But I digress.....

Once I got home ~3pm, things got more messed up. I was starving (perhaps because I didn't eat enough yesterday with all my traveling and such for the milage) so I ate a big snack. I've gotten much better about heading out after eating, so I headed out for my short run. I ran up to CVS to get a battery I needed and ran home for a quick 4 miler. Then, I had about 30 minutes before leaving for run club and I started feeling HORRIBLE. Nauseous and plain gross. I felt fine running, so it was weird that perhaps the snack was effecting me so much later? On top of everything there was a tornado warning and my run club meets about 25 minutes from my apartment. Sooo, change of plans. I ended up going back to sleep from 5:30-6:30pm. I felt *alittle* better upon waking and it was raining and there was 'only' a tornado watch. I knew it was then or never for me to head out- so I did. 8 miles. No ipod. No Mike. Just me. And the rain. And it was good.

On a semi unrelated tangent, I planned the route to go by my freshman dorm on campus. I won't to into details, but my freshman year of college wasn't a good year for me. Infact, it was horrible. I have lots of less-than-great memories of that dorm and that time in general, so I've literally never gone back since. Today, I ran there. It was deserted and I just stood for a second in the rain. I tried to remember. But the cool thing was, I barely can remember that year and the person I was. I have changed so much in the last 5+ years that I can barely relate to the scared, lonely, sad girl I was then. Because now I feel like I am flourishing so much and enjoying life. Enjoying being an adult and my life and the possibilites. And it's all so exciting. A total 180 from those days of the past. So I turned and ran away. It is in my past. And I felt proud of the person I have become.

Wow, that was random and kinda heavy for this running blog! Anyway, I got my 12 miles in and now I'm doing my coffee shop thing before turning in for the night. Life is good.

Have a great day everyone! :)

81- back at it

2010-07-21T19:30:00.000-04:00

Quicky tonite, because its been a long day and I still need to drive an hour back from my parents' house to my place.

This morning was fun though. 15 mile mid-week mid-long run. The run went better than expected. I started off sluggish and slow and finished stonger, which as I've mentioned...never happens. I did a couple of miles of it with my mom, and then she met me in town (after a swim in Lake Michigan and a quick change) we walked around the Art Fair. We got cool $5 necklaces and I got a rug for my kitchen. Then, it was back home to pack up for me. I made the trek back downstate to pick up my car and return my rental. I had to stop by my parents' house too, because my dad accidentally took my phone Tuesday morning when he left. Since it was 5:30 and I didn't want to sit on the freeway in traffic, I did my shakeout 5 miler around here. The legs were tired, but OK. Now I'm all ready to head back to my place and the traffic should be clear. Tomorrow, back at the bakery for an early morning.

In summary:
20 mile day
back to no internet once I'm at my apartment
Bakery tomorrow
I miss up north already!

:)

82- one of the best days of the summer. period.

2010-07-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

Today was just that- one of the best days yet.

It all began with an around the lake run of 10 miles at 7:55 pace. Felt good, except for being drenched in sweat when I finished and it was only 8:45! But don't worry, the day only got better...

It is difficult for me to explain, but my mom and I road trip every year to a nearby small town about 2 hours away because it is a totally random town and fun to shop and such. This year, we also added another town to our tour on the way. We make a day of it by stopping for brunch first, and just driving and enjoying the day together with lots of stops. And today was just perfect start to finish. From a delicious meal, to random shopping (I won't bore everyone with all the details but lets just say it included a plate for me shaped like an avocado- oh yes, that's how we roll!) to eating ice cream in the car, to deep conversations, to silly jokes. It was all good. From one-of-a-kind shops, to farmstands, to the mall on the way home - we really hit it all. And it felt so good. My mom and I are close and I feel fortunate for that.

On the way home, after a long day it was almost 8pm and I still had to do my 5 miler for the night. So, in typical Tmart fashion, I simply pulled over on the side of the road 5 miles from our house, grabbed my clothes/shoes from the backseat, and started running. I knew it would be hilly, but it turned into a glorious running, hitting 7:31 pace without hurting *too* bad, and the last mile in 7:05 (finally downhill then, lol). When I got home, the day was capped off with a delicious dinner my mom had prepared that we enjoyed on the deck. Perfection. It was the type of day that you want to hold onto and remember when days are not so perfect. Or runs not so effortless. Yes indeed.

Tomorrow, I have a long day of driving. I have to tack on some time to go turn in my rental and pick up my car that has been in the shop from my parents' home town. Then drive back to my place and get ready to work bright and early on Thursday. Let the good times roll.

Hope everyone else had great days!

83- new carpet smell

2010-07-19T21:35:00.000-04:00

So random fact about me: I love the smell of very extreme (probably hazadous) things. Examples: paint, gasoline, new shoes, rubber, plastic, and most of all NEW CARPET. The gym in my apartment recently got new rubber tile floor and I swear that I go there 90% of the time just to smell it! And I breath in really deeply when I walk through to go to the pool. On a related note, my parents just got new carpet in their room and I love it. I'm watching TV in their room right now, just to smell it. Probably killing brain cells but SO worth it!

With that randomness aside.....

Today was a normal Monday recovery day with a 6/5 split. I did my morning run fairly slow with my mom around the next door lake. It was fun though, chatting it up the whole way. Sometimes my mom and I 'save' conversation for when we run together. I also like it because my mom likes me to talk to keep the focus off running, so she pretty much will let me ramble about anything. If we were just at home or something, she would probably walk out of the room, lol.

The afternoon was great. Perfect temperature and wind level to hang out on the boat for a couple of hours and let the waves push us around. I got totally burned because I'm not a huge sunscreen believer, but it will turn into a tan in the next couple days.

Early evening brought time for my 5 miler. Faster than the morning, (8:03 pace) but still relaxed. Then, cocktails and skiing (the best way to ski is after 1 drink IMO) and a late dinner. Now, just chillin. Good up north day!

Tomorrow= some serious running with a road trip in between! My mom and I are doing a random road trip to some small northern Michigan towns. Should be randomness and good times as is the case when my mom and I are together! Plus, brunch out and probably some ice cream in there too- can't beat it.

I'm out... peace!

84- 17 ok miles

2010-07-18T22:23:00.000-04:00

*ok* refers to the fact that they were not great, but not horrid either.

At first, I felt great. At 2 miles, I even entertained the idea of throwing in a few marathon-pace miles. But that idea died fast. At 8.5 miles, I finished looping around the first lake. I swung by our house, and picked up my dad and we set off to run halfway around our lake. At the halfway point, my mom met us in the car and her and I finished the loop. Running parts with each of my parents' was nice, even though the pace was a wee bit slower. I still value this time more than anything.

The worst part about the run was the humidity. Although it was 'cooler' being about 80 degrees and overcast, it was unbelievably humid. At the halfway point, my shorts and shirt were soaked to the point where it looked as though I had went swimming. It felt aweful having my shorts stuck to me so much like a wet garbage bag! Not. Cool.

I don't know why, but I'm stressing a bit about running lately. I've completed my 3rd week of training, and they just get more intense from here. I feel like I'm having *some* good runs, but they are few and far between. And my milage is up, but I've been consciously keeping my pace down which I thought would feel easier than it has been feeling. I guess I want to feel my fitness increasing and I'm not. I'm still struggling with alot of fatigue and aches and pains which I know aren't helped by the fact that I work on my feet a few days a week, ski, and hardly ever stretch. I guess I'm just worried that with 12 weeks to go, things are 'clicking' yet.

I went for a sunset swim this evening, which felt great. My body was so sore laying on the floor watching TV with my parents that my mom suggested it and it was the perfect idea. The cool water did wonders, as I'm hoping a good nights' sleep will too. This week promises to be crazy running-wise as I look ahead to my schedule. I only hope I can handle it and succeed.......

85- from Slacker to perfect evening...

2010-07-17T22:01:00.000-04:00

So there was no way I was going to get up at 3:30am to run this morning before work. Even though I had my easiest, shortest run of the last 3 weeks, it just was not going to happen. I felt stressed just thinking about it going to bed last night, so when the alarm went off, I reset it for 4:45 and fell back asleep. I wrote off the day as a rest day as it has been over a month and I felt exhausted. So, I headed off to work 6-2, then immediately onto the drive up north. Suddenly, I felt very positive about everything. My 'workweek' was over, and I realized that I would be up north by 6pm. Why not run then?

So I did. And it was a perfect evening.

I got up north, said 'hi' to the parents, and immediately headed for the hills. I took some short trails and sort of just 'ran around' without looking at my Garmin. 6 miles went by fast. 7:38 pace on the hills of up north. Felt good. Glad I did the run and stuck to my training plan.

Immediately upon getting home, my pops already had the boat uncovered. We hopped on with drinks and had a 'booze cruise' (lol) + skiing. Skiing was amazing tonite. The lake was perfect. Everything felt right. Late dinner on the deck post-ski. Perfect as well. Good day.

Long run in the morning. As much as I would love to finally succeed in 'beating the heat,' I'm realistic enough to know that it won't happen. Sleep will win!

Happy weekend! :)

86- dragging

2010-07-16T17:49:00.000-04:00

I wouldn't say that I 'like' getting up at 3:30am to get my first run in on days that I work. However, most of the time I don't mind it *too* much. But every once in awhile, read: today, it stinks. I laid in bed from about 3am to 3:30am counting the minutes. I started going through scenarios in my head: Could I get my milage in later? (no) Could I get my milage tomorrow? (no) Would I feel more well rested getting up at 5am and going straight to work? (no) Would I feel crappy because I skipped out on my run? (yes) Am I alittle crazy for running at 4am? (yes) Am I OK with being alittle crazy? (yes) Needless to say, at 3:29am, I dragged my butt out of bed!

I decided to do my shakeout morning 5 miler on the treadmill at my apartment. Something about hitting the dark streets kind of freaked me out this morning. It was actually really nice. (Obviously) no one else was at the apartment gym, I got to rock out to my ipod, and I got to catch up on World News via closed captioning. I nice change of pace. Plus, my morning runs have been so slow based upon the darkness and my lack of mental focus, so this allowed me to dial in a respectable pace and go. Overall, good.

Work went fast as usual, and before I knew it I was changing in my car at work for run #2. I debated doing yesterday's planned tempo, but honestly I was just too tired. I'm glad I did the run and got the milage in, so I decided to be OK with that. Besides, it was 91 degrees and in the middle of the day so I just let my legs guide the pace. 6 miles at 8:09 pace is what they wanted on a new loop around the Bakehouse. Overall, a good recovery day.

Now, I'm at the coffee shop for one last evening. It is 5:48pm and I'm seriously ready for bed. Tomorrow, just one short run (Saturday's are my easiest days of the week) + Bakeshop shift and then driving up north! Hopefully skiing + running + relaxation are on tap for the next few days, plus a roadtrip with my mom. Should be good times! :)

I'm off to pack and SLEEP.

87- brrrr...

2010-07-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here at a coffee shop freezing right now, although it was 90+ degrees during my evening run. Why you ask? Because I'm soaking wet after running in a hail/thunder/lightning storm! It was crazy. Hot alll day, then the skies got completely dark 5 minutes before 6pm and it started POURING. We debated waiting it out, but then decided to be hard core and head out in it. It seriously hurt and people kept honking, pointing, and staring. Mike and I agreed that it was the hardest rain that we have ever run in. Unfortunately, this made it impossible to do our planned tempo. Our usual loop is a dirt road loop that would have been underwater. Instead, we did 7 miles at 7:58 pace which was fine considering the conditions. I've been feeling totally wiped out today, so I was fine with that. I don't know if my body is still recovering from all the blood loss of yesterday, or the shock of early wakeup, but I'm seriously dragging. And my appetite is all but gone. Totally weird for me.

This morning, I had a much less eventful 5 miler around the deserted 4am streets. Lots of drama at the bakery today too. Always keeps things interesting!

Time to bounce to get ready to do it all over again. Tomorrow I have nothing 'scheduled' besides working from 6am-2pm (and my runs of course, but they are both on my own time) so I'm feeling a bit more relaxed. Plus, it will give me time to clean my apartment and pack to head back up north Saturday. See, if I stated that I'm going to clean on the blog, maybe I'll actually do it?!?!

We'll see....

88- what NOT to say.

2010-07-14T19:34:00.000-04:00

So today I had a physical for the first time at a new doctor. I've had some health problems in the past + I voiced a few concerns to the doc, so he ordered lots of blood tests, then said the nurse would be in in a few minutes to take blood. Mind you it was about 1pm and I had been fasting since the previous night + ran 5 miles that morning (ie STARVING and woosy). So, the nurse comes in and immediately holds up SEVEN empty viles and says with a smile "Hi, I'm here to take LOTS of blood from you! Hope you don't have a history of fainting!" Umm, yeah. It seems as though in nursing school they should put that on the list of what NOT to say to patients! Upon looking at my tiny veins and blood pressure, she decided to take me to the lab to have it done by a more seasoned nurse. This turned out to be a good thing, because the previous nurse had no idea what she was doing, even to the point of not knowing that one of the viles wasn't supposed to be exposed to light. Then, after they sucked me dry of my blood, these two nice women handed me a juice box and a cup and said "time for a urine sample!" So I'm no doctor or nurse, but it seems like kind of a bad idea to take tons of blood from someone, then ask them to squat over a cup in a locked bathroom immediately after.....Don't worry I handled it like a champ though! Waiting until 2pm in the day to eat....not so much.

However, this made it difficult to do my second run of the day with Mike. As mentioned, I had done an easy 5 miler in the morning, and had 9 miles on tap with Mike. My doc recommended no strenuous activity after all the blood, but 9 miles isn't all that strenuous, right? Unfortunately, it was 90+ degrees at 5pm when we met up. I had had limited time to eat/drink since the appointment. Luckily, we did a loop around Mike's house that allowed us to stop back and drink about 5.5 miles in because I was feeling totally woosy and getting the chills. Atleast we got it done. At a 8:19 pace, which is slow for us, but considering the conditions I'm OK with it.

So, tomorrow I'm back to my crazy 3 day schedule of working. Or should I say run + work + run. Mike and I have an intimidating tempo planned for tomorrow at run club so I'm hydrating tons for the next 24 hours so I'll be prepared. Tempos make me nervous!

Alright, well I'm back to being amish at my apartment (no internet, 2 channels of TV) so I think I'll head back for a quick swim before sleeps. Early wakeups begin again tomorrow!

:)

89- the two day rule

2010-07-13T20:09:00.000-04:00

I mentioned before that after skiing and stuff these days, I am actually more sore 2 days after the activity. Well, I'm pretty sure that applies to running too. Yesterday I felt great....today, not so much....

I set out for my 'medium-long' mid-week run of 13 miles this morning. It felt almost "chilly" out, although that basically just meant that I wasn't sweating just walking outside, which was nice. Although this run was scheduled for tomorrow, I decided to flip-flop days because I'm having a physical tomorrow at noon which means no eating or drinking besides water beforehand. So the thought of a 13 miler with no food before and/or after was rough. Plus, I don't want to go to the appointment totally dehydrated because they have to take blood. But I digress....

So 13 miles today it was. I planned to do a loop around our lake (8 miles) then a loop with my mom on our "hill" route (5 miles) named for the 1 mile intense hill that one must tackle at the start of the run. Honestly, my legs were tired from the start. There was only about a one mile period around 5 miles in where they actually felt good. I managed to keep the pace decent, but there were no sub-8 miles in today's run. The loop with my mom was good though. I never tackle that loop in the middle of a run because of the uphill, but having my mom with me made it OK. I'm so fortunate to have that time to be with her and my mom is a pretty bad ass runner! Anyway, I completed the run, jumped in the lake, and jumped in the car to drive downstate.

I'm now at my parents' house chillin with my dad. My physical is around here + I needed to drop my car at the shop around here, so I'm staying for the night. I've actually been *semi* productive this evening planning my Physics curriculum for next year. Last year, I sort of flew by the seat of my pants at times with teaching (it was my first year, afterall) so I'm trying to really go through everything and make it better. I want to be really solid going into the school year, which unfortunately requires some summer prep work.

Tomorrow = easy run in morning, physical, driving back to my place, and an evening run with Mike. Sounds good to me!

Off to enjoy the true glory of the town I grew up in.....TCBY for dinner!

90- recovery-tastic

2010-07-12T20:41:00.000-04:00

Good evening!

Today was a lovely day for recovery runs. My legs felt better today than they ever have post-20 miler which I contribute to hydrating better on the run and wearing my recovery socks to bed even though they were super hot!

On the schedule for today's recovery was a 6 mile morning, and a 5 mile afternoon run. Both felt good. Ran the morning half alone and half with my mom. Then went for a nice swim. In the afternoon I went into the "city" to do my second run along the bay. It was SUPER windy and the waves were white-capping, but I love running along the water. Plus, the people watching was great today- lots of characters out there. I also felt very energetic running 7:38 pace, with my last mile at 7:22. Although I am trying to do slower recovery runs, I also don't want to forget what MP-ish feels like. So my stipulation to myself when I feel my body going faster at the beginning of a run is that I need to finish it as fast or faster. None of this going out hard and dying stuff that I do so well! Even on a short run! I parked at a public beach and jumped into the Bay immdiatly post-run. Which was amazing, playing in the waves and wind and all. Until I lost my headband, which was sad because I have an unhealthy attachment to inanimate objects....so yeah.

Now I'm just getting packed up and ready to head back downstate for the work week. I have to make a stop at my parents' downstate house tomorrow night, then back to my place for a few days of early mornings + bakery shifts. But that also means running with friends! :) And I love my apartment, so its all good. I just wish summer wasn't going by so darn fast!

91- I kinda learned....sorta....

2010-07-11T20:09:00.001-04:00

Well, after last week's hotter-than-hell 16 miler that I started at 10:30am, I proclaimed that I would never let my need for sleep get in the way of me running appropriately early enough to beat the heat. That is really easy to say when you don't remember how tired pre 4am wakeups for days in a row make you! Today, I just kept rolling over in bed until *gasp* 8:30am. This + need to eat pre-run made my departure on my 20 miler about 10am. Which was slightly better than last week, however it was counteracted by the fact that I was running 4 additional miles more and therefore would end at basically the same time...alas.

The good news is, my mom volunteered to run with me for the first 8.5 miles around the lake next door to ours. This was amazing because a) I love running with my mom b) I love running with other people in general and c) that is further than my mom usually goes. So it was a long run for both of us today! It also forced me to start my pace more 'conservatively' (see mom, I didn't say slow!) so that I could pick it up once I dropped her off.

I say that I 'kind learned' because although I started the run at basically the same time and it was 88 degrees throughout, I took better hydration measures. I stashed some powerade zero at the end of our drive so that I could chug it (and grab my ipod) when I dropped my mom off at 8.5 miles in. Then, my mom amazingly brought me an additional bottle of crack juice at the 14.5 mile mark because I was running to a nearby town for the second leg of my journey and there is literally nothing but open country roads out there.

The hardest part/biggest mistake was the fact that I ran to the opposite town of last week. You see, our lake is in between two towns, both ~11 miles away. However, the winds are constantly out of the south lately. So last week, I ran to the town south of us = good call. This week I ran to the town to the north = bad call. 11 miles against the wind! Yuck.

But the good news is, today's run was waaaay better than last weeks. I picked up the pace alot after I dropped my mom off and finished strong, which was the exact opposite of the draggin-my-ass feeling of last week. And the fact that I popped of a 20 miler at the end of my week with my 'tempo' race yesterday left me feeling pretty accomplished. 92 mile week which is a happy place for me too.

The rest of the day was spent in an amazing up-north fashion; making GF pizza for lunch, napping in the sun, swimming, and getting fro yo for dinner which I plan to consume in about .5 seconds. Unfortunately, I also *started* and need to continue to work on my prep work. Yeah, I hate to think about it, but this teaching this is going to start up again in a month and a half and I gotta actually be prepared to mold young minds again! Craziness!

Happy Sunday everyone! :)

92- tempo-race, and the flat lake is mocking me!

2010-07-10T20:01:00.000-04:00

I'm writing right now, because I'm looking at the lake and it is sooo flat! Which normally would be amazing for skiing but I'm waaay past sore and there is no possible way I could hit it tonite. Buzz Kill.

As expected, I woke up extremely sore from skiing last night, in combo with my running + working from the week that my body hasn't quite adjusted to. I think if I hadn't already paid my race entry, I may have *gasp* even considered skipping this morning's race because I was so tired and knew I wasn't capable/going for a PR. But alas. do you ever regret a run??

The course for this race is flat, except for a huuuge 1 mile hill halfway through the race. Intense it is. I decided to run at my MP for the run, which turned out to be 7:29ish because I had to compensate for the slowness of the hill. Have I mentioned that I'm a horrible hill runner? Because I am. As a tall person with super-long legs, my strength is my stride and hills break that, throwing me off. Anyway, the race started at 8:15 which was much too late/too hot. Other than my sore/tired legs and back I felt pretty good. It went by fast and my aerobics felt really 'on.' I ended up finishing in 70 minutes, which is much slower than my PR there of 63:something, but that's OK because today wasn't a PR day. Tomorrow, I tackle the long run.....

I got in a quick nap, and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with my friend. My dad is preparing for a Triathalon in the morning, which is another reason we are not heading out with a ski. I'm hoping after some rest, my body will be ready for a LR in the morning but honestly, I don't know. I'm going to try to not make last week's mistake and get up and get going earlier, but who knows if it will actually happen because I need to catch up on sleep so badly!

Hope everyone had a great day! :)