Day 130

Wanted to start week 5 today, can't because it's snowing a lot outside and the city of Red Wing doesn't believe in snowplows. Grr...

So I did the elliptical, BORING! Want to run!!!

In other news, I have started to dream about running. For all of you that speak another language, remember right before midterms and you would start dreaming en francais? Yeah, same thing. Only about running. Pretty cool huh?

I think I'm going to spend today day dreaming about cute running gear. :)

Like this.

Days ???

Know whats not good to eat and then get up in the morning and try to run? takeout pizza. ick.

Didn't go for am run, my 8 am brain said 'outside cold, bed warm...zzz...' Then when I got up for real I was mad at myself. I wish I would have went out and I wish I would have taken pictures. Urgh. But there will be other mornings. Less cold mornings.

While running outside with Lou today (in the daylight!) we had quite the adventure skipping over puddles and avoiding slush (fancy running shoes=not waterproof) There were a few lumpy snowy sidewalks, this makes me think that Antartica is going to be hard. Very hard. Unless someone has the foresight to smooth it down a little. That'd be nice. I wonder if there are spikes or something you can put on the bottom of your shoe to give you more traction but not so much that it messes with your feet? I overdressed for my run. I was comfortably warm right away, so by the end of my run I wanted to peel off a few layers. Sorry if this post doesn't make any sense. I'm sleepy.

Next Saturday it's supposed to be sunny and 25 degrees, def going for outside run then. Fo' Sho'.

Day 117

Sorry to be quick you guys but I need to get to bed!

The day before yesterday was 'Hills day' so that's what I did. V. Boring.

Yesterday was Hubbys long day, he worked all day and then was at school until about 10, so no running or xtraining for me :(, but I did get to hang out with very cute and mostly behaved children, so that's a plus.

Early in the day today I felt like crap emotionally. Very anxious and depressed and teary eyed and hopeless feeling. Then (after many kind words from Hubby) I finally went to the gym and did intervals. Before I started I felt like I was trying to look through greasy windows. And by running I was able to use windex and newsprint and get them sparkly clean, by the time they twinkled I said "F it" and threw those windows open and let the (metaphorical) sunshine and breeze in baby!
Amazing. Totally rocked my socks.

Annnd tomorrow I'm going for a morning run! Outside! By the river that's not frozen (weird)! Sooo pretty!

Can't wait to tell you how it goes! Night lovies!

Day 115

Busy busy busy...

Yesterday I went to the Y and ran, just for fun. I put on my running playlist (which is rapidly losing my interest) and ran to all the good songs. Well, for the most part I ran, the rest of my time was spent trying to dodge 40 something year old women who never outgrew high school and were intent on being as rude as humanly possible to 'the fat girl'. Really? You and your buddies in your matching outfits are going to take up the ENTIRE track at the local YMCA and give death stares and exasperated huffs to the other people trying to use the track as well? Really?

Look here ladies: this is my only time of the day to be Ashley. My only time to myself, this is my therapy while I can't afford therapy, this is MY TIME and you and your blatant disregard for others is NOT going to spoil it for me. Hear that? That is someone who is old enough to be your CHILD telling you to learn some manners and have some empathy for those around you. Is that so hard? I guess it is.

*Phew* I feel better. And worse. My right knee (the one that clicks) is sore today. I iced it earlier, that helped some. I haven't decided if I'm going to do intervals today.

Part of me thinks that in order to train efficiently you cant skip workouts for every ache and pain.

Day 113

Me.

My get-up-and-go is lacking today. Anyway, off to the gym.

Run recap!

I skipped the last set of week three intervals and started week four today. It went pretty well. It was more challenging but not impossible. I tried to not be ashamed of myself when the old man kept lapping me while he was walking, but I figured that even though I'm slow, I still always complete my runs. Until about the very end of intervals my legs felt awkward underneath me. They felt like they weren't moving as smoothly as they could.

Then when they finally did smooth out for me I thought 'Hey, I'm here, I might as well do some base laps.' ('Base miles' are miles that build up your weekly mileage. Doesn't matter how you do them, just that they get done. Since 18 laps equals a mile on my track, I'm calling mine 'base laps' instead of miles.) Anyway, I put on some jamz and ran. And ran. And ran. Faster and faster. Taking breaks every other song or so to stretch my calves, quads, and IT bands. And that made all the difference. Every time after I stretched I felt looser, like I could run faster and more smoothly.

And now I'm sore. Very sore.

In my immediate future.

And tired. These are all classic symptoms of what I like to call 'One more' syndrome. "I'll just run one more lap....one more song...one more interval...one more hour...one more mile..." I think that I am the first documented sufferer of O.M.S. (at least on this blog. lol)

Later lovies. There is a pilates band and an Advil with my name on it.

Day 112

Hopefully mine tastes better than yarn.

It's almost 11 pm here. Had a great day. House is clean, babies are bathed and dreaming lavender scented dreams, blueberry pie in the oven, good jamz on the Zune, and yet...no run.

It was way too cold to go out this morning (six below) and I don't have proper cold weather gear (who ever thought running was SO complicated?!) so I told hubby that when he got home from work I would go then, well lo and behold it was pitch black when he got home.

I was all set to go, I had spent the afternoon stretching, I made sure to only eat three popovers instead of six (I can't run on a full tummy.) Only after hubby pointed out that running in the dark, in the cold, by myself, on ice, was a bad idea did I decide to scrap todays intervals.

Believe you me I am PISSED. This messes EVERYTHING up. I wonder if I have enough warewithall (is that one word? I don't know) to wrap up week three and start week four tomorrow? Hmmmmm...

Day 112 preview...

Uh oh. We have an issue. I'm scheduled to do my last set of week three tomorrow, but hubby is going to be gone the ENTIRE time the Y is open.

Hubby: 'Why don't you just push it off until Monday?'

Me: 'NOOO!!! I can't do that! I have a schedule! This interval needs to be run tomorrow!'

Which leaves me with one option. Outside. Which in all fairness I miss terribly. But it's supposed to top out at a whole ten degrees here tomorrow. And now I get to make the judgment call on where the line is between dedicated and reckless.

Oh who am I kidding? Ten degrees? That's balmy. And besides, the longer I run the warmer I will be. :)

A tour of my gym bag!

Day 111

Remember my great intentions of getting up at dawn and going to the gym to run myself silly?

Didn't happen. Waaaaaay too tired. And sore. Besides a day 'off' will do me some good. (I say 'off' because, who are we kidding? We know I'm going to cross train later.)

My tibia's (shin bones) hurt. So do my lower abs. And my quads. Ooof. Fallin' apart over here.
Off to figure out how to make popovers without butter. (I am not advocating this. But we ran out of butter, and I still really want popovers. Where there is a will there is a way!)

Later lovies!

Day 110

So0o0o0o0o...today was a busy day. Well, it felt busy anyway...

Got to the gym around 2, did intervals, and then set a pace (which sounds very professional, but in fact was me running comfortably slow, lol) and ran to a few songs.

I was doing great, getting a little dizzy from going around and around and around the little track, then I decided to have some fun.

See there was this older gentleman who looked an awful lot like Dick Cheney.

Not Dick Cheney. That Google search was way too frightening.
Here's a kitten instead.

He kept trying to pass me while walking, he succeeded a few times too. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to sprint my last few laps. Nothing like showing Mr. Cheney who is boss. (Yes, I was having an imaginary competition with the former Vice President. Even I'm calling myself bonkers now.)

I'm doing pretty well at the end of the first lap...the music picks up pace, I start sprinting again, pass Cheney, and then almost die. No, not because Cheney shot me in the face, but because apparently slow and steady does win the race and fast and irratic makes you almost vomit and look like an arse infront of Dick Cheney. Who then smirks at you like the hyper competitve weirdo you are.

Have some fun on your run guys!

Day 109

Around 10:30 tonight I started to get a little worried that hubby wasn't home yet. Naturally I wasn't worried about him, I was worried about weather or not I would get to xtrain today.
Hubby walked in the door at promptly 10:35, and after giving Esme a quick snack, I was able to get on the elliptical at about 11 (Serious dedication, no?).

Did 1.37 miles on the random setting at ten resistance. Ooof I'm tired. And sweaty. I wonder if honeybunny will fill my nalgene for me...legs feel too jelly-esque to navigate the broken stairs in the dark & my knee is still clicking...

Have second set of week three to do tomorrow! Yay! (But what I'm really looking forward to is my first AM set of speed work!!! I am sooo stoked!!! That's not until Saturday though!)

Day 108

Wow. I can't believe I just did that. Let's start from the beginning.

Esme decided she was ready for the day around 9 am, we meandered downstairs to play and for Mommy to get herself breakfast.

'Hmmm...I wonder how well a Baileys cocoa cupcake would fuel my run today?.....Not very well....o0o0o0o banana and peanut butter toast! Mmmm....'

When I finally got around to going to the gym I did the first set of week 3's intervals, and it is a good thing I didn't listen to it beforehand, because it starts out with a three minute run....may not sound too daunting but compared to the 90 second intervals I was doing last week? It's an eternity. But I survived, and with very little cursing. And then I ran sprints again. I was so looking forward to them (thinking about sprints kept me from going batty at the ill-mannered yuppie track users...the rules of etiquette are ON THE SIGN WHEN YOU WALK IN!!! READ THEM!!!), so I ran them.

Then 'Candyman' came on, so I ran ...

Then I thought: 'I should probably stop...'

And then I put on 'Drumming song' and ran some more...

Then 'Rabbit Heart' came on and I ran to that too...

All in all I did about 14 minutes of continuous extra running. OH MY GOSH THAT IS SO GREAT AND I AM SO EXCITED!!!

The only reason I didn't keep going was that I knew there was a hungry baby waiting for me, and if I didn't hurry home I wouldn't get to shower today.

Day 107

Who was efficient today? This guy! And me. V. proud of myself. :)

I wanted to go to the gym to run, but I ran out of time with all the laundry, baking, and dusting. Why yes, I am Suzie homemaker. :) Running out of time was actually a good thing because today was supposed to be my off day. So I stayed home and cross trained instead.

Mile on the elliptical hills baby!

Made Chicago style deep dish pizza for dinner. Had some friends over, had some wine and conversations not revolving around sitting on the potty chair, Lightning McQueen, and what elephants say. Very much needed. Have to give Esme her midnight snack and then it is off to bed with me because I have WEEK THREE TO START TOMORROW!!!

This is what I listened to on the hills today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpLXQorSQe8

Day 106

Running euphoria. That's what I experienced today. :)

I was a nervous wreck while dusting off the car before I left for the gym today. "What if I've lost all the endurance I've built? What if I pull something? What if there is too much mucus in my lungs from being sick? What if-" And then I fell into the snowbank. Really. I was soaked and filthy from the road salt/dirt snowbank crap. And I just had to laugh. It was ridiculous, and I figured that was some higher power telling me to chill out.

So I walked into the gym looking like a filthy monster with wet pants, I didn't care though, I was on a mission. And that mission was interval training.

The intervals were a blast, it was nice to hear Ullreys familiar voice urging me on and reminding me to keep my arms loose. When I was done I still had some energy, so I put on Florence and the Machienes 'Dog Days are Over' and ran. And I mean ran. Fast. Not just fast for me, but fast for anyone. The boobies were swaying from side to side, I was gasping like a fish out of water, I had a huge goofy smile on my face, and I just ran and ran and ran. It was amazing.

Day 105

*Sigh* No mile today, it's too cold and icy to run outside, and Hubby took the car to go to work, and the gym will be closed by the time he get's back. :(
I'm trying to not be anxious about it. (Which isn't working very well.)
I guess these things happen though. And so long as I keep cross training it should be alright. Right?


(This is not what I got. But It might be fun to have!)
My Ballerina best friend gave me a super bitchin' pilates set for Christmas! I have never done pilates, and have no idea how to do them, but the ballerina is coming over later and I think I'll coerce her doing the first workout with me :)
I'm also going to cross train on the elliptical when hubby gets home. I just can't get this little voice out of my head saying 'you're behind schedule...you won't be ready...you'll make a fool out of yourself...' but then I have another little voice saying: 'doing other exercises is good for running....a few days of rest is no big deal...you'll be fine...' Argh! I don't know who to believe!

Off to worry about not running...

Day 101

Did a mile on the elliptical today!!!

Saw there was a new episode of Ghost Hunters International on tonight and that was what cemented the idea in my head that I had to do my mile today. No matter if I could breathe or not. (The picture above is of Barry, he's my favorite. I have a thing for Irishmen, can you tell? lol) (It's funny bc Sean is half Irish. Just so you know.)
And it went pretty well.

My window of 'extra-built-in-time-in-case-of-sickness' for intervals is shrinking at an alarmingly fast rate (I wonder if I could run that fast? lol)

Oh shit. I still haven't registered for March 12th. F-balls.

And I wont be able to get to the Y until...Friday morning...or maybe I can go tomorrow night if Mother in law wants to watch the kiddies...hmmm...

And now for a song!


Have an Cute Irishman-tastic day lovies!

Day 100

No running today. *Sniff*

Need something to cheer me up.

Day 99

Here is how much of a running addict I am: as I was drifting off to sleep last night I was telling myself "You'll go for a run tomorrow. With plenty of gatorade and ibuprofen you'll be fine." The mental image of the smooth grey track and 1970's wall murals were soothing enough help me slip off to sleep.

And then I woke up coughing so hard I thought my tonsils were going to come out. Which then woke up the baby. Let's just say that it was a long night. And I didn't run, or cross train. And it's horrible. I feel like someone has taken a red hot poker and stuck it behind my tonsils. And now the burn is dried out, cracked, and covered in lemon juice. (Vivid huh?)

All that= no running.

But I'm seriously considering going tomorrow. I just can't take not doing it.

And I can't get this wonderful song, and it's great beat, out of my head:


Enjoy lovies!

Day 98

*Achoo!!!* *Sniff* *Nose drip*

I have not been this sick in a long time. Remember that sore throat and the sniffles I had a few days ago? Multipy that by a bizillion. That's where I am now. And while I'd love to whine about how icky I feel, I have something else to whine about. I CAN'T TRAIN!
-Cue panic attack-
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?! I CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE ANY TIME WITH INTERVALS AND I'M GOING ON THREE DAYS WITHOUT A RUN!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

*Breathe* (More like wheeze and sputter.) It's ok. You built in extra time in case something like this happened. Just do the math and see where you are.

Start week 3 any day now, race is 8 weeks from saturday, you're still good. You're fine.

Oh so last night I was waiting for Hubby to get home so I could go run, and when I finally got the chance to, the Y was closed! So I promptly had some tea, took a bath and went to bed....wait...no I ran errands, picked up a water bottle, came home and cross trained (Did you know eyebrows and the bottom of your chin can sweat? I didn't.)

On a better (worse?) note tomorrow is hubby and my wedding aniversary...and we're all sick. 'In sickness and in health' indeed!

Go for a run for me guys. I'm going loopy over here. And no it's not sudafed induced :)

Day 94

Just got back from the Y (aka my new happy place) and guess what I did!!! Ran an extra lap just for the hell of it after my entire set of intervals?! YES!!! THAT'S WHAT I DID!!!
Totally sweet.
Speaking of sweet, now I'm munching on almonds, dried cherries, and chocolate chips. Nom nom nom!
Get out and run you guys! Go go go!

Day 93

Oh no. I've got the cold. I woke up coughing, congested, facepressue, headache, and sweaty. What am I going to do?!
Cross train. That's what Im going to do. And drink lemon rose tea. And mope about not running.
***
Not good decisions today:
pastries
a whole bag of potato chips

Good decisions:
x training
water, water, water

35 mins 1.27 miles on the elliptical! Yay for me!
o0o0o0o0o0o I found some free-weights!!!

Update:
So after vowing to take it easy...Mother in law came home and asked if I had been to the Y yet:
Me "No not yet."
Her "I'm thinking about going. I'm not sure if I want to though."
Me " Let's go! Besides if you don't you'll just beat yourself up about it later."

So we went, and I did a million leg presses. And about 1000 lat pulls, and some crazy tricep machine. And the whole time I had to toot really badly. And I had to hold it in. In fact, I had to not do a few machines because I knew if I did I would rip ass, and even though I had headphones on and could pretend it wasn't me...everyone else there would know.

Hope tomorrow is a less gaseous day!

Day 92

I had so many things to say! And now I forgot!

Had a rest day today, probably should have cross trained, but I'm following the rules to a 'T'. Urgh! It's so hard to follow the rules, to not over-train. I am chomping at the bit here!

So I did a little number crunching and if I follow this:
















































This plan would take until June to be done (If I start on March 13th.) I could be ready for a marathon by September. I'm choosing September because like hell I'm doing my first marathon in the heat of summer.

Time for another running n00b moment: Does anyone know what 'Quality' and 'Tempo' runs are?

I'm astonished, there has never been a time in my life where I have felt this empowered. Like I can do anything. Run superhuman distances? Sure. Be an astronaut? Fo' Sho'. Fly? Already on it. :)
I'm just so happy. Purely and innocently happy.

Anyway, enough of the sap, onto the plan.
Ze' plan is to keep everything on schedule for the 5k (which so far is going swimmingly well), race, design my own 10k podcast plan, finish that, find a race, then start training for a MOTHER-EFFIN-HOLY-FUCK-BALLS-I'M-ACTUALLY-GOING-TO-DO-THIS MARATHON!!!
:D

Day 90

Talk about a treat!

Today during nap-time I had the opportunity to sneak out during nap-time and train with my uber-athlete brother-in-law and we had a lot of fun!
He showed me how to use resistance bands, some of the bizarre exercise contraptions in the weight room, AND I did my first set of intervals for week 2!!! I thought it was going to be so hard, like undo-able hard. And at first it was. I pushed myself too hard, I started out too fast. But then I backed off and it got better. I was running so slowly, I think my running was slower than my 'brisk walking' warm up. Lol, but hey, it still counts.
I think I'm going to plan out my dream race schedule. When I want to do a 10k, a half, a full marathon, an ultra, maybe even put a date on Antartica. Just for fun. Besides, you can't do anything unless you have a plan. :)