Hot Dash 10 Mile - the one where I make all of the mistakes...

Race number 2 in the TCM Summit Challenge is the Hot Dash 10 Mile.

Registration - online, one registration for the entire series of races.  Also, apparently yes I will have the same number for these races, or it has been the same so far. This was a question I'd had from the previous race.

Weather and Wardrobe - This morning I went outside, and saw a full inch of snow.  Oh fuck.  Air temps 28*, winds around 10mph in my face for the first 4 miles.
Top: Smart wool base layer and wind breaker
Bottom: Lined fleece tights
Socks: Compression socks with smart wool socks over top
Shoes: Altra Lone Peaks (I've run both road races this year in my trail shoes because of snow)
Also: gloves came off around mile 1, hat come off around mile 8 and I instantly regretted that decision

Packet Pick Up - I did a light rail/bus combination to get myself to the start line today.  When I arrived, I stopped by the Big Book of Numbers to find my race number, then grabbed my packet.  I estimate it took about 3 minutes and the volunteers were nice.  Bag check was a bit busy because everyone had to wait in line for the stapler to attach their number to their bag, but I used a spare pin so I avoided that line.

Start line - the start line is where things really began to fall apart for me.  The website said they'd have pacers for 11:00/mile, 12:00/mile and 12:30/mile.  I wanted to stay with 12:00/mile, because I knew I could hold it and move up if I wanted.  One was way too fast and one was too slow.  Except the 12:00/mile pacer was nowhere to be seen.  Ever.  The roads before the race were crazy icy and some people from the 'burbs couldn't make it in so I'm wondering if that's what happened.

Course - this course blows.  Even if I'd been having a good day I would've hated this course hard.
Partial Road Closures - Mile 2 -7 were largely on Marshall Ave which was partially open to traffic.  Normally this wouldn't bother me.  I mention it becuase..
Two Way Running Traffic on a partially open road - This course starts with a long out and back section.  Somewhere before mile 3 the leaders started coming "back".  The course got really narrow and very confused with cop cars and lead out bikes telling us to move one way and volunteers telling us to move back because there were cars allowed on part of that street
Industrial NE Minneapolis is boring - The volunteers cheered for us and tried to be interesting.  But we were literally running by seven miles of factories.
Cobblestones at the finish - Whose idea was this?!?

Race - I didn't have a back up plan when the pacer was a no show.  I thought I'd be in a group and just let everyone drag me through this.  I hadn't thought at all about what kind of pace I thought I could hold on my own, or what kind of race I wanted to have (other than "please don't make my ankle worse").   Since I was alone, I wasn't mentally prepared for this race at all and that was the real mistake of the day.  Sigh.  I went out a bit too hard and paid for it near the end of the race.

Finish - I hate cobbles.  Also, there wasn't a big "FINISH LINE" with a sign and balloons that I could see from far off.  Once I turned onto the cobbles I had difficulty telling how much farther I had to run.  Am I there yet?!? 

Race Recommended For - Um, well... I wouldn't run this race again unless it's part of a race series.  The course is not fun.  And the pre-race logistics (ie parking in NE Minneapolis) make it a pain in the ass.  This hurts me to say because the race is well organized and well supported, both things I've come to expect from TCM.  But the scheduling and the course felt like "we needed a spring race and these are the roads the Minneapolis police would let us close so let's see what we can throw together". 

Goals/Outcomes - Before the race I was thinking I'd stay with the 12:00/mile pacer and then if I was feeling good late in the race I'd pull on ahead.  Instead, there was no pacer and I went out way too damn fast.  In the end, I beat my time from October. Barely.  Given the week of not really running, that surprised me.  I wish I'd believed in myself that I had that fitness level in me.  I think I could've paced better and squeezed out a bit more at the end. 

Good cardio - I needed that

Let's review:
Friday - ran just over a mile.  On the way to catch the train I fell SPECTACULARLY and rolled my ankle. Ankle swollen.
Saturday - Ankle swollen.  Ran just over a mile.  Less pain while running than sitting still.  That's gotta be good right? 
Sunday - Ankle less swollen.  Now wearing two compression socks on one foot.  All of my shoes are zero drop!?!?  Ran my mile. 
Monday - Maybe walking around Costco will be my exercise.  Ankle improving but still tender.  Ran my mile.  Have found at least two pairs of zero drop shoes.  Am terribly sad that Speedstars are no longer made. 

Today: Now have an actual brace. My ankle is unswollen and that slightly green "post bruise" color.  Am going insane.  I need to MOVE.  Ran my mile on the treadmill.  Then got in the pool.
The workout was going to be 200 warm up, then 300 backstroke + 200 free X 3, then cool down.
Yeah, that warmup sucked.
I started my first 300 and then was all "see if you can go to 400" and then was like "500?" and then was like "800?"  and then "1,000?" and then it was like "just go to 1200 and do a cool down"  I went totally by effort and let it feel hard.  I must've needed it because it felt really good to move.

Tomorrow, I may try the elliptical.

It's been a while since I've fallen down

One of the things I use this blog for is "when was that one time I had that one fall?"

This is a new one for me becuase I was not running.  I was in work shoes/boots.  Slipped on the edge of the sidewalk, stumbled, fell spectacularly and rolled my ankle.  There was at least one somersault.

That was last night.  My ankle is still mildly swollen and bruised. I have two compression socks on one foot right now.  I have a race on Saturday, so workouts this week will be light but still need to happen.

On with the adventure.  

Ft Snelling Run

Spring is springing earlier than normal.  (Last year at this time I think it was about 5*)  I was super excited to get out for a long run today. 
Note for myself - it was 40* when I started and 50* when I finished.  I wore capris, wool socks, a short sleeve shirt and a long sleeve shirt.  All was well.

Goals for the run: Heart rate in zones 2 and 3.  Except on that big hill.  Anything is fair game on that hill.

Route: The Ft Snelling run is one of my favorites, and one that I've used in marathon training quite a lot.  I was a bit intimidated by the distance, about 1.5 miles longer than I've been going recently, but the weather was so perfect I had to give it a try.  I was nervous that I'd run into an icy patch or two on the down part of this trail.  Instead I hit like half a mile of packed snow and ice.  Then I got really nervous the up hill would be icy, but it was fine.
Note to self: wait longer to run this trail next year.

Execution: I felt a bit slow to start.  As I got further into the run and my heart rate was staying where I wanted it, I was more and more encouraged.  The winds were out of the south today, so the beginning was slower than coming home. Over all, I was surprised and pleased.  Such a nice switch from the crap fast that was last week.

Bonus:  At first I thought it was going to be the shoes I wore for the run.  But instead, let's talk about the eagles I saw hanging out.

10 Miles of Suck

Sometimes runs are excellent. Sometimes, they suck rocks.  Today was one of those days.  My heart rate went up to 140 walking up the hill in my warm up, and I pretty much knew I was screwed.

Goals for the run: 10 miles.  This was a particularly weird workout because I did not eat.  I had food with me, I just wasn't hungry.  I have no explanation.

Route: This is a new one.  I'd run the first 8 miles of this route, when I'd do a long run and wind up at the gym.  The last two miles wind through the neighborhood and are somewhat downhill.  I'm surprised I liked this route as much as I did.  Possibly the only thing I didn't hate about today. 

Execution: So full of suck.  My heart rate was all over the place.  It was high warming up which always spells trouble.  And then my watch wasn't charged so it started giving me a low battery signal around mile two (still worked for 6 more miles).  Around mile 3 I stopped looking at the watch and just ran.  It was mildly less frustrating but it still sucked.  As seen by the heart rate graphs below.

Bonus: I think I found a new running route.

Valentines Day TC 5K

This year instead of Loony, I signed up for the TC Summit Challenge, which is a year-round race series.  First race was today, the Valentines Day TC 5K.  I hate 5Ks. 

Registration: Registration is online and simple.  It's one registration for the series.  About a week before hand, I had an email with my bib number for this race.  (I assume it will change in each race.)  There's also an online bib number lookup.

Pre-Race Communication: We had a couple emails and web page updates from the race organizers.  Race day packet pick up was shortened by 1/2 hour to save the volunteers, pre race packet pick up was encouraged, and one email confirming the race would take place as planned despite the temperatures. I appreciated the extra communication and found the messages on point. 

Packet Pick Up: This is a 2,200 person race.  There is no expo.  I did race day packet pick up.  I had a surprise when I knew the volunteer who handed me my big.  I was very happy to see a friendly face.

Weather and Wardrobe: It was freezing ass cold today.  Air temps were -5* for the race, winds around 3mph.
Base layers: Polypro long johns, polypro socks, smart wool shirt
Top: Ativa cold weather shirt, purple hoodie with zipper
Bottoms: Brooks cold weather sweat pants
Other: Two pairs gloves, gaiter (which I took off for the race), ear band (which I took off for the race), smart wool hat.
Shoes: Altra Lone Peaks.  This is a road race, but there was enough ice and snow to justify trail shoes.

Start line: The start didn't have official corrals, but did have pace signs so people could line up in order.  The pace signs stopped at 10+ minute mile.  They should've had signs for 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and even 13:00 miles, especially given that the average finishing time was 35:00.  It would've helped the back end of the race quite a bit.

Race/course: This is run on the road (not the path) around Lake Harriet. The road is generally crazy narrow, one lane and sometimes parking.   Things were badly crowded for the first two miles.  I was thinking that being able to see the finish line for the entire race would drive me nuts, but it really turned out not to matter.  I was spending so much concentration on dodging runners, ice and pot holes that I didn't really look for the finish until I knew it was fairly close.  And yes, there are hills on this course.  They are short but steep.

Finish: I got a medal quite quickly.  The line for food and water was crazy long and not moving.  I chose to forgo my post race banana (though I really lamented the bottle of water I missed) because I needed to get to another event to support a friend.  Seriously, this line was not moving. I'd parked about a mile away in the neighborhood, so I ran/walked/cooled down on the way back to my car.

Race Recommended For: Most importantly, people who like the 5K distance. This is a fun supportive race for first timers.  It's got good SWAG and a fun atmosphere.  For the crazy fast people, it's also a good race because it is chip timed and well supported.  As a middle of the pack runner, it was frustrating because it was so crowded.  I wouldn't have done this race if it hadn't been part of the series.

Goals and outcomes: Before the race, I'd been thinking about goal times and strategies.  My most recent 5K was the TC 5K in October.  My pace was 11:19 and that race has a wicked hill in the beginning.  Thinking about this race I first thought "11:00/mile would be a good goal".  Then I thought about the cold and how crowded the race would be, and other factors that could influence things, and I had no idea how to plan.
Ultimately, I stuck with my usual race strategy which is to go hard and go by feel.  I just let myself find a rythym that felt good but hard and went with it.  An added strategy was to push the pace on the hills, something I almost never do.  I wound up 33:46 or a 10:52/mile. I was shocked and pleased.
I had to smile when I looked at my heart rate data.  I've never hit 181 before.  No wonder I hurt so bad.

Sunday Long Run: Watching the Loppet

Winter running: Weather today was 40* and 20mph winds.  The wind was no joke.  I ran in light pants and a wind breaker.  Wind breaker and sunglasses turned out to be the most crucial pieces of equipment I had.  We've hit the part of the year were 20mph winds are no problem becuase it's 40* which is so freaking warm.

Goals for the run: Keep my heart rate under 153.  Keep my heart rate managed for a while, then just run even and have fun.  Jumping over snow banks utterly effed my heart rate.  Plus I was a bit of a piss pot for the beginning of the run and that didn't do me any favors either.

Route: I went down the 40th Street Greenway Road was mostly plowed.  Sidewalks: not so much.  I was grumpy.  Then around parts of Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun, then took the Greenway east and headed south around Park Ave.  I've done this run before, mostly in the summer when sidewalk shoveling is irrelevant.

Execution: As mentioned, the sidewalk situation totally blew up my heart rate.  Jumping over snow banks and massive puddles is a bigger deal than you'd think.  I tried to keep calm and was telling myself "this will get better the minute you get out of the wind".  The 20+ mph winds were straight out of the west and in my face for the first 4 miles.  The minute I turned north on Lake Calhoun, the wind stopped howling around me and mood improved immensely.  My heart rate got a bit higher than I would've liked.  Once I saw it in the 160s, I decided to just run by feel and enjoy myself.  Ignoring the heart rate.

Post workout: I did a foam roller video after the run.  I do not do the crazy foam rolling of the lats and arms that he does at the end.  But the "turn your toes in" and "turn your toes out" business for the calves and quads is legit.  And slightly painful in a good way.

Bonus: I caught the tail end of the 2016 Loppet.  There were skiers all over Lake Calhoun.  I was happy for the skiers but could've done without all the spectators and other people because the path was packed.

Before and After - 2

I liked my first Before and After so I'm doing it again.  One picture is from today and the other is from the fall.

Sunday Long Run

Winter Running: It was 32* and sunny today  Excellent weather for running outside.  Everyone else thought so too. 

Goals for the run: Warm up properly.  Keep my heart rate below 153.  I'm back on the heart rate training bandwagon. 

Route: I headed to the downtown gym.  It has better trail access than my house.  Trails are preferable to relying on people to actually shovel their sidewalks at this time of year.  I ran past the Sculpture Garden, onto Cedar Lake Trail, around Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake, and then back the way I started.  The beginning of the run was a bit hairy.  There was ice in some places that had probably been puddles yesterday, and would be again later today.

Execution: I started with a five minute walk to warm up, then kept my heart rate in the low 140s for the first couple of miles.  After that, I went by feel.  This entire run was great. I was not discouraged when the first couple of miles were very slow.  I picked it up in the middle and towards the end, but nothing too crazy.  My heart rate was dialed in right where I wanted it, and it felt good to move. 

Bonus: Totally took all the pictures.

Running and heart rate training

After my brief and failed flirtation with online training plans I felt off and very slow for a long time.  Too long.  Whenever I would run outside, I'd ignore my heart rate monitor (because I couldn't see it under my 85 layers of clothes).  On the treadmill, I'd just get frustrated because I was soooo slow.

I've moved my Zone 2 workouts to the elliptical.  This has ended the frustration and made me feel less like I want to punch people.  For outdoor running I've moved my focus away from Z2 and back into Z3 where it belongs.  It's gotten slightly (and pleasantly) warmer outside, enough to leave my wrist bare and look at my watch during runs. 

Last week on the coldest day ever I did an hour on the treadmill next to my walking buddy.  I was doing a running pace and had my heart rate dialed in.  Best workout ever.  On Monday I had a painfully slow (but in the correct HR zone) outdoor run.  Today I had another outdoor run that was both in the correct zone and at a pace I recognized from this summer.  Things are moving along slowly, but I'm seeing some positive signs.

Bonus: still bringing the phone on some outdoor runs for pictures.

Before and After

Two pictures, taken from roughly the same spot on Medicine Lake.
One if from January 2016.  The other is from March 2015.  See if you can tell which is which.

Trail Thursday - A Surprise Winter Run

Trail: French Park/Medicine Lake Loop.  I have run here before but never done a 'trail review' because normally the thing is properly paved and not an off road trail. Today, however, felt like a true off road adventure, so I'm doing a proper trail report.

Hills: The hills here are hard.  I run this loop counter clockwise because it gets most of the hills out of the way right off the bat.  That last hill absolutely owned me today.  I let myself walk up most of it because I knew my heart rate was already way too high.  Whatever, I was cold.

Ease of Running: This trail was varying degrees of plowed.  Not sure what happened on the west side of the lake but it was not great.

• Inside French Park - totally plowed down to the black top.
• Path along Northwest Blvd - well plowed, packed snow, very runnable
• Path along Medicine Lake Blvd - has seen a plow at least once this year. Opposite of fun.
• Path near Medicine Lake Park -completely not plowed.  Absolutely off roading.
• Luce Line, the path around the east side of the lake, and 36th Ave - well plowed, packed snow, very runnable

How cold is cold: My face froze during this run.  Literally.  I wore shorts under my sweat pants, wool socks, and two shirts under my running sweat shirt.  I had a band over my ears and gloves on my hands.  It wasn't that it was soooo cold, it was that I was out in it for a long time.  I wished I'd worn tights under my sweat pants instead. Everything else was fine.

Animals: I saw other runners and walkers and maybe a dog.  Also, lots and lots of ice fishers.

Will I come back: I like this route very much.  It's a challenging distance and the hills are legit.  Bonus is that it has a place for me to park and change my clothes after work, so I've always liked it.  But I may wait until the snow melts off and I can see the pavement again. 

My one track workout for the winter

Today, I accomplished what I hope is one of very few track workouts this winter.  My main gym has a fantastic track.  6 laps is a mile.  It's so fantastic everyone knows it's fantastic.  And everyone comes to play.  It's not a ton of fun for me to be on the track in the winter.  It's so crowded it becomes un-fun.  I view it as more of an "I can't do every single run on the treadmill" kind of thing.  Today, I wanted to run longer than the -20* wind chills would've allowed outside, and I'd been on the treadmill a ton in the past few days.  So I put on my Patient Pants and headed to the track with everyone else.

My mental prep really helped, because I hated being on the track much less than usual at first.  At first I was enjoying being with so many other runners.  After a while the runners mostly dispersed and I was left with walkers which was significantly less fun.  Why must you walk in the running lane?!?  But by then, I was deep into the workout and set on finishing.

The workout itself was one I've talked about before.  It's a descending ladder.  Run 7 laps, walk 1, run 6 laps, walk 1.  Etc. Each set winds up being a slightly faster pace than the one before.  I'm calling this my Race Pace workout for the week.  (Side note, Race Pace workouts may have been the missing ingredient in the 'what should I do besides long runs' question.) This is my heart rate for the workout.  I was nice and aerobic for 1 of the 7 intervals.  Oh well.  Something to shoot for in the future.

There were three ingredients to success in this workout.

First - I told myself that I absolutely had to run the 7 lap interval because that would be mile, and I should give the 6 laps one a try too, and after that if the track was insane or I felt bad I could stop.  Since I never had any pressure to finish, I focused on running in a way that felt good and got to the end nicely.

Second - I'd planned a trip to Seward Co-op afterwards and promised myself a Latte for post run fueling.  It's half milk which is good protein and sugar.

Third - I had a dinner date at Revival.  I knew I'd feel better about eating all the fried chicken and cheesy grits if I had a good workout under my belt today.  I feel so much less guilt about food on days I've worked out hard.  That's probably a post all it's own.  For the locals, the secret to Revival is have your entire party present and ready to be seated by 5pm.  Otherwise, plan to wait at least an hour.  I am not joking.

January Running

Running in January is always hard because:

• It's cold.  Very cold.
• Now it's icy too.
• The sun is never out.  (Sunrise today was 7:45am and sunset was 4:57pm) 
• The track at the gym is full of all of the people.
• I can only run on a treadmill so often. 

Given those barriers, running has been going surprisingly well so far this year.  I've made a point of getting out and running any time the weather is halfway decent.  I've made a point of getting to the gym at not busy times, and my mileage is staying where it should be.

One of my goals for the year was to take more pictures.  (Picture taking fell off dramatically when I got my Garmin and stopped taking my phone on runs with me.)  I've made more of a point to have my phone with me on runs, and to get some snaps from time to time.

The Mississippi River from St Paul.  It was around 11* when I started that run, but remarkably ice free.

Minnehaha Creek, earlier in the month. It took a long time for the creek to freeze over.

The creek today. Almost totally frozen over.

For my 1 mile days, I'll go outside in just about any weather.  This day was about 5* and had some kind of wind chill or another.  Still easier than fighting on the track at the gym. 

Mouse Battles: Part II

All the mice love my apartment.  Remember when I met the first one around Thanksgiving?  I thought maybe I saw a tail the other day, and then today it was absolutely confirmed, the mouse is real.  And brazen.  The thing was just out, running around while I was sitting trying to finish up my work.

As I looked up and stared into his little beady eyes, decisions were made.

Outcome: I'm calling it a draw.  I heard the trap go off just as BiteSquad was delivering my food.  When I went to go check the trap, I see the mouse is very much alive and freaking out because only it's leg got trapped.  Well fuck.  A dead mouse with a broken neck is one thing.  A live mouse with a broken leg is a whole other ball of wax.  That I don't want to deal with.

Ultimately I put on gloves and got a dish towel which I was willing to sacrifice for this endeavor and went over to address the situation.  Mouse and trap covered with towel, taken outside, and mouse freed.  It ran away, probably with a broken leg.  I was having a conversation with a friend via text and she was impressed that I could deal with a live mouse at all. I was a bit impressed with myself too really.

2016 Training Update

Early training update from 2016: I realized I have some things nailed down but some room for improvement, and some solid goals.

Training log - nailed down: I was explaining my training log to a friend. It's kind of nutty and I track a lot of information.  Special bonus, the graphs will work for the whole year (assuming I don't add any fields) without any extra work.

Weight lifting - sort of nailed down I think: I've been doing this TRX/Kettlebell class at my gym for about six months and I've really enjoyed it.  It costs extra and so far it's been worth the cash.  I'm registered for another 6 weeks. I hope I keep it up. 

Step back weeks - nailed down: Step back weeks are always 25 mile weeks with no runs more than 6 miles long.  As a bonus, I have them timed to go with, um, nature.

Long runs - nailed down: I've had the 'long run' concept down for a while.  For Half Marathons, I will try to run at least one 13-15 mile run, and several 10-12 mile runs before the race.  For 10-miler, I will run several 10 milers with some runs over 10 miles.

Heart rate training - both 'nailed down' and not: I tried adding all these Z2 runs and I got nothing but frustrated.  In some ways winter solves this all on it's own because I can't see my heart rate monitor underneath all the layers.  Ongoing plan: Z2 works on the elliptical so that will be the focus of those workouts.  Z3 works very well on runs and I will try to keep that going as well. 

Other runs - room for improvement:  I realized I'm great at the 'long runs' but that's only one day per week.  What do I do the other 6 days?!?  This year, I may try to have some additional focus on these other workouts, since there are so many.  Hill runs and trail runs are near impossible to plan in the winter.  Elliptical workouts are easier to plan at this time.

Hill runs - room for improvement: I have always imagined myself doing more hill runs.  I have like 80 ideas for how to accomplish this goal, but no real plan.  My brain keeps saying "this will be so much easier when the trails aren't covered in snow and you can run there". 

Elliptical - goal for this year: I want to add at least one workout per week on the elliptical, for 60 minutes in Z2. I did one today.  My legs hurt.

Pictures - goal for this year: I want to take my phone on at least all of my long runs.  I'm very missing the pictures from long runs that I've had in years past. Special bonus, ducks from my run earlier this week.

2015 Fitness in Review

Biggest surprises: 
I did not blog a ton this year.  I loved writing the trail reviews but got less interested in other stuff. 
I bought a Garmin (when my heart rate monitor broke 1 week before a big race), and as a follow up, I stopped bringing my phone/camera on as many runs.
Trail Running was a bit of a revelation.  I don't have William O'Brien or Trail Mix on my race list yet, but I hope I keep up with the trails and get some of those races on my list too. 

Miles:
I did lots of running, a fair amount of walking, and spent some time on the elliptical as well.  I rode my bike some in the summer, more for transportation than fitness.  I flirted with swimming but that never really took off. 

Cross Training:
Spinning kind of took a back seat after a huge January.  Yoga and stretching were big in June, when I did some 30 day challenge.  And as the year went on, I started lifting more and more.

Tentative Plan for 2016:
February - Valentines Day 5K
March - Hot Dash  I think I need to find flannel for this oneMay - not sure about Flying Pig but I may do a walking half marathon with a friend.
June - I want to do Lola's Half Marathon, but this may be a little much
July - Red White and Boom Half Marathon
September - I want to try Running of the Bays Half Marathon which looks awesome.  My Pooky Bear had also mentioned a half marathon in Duluth which could be fun.
October - TCM 10 Miler
Bonus Goal - I really want to run the Flying Pig Full Marathon in 2017. 

Training Plans - That did NOT work

It may be a surprise to me and only me that my whole "let's use the 2-per-day Garmin training plan" was a spectacular fail.  If it had been less of a surprise I probably would've stopped after week 1.  But I had high hopes and pressed on into week 2 before acknowledging some serious issues.

Let's start with what went well:

• I acknowledge that running in Z2 is probably beneficial.  It definitely helps me keep easy days easy.  Even if I feel like I'm so slow I'm going backwards.
• Using the Elliptical for some 'recovery runs' was also a good idea.  Especially the longer Z2 efforts.  It made me want to punch people less than if I'd been on the track or treadmill. 
• The tempo/hill runs were surprisingly fun.  I think it was a good idea that those occurred as part of shorter workouts. I found them challenging and I found myself looking forward to them.  Even though I only completed 1.
• I finally worked out a 3 mile route I can live with.  It's technically 2.96 miles so it's not perfect.  But I can deal.

What did not go well:

• 2 Per Day workouts - I don't know what I was thinking but this was NOT a good idea.  Some days I can't get up in the morning. 
• Long runs in Z2 - just, no.  I refer to the 'so slow I feel like I'm going backwards' comment above.
• Workouts by minutes versus miles - I really thought I was going to be able to cope with this one even more than the 2 per day thing and it turned out to be the biggest sticking point.  Even though I was supposedly working out more, I found myself with fewer miles.  And I found my body feeling like crap.  Not even the good "I've worked out and now I'm sore" feeling.  The "I'm so lazy I can feel the fat cells conquering my underused muscle tissue" crappy feelings.
• Step back weeks - in all previous training plans I've timed my step back weeks to match with my cycle.  It was surprisingly helpful to do so and I couldn't figure out how to do it with this plan.   Thus, I failed in week 2. 

Plan going forward: 

• I will make my own training schedule, focusing on long runs like I have in the past, and also adding in at least one tempo workout.
• I will continue to train for the 10 Mile in March, somewhat ignoring the existence of a 5K on my race schedule in February.
• I will try to keep the tempo workouts once/week.  It may be the only nod to the 5K that I make.
• Long runs will be done with a warm up and then in Z3 and then a cool down.  I can't handle this Z2 nonsense.
• I want to get back to running trails.  Unfortunately, it's harder to do in the winter.  Seems like I'll be spending a lot of Mondays at French Park and Medicine Lake where the trails will hopefully be cleared. 
• Keep doing the TRX/Kettlebell class because I like it.
• Maybe start doing Zumba more again?  I've been absent from that class a lot lately.

Half Marathon Training Plan

This is my first date with one of those "let us design your training plan for your next race" things.  It's day 3 of week 1.  Of a 16 week process.

The Plan: Level III Half Marathon Training by Heart Rate. Since my Garmin 225 is my new boyfriend, I used one of the training plans off the Garmin website.  Helfpully they have plans based on both time and heart rate, so I picked the "Level III Heart Rate" plan.  It involves 8 workouts a week.  Not only is this my first date with a training plan, it's my first date with 2-per-day workouts.  Here's a peak at the first week.

Thoughts before trying: 

• "This is totally reasonable, I can do the 2-per-day workouts when I have TRX or Zumba because I'll be at the gym anyways".  I don't think I was drunk at the time I chose this.  
• Threshold/Hill/Tempo workouts have to be in the morning and the recovery workouts have to be in the afternoon, opposite how they are listed on this plan. 
• This will only work in the winter.  Anything that involves working out in the afternoon in the summer will not work because the heat alone jacks up my heart rate too much.  If I like this training plan I will try the "Level 2 heart rate" plan for the summer because it involves only 5 workouts per week and no doubles.

Thoughts so far: 

•  2-per-days only work if you get up in the morning for the first one.  And if you don't have other stuff going on in the evening.  So far, Monday's second work out got moved to Tuesday (and I actually did it) and Wednesdays second workout got moved to the one blank Thursday.  Rest days are for sissies.  
• Recovery runs inside: Today I did the 'recovery run' on the elliptical and that worked surprisingly well.  It kept me honest about my pace and effort and was less frustrating than running on a treadmill as fast as some people walk.
• Recovery runs outside:  I'm still terribly slow running in Zone 2, like "oh look at that snail zooming by my ass".  These runs are tolerable outside with no other runners to watch me. Better than inside with people on the track or treadmills observing my slowness and making me feel grumpy.
• That whole "90 minutes of Z2 running" coming up this Saturday?  That's going to suck.  So far, I can really only stay in Z2 for 30-40 minutes so they'll be some walking. 

Operation Mickey

As I mentioned yesterday, at least one mouse was visiting my home.  Being not at all cool with those arrangements, I'd set a bunch of traps to remove said visitors.  Late last night as I was falling asleep I heard one of the traps fire.  That didn't take long.  But no way was I going to go deal with the situation at that exact moment.  I'll just dream about it instead.

So I had this dream...
I woke up to a big black rat in the trap.  The mouse trap wasn't quite strong enough to kill the rat, but the rap was quite trapped.  So when I came into the living room to turn on the television the rat made eye contact with me and rolled it's eyes as if to say "this is ridiculous, can I go now?"  Because I had no desire to address a live trapped rat I just left it there.  In walks a live possum.  That thing looked at me too, before it sat on top of the rat in an attempt to keep it warm and comforted.  I got an eye roll from the possum too.  And I'm all "how did a possum get in here?!?" and "what is going on?!?" 
So I start chasing the possum.  It's not in a trap, it can run.  And it runs into some door that I didn't know existed that leads to the stairs and the people who live upstairs, but also to a window in the stair well.  The window is notable because everything else in the house is nice, but this window is in disrepair.  It's opened and the screen is straight up torn out.  Which leads to a discussion with my roommates about getting the house fixed.
To recap - I had a dream where I made it someone else job to fix the house but never delegated emptying the rat from the trap. Priorities?

Back in real life, this dream kind of woke me up.  Shortly after I woke up, I decided to go face Mickey.  I reasoned it was early enough, my brain was probably still too tired to figure out what was going on so that would make it less awful. Why?  I think the big black rat comes from the imagery in this video which I watched yesterday to figure out how to load the traps.  It's one degree less obvious than you'd think.  For reference, the rat in my dream was slightly larger and less plastic than "Mister Mouse" but roughly the same in all other aspects.

The internet also tells me that rats are about evaluating the clutter around you, relevant because I spent so much time last night cleaning.  Possums are about taking a passive stance in things that are happening around me.  I love the imagery of my dream of the Possum coming in and laying on top of the rat.  Trumped.

Productivity Saturday

So, late last night I swear I saw a mouse run across the floor.  I don't think it was the wine.  This event helped me plan my day today.

5am: Wake up, it's dark but I have to pee.  All I can think is "I hope the mice are hiding right now".  
5:01am - think "I should turn off my alarm.  I don't want to wake up for real in 2 hours" and then do so.
9:45am - Mo starts to vacuum and wakes me up for real.  God bless vacation.
10:00 - 6 Mile run.  I'm still not totally loving heart rate training.  I'm back into trying to keep lower heart rates and moving so slow it hurts.
12:45 - meet friends for lunch.  Hello Biscuits and Gravy. 
2:00pm - So this is why we don't go to Home Depot on Saturday.  PS - Home Depot does not have compost pails but they do have mouse traps.
2:30pm - Walgreen's does not have my shampoo/conditioner.  I hate shopping on Saturdays all together.
3:00pm - I think I met the girl who has been responsible for several police calls to my building.  Her name is Laura.  She was perfectly nice to me, and let me know she was only using one washing machine, the other four were open.
3:01pm - Let the cleaning begin.  First I did the kitchen.  Because mice.  I didn't find any mice nor any poo nor other signs of varmints.  I put away the dish washer, got the counter top totally clean and everything put away, did all the dishes, cleaned the stove and toaster oven, etc.  As I was starting to do the floor I had to change out the laundry.  I got basically the whole house clean, and it was lovely. I also got all the laundry hung/folded/put away. 
5:00pm - Operation Mouse Trap begins.  I used moldy mozzarella as my bait.  The instructions said peanut butter.  All I have is almond butter and I refuse to use something that costs $10/jar for rodent bait. 
5:30pm - I sat down on the couch.
6:00pm - I do not want to cook food in the kitchen.  The dishes are clean, the counters are clean, the floor is clean.  I must go out to seek food.
7:00pm - Himself and I head out to Sober Fish and had a lovely dinner.  We agreed that we had an excellent server tonight.  If we go back I hope we get her again.
9:00 - Got home.  Nothing in the traps.  Not sure if happy or sad.
10:30 - Blog.  Plan tomorrow.  Not sure when to run.  Because it's cold outside now, but cold is still sometimes better than Treadmill.  

Tuesdays on the Run

Trying something new, thanks to this site for the prompt:

Do you run with music? 
Outdoors - typically not. Here's a brief history.  There was a point where I never thought I'd do any runs without music, so the progression has been quite shocking.  The best part is not having to make so many playlists to keep myself interested and not frustrated by music.
Indoors on the track or treadmill - Hell yes.  Music is essential to my sanity.  There has never been a moment when I was all "maybe I'll try to give up the music completely".  When I'm inside, it's on and it's loud.

What’s on your playlist?
Pandora Latin Workout Playlist is important.  This is only usable when I workout with my phone, and when there's signal.  There's a part of my gym that is like a cave and gets no signal of any kind.  Long time favorites include Bad Romance - Lady Gaga and Echa Pa'lla - Pitbull ft Papayo.  Newest addition is Bring it Back - Shy Carter ft Aleon Craft. 

Heart Rate Training - Again

Did you know you can biomechanically be running and only moving at a 15:00 mile?  I do.  Because Z2 running is awful.  I was looking back at this blog to find encouraging stories of improvement from my first round of heart rate training.  I'm disappointed that I never wrote how utterly frustrating it is, and how slow it forces me to to run.  I should've said that before.  I keep trying to remind myself there was a time I couldn't run a 15:00 mile with a heart rate below 150, so keeping it around 135 is a good thing.  But some days, I just want to go. 

Mio Alpha: Last April I got my first heart rate monitor.  It was a plain watch that paired to my iPhone.  It had some downsides, particularly that it didn't work with any apps that tracked indoor running, but I thought it worked quite well and I was happy with it.  Until it broke 1 week before my A race this year.  Sigh.  The wrist band is the part that broke, but the monitor won't work without being strapped tightly to my wrist.  Sigh

Garmin 225: The day the first thing broke, I got myself over to REI and bought a Garmin.  I can't believe I never owned one of these before.  This thing is way more sophisticated than the original heart rate monitor and I enjoyed putting it through its paces.  One of my favorite features is the display of 'heart rate zones' complete with pretty colors. 
One the other available features are in depth training plans on Garmin Connect.  (I have yet to decide if I like this feature.) There are training plans that are heart rate based (vs a traditional distance/speed based plan).  I was checking them out in advance of my 2016 races, and all the plans have significant amounts of time running in zone 2.  Z2 is not an intensity to which I'm accustomed.  And it's slow.  Like, I mean, SLOOOOOOW.

I haven't started the actual training program yet, but it's clear to me the Z2 runs will be my Achilles heel so I'm trying to practice them now.  I'm still seeing this as part of my race recovery time.  As Z2 runs are considered "recovery runs" it seems appropriate.  Hopefully this time around I post more about the heart rate training progress.  And hopefully it becomes less frustrating this time around, as it did last time.