26.9.11
25.9.11
When you go for a run and feel so fortunate to be alive and running
I love it when I go out for a run and the moment I step outside I feel so lucky to be heading out for a run, excited about the route, and generally feeling good. I'm sure I've made my feelings about Ft Snelling quite clear. See the running review and the out of town parents review if you need a reminder. Per tradition, my last "long run" before marathon Sunday is always completed at Ft Snelling if possible.
As I was running on the parkway I saw the guy putting up the signs saying "this road closed first Sunday in October" (hell yeah it is!). I also sort of saw the start line for Women Run the Cities. Good luck to my friends who were running the 10-miler!
I may have figured out part of the issue with my phone. (I have a love/hate relationship with Android.) I use Endomondo to track my runs. (I've checked out other apps like RunKeeper and I really like this one.) I use the default "Music" player on my phone for music. For some reason, every once in a while (like every freaking run), DoubleTwist will just open and start playing music. (Excuse me? Did I ask you? Was that the playlist I wanted to hear? WTF?) I finally just uninstalled DoubleTwist. It appears that I can keep the desktop app and be able to sync playlists, even without the app on my phone.
Now I'm having an issue with Blogger (what is the deal today?) where I can't post photos. Did Blogger stop supporting .png files?
After my basically joyous run this morning, that vague sense of dread is sinking in. Less than one week to go!
As I was running on the parkway I saw the guy putting up the signs saying "this road closed first Sunday in October" (hell yeah it is!). I also sort of saw the start line for Women Run the Cities. Good luck to my friends who were running the 10-miler!
I may have figured out part of the issue with my phone. (I have a love/hate relationship with Android.) I use Endomondo to track my runs. (I've checked out other apps like RunKeeper and I really like this one.) I use the default "Music" player on my phone for music. For some reason, every once in a while (like every freaking run), DoubleTwist will just open and start playing music. (Excuse me? Did I ask you? Was that the playlist I wanted to hear? WTF?) I finally just uninstalled DoubleTwist. It appears that I can keep the desktop app and be able to sync playlists, even without the app on my phone.
Now I'm having an issue with Blogger (what is the deal today?) where I can't post photos. Did Blogger stop supporting .png files?
After my basically joyous run this morning, that vague sense of dread is sinking in. Less than one week to go!
24.9.11
Taper: Marathon speak for "I do nothing"
Near as I can tell, the real point of the taper is to make the desire to go for a freaking run at least big enough to mitigate the sense of dread at the start line of a marathon.
I haven't run since Wednesday when I went with Beth. Friday I hit the elliptical and rowing machine and today I did Pilates. Tomorrow is my last 10-miler before race day (which per tradition, will be completed along the Ft Snelling trail).
On tap for the rest of the week - a hill run on Tuesday with Team:Work, and an easy four on Thursday (when I don't have to work because it's a Jewish holiday).
Since I'm not actually doing anything, I came up with some great running songs of varying tempos for you to enjoy!
I haven't run since Wednesday when I went with Beth. Friday I hit the elliptical and rowing machine and today I did Pilates. Tomorrow is my last 10-miler before race day (which per tradition, will be completed along the Ft Snelling trail).
On tap for the rest of the week - a hill run on Tuesday with Team:Work, and an easy four on Thursday (when I don't have to work because it's a Jewish holiday).
Since I'm not actually doing anything, I came up with some great running songs of varying tempos for you to enjoy!
- Maroon 5 - Moves like Jagger. New to my playlist. Although I have a friend who's already started the Facebook push for Maroon 5 to play the superbowl with Mic Jagger as a special guest.
- AWOLNation - Sail. Speaking of loud running songs.
- INXS - Beautiful Girl. This does not sound like INXS but is a great song.
- OneRepublic - All the right moves. I'd never seen the video before. I like the costumes.
- Pink - F#ckin Perfect. Also a good song for beginners to learn on the guitar!
21.9.11
Hill Run with Beth
The conversation went like this:
The last time I ran from the JCC, I learned the wild hill route that starts with the Davern Hill. Yes, that profile is accurate. It's really that steep.
Looking back, I'm glad I didn't know what was coming because it was a really challenging route.
This morning I proposed a different route with a much less dramatic profile. Or so I thought.
I'm all "let's just run the longer, less steep way up the hill and then run back down". And Beth was totally okay with giving it a try. She made me work. We have very different strategies on hills. Hers is a variant on "the faster you run the faster you're done" and mine is "slow down and try not to have a heart attack before the top of the hill".
Beth knows I love running down hill so she picked up the pace on the way down.
I think that may be the first 10-minute mile I've run in my life. Mile 3 was on track to be that fast too but we saw a friend (Other Beth) and stopped to say hi. I was all worried about myself (why is this so hard?) until I got home and looked at how fast Beth had me running.
I had a great time. The bonus was not having to get up at 5am and still being able to run with someone else. Nice.
Me - want to run tomorrow?
Beth - I have to go from the JCC at 7:20 (instead of 5:30am)
Me - Okay.
The last time I ran from the JCC, I learned the wild hill route that starts with the Davern Hill. Yes, that profile is accurate. It's really that steep.
This morning I proposed a different route with a much less dramatic profile. Or so I thought.
I'm all "let's just run the longer, less steep way up the hill and then run back down". And Beth was totally okay with giving it a try. She made me work. We have very different strategies on hills. Hers is a variant on "the faster you run the faster you're done" and mine is "slow down and try not to have a heart attack before the top of the hill".
Beth knows I love running down hill so she picked up the pace on the way down.
I had a great time. The bonus was not having to get up at 5am and still being able to run with someone else. Nice.
18.9.11
Half my miles are done. And some good exercise music!
I had 14 miles on tap for today. I knew I was never going to run all 14 of those miles, based on having a race the day before and how my body is feeling.The rain and generally crappy weather gave me some cover for not running outside at all.
Sadly, there's no other time this week that I can make up the miles. I headed to the gym and the final three-hour elliptical workout of this marathon training season. I'm so over the elliptical. I wound up having a "15 mile" workout, meaning half of my miles for this week got done in one sitting. (Hell yeah I am!) The more important question is how will I entertain myself the rest of the week?
Some of my favorite running songs from this workout:
Sadly, there's no other time this week that I can make up the miles. I headed to the gym and the final three-hour elliptical workout of this marathon training season. I'm so over the elliptical. I wound up having a "15 mile" workout, meaning half of my miles for this week got done in one sitting. (Hell yeah I am!) The more important question is how will I entertain myself the rest of the week?
Some of my favorite running songs from this workout:
- Pitbull - I know you want me. I refuse to link to the "official" video. And it's nice to read the lyrics and learn Portuguese.
- Christina Aguillera - Come on Over. Old school. You can almost see the Disney Channel seeping out of this video.
- Lady Gaga - Edge of Glory. As I've said before, Lady Gaga exists to populate my running playlists.
- Rod Stewart - Forever Young for the truly old school. This song reminds me of my dad.
- James Morrison - Undiscovered. This is one of my favorite songs to play on the guitar. It's slower than I usually like for exercise. But for long workouts it's good to have a few songs that are a slow steady pace.
17.9.11
Bolder Dash 10K
The Bolder Dash is one of my favorite races (and benefits one of my favorite organizations). It was my first 10K race ever a few years ago. Not long after that race, I started training for my first marathon. (What was I thinking?) In 2009 I ran the 10K again and then walked the 5K with my dad. (Our first race together.) This year, one of the Team:Work people and her husband came out to participate.
The race is at my happy place. I have a whole new respect for track runners who run laps and laps and laps around an oval. This course is two laps around the lake. The hardest part of this race is thinking, "oh, shit, I have to run around this thing again". It makes pacing quite challenging. (I did not use my phone/GPS during the run for pacing assistance because that would be cheating.)
We got on our numbers and headed over to the start line. I saw a bunch of people I knew which was also fun.
I tried oatmeal today as a pre-race breakfast. I think, ultimately, oatmeal would be a great pre-race food but I should've had it about two hours before the race instead of one hour before the starting line.
The race was an adventure in pacing. I set a new PR. My time was 1:06:00 (impressive right, to hit 00 seconds?) which is a 10:38 pace. I couldn't find my time for 2009 but I think it was an 11:00 pace. I knew I was ahead of life this year when I went by the 5K start and people weren't lining up yet.
After I got done I hit up the coffee and had an apple. It was cold. I watched all the mentor/mentee pairs start the race (which is always a blast) and cheered for them. Then the two of us who'd finished walked back along the course to find the last member of Team:Work who is a race walker.
She killed her PR by 4:00 and placed second in her age group. Heck yes you are!
After the race I did laundry, cleaned and then went to lunch with neighbor Steve and had awesome Thai Food. Now I'm sitting on my couch with a basically clean house listening to the dishwasher run.
The race is at my happy place. I have a whole new respect for track runners who run laps and laps and laps around an oval. This course is two laps around the lake. The hardest part of this race is thinking, "oh, shit, I have to run around this thing again". It makes pacing quite challenging. (I did not use my phone/GPS during the run for pacing assistance because that would be cheating.)
We got on our numbers and headed over to the start line. I saw a bunch of people I knew which was also fun.
I tried oatmeal today as a pre-race breakfast. I think, ultimately, oatmeal would be a great pre-race food but I should've had it about two hours before the race instead of one hour before the starting line.
The race was an adventure in pacing. I set a new PR. My time was 1:06:00 (impressive right, to hit 00 seconds?) which is a 10:38 pace. I couldn't find my time for 2009 but I think it was an 11:00 pace. I knew I was ahead of life this year when I went by the 5K start and people weren't lining up yet.
After I got done I hit up the coffee and had an apple. It was cold. I watched all the mentor/mentee pairs start the race (which is always a blast) and cheered for them. Then the two of us who'd finished walked back along the course to find the last member of Team:Work who is a race walker.
After the race I did laundry, cleaned and then went to lunch with neighbor Steve and had awesome Thai Food. Now I'm sitting on my couch with a basically clean house listening to the dishwasher run.
15.9.11
Fast LONG run and then... nothing
The awesome part of marathon training is upon me.
Tuesday I had a long run that was loads of fun. I was pissed about something that happened at work so I ran really fast to get the aggravation out. It was a little confidence booster before the marathon to know my pace for that many miles and have it be a strong one.
I took my favorite Ft Snelling route. It's a little over 11 miles and my phone freaked out right before mile 10 so it got most of what happened.
As always, mile 1 is a wonky time because I'm turning my music on, putting my phone away, doing my hair, and so on. Mile 2 is proof that it takes me a while to warm up. Mile 6 - guess where the big hill is. Mile 10 - guess where the stoplight is.
Here's another way to look at my pace. Hilarious how it drops as I was trying to get up that hill. That last blip at the end is the stoplight where I had to wait.
Tuesday was also a Team:Work night. All the runners bailed (and now owe me beer) but both walkers came so we did a nice 3 miles of walking and skipping (which is a power and propulsion exercise).
Wednesday morning I got up and ran with Beth. It was cold. I was slow. We had this hilarious conversation:
So today I obviously did nothing and will do nothing again tomorrow. Saturday is the Bolder Dash. Me and one other person are running the 10K then we'll cheer for the kids in the 5K.
I spent part of today reviewing the participant guide for the marathon. I hate reading about drop out times and medical tents. It makes me nervous. Also, there's a Corral 3 this year for the truly slow (that's me) people. Keeping us at the back didn't work? Whatever.
Tonight - rest.
Tomorrow - carbs before race day!
Tuesday I had a long run that was loads of fun. I was pissed about something that happened at work so I ran really fast to get the aggravation out. It was a little confidence booster before the marathon to know my pace for that many miles and have it be a strong one.
I took my favorite Ft Snelling route. It's a little over 11 miles and my phone freaked out right before mile 10 so it got most of what happened.
As always, mile 1 is a wonky time because I'm turning my music on, putting my phone away, doing my hair, and so on. Mile 2 is proof that it takes me a while to warm up. Mile 6 - guess where the big hill is. Mile 10 - guess where the stoplight is.
Here's another way to look at my pace. Hilarious how it drops as I was trying to get up that hill. That last blip at the end is the stoplight where I had to wait.
Tuesday was also a Team:Work night. All the runners bailed (and now owe me beer) but both walkers came so we did a nice 3 miles of walking and skipping (which is a power and propulsion exercise).
Wednesday morning I got up and ran with Beth. It was cold. I was slow. We had this hilarious conversation:
So you did a long run yesterday, then 3 miles at night and now you're here!?!
Um. I have to get my miles in so I can rest before Saturday?
So today I obviously did nothing and will do nothing again tomorrow. Saturday is the Bolder Dash. Me and one other person are running the 10K then we'll cheer for the kids in the 5K.
I spent part of today reviewing the participant guide for the marathon. I hate reading about drop out times and medical tents. It makes me nervous. Also, there's a Corral 3 this year for the truly slow (that's me) people. Keeping us at the back didn't work? Whatever.
Tonight - rest.
Tomorrow - carbs before race day!
11.9.11
The Rising - this is such a strange day
This is a weird day on so many different levels. And this is the only song that really feels like how I want to think about September 11th. The Rising - Bruce Springsteen for those of you reading this on Facebook and not able to see the embedded video.
I woke up at, well, early, planning to do an 11-12 miler around Ft Snelling. I checked the weather (which was my first mistake) and I kept getting more and more confused. Once I saw it was 68* and 80% humidity I was not in a good mood. But then Kare 11 radar had all this activity. WCCO radar had the same activity but not as severe. Weather.com had nothing. I was so confused. And by this point I'd been staring at my phone and computer long enough I was getting too tired to care.
So I went back to bed.
I woke up later and realized that it was, in fact, September 11th. This day is just weird for me becuase I wasn't in the country, (or in any country) when it happened and I wasn't even around televisions that day or for most of the time after. It's like I missed out on this inside story the entire country knows about.
I was on a ship doing a study abroad. Obviously, we got the news but we didn't have satellite television or anything so I was away from the images and news casts everyone here knows so well. On the ship I sent an email home and then got one from my dad basically saying we can't get mad at anybody and we can't hold this against people (because violence is a descending spiral). And then he just told me to be as nice as I could to everyone I met on my journey.
So when we got to Japan the first thing half the boat saw was Hiroshima. It was very sad to be knowing the US was going to go to war soon and be in these places with these living images of how awful war can be. Before the US actually went to war, we got further reminders in China, Singapore and most notably Vietnam. It was sad for me because I'd just spent all this time looking at "hey, this is what war does to countries and people; it didn't make anyone's lives better, it just hurts people" in all these different formats.
I remember finally getting home too. I drove across alligator alley to Ft Meyers with my Mom, Dad, aunt and uncle and I was all "why are there flags on all the cars?". My mom was really mad at me for not understanding. (I still don't get it.) There's a lot about this day I don't get. (If that makes me un-American, deal with it. I'm really one of you.)
After strolling down memory lane, mostly through Facebook posts with people from that trip, I headed to the gym and did a couple hours work on the elliptical. I had my last Roctane packet during this workout, because I knew the consequences wouldn't be too bad here. I still don't like it.
I'm trying to figure out my mileage for the rest of the week. I still want to hit Ft Snelling, maybe Tuesday when the weather cools off. And I'm racing a 10K on Saturday. Which leaves me about 10 miles to spread through the other days of the week and take Thursday and Friday off.
I woke up at, well, early, planning to do an 11-12 miler around Ft Snelling. I checked the weather (which was my first mistake) and I kept getting more and more confused. Once I saw it was 68* and 80% humidity I was not in a good mood. But then Kare 11 radar had all this activity. WCCO radar had the same activity but not as severe. Weather.com had nothing. I was so confused. And by this point I'd been staring at my phone and computer long enough I was getting too tired to care.
So I went back to bed.
I woke up later and realized that it was, in fact, September 11th. This day is just weird for me becuase I wasn't in the country, (or in any country) when it happened and I wasn't even around televisions that day or for most of the time after. It's like I missed out on this inside story the entire country knows about.
I was on a ship doing a study abroad. Obviously, we got the news but we didn't have satellite television or anything so I was away from the images and news casts everyone here knows so well. On the ship I sent an email home and then got one from my dad basically saying we can't get mad at anybody and we can't hold this against people (because violence is a descending spiral). And then he just told me to be as nice as I could to everyone I met on my journey.
So when we got to Japan the first thing half the boat saw was Hiroshima. It was very sad to be knowing the US was going to go to war soon and be in these places with these living images of how awful war can be. Before the US actually went to war, we got further reminders in China, Singapore and most notably Vietnam. It was sad for me because I'd just spent all this time looking at "hey, this is what war does to countries and people; it didn't make anyone's lives better, it just hurts people" in all these different formats.
I remember finally getting home too. I drove across alligator alley to Ft Meyers with my Mom, Dad, aunt and uncle and I was all "why are there flags on all the cars?". My mom was really mad at me for not understanding. (I still don't get it.) There's a lot about this day I don't get. (If that makes me un-American, deal with it. I'm really one of you.)
After strolling down memory lane, mostly through Facebook posts with people from that trip, I headed to the gym and did a couple hours work on the elliptical. I had my last Roctane packet during this workout, because I knew the consequences wouldn't be too bad here. I still don't like it.
I'm trying to figure out my mileage for the rest of the week. I still want to hit Ft Snelling, maybe Tuesday when the weather cools off. And I'm racing a 10K on Saturday. Which leaves me about 10 miles to spread through the other days of the week and take Thursday and Friday off.
10.9.11
To those who think fall is coming - HA! Yeah, right!
I finally drug my butt out of bed after 9am this morning. (Guess I'm not meeting anyone for a lakes run...) I had a four miler on tap. At first I was all "yeah, I've gone faster" and then I was all "what is wrong with me?" until I ended up thinking, "oh, hey, it's like 70* and 70% humidity". Fall must sort of be coming because I'm getting the fall allergies (there are unusual side effects) symptoms during my runs. But temperature wise, it's still very much summer. It was almost 90 yesterday and will be about as hot today.
The realizations about temperature impacting my performance was followed by "thank goodness I did my 21-miler last week" because this weather would suck. (Heather: I hope you have a good last long run and I wish you would carry some water with you. Just saying.)
I took the usual four miler route. This route is not flat. I'm trying to remind myself that the ability to ascend hills will suddenly become very useful, like around mile 20 of the marathon. Because otherwise I would've found a different route.
After running I did a little business at Wells Fargo (by "business" I mean "closed my accounts"), got fresh bread at the bakery, and made an awesome breakfast.
About 20 minutes before class started, I realized I could do Pilates at 1pm today. (I missed last Saturday because the floor of the studio was being resurfaced and last Monday for Labor Day) so I dropped what I was doing and headed over.
I'm having two thoughts right now - either that coffee was not decaf, or there was something wrong with those eggs. Just saying. I'm actually more inclined to blame the coffee.
I'm going to lay on the couch for a little while, then my goal is to have my apartment be clean (that's like a perpetually failed goal) and to carb-load for my "long run" of 12 miles tomorrow. (Ft Snelling, here I come!)
The realizations about temperature impacting my performance was followed by "thank goodness I did my 21-miler last week" because this weather would suck. (Heather: I hope you have a good last long run and I wish you would carry some water with you. Just saying.)
I took the usual four miler route. This route is not flat. I'm trying to remind myself that the ability to ascend hills will suddenly become very useful, like around mile 20 of the marathon. Because otherwise I would've found a different route.
Definitely not breaking any land speed records this morning. It really was hot.
After running I did a little business at Wells Fargo (by "business" I mean "closed my accounts"), got fresh bread at the bakery, and made an awesome breakfast.
About 20 minutes before class started, I realized I could do Pilates at 1pm today. (I missed last Saturday because the floor of the studio was being resurfaced and last Monday for Labor Day) so I dropped what I was doing and headed over.
I'm having two thoughts right now - either that coffee was not decaf, or there was something wrong with those eggs. Just saying. I'm actually more inclined to blame the coffee.
I'm going to lay on the couch for a little while, then my goal is to have my apartment be clean (that's like a perpetually failed goal) and to carb-load for my "long run" of 12 miles tomorrow. (Ft Snelling, here I come!)
8.9.11
Running: Only thing keeping me sane right now
Last night I drug Team:Work on a new route that was longer than they expected and more challenging than any of us were expecting. (Whatever, we need to get ready for that 10K right?) I had a nice time.
The route: a nice little out and back on Shepard, but it's mostly uphill on the way back, including a steep part when we turn onto Otto. At least one person liked being on the river that long, and I liked the only lights being at Otto and Randolph. I wish St Paul would have mowed the weeds growing up through the cracks on the walking path. They were pretty big.
This tracks my pace for the run. We are still taking some walk breaks, and I run back and forth between the runners and the walkers. See that spike in the yellow line in the middle? That's me hauling butt up some stupid hill from the walkers to runners. I have no idea why I thought that would be good to do.
This morning, I started the day off right running with Beth and a girl I hadn't met before. I think I had rocket fuel for dinner last night. Because I felt like I was running really fast this morning. (That could just be blind optimism.) I realized once that last 20 miler is in, something weird happens to my fitness level. Because I'm never the one feeling fast on a run.
The rest of the day was exhausting. I'm glad I had a run to start it out because it put me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the day.
The route: a nice little out and back on Shepard, but it's mostly uphill on the way back, including a steep part when we turn onto Otto. At least one person liked being on the river that long, and I liked the only lights being at Otto and Randolph. I wish St Paul would have mowed the weeds growing up through the cracks on the walking path. They were pretty big.
This tracks my pace for the run. We are still taking some walk breaks, and I run back and forth between the runners and the walkers. See that spike in the yellow line in the middle? That's me hauling butt up some stupid hill from the walkers to runners. I have no idea why I thought that would be good to do.
This morning, I started the day off right running with Beth and a girl I hadn't met before. I think I had rocket fuel for dinner last night. Because I felt like I was running really fast this morning. (That could just be blind optimism.) I realized once that last 20 miler is in, something weird happens to my fitness level. Because I'm never the one feeling fast on a run.
The rest of the day was exhausting. I'm glad I had a run to start it out because it put me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the day.
5.9.11
Relaxing at the Lakes
After yesterday's wild run, I just wanted to be outside and enjoy the sunshine and cool-ish weather.
First thing I noticed when I woke up was that my feet and calves were super tight but there was no pain in my quads. The foam roller must have done something.
I laid around all morning and then headed over to the lakes in the afternoon. True to form my phone crashed twice during the walk. I know it has something to do with GPS since it only crashes when I'm using the GPS on the device. It crashes when I'm using GPS in the car too and that really sucks.
For some reason, I've been a "Lake of the Isles" mood so that's where I headed. I had a brief detour over to Lake Cedar and totally took the long way back. But now I've found both Lake Cedar and what I'm dubbing "the whitest part of Minneapolis". Wow.
First thing I noticed when I woke up was that my feet and calves were super tight but there was no pain in my quads. The foam roller must have done something.
I laid around all morning and then headed over to the lakes in the afternoon. True to form my phone crashed twice during the walk. I know it has something to do with GPS since it only crashes when I'm using the GPS on the device. It crashes when I'm using GPS in the car too and that really sucks.
For some reason, I've been a "Lake of the Isles" mood so that's where I headed. I had a brief detour over to Lake Cedar and totally took the long way back. But now I've found both Lake Cedar and what I'm dubbing "the whitest part of Minneapolis". Wow.
Sunflowers just opening up to see me. (It was probably the sunshine they were really after. But whatever, I am a ray of sunshine.)
Morning glory staying open all day.
Nice view of downtown Minneapolis looking over Lake of the Isles.
4.9.11
Sunday Long Run - 21 Miles in the books
My playlist for this run is called "About to taper" because after this long run, the taper begins. (I have a 12, 14 and 10 miler left. And then I run a marathon.)
The Good
- Pacing late in the run. There are hills at the end of this run, including a small one that feels like a mountain. I ran them, even the one at Portland.
- The Galloway method during the middle (and a bit at the end) of the run. Helped me calm down my stomach and my panic attacks.
- The route - this was actually kind of fun. I don't remember thinking that even once on the run.
- iPod resurrection - I used the Nike+ system, which I haven't since my little nano freaked out on me earlier this summer. I can't use the app on my phone for runs this long becuase I'm slow and my battery doesn't last that many hours.
- Post race nutrition: for breakfast I made what I call "the protein basket". It's 2 eggs; three links of chicken sausage, out of the casing (today I used five links); and 1/2 cup dried lentils, cooked to perfection. Mix it all up and add steak sauce. I will never be hungry again. (This is also an excellent breakfast for those days I know my schedule is so busy I won't get lunch until 3pm.)
The Bad
- The pacing early in the run. What was I thinking?
- Nike+ is not Endomondo which is why the graph of my run looks like this (this is not what happened at all):
- I tried repeatedly to get the graph to look like it should, showing my running and
dyingwalking paces. While I could preview it, the change in my preferences wouldn't save so I couldn't see the correct full size graph. (I tried this in Firefox, Safari and Chrome, and ultimately dropped Nike+ a line.) Sadly, in my frustration, I may have deleted this run from my account.
- I did get kind of sick. Although not nearly as sick as I normally do. And yeah! for me for having the good sense to stop before getting onto Lake of the Isles which notoriously has no facilities. (This in comparison to the facilities every mile at every other lake in the city.)
The Ugly
- Nuun is from the devil. Sorry. I'd read some nice stuff about it and a lot of people really like it and thought I'd give it a try. My body will suffer without electrolytes from now on. For those of you who haven't used it, it's an electrolyte tab that dissolves in water (much like Alka Seltzer). The tab makes the water fizzy (carbonated? - chemists, what gas is released when this tablet dissolves in the water?). Apparently the only time I don't do well with fizzy drinks is long runs. Who knew? It was like pouring acid on my stomach; can't believe I didn't get more sick.
- Gu Roctane is similarly from the devil. Typically I do very well with Gu, both the gels and the Chomps. But as soon as I swallowed my first packet of the Roctane business I knew something was wrong. I felt a burning in my chest (from swallowing, not breathing). It was like nothing I've ever experienced. Well, this sucks.
- The panic attacks during the run, helped neither by the nutrition nor getting sick. As I recall, the hardest thing about last year's marathon was a panic attack around Lake Nokomis. Pit of despair indeed.
The Stuff I'm Not Sure About:
- I have mixed emotions about this run. Historically my last run long run before the marathon has been horrible and then the marathons go fine. I kind of wanted another bad one (glutton for punishment that I am) so I could keep the superstition alive. This run was mostly okay, except a rough patch in the middle when my body protested the roctane, the nuun, and the pace I'd set early in the run.
- The foam roller experience after the run: we'll see if it helps. Rolling my quads was easily the most painful thing I've experienced lately. And I'm including the actual run.
Sunday: Linkfest
- Apparently, It's international bacon day. Bacon is one of those foods I thought I'd totally missed when I drastically reduced the meat in my diet. Yeah, not so much, except when I think about awesome farmer's market bacon.
- To my friends who are parents, is homebrewing beer or wine a good way to teach your kids about alcohol?. Please explain.
- This picture totally wierds me out. Safe for work though.
31.8.11
I was assuming it was a full moon; now I have no explanation
Today was just one of those days that started off not so good and kept going in that direction.
Happily, I did find the reset button before it was all over. Here's what happened
Middle of the night - I had this dream that a specific client of mine died. It was very real. So real that when I did wake up, I checked my work voice mail just in case.
6am - Why did I think this would be a good time to get up? Reset alarm, plan on going to the gym after work at more civilized time.
8am - this is still waaay too early.
9:30 or so - finally stroll in to work.
Got a call from the people who keep telling me I closed someone's services, even though they can't find any actual record of anyone having closed the services, and my repeatedly telling anyone who would listen that I didn't close anything. Got a call from the person who could fix the whole situation with one call but probably wont.
Got another this - every time I hear this person's voice the hair on the back of my neck stands up. That can't be good.
Went to an event where Senator Franken and Congresswoman McCollum spoke about Medicare, Medicaid, the affordable care act, and the changes resulting from the debt ceiling. I found Senator Franken to be much more thoughtful and deliberate
Got this last call that may perpetuate the "Liz hangs up on her clients" stereotype for a while longer. (Honestly people, it's much more complicated than that.) That call was the final straw.
Found the reset button, went to the gym and had a great time on the elliptical and the rowing machine. No one was at the gym. It's like a holiday weekend is coming up and everyone's going to the fair or getting ready for the new school year or something.
Found Krazy Kat Lady's reset button and convinced her she would not die if she drove to a restaurant in Minneapolis. She still doesn't understand my wish to not eat meat. Live with it. But we had excellent Thai food and a relaxing evening.
After which I came home and worked for a couple hours to make up for leaving early.
Now, it's possible that I'm resurrecting an old iPod. (Although it's an "I'll believe it when I see it" kind of thing.)
Happily, I did find the reset button before it was all over. Here's what happened
Middle of the night - I had this dream that a specific client of mine died. It was very real. So real that when I did wake up, I checked my work voice mail just in case.
6am - Why did I think this would be a good time to get up? Reset alarm, plan on going to the gym after work at more civilized time.
8am - this is still waaay too early.
9:30 or so - finally stroll in to work.
Got a call from the people who keep telling me I closed someone's services, even though they can't find any actual record of anyone having closed the services, and my repeatedly telling anyone who would listen that I didn't close anything. Got a call from the person who could fix the whole situation with one call but probably wont.
Got another this - every time I hear this person's voice the hair on the back of my neck stands up. That can't be good.
Went to an event where Senator Franken and Congresswoman McCollum spoke about Medicare, Medicaid, the affordable care act, and the changes resulting from the debt ceiling. I found Senator Franken to be much more thoughtful and deliberate
Got this last call that may perpetuate the "Liz hangs up on her clients" stereotype for a while longer. (Honestly people, it's much more complicated than that.) That call was the final straw.
Found the reset button, went to the gym and had a great time on the elliptical and the rowing machine. No one was at the gym. It's like a holiday weekend is coming up and everyone's going to the fair or getting ready for the new school year or something.
Found Krazy Kat Lady's reset button and convinced her she would not die if she drove to a restaurant in Minneapolis. She still doesn't understand my wish to not eat meat. Live with it. But we had excellent Thai food and a relaxing evening.
After which I came home and worked for a couple hours to make up for leaving early.
Now, it's possible that I'm resurrecting an old iPod. (Although it's an "I'll believe it when I see it" kind of thing.)
29.8.11
That was a really nice long run
I looked at the forecast this week and decided I didn't want to do a 14-mile run on a day when the low was supposed to be 70*. Call me a fusspot. Which meant my option was to do it this morning or suffer.
I had a really nice run. (Surprise!) I got up at the crack of dawn. (Oh that's right, the sun's not up at 5am anymore.) And headed out on my way. I had some interesting ideas about pace on this run (you can go faster) so I did feel like I was pushing it in some places. And then the little voice in my head would say, you know you ran an entire half marathon faster than this one time? Great. My $%*&#@!# phone crashed and restarted when I was about three blocks from home so I didn't get a total time on the run, but most of the laps looked really good.
Mile 1 - is always wonky because I was putting my phone in my pocket, walking at the beginning, etc.
Mile 2 - I really thought I was going faster but I might have still been in my "pace yourself" phase of the run.
Mile 3- that's better
Miles 4-6 - hell yeah I am! The app, while it was running told me those splits were 11:38, 11:38 and 11:39. Interesting.
Mile 7 - that's with a brief, um, stop, still doing fine
Mile 8 - that's with stopping to tie my shoe; I love that big downhill
Mile 9 - I am not freaked out about at all because it included both the big hill, me stopping for deer (that's a good excuse right?) and me stopping to refill my water bottles
Mile 10 and 11 - I must be getting a little tired, but that's still pretty good I think
Mile 12 - there was a stop light at either 28th ave or 34th ave, I think I was still on pace
Mile 13 - I refer you to mile 12 only this was the stoplight to cross Cedar Avenue so it took even longer
The rest - who knows, but I was still moving pretty good.
I have a minor mental block about running Lake Nokomis on long runs. (That mental block usually extends to the marathon, which makes my life interesting.) I did better with it today by trying to focus on my pace, and by remembering to feed myself once I got over the bridge.
Other things that went right on this run:
Hyrdration - I'm drinking more and more on runs, even "little" 14 milers like this, and it's clearly the right thing to be doing.
Not getting sick - I think the heat and hydration play an important role in this. Win for me for hydrating correctly and Win for Minnesota for great running weather today.
Nutrition - I tried a new "night before a long run" meal of homemade spring rolls with lots and lots of rice noodles, fake chicken (because it's the protein source I had on hand, real chicken would've been good too) avocado, cilantro and cucumbers. I felt great on my run today and it probably wasn't all the nutrition, but it couldn't have hurt. I also had a Luna bar, or most of one, when I woke up this morning.
And then I killed all my awesome work by having KFC for lunch. Side note: KFC was not at all the place I was expecting to get excellent customer service today, so I was pleasantly surprised by the young man in the drive through who took my order and encouraged me to try "pepsi max" because they didn't have diet pepsi. What's the difference?
To further prove my lunacy, I totally went to Pilates after work and acted like I hadn't run 14 miles that morning. Actually, Pilates was just the right thing for getting all the crappy lactic acid out of my legs. They were stiff all day but they don't hurt at all anymore.
Now I'm sitting on the couch drinking a beer thinking, "I've got one more 20+ miler, this weekend and then I get to taper!" (Every marathoner knows there's a little part of me going "and then no more marathons, ever, you idiot!") I was thinking of a spring marathon like The Pig so I could find out what fall/winter/spring training is like and if I'll really get sick less when it cools down. Because like all runners, I'm nuts.
27.8.11
Saturday "Long Run"
This was a step back week so my "long run" was supposed to be around 8 miles. A run around Lake Harriet and back is 7.5 miles which I decided was good enough. (Actually I meant to do a 10-miler around Ft Snelling yesterday but I was too lazy to get up. Then today I didn't wake up 'till 8:30 so I didn't really want to do a 10-miler.)
You know those runs that feel slow. They're not actually that bad but they feel awful? That was my day. I think it had a lot to do with not eating dinner last night, having half a protein bar before running and not taking water.
Lake Harriet was packed as expected. I decided not to let it get me down. Apparently there's a Yoga Class at the Band Shell on Saturday mornings? Also there was some race called the "diaper dash" going on. (On the running path, but opposite the direction I was running.)
The run off the lake back home was really fun (and somehow awful at the same time?). I did okay on the hills and had a blast running the down hill section between Bryant and Nicolette (always my favorite part of the course). Although I was also really thirsty so that made seem things longer.
I had fun listening to my "Ragnar Relay" playlist. Some of the highlights include:
99 Problems - Jay Z (definitely not for your children's enjoyment) but a good running song.
Airplanes - B.o.B featuring Haley Williams. Came on at the end of my run today, "I could use a wish right now" too. And my wish was for water.
I Know You Want Me - Pitbull. This is one of those "only while running" songs.
My First Kiss - 3oh!3 featuring Ke$ha. Last year's Ragnar soundtrack featured a lot of Ke$ha, particularly Tik Tok so it's only fitting she show up again.
You know those runs that feel slow. They're not actually that bad but they feel awful? That was my day. I think it had a lot to do with not eating dinner last night, having half a protein bar before running and not taking water.
Lake Harriet was packed as expected. I decided not to let it get me down. Apparently there's a Yoga Class at the Band Shell on Saturday mornings? Also there was some race called the "diaper dash" going on. (On the running path, but opposite the direction I was running.)
The run off the lake back home was really fun (and somehow awful at the same time?). I did okay on the hills and had a blast running the down hill section between Bryant and Nicolette (always my favorite part of the course). Although I was also really thirsty so that made seem things longer.
I had fun listening to my "Ragnar Relay" playlist. Some of the highlights include:
99 Problems - Jay Z (definitely not for your children's enjoyment) but a good running song.
Airplanes - B.o.B featuring Haley Williams. Came on at the end of my run today, "I could use a wish right now" too. And my wish was for water.
I Know You Want Me - Pitbull. This is one of those "only while running" songs.
My First Kiss - 3oh!3 featuring Ke$ha. Last year's Ragnar soundtrack featured a lot of Ke$ha, particularly Tik Tok so it's only fitting she show up again.
25.8.11
Lots of short runs this week
After surviving last weekend I promptly got a migraine and then had some other issues so there was no running Sunday or Monday. Tuesday I grudgingly got on the elliptical for an hour.
Wednesday I started feeling more human. (Thanks for the run Bethy!) I got up at the crack of dawn and headed over to St Paul to run with one of the girls. I refer to it as my speed workout. I also knew that if I made a running date I'd go no matter what and if I was dateless I'd probably stay home and feel sorry for myself.
Wednesday night I ran with Team:Work and we took a new route. I do not like this route. Randolph is actually a good street for running until we cross West 7th. Between West 7th and Shephard there's the double whammy of no sidewalks and live train tracks so I probably won't take people this way too many more times.
I've unilaterally decided that everyone who's still with Team:Work can run a 10K by the middle of September so that's what we're training for now. Maybe next time we'll just do an out and back on Shephard instead.
This is a step back week (yes, after a week of tapering for Ragnar) so I'm not doing too many miles. This morning I ran another 4-miler at a "fast for me" pace, which was especially fast without Beth around to help me move.
I've been fairly happy with Endomondo and running with my phone. (I have the free app but am considering an upgrade.) The main downside is my phone battery won't last long enough to use GPS and play music for long runs. (Yes, I am that slow.)
Every once in a while though, there's a weird quirk. Like today when one piece of information says my top speed was an 11:06 mile and another piece of information says I ran miles 2,3, and 4 all at under an 11:00 pace. (See the images above and below?) No way was 11:06 my top speed.
Wednesday I started feeling more human. (Thanks for the run Bethy!) I got up at the crack of dawn and headed over to St Paul to run with one of the girls. I refer to it as my speed workout. I also knew that if I made a running date I'd go no matter what and if I was dateless I'd probably stay home and feel sorry for myself.
Wednesday night I ran with Team:Work and we took a new route. I do not like this route. Randolph is actually a good street for running until we cross West 7th. Between West 7th and Shephard there's the double whammy of no sidewalks and live train tracks so I probably won't take people this way too many more times.
I've unilaterally decided that everyone who's still with Team:Work can run a 10K by the middle of September so that's what we're training for now. Maybe next time we'll just do an out and back on Shephard instead.
This is a step back week (yes, after a week of tapering for Ragnar) so I'm not doing too many miles. This morning I ran another 4-miler at a "fast for me" pace, which was especially fast without Beth around to help me move.
I've been fairly happy with Endomondo and running with my phone. (I have the free app but am considering an upgrade.) The main downside is my phone battery won't last long enough to use GPS and play music for long runs. (Yes, I am that slow.)
Every once in a while though, there's a weird quirk. Like today when one piece of information says my top speed was an 11:06 mile and another piece of information says I ran miles 2,3, and 4 all at under an 11:00 pace. (See the images above and below?) No way was 11:06 my top speed.
21.8.11
193 Miles of crazy fun times
Ragnar started with a longer than usual weekend (yes, even for me).
Thursday night - we met in St Paul to pack the van, prepare decorations and other silliness and drive down to Winona. When we arrived in Winona, we enjoyed the excellent pre-race food at Perkins. (Mmmm, french fries) and then went to bed.
Friday - before the race - we just got ready for the race because we had an 8am start time.
Friday - GO! - The start line is always a good time. Tons and tons of people staring at us, asking for pictures, saying "oh, I saw your video on YouTube" and so on. It's like being a rock star for a few minutes.
It was hotter than hell as far as we could tell. I saw signs ranging from 82* to 93*. This year I was runner number four, so I got to experience the heat in my first run. This was actually the hardest run of the three, because of the heat and my costume. The hill on this one wasn't even that bad.
But then, boom, it's noon and I'm already done with my first leg. Not like the first two years when I was waiting 'till nightfall to even run.
The rest of Friday was spent playing around and eating. And eating. And playing around while everybody took their turns in the hot hot sun. This was actually the first year for us that runners 11 and 12 were starting before night time hours, meaning they did not have to run in vests. It was actually runners number 1 and 2 who got to run in vests twice this year.
I really loved my night leg. There was a big ass hill that bothered me less than I think it bothered a lot of other people. I knew going in that it was going to suck so I was emotionally prepared. I also knew going in that was I going to get to run down the other side. And it was fun as hell. As predicted. Once I got down the other side I knew I had another 1.5 miles. So after a few minutes I started looking for the "one mile to go" sign. I knew it was going to have a red flashing light on it. Sadly, all the runners in front of me also had red flashing lights on their backs so I had a lot of fake sightings before seeing the actually sign. By the way I passed a runner on this leg. Somewhere along the top of the hill. Boom!
The rest of the night was long. I drove some, and got yelled at for driving too fast. (Sorry, it's been a while since I've driven anything this big.) We had a runner get sick. And I didn't eat nearly as much as I should have.
Saturday morning - oh, that's right, two of my runs are done already. I ran my last leg around 9am and it was the most awful leg, but not the hardest. The hill that comes at the end, that I don't get to go down, was actually not as awful as I thought it would be, but it was not fun. This leg was awful because, as mentioned, I didn't eat through the night on Friday night. I was all "I run on an empty stomach at 8am all the time, this'll be fine" but when I run on an empty stomach in the morning, I've usually had post run food from the day before and I haven't been running eight hours earlier (at midnight). I just didn't have enough juice to go. Something to remember for next year.
At the last big exchange before the finish, we saw Bolder Options for a pancake breakfast. We actually saw lots of people we knew at that exchange. It had something of a carnival atmosphere becuase half the runners there were done with all three of their legs. (The other half of the runners had a look of dread and impatience. How well I remember.)
The finish line was fun. It was in a different space from last year, the East River Flats park. It seemed like a bigger area for the finish line and party, and there were a ton of people there. It also was a flat finish as opposed to running the last 100 feet up an incline.
They call out each team as the final runner is about to finish, and all the teams cross the line together. When our team was finishing, the announcer said something like "we really love this team, and here's a special song for them" so they were really playing our song as we finished.
After the race, I was so tired. I called ahead for take out and grabbed it on my way home. After eating, I remember laying down on the couch around 6pm, and moving to my bed around 8:30pm. Sometime later I woke up, thinking it was the middle of the night. Nope. 6am. Guess I have to get up again now.
Thursday night - we met in St Paul to pack the van, prepare decorations and other silliness and drive down to Winona. When we arrived in Winona, we enjoyed the excellent pre-race food at Perkins. (Mmmm, french fries) and then went to bed.
Preparing van decorations.
Fun at Perkins. It's been a long time since I've even been there.
Friday - before the race - we just got ready for the race because we had an 8am start time.
Getting our Pre-race meal on at the McDonald's by the hotel.
Friday - GO! - The start line is always a good time. Tons and tons of people staring at us, asking for pictures, saying "oh, I saw your video on YouTube" and so on. It's like being a rock star for a few minutes.
Graham, our first runner, getting ready with some stretches.
The whole team does calisthenics at the start line. Apparently this was a big deal last year.
The whole team. This is the last time all of us will be not sweaty and gross simultaneously.
Graham, showing the other teams how to really start a race.
It was hotter than hell as far as we could tell. I saw signs ranging from 82* to 93*. This year I was runner number four, so I got to experience the heat in my first run. This was actually the hardest run of the three, because of the heat and my costume. The hill on this one wasn't even that bad.
Yes, the price I pay for being an early runner with low mileage is that all three legs are "hard". (The ratings are easy, moderate, hard and very hard. I had the only four miler that was 'hard', the rest were at least moderate.)
But then, boom, it's noon and I'm already done with my first leg. Not like the first two years when I was waiting 'till nightfall to even run.
The rest of Friday was spent playing around and eating. And eating. And playing around while everybody took their turns in the hot hot sun. This was actually the first year for us that runners 11 and 12 were starting before night time hours, meaning they did not have to run in vests. It was actually runners number 1 and 2 who got to run in vests twice this year.
Tesha and Ryan practice the slap bracelet exchange. It's actually harder than it looks.
Officer Glen arresting someone for lord knows what. Probably telling him his shorts were too small.
Graham and Laura planking.
Kate - in costume.
Somewhere north of Lake Peppin, along the Mississippi River at nightfall.
I really loved my night leg. There was a big ass hill that bothered me less than I think it bothered a lot of other people. I knew going in that it was going to suck so I was emotionally prepared. I also knew going in that was I going to get to run down the other side. And it was fun as hell. As predicted. Once I got down the other side I knew I had another 1.5 miles. So after a few minutes I started looking for the "one mile to go" sign. I knew it was going to have a red flashing light on it. Sadly, all the runners in front of me also had red flashing lights on their backs so I had a lot of fake sightings before seeing the actually sign. By the way I passed a runner on this leg. Somewhere along the top of the hill. Boom!
The rest of the night was long. I drove some, and got yelled at for driving too fast. (Sorry, it's been a while since I've driven anything this big.) We had a runner get sick. And I didn't eat nearly as much as I should have.
Saturday morning - oh, that's right, two of my runs are done already. I ran my last leg around 9am and it was the most awful leg, but not the hardest. The hill that comes at the end, that I don't get to go down, was actually not as awful as I thought it would be, but it was not fun. This leg was awful because, as mentioned, I didn't eat through the night on Friday night. I was all "I run on an empty stomach at 8am all the time, this'll be fine" but when I run on an empty stomach in the morning, I've usually had post run food from the day before and I haven't been running eight hours earlier (at midnight). I just didn't have enough juice to go. Something to remember for next year.
Tesha showing off her Ragnar 911 tattoo.
At the last big exchange before the finish, we saw Bolder Options for a pancake breakfast. We actually saw lots of people we knew at that exchange. It had something of a carnival atmosphere becuase half the runners there were done with all three of their legs. (The other half of the runners had a look of dread and impatience. How well I remember.)
The finish line was fun. It was in a different space from last year, the East River Flats park. It seemed like a bigger area for the finish line and party, and there were a ton of people there. It also was a flat finish as opposed to running the last 100 feet up an incline.
They call out each team as the final runner is about to finish, and all the teams cross the line together. When our team was finishing, the announcer said something like "we really love this team, and here's a special song for them" so they were really playing our song as we finished.
At the finish! This may be the first time our whole team was at the finish line, the last couple years we had people who needed to leave early. It was fun to celebrate with everyone.
After the race, I was so tired. I called ahead for take out and grabbed it on my way home. After eating, I remember laying down on the couch around 6pm, and moving to my bed around 8:30pm. Sometime later I woke up, thinking it was the middle of the night. Nope. 6am. Guess I have to get up again now.
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