Sucking Air

August 2, 2012August 3, 2012 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

You may have noticed there hasn’t been much on here lately about exercise. That would be because, aside from watching the Olympics, I haven’t been doing much of it. And while it’s nice to know that I still have no problem whatsoever embracing time off to participate in other activities, I have also learned that my perception of my personal fitness level is not always in line with…well, reality.

Over the past 2 months I’ve been running about 2 times a week, usually no more than 4 miles (usually closer to 3), and always in the morning at a nice easy pace. That being said, I ran the Bluegrass 10K on the 4th just fine, so I took that as a sign that I was maintaining my fitness level just fine…even though my motivation has been super low and I wasn’t really training.

Then this week my aunt Barbara who works at StrideRite sent me and Paul some REALLY FRICKIN SUPER AWESOME shoes.

These combined with the Mizuno Elixirs that I bought a few weeks ago, because I had to leave my stinky mcstinkster Brooks in Hawaii after the 70.3, got me kind of amped about getting back into running (because few things get me more excited about working out than getting new gear). Plus, I am signed up for the Bourbon Chase again, so theoretically at some point I do need to start training.

So yesterday I got excited (for the first time in a long time) about doing an easy 5 miler after work then making a nice healthy dinner for Paul (who has had a pretty busy first week).

The super intense heat has mellowed out a little bit, but it’s still pretty warm…as in 91 degrees with 60% humidity at 6pm when I went for a run.

Again, relative to what we’ve been experiencing, it felt pretty good when you walked out the front door. So I figured it’d be hot, but doable. So I found a solid This American Life podcast on my phone, laced up my Kinarvas, and headed out the door.

Turns out I was wrong.

The first mile/mile and a half felt great. The shoes are amazing. Then, around the 10 minute mark, I started to hurt. Like the kind of hurt where your chest burns and you feel like you’re going to ralph. After 10 minutes. And no matter how much I tried to slow down my jog, I couldn’t shake it. First I blamed the heat (which was probably part of it), then the pollen (allergies have been bad lately)…I mean, really, what else could it be?

And then it hit me: I’m just out of shape.

I haven’t struggled like that in a long time. My heart rate was through the roof. Even switching my podcast over to One Direction on my RUN FASTER playlist couldn’t get me moving. I walked twice. I was super hot and super thirsty. I felt like I may have a GI disaster at one point (but didn’t, crisis averted). It was ugly.

My red-faced self got home from the debacle (not like the flushed, healthy-looking I-just-finished-working-out red, but the people-stop-what-they’re-doing-to-ask-you-“oh-my-god-are-you-ok?” kind of red), chugged a gatorade, and lay on the couch moaning while Paul chopped the veggies in the kitchen and kept asking me, “did you still want to make dinner or should I just do it?” After about 15 minutes before I pulled my melodramatic self off the couch and re-engaged with the world.

The moral of the story: time to get back on the wagon. Shooting for ~15-20 miles over the next week. Quasi-regular training starts this weekend.

One final, sad (for me), relatively unrelated note: on Monday Allison hopped on a plane to Scotland to start vet school.

While, as with Kristin, I am happy for her to be moving on to something bigger and more exciting than sitting in Lexington coaching me for free (if that exists), my long rides and long runs won’t be the same without her going as slow as she possibly can giving me instruction while I struggle to keep up with her. She will be sorely missed.

Enjoy your weekend.

The 4th

July 5, 2012July 5, 2012 ~ meh ~ 6 Comments

The 4th of July is quickly becoming one of my favorite days of the year. And I don’t even like fireworks.

First off, they line the entire main street in town with these little tiny American flags. I have no idea how long it took someone to do this.

Secondly, Wednesday off work. WHATTUP.

Then of course was the BG 10K.

I ran the race last year as part of an 11 mile training run. This year, my long training runs are over (YESS!!) and I haven’t done a very good job at keeping my running up to par, so this time around it was just for fun.

To make things even more fun, it was almost 80 degrees with 87% humidity at 7am.

My entire in-law family did the race. Paul ran with his dad, and my sister-in-law and ran with their mom. I ran with my friend J whose goal was to not walk at all (she has been known to take this race out a little too fast) or barf before mile 4.

I absolutely love love love this race. To me, it embodies the all of the good things about living in small-town America. Most of the run is through downtown and on one main tree-lined road. Everybody and their mother is out, either running or hungover on the side of the road supporting somebody. The entire course is lined with people cheering and little kids holding signs and the owners of the houses along the route hosing you down. There is a band at mile 4 wearing boating hats and that plays When the Saints Go Marching In. Everyone is in a good mood. Every time I run this I feel like I’m in a movie.

Anyway, J and I made our way down the vomit-lined chute (the heat was a problem) without walking once. There was also no barfing, and she PRed by like 2 minutes. Win.

For my sister-in-law, 10K was the furthest distance she had ever run by like 2 miles. She came in at just over an hour…and ralphed at the finish line. Another win.

Because the temperature just kept going up and up, after the run we headed over my sister-in-law’s boyfriend’s mother’s pool (get that?) where we lounged around and his mom served us post-race spiked lemonade and snacks. It was…amazing.

And of course the evening ended with America-inspired dessert.

Special shout out to my sister who is serving over in Afghanistan and celebrated the 4th by getting beat in a 5K run by a bunch of Spaniards at her base. I asked her how it was and she said, “Hot.” Which probably trumps the hot we felt here.

Eggnormous

June 27, 2012June 27, 2012 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Tired of these titles yet? Never realized there was SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT when it comes to eggs, did you?

Maybe because I hadn’t seen a store-bought egg in a while, but I didn’t realize how much bigger ours were. When you put them next to each other (these are cage-free, vegetarian store bought eggs), R&Ms eggs look enormous. You can’t even get the carton closed.

Speaking of food and fatness, since Hawaii I haven’t really been working out. But now that I have more time in the mornings, I figured I would walk or ride my bike to work every day (haven’t driven once since I got back) and that would make up for it.

Turns out one hour of walking a day does not equal 3 hours of intense cardio in terms of calories burned. Weird.

imag1294-1 — my “cardio” the past 3 weeks

So anyway, because I wasn’t totally stoked on my performance in Hawaii, I had been seriously considering doing another 70.3 in September at Cedar Point. It’s a Rev3 event, and the race is supposed to be fun, the course is flat, and it’s not too far to travel. I gave myself a week off to think it over.

One week turned into three and a half weeks, and yesterday I finally admitted to myself that I a.) was officially out of shape, and b.) didn’t really want to put in the training for another long race. There’s something to be said for coming home after work and being like oh, guess what, I’m going to go for a short run, cook dinner, and watch 3 straight hours of Pretty Little Liars instead of a 2 hour ride on the trainer followed by TRX.

To counteract my feelings of extreme lardiness, I decided to sign up for something small, just to get me off my butt. Good thing the Bluegrass 10K is next week!

An even better thing is my friend J is running it and is looking to hold a pace that I should theoretically be able to hang with. So we’re going to “pace” each other. (ie, I’m going to try to keep up and try not to barf all over/embarrass myself.) I’m hoping my long taper and the superhuman eggs will give me some superhuman speed.

J has also issued a finish line photo contest, like the one we had at MiM. Lucky for her, this happens to be my specialty.

If we do manage to finish together, it could be epic.

I’m never gonna be a professional marathoner

June 21, 2012June 22, 2012 ~ meh ~ 2 Comments

I didn’t see this ASICS ad when it came out last fall to promote the NYC Marathon, but it’s awesome. A 60-foot interactive wall video in the Columbus Circle subway station that lets you race marathon Olympian Ryan Hall for 60 feet at his marathon pace. Not to ruin the surprise, but basically nobody can keep up. For 60 feet. But what an inventive way to engage people.

And 4:46 a mile is totally absurd.

Day of Rest

March 11, 2012March 14, 2012 ~ meh ~ 2 Comments

At 7:30 on a Sunday morning the streets here are completely empty. More so than anywhere else I’ve lived (welcome to the Bible Belt). NO ONE is out. I see more cars at 5am on a Tuesday.

So every Sunday I drag my butt out of bed kind of early for my long run. There is something about running down the middle of the road, on your own, as the sun comes up.

It’s gonna be a good day.

Streak Report–Part II

January 5, 2012January 5, 2012 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

sausage race finish line…picture via

And now, for the second and final installment of the streak report. Not a lot of running and minimal biking (because I was in California and did not have a bike with me.) At least I got to do a lot of this in the sun.

Continued from Part I…

Day 13: 1hr 15 min of TRX with sprints in between each circuit

Day 14: 5.3 mile run alone with my music, shins and knee reeeeally got to me

Day 15: 26 mile bike ride (1 hr 30 min). Also the day I decided to take the next week+ off until my leg stopped hurting.

Day 16 : First day in CA. 3200 swim OUTSIIIIDE!

Day 17 (Christmas): everything was closed. Did a 5ish mile walk with Paul and Dad in the hot hot sun (I broke a sweat, counting it).

Day 18: 4.something mile hike in the mountains of SB with some old friends (we walked uphill, also counting it)

Day 19: 4000 swim (1hr 15 min, main set: broken mile)

Day 20: 3500 swim (1hr 15 min, long course masters practice in SB)

Day 21: 2500 swim (1 hr, long and easy, hypoxic pull)

Day 22: 3000 swim (1hr 15 min, threw some fast 100s in there)

Day 23: Nothing. Spent the day recovering from a migraine on the flight home. Then baked bread.

Day 24 (but actually day 25 bc I started on day 0): (NEW YEARS DAY!) 1hr 30 min ride on the trainer. Felt like death.

The end. How anticlimactic. It wasn’t a complete fail, I only did nothing on 2 of the 25 days, but also not a complete success. I’m still not running, going to try to start again this weekend. Fingers crossed….

Streak Report–Part I

December 19, 2011December 19, 2011 ~ meh ~ 2 Comments

So, I could lie and pretend like I’ve run every day of the streak. But I won’t.

Started out on the right foot (ha), but the shins and back pain kicked in after a run I (apparently) pushed a little bit too hard followed by a weekend of increased cycling hours, and I didn’t want to aggravate it all too much. So I haven’t been running every day. Fail. But I have committed myself to exercising every day! (I missed one day out of the last 12). And I plan to do so through the first of the year.

Report thus far:

Day 0: 5.4 miles with the morning group (this was the day before I heard about the streak, but thought it should count since I ran)

Day 1: 1 mile (ouch…had a work event, it was dark)

Day 2: 5.4 mucusy miles with the morning group (it was 26 degrees outside)

Day 3: 2 miles with Spike, the squirrels were out in force, I wanted to kill him (+90 minute ride on the bike)

Day 4: 1 mile on my own (+ 5000 yard swim + 1 hour on bike)

Day 5: 3 miles easy running with Paul and Spike (this weekend was where the back and shins started getting bad)

Day 6: ~.5 miles (1-minute sprints with Allison in between our TRX circuits)

Day 7: 5.4 miles with morning group, avg 7:40/mile (+ 1hr yoga…my back was KILLING me, wanted to stretch it out)

Day 8: 0 miles run, but 1.5 mile walk with Spike (and we put our new couch together…I wasn’t feeling super great)

Day 9: 4 miles (25 min run + 6 x 30 sec strides)

Day 10: 0 miles, shins hurt and had long run planned for next day (+ 1hr 30 min on bike + 1500 yard swim)

Day 11: 8.4 miles by my lonesome, had to throw my emergency mix on my ipod to get me out of the house (1hr 10min)

Day 12: 3.4 miles nice and slow (+TRX with a few sprints)

Total miles: 40.1. Weak sauce.

There you have it. The (first) 12 Days of Streaking.

…and while we’re riding the Confession Train, I might as well go ahead and announce that at some point last week I actively dove headfirst off the wagon and started eating chocolate in my office again LIKE IT IS MY JOB.

I’m ready for break.

P.S. Someone put a ceramic duck wearing a Christmas sweater right outside my cube. Totally necessary.

Time to STREAK!

December 8, 2011November 27, 2012 ~ meh ~ 3 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in a few other posts, I’ve been having trouble getting back into the groove this winter. The cold and raging holidays and insane work and my growing waistline…it is not easy to resume/maintain a regular training schedule. Enter: the Runners World Holiday Running Streak (which I read about on Skinny Runner.)

Run at least one mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years (I know, it’s late, but whatever, starting today it’s still a 25-day streak.)

Stay moving.