Weekend workouts - where have I been all week?

Apparently, after Monday's long run I just needed a break from blogging.  I don't know what my issue was.  Maybe it was those 10 charts I audited on Monday.  Oy.

Tuesday I did not run or do exercise of any kind.  I worked 8 or 9 hours on Tuesday.  I can't remember what happened but the photos suggest I was stuck in traffic all day.  Here's how I felt about it:

Wednesday I also worked about nine hours.  After I got up and did my high intensity water running class.  We had a party at work.  I can't show you pictures from the actual party, but here's some of the setup:

Thursday I worked Twelve Hours and it was a long day.  I started with me sitting in training, continued with me sitting with my friends at Hennepin County and ended with me sitting at our annual meeting.  Awesome.

After all that sitting, it should surprise exactly no one that I wanted to get my move on.  I headed over to the gym for a very late workout.  It was a hard workout as I pedaled the elliptical much faster than I normally make it go. 

To cap off the night, I headed over to St Paul to see the Qat Lady and celebrate because she just took her boards and passed and now gets to write RN after her name.  Boom!  This is how Qat Lady looks through beer goggles.

Friday clearly I woke up on Qat Lady's couch and we headed over to one of our favorite establishments for eggs benedict and other awesome hangover food.  I didn't do too much else the rest of the day.  I was getting grumpy.

Saturday I sat on the couch the entire day.  Or slept.  And I decided to make this my step back week in marathon training.  Nice planning.

Sunday I was feeling about as good as I did yesterday.  I did head over to see my friends at the Farmer's Market.  I still have eggs from last week but I can always use more bacon.  Happily, I also got my butt off the couch long enough to do a 'sprint' workout on the elliptical.  It worked.

Thought of the day - why do women pluck their eyebrows?  Dumbest.  Idea.  Ever. 

Wordless Weekends - it's super hot outside!

Starting the weekend off right: breakfast at the Uptowner Cafe with the Qat Lady, then driving home for a nap.

Best $5.00 I've ever spent.

My plan for working out when it's hot: go to the gym!

Cool down walk around the track after my workout.

Why is your name "Roadrunner" and your logo a freaking rabbit.

This place looks good, especially given the raging hamburger debate I just read on some guys blog.  Apparently I also need to try "Five Guys"?

I wonder if it really will cool off by 10pm.  That seems like wishful thinking to me.

Monday Marathon Training - Never too early for a long run

Monday is long run day in the Lizzo house.  Remind me why I'm doing this again.

I woke up around 5am (oy) and headed out for 12 miles.  My goal was to pace myself correctly for nine miles and then do the last three miles as intervals.

It was basically a good run but it started out rough.
Mile 1 - why so slow? Be patient!
Mile 2 - whatever
Mile 3 - I think I'm going to puke.  Seriously?!?  It's only mile 3.  It's going to be a long run.
Mile 4 and 5 - stomach calms down.  Thank you.
Lake Street Bridge - Seriously, you have to eat.  Just risk it.  But my stomach was fine for the rest of the run.
Mile 6 also known as the big hill - No problem!  Yeah for hip flexors.
Miles 7 and 8 - turning on the speed.
Ford Parkway Bridge - nice and easy.
Minnehaha Falls - Oh shit!  Literally.  So I found an, um, place for that.  Even had toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  (A heartfelt thanks to the Minneapolis Park Board for rocking it so hard.)  Followed by possibly the scarriest sound ever: the big truck that comes to sanitize these things.  While I'm in there.  Hurry!  That may have been the fastest thing I did on the entire run.
Miles 9-12 I did, in fact, run walk the rest of the way home.  I used city blocks to set the intervals.  When the blocks were downhill I ran more of them in a row. 
The entire run looked like this:

 
I can't decide if that dip in the middle is where I stopped to eat or where I slowed down to walk at the top of the hill.  I'm honestly not sure.

It was a really nice day for a run.  It was cool, around 50* when I started and super sunny.  I saw tons of runners and also tons of cyclists.  The river roads are super popular for cyclists, both for entertainment and for transportation to work or school

Last thing I see on my run: No problem.

The Qat Lady called me in the middle of the day and we went out for lunch.  I was able to take a long lunch from work in anticipation of working like 12 hours on Thursday.  My job rocks!  It's only one day of the year.  Whatever.

The Qat Lady was horrified by my story of being, um, locked out yesterday so she insisted on a trip to Target.  She got me the Master "Speed Dial" Lock because she never wants me to have this experience again.  Hilariously, she got it uber-locked while she was trying to set it for me.  Awesome.  After she fixed it, she drove it by my office with one of the nicest things she's ever given me:

I mean, I totally belong on this list, but I still appreciate the recognition.  It's hanging on my bulletin board at work so everyone else will know that I'm a nice person.

I had a few minutes to talk to Grandma today, whom I was missing for some reason.  Her big 90th birthday is Friday.  She was a little nervous to have the big party so far ahead of her actual birthday.  To celebrate, she had two teeth pulled last week.  That's one way to do it I guess.

Pilates was a super relaxing treat.  It was a substitute teacher that I'd never had before.  She was nice and did lots and lots of stretching.  Awesome.  It's really the way to end the day after the long run. 

I don't think I'm going to get to watch the series finale of House tonight so no one tell me if Wilson dies. 

In the mean time, here's what's blaring on my iPod at the moment:

• Enur ft Natasja - Calabria.  Bonus points if you knew the entire song is in English the first time you heard it.
• Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe.  Cheesy pop makes for excellent running music.
• Kevin Rudolf ft Lil' Wayne - Let It Rock.  It reminds me of I like the way... for some reason.
• Fun. - Some Nights.  This band sounds like Fleetwood Mac to me.  In a good way.

Sunday Sprints and other fun things

I'm starting to make peace with not working out on Saturdays.  I didn't have any more mileage for the week and there wasn't anything else I wanted to accomplish.  So I stayed on the couch all day and watched season 1 of Grimm.

Today, I was much more productive.

10am I got out of bed.  Productivity improved greatly from there. 
10-ish It's the first weekend of the Kingfield Farmer's Market.  Win!  The weather was totally crappy and sprinkling out.  Number of people that deterred: Zero.  It was packed.  I got my first eggs and bacon (bacon!) of the season.

Most of the afternoon was spent on the couch.  I caught up on missed episodes of Psych! and then started in on Franklin and Bash which looks promising.

4:30 or so I finally made peace with the fact that I had to run.  I headed over to the gym for a 'pyramid' workout.  That's sprint 1 lap, rest 1, sprint 2 laps, rest 1, etc.  It's an intense workout.  I tend to run faster because I know I'm going to get a resting (walking) lap.  It's a challenging workout, although different than some other speed workouts because it always involves a rest.

It was a pretty day on the track with the sun shining in the west windows.  It was pretty much the only time the sun was shining all day.

In a moment of awesomeness after the workout, I locked my key in the locker when I went to take a shower.  Thank you to the nice lady who went to the front desk and got someone to cut my lock off for me.  It's kind of funny it took me like eight years of going to the Y for that to finally happen.  I guess I'm off to Target this week to buy another lock.

6ish I made it to the co-op for the rest of my food.  I'd settled on two recipes this week.  Couscous, Lentil and Arugula Salad is a new one and the jury is out.  I had to adapt the recipe slightly to accommodate my lunch needs.  I have the lentils and couscous in one container with most of the vinaigrette, veggies chopped and in another container with more vinaigrette.  The arugula (some little man with a farm nearby grew it for me) and feta are still separate.  I'll put it together right before I eat it. 
Jicama and Cucumber Chili Spears is an old favorite.  Love it.   It's a miracle I haven't eaten it all already.

Seen outside my co op.  Just look at the front seat.  How does this guy see to drive? 

I talked to Mom and Dad most of the evening while I was cooking. It's nice to talk to someone while chopping ten pounds of veggies.

Wordless Weekends - Ask me about hail!

Working from home one night around sunset.  Photographic proof I was working - my reflection in the work laptop as I was waiting the requisite five minutes for it to turn on.

Friday working out at the gym.  I hate it when the eliptical tell mes me go faster.  I was working out inside because outside was an oven.

  Saturday night - we had hail but only for a few minutes.

 Sundays: Track workout at the gym.

Water Running and Circuit and Zumba! Oh my!

How do I train for a marathon?  This year, apparently I'll do anything except run. 

Yesterday was High Intensity Water Running.  Man did that class deliver.  For those of you who've never done it - the idea is to 'run' in the water which reduces the amount of stress on my joints while still giving the same cardiovascular workout.  (Read: I was sucking wind the entire time.)  We do some drills to work on running form and some to work on frequency and leg turnover.

The rest of the day was much easier although not totally productive.  Bonnie and I went to Ikea to get lightbulbs for my lamp.  She decided Sprout was sad and I decided the only way to make him feel better was to fix that lamp.  Sprout really isn't a summer plant.  I don't know why.

 
At the team meeting we packed bags and got ready for our big party next week.  Nice.

 Guess how I felt about the rest of the meeting.

I love that it's the end of the day and the sun in still shining. 

Today I 'woke up' before my alarm just long enough to turn it off.  The sleeping MONSTER hit me this morning.  After multiple attempts,  I finally made it out of bed about 2 hours after the initial goal time.  Work was basically great.  I visited two people I hadn't seen in some time and I got a lot of support about the situation from the only person I could really talk to about it.

Pictured is the dumbest intersection in all of St Paul.  The backup this intersection causes on both 35E and 94 westbound is impressive. 

I find myself looking forward to Thursdays more and more.  Why?  First - it's my Friday so by the time I'm at the YWCA for class, I'm usually done for the week.  Second - I really like the fitness classes I take on Thursdays.  Circuit has really nice teachers.  (I don't know why they took me seriously when I asked for double bosu burpees but whatever.)  Zumba is just fun as hell.  I really like the music and the dancing piece is getting funner and funner.  Nice.

Tuesday Running - Don't Panic

I woke up at 5am today because I had a running date with Running Beth in St Paul.  Win for me.  I told Beth it's a good thing Facebook has pictures or I'd forget what she looked like.  Sunrise over Lake Street on the way to run:

 

We did our 4-ish mile route.  I needed a run because I had this meeting at work later...  Beth totally understood.  Flowers are in full bloom here.  I can finally feel myself not having allergies.  Nice.
 

 

I pretty much headed into the office after the run so I got there super early.  It was nice being in the quiet office for a while.  I was much more productive than in other circumstances.

Then, all of a sudden, it was time for that meeting.  The moment said meeting was over I felt sick to my stomach and just wanted someone to talk to.  Why is Mom not picking up the phone?  Qat Lady?  Apparently stuffing herself with hot dogs at the ball game.  Oh well. 

It didn't take me long to realize I needed to pull my shit together. 

The afternoon was occupied by a training about hoarders.  Oy.  I headed straight home after the training.  Why is there so much traffic?  How I feel about sitting in traffic jams:

 

I got to talk to the Qat Lady on the drive home and she was super supportive.  Once I got home I also talked to Dad who was great (not surprisingly) and my Grandma who was unexpectedly awesome.  Thanks!

My soundtrack for the day: Alison Krauss and Union Station - Down to the River to Pray. 

Monday Marathon Training - How NOT to do a long run

I woke up with a start around 5am this morning.  I was having a bad dream about finishing school.  But then having one more thing to do.  And one more thing.  And one more thing.  I think I was channeling My Pooky Bear and the Qat Lady.  Oy. 

Around 5:45am I gave up and got out of bed, 45 minutes before my alarm clock was supposed to go off.  I set out for a "long" run of 8.5 miles. 

It was a gorgeous run. I got started too fast because I was dreaming of a PR in the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon and apparently I wanted to get an early start.  I evened out my pace along the parkway and held it nicely as I started around the lake.

I totally stopped to take a couple pictures.  It was okay that I stopped at Lyndale to document the bridge construction.  I couldn't breathe at the top of that hill anyways.  Below is the "South Beach" at Lake Harriet.  More information here.

Things sort of fell apart when I stopped to eat some food around mile 5.  I never really got back in the running groove after that and took several walk breaks. 

 
I took a couple walking 'photo' breaks too.  The sailboats are between miles 5 and 6 when I stopped at the only real water fountain on my route.  The rest involve pumping your own water. Serious.  The expressway looking into downtown is at mile 7, over 35W.  If I had a better camera that picture of downtown would look amazing.

 
I'm glad I went out this morning becuase it was ultimately a fun run.  I reminded myself what *not* to do on long runs.  Namely, don't go out too hard.  By the end of the run I was so mentally not there, I couldn't hold it together.  Also, since my running pace was faster than a normal long run, I decided I'd earned the break.  I did run up all the hills.  Wow.

 Here's what my friends at Nike+ think I did.  You can see I had an awesomely steady pace and then boom! I went nuts.

The rest of my day was, work  I had to be at work by 10am for a monthly meeting with the boss.  I had the best chicken salad in the world for lunch. I am such a good cook.  Then I had a visit at 2pm.  It's starting to warm up out there.

Me sitting at one of my least favorite lights in the whole Twin Cities.  Why is 36 an expressway until there's just a random stop light in the middle of it all.  Why?!?

I came back and worked for a while.  Then I headed out to Pilates.  The only picturesque view on Hiawatha Ave is something that's not actually looking *at* Hiawatha.  Sun set was pretty intense tonight.

Pilates was wonderful because we used the foam roller.  A lot.  I feel like I just had a massage.  Now I'm home.  I forgot to do my laundry this weekend so I'm staying up and doing it now.  That way I don't blow Running Beth out of the water tomorrow with some stinky running clothes. 

Sunday Runs - Sprints in the Heat

Sunday is "speed" day.  (I use that term loosely.)  I read about a speed workout on someone else's blog.  (Ask me which one.)  I wanted to try it because it can be done outside and does not require a track.

As I remember it, the workout goes like this:

• 1 mile warm up
• 0:30 RUN.  This girl did like 6:30 miles for the sprints.
• 1:30 jog it out.
• Repeat for a total distance of 1-2 miles, or a total number of times.
• Cool down.

For you non-runners that reads as "30 second run" and "1 minute and 30 second jog".

Highlights from my soundtrack today include:

• Will.i.am feat pretty much everyone - T.H.E..  Thank god for this song.
• Pitbull - Game On similarly motivational.
• Nicki Minaj - Super bass.  Came on right at the end.
• Ricki Lee - Can't Touch It gets an honorable mention becuase I was sad when this song was not on my iPod.

For an interval run, as with all things, there's an app for that.

The 1:18 is how long left in the interval when I stopped the workout.  The whole workout took me the 46:42 (elapsed time).  I nearly threw up at the end.  Could have been heat related.  Boo.

I'm not sure if it was my poor pacing on the 'fast runs' or the heat, or that this workout is really harder than it seems, but I had to modify a little, just so I didn't sit down and cry in frustration.  What I wound up doing was the all out sprint, then walking for about half the 'jog' interval, then jogging the rest of the interval and sprinting again.  Even with walking, it didn't take me that long as was fun.  I can still feel it in my abs.

I needed to be outside today because it was gorgeous at Lake Nokomis.  Sadly, it was also mother's day and totally freaking insane.