Wordless Weekends - Record breaking warmth

Setting the stage: Record warmth

Been in these all week long!

Cleaning the stove top

March Madness.  So long Puke *Duke*

Source.  The story does provide some context.

Yes; today really was that pretty.

The "Skinny dipping beach" at Nokomis

 

Titles - not all they're cracked up to be

None of my workouts recently have been in places that lent themselves to pictures.  (Maybe I'll take a picture of the giant hill tomorrow.)  My workouts have been fun though.

Wednesday
Workout: High intensity water running. 
Time: 45-50 minutes.  (Class is 45 minutes but I started warming up early.  The pool was freezing.)
Least fun part: Getting in the pool.   See above.
Most fun part: Even though it's high intensity, Wednesday is my recovery day. 

Thursday
Workout 1: Circuit class.
Time: 55 minutes
Least fun part:  Tie between Single arm medicine ball push ups my hamstrings kept cramping and BOSU mountain climbers those are just hard.
Most fun part: The Pilates Full Roll Up station

Workout 2: Zumba
Time: 60ish minutes
Least fun part: All the dance steps I don't know
Most fun part: Really fun music.  Seriously, if you're bored for a moment just google "zumba music" and see what you get.

As always, since I'm not entertaining you with pictures, I'll share some music that's been blasting through the iPod lately.

• Mr Big - Next To Be With You.  One of the most fun songs to sing in the car ever.  Let it rock.
• Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water because the choir sang this on Sunday and rocked it.
• Joni Mitchell - River because Joni Mitchell rocks everything.
• Foster the People - Helena Beat because the image of tying myself to a chair to prevent falling is hilarious for some reason.

Suddenly losing an hour of sleep is not so bad

Monday morning was rough and I ultimately got to work about three minutes before my 10am meeting with my boss.  That meeting started with my business which was fairly straight forward.  Ask me about Passover and coverage.  Boss' part started with "I only have one thing but it's big.  Let me draw you a picture..."  The picture was of good things.  Surprise. 

Monday night is Circuit and Pilates night.  I warmed up with a fast runner, so the beginning of circuit was challenging.  Happily, none of the stations were awful.  (No burpees.  No pushups.)  Pilates was fun.  We worked on the J-Curve, which is similar to the C-Curve but more painful.

Tuesday morning it was dark when I woke up.  I was in the mood to move so I had a really fun run. I did the 4-mile Eagle viewing route.  (It used to have a different name.)  It was still so dark all I could see was the outline of the nest.  It was a little chilly and totally humid. 

You'd think the condensation that was forming ice on the ground would've been the most exciting part of that run.  Scariest point turned out to be when I got to the top of the last big hill and heard loud footsteps running towards me.  And not in a good way.  It was two little kids sprinting up the hill from my right.  I think they were late for the bus?

Since I don't have any pictures to share today (it was really dark out), I'll tell you about some of the music that's currently blasting through my iPod.

• Put Me In My Place - Joe Purdy.  Not a running song but I love to sing with it when I drive.
• Heaven - OAR.  Appropriate for all occasions.
• Ray of Light - Madonna.  A better running song that you'd think at first.

Worldess Weekends - I'm running in my shorts!

To my future self - when you're digging for wool socks in June, remember the awesomeness of this weekend please.

This is how old my car is.  I missed it when it turned 175.000 so this was the best I could do for an even number.

Full moon Thursday - Freak snow storm

Full moon Thursday - waiting for the train

Mississippi River - seen from the Friday Fun Run

Saturday Long Run - under the Ford Parkway bridge

Saturday Long Run - over the Lake Street Bridge

Saturday Long Run - over the creek; last bridge of the day!

Ask me about sunshine!

Sunset over the Lake Street Marshall Ave bridge

Sunday - Sunrise

Sunday - Running around the lake.

Sunday running - Bald Eagle and her nest

To my future self: a note on running conditions in March

As I mentioned, I do check past years of my blog to see what the weather was doing on my runs.  It helps me be emotionally prepared for more cold and crappy weather and helps me look forward to more warm weather as well.

To my future self:  In March, all bets are off.

I'll just remind you that last Tuesday I went for a run and it was 60*.

Wednesday I'm pretty sure I used to pool being closed "to fix the big fan" as an excuse to do nothing.  Works for me.

Thursday
Weather - low in the low 20's; high in the 40's; freak snowstorm during morning rush hour
Running gear - tights, sweat pants, wool socks, long sleeve shirt, jacket, hat, gloves, reflective gear. 

I headed over to St Paul at 5:30am to run with Running Beth and Other Beth.  It was a gorgeous run, and we even got to see the sun come up.  It was quite windy on the way back; it didn't bother me as much as other Beth who was only wear one pair of pants.

PSA to runners: Wear your reflective gear!

Sunrise in St Paul

I headed home for breakfast and got ready for work.  When I walked back out to my car, all I could think was is this a joke?!?

How the heck did everything get covered in snow in less than an hour.  That snow was just enough to royally screw up rush hour traffic.  The Ohio Street hill in St Paul was super exciting to drive down.  Thank goodness for salt, sand and manual transmission.

After the morning, the sun came back out, all the snow melted and it was in the 40s. 

Minneapolis sunset

  
Friday
Weather: Low 16*, high around 32*, sunny and colder than hell
Running gear: Tights with fleece lining, sweat pants, wool socks, long sleeve shirt with fleece lining, jacket, hat, gloves.

I went for another run with Running Beth.  We did the awesome Beth Loop (not to be confused with Beth's torture loop).  I finally had my camera with me on this gorgeous run and snapped some pictures.

A view of Ft Snelling from the St Paul side of the river.

Beth noted that we did go up the monster hill really fast this time.  I agree.  I was brain dead on the run and super tired the whole day because of that run plus the three workouts I'd done the day before.

Saturday
Weather: Low of 32* (remember the high from yesterday?); high predicted for 60*, actually got to 69* and may have set a record.
Running gear: Shorts, t-shirt, camelbak, bandana, still wore wool socks because I knew my feet would get wet in monster puddles coming from snow melt.

I hung out around the house in the morning and waited for it to warm up.  What the hell do I wear to run in this?  I had a 12-miler planned, the Ford-Lake loop, from my house and back.  Around 1pm, I got into my shorts and a t-shirt and loaded the camelbak.  That is all.  I kept feeling like I was going to be cold so I chucked in arm warmers but they never left my bag.

Minnehaha Creek - approaching the falls

The Mississippi River from the St Paul side

Have I mentioned the sunshine?

The creek between Nokomis and Lake Hiawatha, coming home and feeling dead.

Today was a very rough run.  Suddenly I remember why we hydrate the night before a run.  Also in the future I hope I'll listen to my brain instead of my stomach about pre-race meals.  At least it wasn't eggs and bacon this time.

PAIN!

I realized even with an, um, break and all the pain at the end, I went a bit faster than I expected.  There was a lot of walking at the end.  I did have some time to stretch out and take one last picture of my wardrobe.  Look at those super white legs!

Tuesday Running - Puddles!

Every year at this time, I keep checking my blog from the previous year to see what to expect weather wise.  It never works.  To my future self: there's puddles all over the place.  It was a high of 50*-60*, depending on who you ask and gorgeous.  But all that awesome means everything is melting and creating puddles like Lake Superior.

 

Happily, I did make it outside for an actual run.  I have a race in the future, Brew to Brew.  Most of the legs are 4-5 miles so I'm focusing my runs on that distance for a little while.  (I can do long runs later.)

Today was focused on keeping things nice and even.  I was surprised running up the hills (there's a couple small ones); circuit must be paying off because they didn't hurt like normal.  I'm thinking I may duck out for another run tomorrow morning before work.  One more run before it cools off again.

I wore the neon yellow shirt my dad got me (thank you) so I was easy to spot.  I was pretty sure I'd make it back before sunset, but I wanted the bright just in case.  My neighbor who saw me said I looked like I'd been crying when I got back.  Nice.  There was no crying, my face was just red from all the warmth outside.

Monday: Shaking my head all day long

It's been a wild day.  Parts of it were really nice.  Mostly I just shook my head.  All day long.

7am the alarm went off and I found the snooze button.  Oy.  Monday.
8am or so I rolled in to work.  I was thrilled that temperature in my office was one step above "sub arctic".
802am I began listening to my messages.  The first one was quite long and convoluted.  From a person who doesn't leave long messages.  I called a second person in reference to this message (you thought it would be a good idea to do what now?) and the head shaking began.  (Really?  That seemed like the best solution?)
930ish My boss comes in - those students who were coming in 10 minutes, now only two-thirds of them are coming, it should still be 20-30 people.
10 minutes later and no one shows up.  ::Sitting.  Waiting:: No one ever came.
Noon or so I had my lentil soup.  I thought the recipe called for too many onions (which I'd already halved) but it turned out fine.
1pm This is why I like my job.  That was really pleasant.
230pm came back to the office and got to work with my former clinical supervisor which is both awesome and rare.
330pm And this person thinks they have the power to close that case why?  One of my moments as lead case manager.  I like working with the people on my team and it was nice to get that straightened out.
430pm drop the news on my boss that I need her to look at something before a meeting 3pm tomorrow.  Sorry for the short notice; that meeting was news to me too.
530pm head out the door.
600pm or so I made it to the gym.  Got an awesome parking spot too.  I talked to Grandma a few minutes and then hit class.
615pm Circuit: Anna tries to kill the class.  Almost worked too.
730pm Pilates: Not quite as deadly, mush twisting of the spine.
900pm finally make dinner.  How was I not starving before now?  Perusing the internets I found two things of interest.  Crazy and confusing traffic signs: I drive by the first one pictured on my way to work.  And second, from this post, I think I'm one of very few people who understand why this paragraph is so funny:

Bob Dylan, of all people, once guested on DHARMA & GREG. He’s good friends with one of their writers, Eddy Gorodetsky. Of course Dylan has also been on the Chabad Telethon.

Weekend LINKFEST

• Susan Cain: The Power of Introverts.  Subtitled leave me the hell alone from time to time.
• WIN to President Obama for proper use of social media.  Wise ass.
• For my runner friends who are also interested in losing weight, eat from time to time, would you please.
• At first I thought this was just a funny story with a good photo op and then I nearly passed out from laughing when I read the last paragraph:

  Also present at the rally was Democratic State Senator Constance Johnson, the woman who gained fame and girlcrushes when she attempted to attach a provision to the Personhood law that would bar men from ejaculating in any place other than inside a woman’s vagina.

Wordless weekends - now with videos

The Treadmill: A Lesson in Patience

I don't work on Fridays (because I love my job), so it's always a bit of a wild card if I'm going to get up and workout or not.  Today I got a text from my neighbor the lots were being plowed at 1pm (put the sign somewhere I'll see it next time), so I used that time to hit the gym.  (Snow had melted off the lots by 1pm anyways.)

My "goal" distance was 6 miles.  For some reason, I wanted to do some of that six miles on the treadmill.  I have no idea what wild hair caused the urge.  Treadmills are the opposite or road running.  They teach pacing, calm, and relaxation if used correctly.  When the treadmill is spinning at 6mph, running harder doesn't actually make the pace faster.  It just means using more energy to accomplish the same pace.  So it teaches patience and relaxation, even at a pace that feels like a challenge torture. 

I finished up by walking and running around the track.  For entertainment sometime, try running on land after an hour on the treadmill.  See how your legs feel.  Mine were sort of like rubber.  Happily, I had drummers and dancers (drummers!) to entertain me on the track.  I have no idea who they were, or if they were practicing for a performance (or giving one?) but it was pretty cool. 

I'd like to thank the following songs for a great workout:
Foster the People - Helena Beat.  New this week to my playlist.
Fort Minor - Believe Me, also new to the list.
Pitbull - I Know You Want Me.  I love Pitbull.  His purpose is similar to Lady Gaga.
Sean Paul - Temperature.  This one has been on and off playlists since I started to run.  Boom.

Zumba: The United Nations of the YWCA

Today was an interesting day (meaning: thank god it's over).  Here's the rough version:

7am or so, I woke up, got ready and headed to work.  My condo parking lot was a skating rink.  I'm hoping the "in like a Lion out like a Lamb" is true for March weather.

 
745am works parking lot was similarly insanely icy. 
830am case consultation with other people who do the same job as me.  I got to ask the supervisor of the program if I was losing my mind.  He sent me an email yesterday that contained information that was so clearly wrong I thought it was a joke.  He assured me it was not.

 

Office visit which is unusual.  Most of the time I see people, I I go to them.  It's nice to be on my home turf.
1115am someone tells me that basically I did something wrong and probably offended my boss in the process.  Completely had no idea.  I go to see my boss and apologize profusely for being a nimrod.  Apparently my boss missed the whole thing too.  The only one who was bothered by anything was this other person.  Fascinating.
1200 Home visit. This is more familiar.
100pm Wendy's for lunch.  That was both awesome and disappointing.
Heard in my car while eating and case noting: Lebo M - Rainmaker from The Power of One.  
200pm Home visit number 2.  Well, I've never had that problem before.
415pm I headed back to the office to wrap up my day.  Sadly, I was unable to complete wrap up in the time allotted.  I'm not sure how that'll get corrected.  I'm sure I'll figure something out.

530pm Circuit.  Circuit was fun and not nearly as likely to kill me as usual.  I just can't feel my hamstrings.
Around the same time Oh Sh!t!, I was supposed to meet someone for Zumba  Texting commenced.
645pm I attended the Zumba class that I'd remembered only moments before.  With a friend.  It was both of our first times.  Zumba at the YWCA is referred to as the United Nations class.  For good reason.  Every nationality and language in our membership, we have was in that class.  All the ages in our membership, we have were in that class.  Wild.  I'd probably go again.
800  Oh good.  Snow.  I'm so over it.
Now: The spaghetti I had for dinner sucked so I didn't eat it all.  Instead I had some more Grater's and some of the wine from Sunday.  Yum.