rest day

And totally a ‘what not to eat’ day. Today marks the 4th straight day of my sodium binge. I guess I should thank my endocrine system for the early warning, although I’m feeling less than grateful about it.

BUT! New Balance came through for me and my capris showed up! And I heart them so much!! I’ve worn them for hours already. Plus I got the supplies for my tutu and I already finished making it. Tomorrow Hubs is going to pick up a wig for me and I’ll make my wings. He’s no fun and is only wearing a headband with the bouncy antenna. I’ll at least get him to take a picture of my get-up.

DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD ON SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!

Oh, I might possibly be addicted to joining challenges on Nike.

5 in the rain

It’s March in the beautiful PNW, which means Mother Nature is at her bipolar finest. I had actually forgotten how refreshing a run in the rain could be. There was a nice strong headwind at the start of my run, but it disappeared soon after. I took a new route (for the most part) and it was nice. Not too hilly, but no chance of being flat. It was supposed to be an easy run, but I have a hard time keeping a ‘conversational’ pace while running solo. I tried. Really, I did. Time to find a running partner or three. I’m getting so excited for the race on Sunday! Tomorrow is packet pick up and costume gathering time.

I joined some new challenges at Nike+ but like usual it’s not registering my most recent run yet. Maybe this is Steve Jobs’ way of trying to get me to buy a new iPod? In terrifying news about my running capris, it appears UPS has misplaced them. Somewhere between here and Illinois. Note to self- just pay for shipping next time, Cheap-o. I really wasn’t expecting them to be here by Sunday, so I’m not too bummed out. Hopefully they will show up tomorrow while I’m out running errands.

The lovely (I’m quite sure!) Seattle Runner Girl had a recent post that has me thinking. The gist of it is, do something that scares you. Personally, I’m taking this in a baby steps sort of way. I will not be jumping out of or off of anything, sorry to disappoint. The thing is, I’ve experienced so many scary things life changing events in the last 9 or so months that I don’t know what I have left. Actually, I’m left with a litany of irrational fears. (Exaggerate? Moi? Never!) So today or maybe tomorrow I’m going to face one of those fears head on.

I’m going to eat a banana.

Go ahead and laugh. It’s okay. I would laugh, too. I’m not exactly afraid of bananas. It’s more like the smell/texture makes me dry heave if I think about it too long. I don’t even drink smoothies because they always have bananas in them and then they smell and I can’t get past the banana smell! Banana flavored Runts however… but I digress. I even have a plan of action. Cut it in rounds and cut them in half. That way they can’t turn into banana paste in my mouth. *deep breath* I don’t plan on eating more than half since the bananas Hubs got are basically the size of my forearm. It’s like they all have a case of elephantiasis or one of those brain tumors on the pituitary gland that make people grow to enormous size. Ugh. But, much like my classes this coming quarter, I will reserve judgment (and even thinking about it) until it’s already started. Wish me luck!

A case of the Mondays

Warning: this post contains nothing but whining and self-pity. Feel free to skip it.

This run was harder physically than mentally. I just didn’t have it in me today. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in this spot before. Do I blame sitting on my butt all day yesterday? Maybe. I ended up taking my rest day. All of it. I didn’t mow the lawn and I can feel the dirty looks from the neighbors through the walls. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Maybe it has less to do with me taking a rest day and more to do with the fact that our unseasonably nice weather might be at an end. The skies have returned to their natural shade of gray (true from the middle end of October through mid-May). Hopefully it will rain since I noticed that the Scotch broom has bloomed. EVERYWHERE. It’s one of the last things that can still trigger an allergy attack with me. Perhaps it’s the fact that I took a new route (entirely uphill both ways. Scout’s honor. Just ask my hamstrings.) and ended up having to take two walk breaks, one being at the top of the Nemesis Hill. I don’t like that. I don’t know. I’m just having the blahs. And to add insult to injury (not), Nike isn’t uploading correctly.

I hereby give myself permission to remain in a funk until bedtime. A comfort food dinner followed by a good(?) book and an early a decent bed time will be my cure. Tomorrow’s a __________________ (insert tired metaphor here).

yesterday and today

Belated posting due to a need to snuggle with Hubs on the couch while watching a movie so awful that I will never repeat it’s title and enjoying a grown-up drink (or two).

I started my day off yesterday with what was supposed to be an easy conversational paced run. I’m not sure I can do that without someone else. Regardless of my seeming inability to not run at least at a moderate pace, I felt really good. I was planning on running the trails again, but the parks department people haven’t finished with the new cedar. The smell was overpowering, and they were using micro sized steam rollers to squash the chips down so it was deafening even over my music. Hopefully they will be finished and the smell will have dissipated by Tuesday since I plan to avoid the trails until then. I did the rest of my run on the streets and the gravel green belt trails. It was so pretty! The weather is just unbelievably nice. It was chilly, but I actually wore shorts. First time ever! They didn’t fit as well as I was hoping, but after reflecting for a minute I realized it’s most likely because they were purchased roughly 10 lbs ago. The curse of always being between sizes, I guess. I’ve needed to make the switch to shorts (as I still haven’t buckled in to buy a pair of capris) because I’ve overheated fairly quickly on my recent runs. I’ve also started my post-run showers with cold water ( in lieu of an ice bath) and I think it’s making a difference. And as a bonus, I’m not cranking the hot all the way up like I usually do. The water heater in our house is perfectly sized to provide ample hot water to a single Smurf, so this really is a good thing. As for today. I haven’t taken a rest day this week but I’m not sure that I want to do it. I think I’ll do yard work and call it a half-rest day. I’m feeling really good, so the idea of taking a rest day makes me feel a little lazy/guilty. We’ll see how lazy/guilty I feel after an hour of pushing the mower around sloping front and back yards. Maybe I’ll just sneak in a mile this afternoon. For serious purposes only. My Nike+ sensor is a little off and if I’m going to use it I really ought to calibrate it.

Usually I turn my Nike+ on as soon as I’m out the door, and include my warm up and cool down in the total workout. No real benefit either way, but yesterday I wanted to see what my real running pace was, sans the slower paced bookends. It made a HUGE difference in my pace! I knew it would make a difference, but I’m riding high on the time difference. It’s almost 1:30 faster than my official pace at the VD5K. Awesome! I’m really looking forward to my race next Sunday. Hubs and I are picking up our packets on Friday and then we’re going to hit the costume store. I’ll definitely post a picture of my ensemble. And in the don’t-hold-your-breath column of life, Hubs has mentioned that he might be willing to go on my longer, conversational paced runs with me. The poor dear. He’s 8-9 inches taller than I am and I think it’s all leg. He’ll probably have to speed walk instead. The company would be nice, though.

speed play

I tried something new today. Instead of my usual moderate run I did a fartlek. Well, I tried anyway. I think next time I’ll do it without music. I absolutely could not concentrate on bursts of speed. I would zone out and then sprint a while before zoning out again. I’m not sure, maybe that’s how it’s supposed to work. All I know is I am drenched in sweat and my legs are all trembly and tired but I am full of energy! Loooove it!! (Yes, sometimes I sit down to blog before I shower. I call it “putting my run on the computer” and so far, everyone buys it. SHHHHH!) I saw four other people running! New record? I did a loop through the trails, but they were in the process of putting new cedar bark down on all the paths. It felt something like running in wet sand. Wild! But now I have to take the world’s fastest shower before heading to the in-laws’ (only the good one is in town!)  for dinner. Muah!

feelin’ good!

The weather has been… odd. It alternated between rain and sun all day. It seems to taken a turn for the gloomy in the last few hours though. I decided to try the green belt (gravel path) since I’m all about conquering (personal) mountains this week. Gravel is a challenge for me. But this was a less significant challenge than Tuesday’s conquering of the Hill of Deathtoknees.

I passed a couple of other runners headed in the opposite direction. Initially this is worth noting since it means that I’m not the only person in the city that uses their legs for traveling, regardless of speed. More significantly (to me), it’s the genuinely warm (albeit tiny) smiles that are shared. I feel like I can really consider myself a runner now that people I consider to be runners (based on the highly scientific fact that they are moving at a pace faster than “walk”) are acknowledging me as a comrade in arms physical exertion.  Those little smiles were just the boost I needed. It’s the best of both worlds- I feel like I’m part of a team, but I can do my own thing and just bliss out as the miles stretch on. I feel so centered and balanced right now.  The fact that I met another goal with Nike helps, too. I doubled my distance goal since I met the last one in 2 weeks and not the 4 weeks that Nike gives you. Ego boost! I’m starting to feel the urge to push this too quickly, so I’m taking it as a sign that I need to go to bed now.

my old nemesis

I was feeling really sore today when I woke up, but my run had to be earlyish because of scheduling conflicts. We went on a family hike yesterday on a fairly easy 6 mile loop. I say fairly easy because I haven’t actually been on a hike in probably 14 years. I don’t mind walking up a hill or a flight of stairs, but nothing really compares to a mountain. Especially when you are lugging a nearly 40 lb. preschooler on your back because he fell down and he’s already tired because 3.2 miles is a big deal when you’re only 4 feet tall, and 1600 ft elevation climb makes it a really big deal. I was laughing on the way down because he wanted to hold hands so I had to walk slowly and by the time we were nearing the bottom, my legs were trembling with every step. It was a laugh or cry situation. It was a beautiful day and a really nice trail (for being ridiculously narrow). I’m excited to start doing more hikes as recon for future trail running.

Back to today’s run. It was all road today. There is a particular hill I’ve avoided for the last year (walking, running and driving). It’s very steep and more on point, it’s where I blew out my knee last year. I think that subconsciously I’ve been running routes that have avoided this street. Not today. I decided that after a mountain yesterday, this hill was nothing. Not exactly nothing, but not so intimidating. It was just fine going down. I don’t really mind downhills. I intentionally take them slower since the natural inclination is to speed up. I used the flat stretch at the bottom of the hill as mini-recover before turning around to head back up. Oh. My. Goodness. At least the mountain had the decency to have switchbacks! But I made it and I finished the run and I didn’t destroy my knee. I won’t be running up that hill for quite a while, but it’s comforting to know that I made it. And that I could do it again, in the highly unlikely event that I might want to.

One of the challenges I’m in on Nike running cleared out the people who didn’t belong (complicated to explain, yet totally obvious) and I’m now in the top 10! Yay!! One more week of this program before I’m done. I’m going to reward myself with a bunch of new music on iTunes. Okay, it really isn’t new music but it’s stuff that I just haven’t gotten around to purchasing yet. So excited!

beautiful day

I spent the day resting my knee. I actually followed each aspect of the RICE procedure and not just the I part. I tried a completely different route, which took me on a little roller coaster. That was some serious hard work! I really liked it though. I could hear a little Richard Simmons voice in my head the whole time. I forgot to turn my Nike+ on until I was already half way done, so that was a bit disappointing. I know I did it, but blah. Oh, well. I wasn’t paying enough attention to my form & stride so both of my knees are a little sore. Meh. It was still a good run, so I’m not going to let the little things get me down.

in a slump

I hope it doesn’t last for long, but I’ve lost my spark for running. I’m really at the point where it feels like a chore. At least, getting out of the house feels like that. I’m getting a little discouraged about distance. It’s very hard for me to hold back, but that’s the only way I can improve my endurance without injuring myself again. I’ve got the 5K on lockdown, but I have goals that are more like 10 times that distance. Sigh. Pity party over. Time to get motivated. On the plus side, I didn’t throw up on my run today. I got a major case of the lazies and had fast food for lunch today. I won’t do that again.EVER.

I almost got a dog today! LOL Ok, not really. I was about half way into my warm up when a really young dog came running up to me. She was big, but I’ve been around dogs my entire life and she wasn’t displaying any signs of aggression. She danced around me for a minute, but I kept walking. I got about half a block down the street before she came barreling at me. I prepared to take her with me on my run and then figure out how to get her back to her people after I finished. But by the end of the block, a man walked down the street with a collar. She was hiding behind a car and didn’t run up to us until I called to her. She was a cutie.

Back to the run. I thought I started out too fast, but according to Nike+ I was consistently slow. Once again, I did the first half on the trails and the second on the road. I think the race was good for me. I was able to tap into that mental space when I was very seriously considering ending my run early today. I’m really looking forward to the St. Paddy’s Day Dash next month. I’m also considering rethinking my races that I have planned. I’m feeling like I might be jumping in too quickly with it. Of course, I might be selling myself short if I don’t challenge myself. I have to mix it up somehow, though. I’m hoping that when we move it will be somewhere with a track near by so that I can start doing some interval training. I think I might like it?