Week 6 of Spring Training

Monday I didn't have to go in to work until 6pm because I was scheduled to work both Saturday and Sunday (#weekendbrarian, whoop!). It was sunny and almost 20 degrees so you'd better believe I was heading outside for my recovery run. Due to some new information from one of my friends, I learned that the terrible turkey has been relocated because he was chasing so many people. YIPPEE! Unfortunately that bit of news was accompanied with a snapchat video that showed three turkeys crossing the parking lot. Hmm.... I decided to take my chances.

Oh how I missed my little recovery run route, turkey free! I even got in some miles on the gravel. That counts as trail running right??  jk.

Wednesday I hit the treadmill for mile repeats. Eek. Mile repeats have always been my least favorite and most stressed about workout. ALWAYS. I was actually pretty excited about them, however, because running has been going pretty well, my body has been holding up (everyone knock on wood along with me, please!), and I wanted to see how they would go.

I did a mile warm up, than 3x1 mile repeats with an 800 jogging recovery in between them, followed by a one mile cool down. There was a guy on the treadmill next to me, and when he was done I thanked him for keeping me company. It almost felt like I had a running buddy! The intervals were hard, and I was definitely counting down the last two minutes of each one but I was able to run strong and keep proper form throughout which is a major win for me. Interesting fun fact: I almost ALWAYS count down from 120 with speedwork and in races. Two minutes seems like a really long time, but 120 seconds seems like NBD. Also, I count along with the cadence of my feet and breathing, so it's actually slower than a second and I'm done long before I hit zero. This is weird, I realize. I'm ok with that.

Pouring sweat? Check.

Bright red mug? Check.

Full on swass? You bet (and you're welcome for no photo #proof)

After logging my run, I went back through my log to see when the last time I ran that fast was. I had to go all the way back to January 2013 to see mile repeats at similar paces. 13 months! Getting back there.

Friday was my scheduled long run. Due to working Saturday and Sunday and Friday being the "warm" day of the week (high of 12), that was the plan. Unfortunately that means that my long run buddy Jenn, was working.

I sent this text to Kyle at 10am when it was -5 and -16 which chill. Come on winter, get yo act together!

Somehow I laid on the couch all day and finally threw the towel in on my LR when I realized I was starving and needed some food. Of course, as soon as I stepped outside to go grab some food, I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as the forecast was projecting. #fail

Saturday night after work it was a balmy +10 because of the snow fall we got. Thanks snow for bringing the temps in to the bearable range! On my drive home I noticed that a few sidewalks were cleared on a hill repeat spot I've been wanting to try (once the threat of turkey chases disappeared). Of course by the time I got out there, I realized that it was 95% covered in a thick sheet of ice. Luckily it's a fairly low traffic area with two lanes, so I was able to hop on the road to complete my repeats. I did a 1 mile warm up, followed by 6x800m hill repeats, and a quarter of a mile rest/recovery in between. I walked for about a minute and jogged the rest of the recovery. Then I ran home. This is the strongest I've felt on a speed work session! My hill repeat averaged to 4:10, or 8:20 pace.

Since I didn't do my LR, I tried to push two runs fairly back to back to at least try to simulate the time on my feet. Sunday morning I hopped on the treadmill for a 4 mile recovery run. I wanted to go another mile longer, but I had to get ready for work. Womp.

To Chop or Not to Chop

.... that is the question.

I've been obsessed with blogger Kendi's new hair cut since she hacked it off, and have multiple screenshots of it saved in my phone.

Three weeks ago I was ready to make the hair appointment and do the hack, and then I had a few random days where I actually did my hair and remembered how much I loooooove my long hair, when I have the time and actually care how it looks.

But still.... I'm considering...

I've chopped my hair 2x, and hated it both times. But also didn't know how to style it, so that probably didn't help....

I'm guessing it won't be a tough decision once I'm no longer using my hair as a second scarf to keep me warm and the hot and humid season is upon us.

And the nice thing is, my hair should be long enough to donate to locks of love, which has always been a goal of mine. So even if I absolutely loathed my hair, at least I would know that it was for a good cause! And my hair grows like a weed, so it'd probably be down to my butt in two months anyway.....

Winter Olympics

I've been obsessed with the Summer Olympics for as long as I can remember. As a little little kid I thought I was just a few years away from my own Olympic berth in gymnastics. And would spend hours and hours and HOURS cartwheeling around our giant yard "practicing." Interesting fun fact: I can't even do a round-off, thank you parents for not squelching my dreams of greatness.

When I got in to junior high I was 100% obsessed with track, so of course I was obsessed with the track and field events on the Olympics. New Olympic dream, and go!

But the Winter Olympics... I've never really been obsessive over. Perhaps it's because I hate the cold. Hmm.... I used to love watching ice skating, but again I think that was because the girls who were amazing were my age and that just seemed SO COOL to a young Jerbear.

So what am I missing? Which events do I need to DVR to get in to the Olympic spirit? Which Winter sport should be my new Olympic dream?? LOLZ.

(Awesome image from Pug Life blog, little Eloise reminds me of my Ollie!)

January in Review + February Goals

January in Review

Total Miles: 60.5 up from 18 last month. 

Total Time: 11:00:48 up from 3:12:43 last month.  

Total Runs: 12 runs, average of 5 miles per run.

Highest weekly mileage:  1/6-1/12 24 miles

Favorite run: 

Gorgeous 10 miler that felt pretty effortless.

Most hardcore run: 

6.45 fartlek in questionable footing, including almost being struck by a car.

Favorite race: NA
Bike Miles: 0, but I did have a dream about my bike and it made me want to ride it. 
Favorite Jam:  Christina Perri's Human. 

February Goals

At the end of my 101 in 1001 challenge, I looked at my list daily to see what I could accomplish. With that idea in mind, I'm going to attempt to implement some short term goals for myself, utilizing some of the items on my 101 in 1001 list, some things to make me a better runner, etc.

• Hit 100 miles for the month. This should be easy peasy if I don't get lazy/injured/sick. 
• 12 ab sessions. I've been trying for 3/week.
• Finish a classic novel. Currently listening to The Great Gatsby on audiobook. The narrator is pretty amazing.
• Have one super stellar long run.
• Have one speed session that makes me feel like I'm a speedy runner again.
• Get a few pounds closer to my racing weight.
• Run 3 of 3 scheduled long runs.
• Run 3 of 3 scheduled speed work sessions.
• See one Oscar Nominated best picture movie.
• Read Printz award winning book 2014--Midwinterblood
• Try one new recipe

Happiest of birthdays to running BFF Jenn! Wish I could spend your day with you!

Can't wait for our next excessively humid and muddy LR together! Love you. 

Weekly Reads: Twisted Sisters

I put in a purchase request at my library for Jen Lancaster's newest book, Twisted Sisters as soon as I heard its release date, so I was the first one to get my hands on it at the library. 150 pages in, I was wishing I didn't pick it up at all. Lancaster's memoirs are pretty hilarious, but her last three works of fiction have fallen miserably short IMO. The only funny parts of the story were pieces of current pop culture rewritten in a humorous way. The main character was deplorable, which was the intention, but it was so hard to give a $#!+ if she righted her ways in the end. And don't even get me started on the body swapping crap. Ugh.

Oh! And my super nit-picky complaint about the book--the main character is a runner, and spouts her Chicago Marathon PR as 4:28 (or something close to that) and that her goal is to make it sub 10 minute miles. And then she goes on her usual five mile training run and runs it in 29 minutes. Um, nope.

My rating: 2.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

Reagan Bishop is a pusher. A licensed psychologist who stars on the Wendy Winsberg cable breakout show I Need a Push, Reagan helps participants become their best selves by urging them to overcome obstacles and change behaviors. An overachiever, Reagan is used to delivering results.

Despite her overwhelming professional success, Reagan never seems to earn her family’s respect. Her younger sister, Geri, is and always will be the Bishop family favorite. When a national network buys Reagan’s show, the pressures for unreasonably quick results and higher ratings mount. But Reagan’s a clinician, not a magician, and fears witnessing her own personal failings in prime time. (And seriously? Her family will never let her hear the end of it.) Desperate to make the show work and keep her family at bay, Reagan actually listens when the show’s New Age healer offers an unconventional solution…

Record Nielsen ratings follow. But when Reagan decides to use her newfound power to teach everyone a lesson about sibling rivalry, she’s the one who will be schooled…

Winter Long Run Options

I've trained through 2.5 winter seasons for marathons in the past--Green Bay in 2010, Fargo in 2011, and Brookings in 2012 (where I decided mid-March that I COULD NOT RUN ANOTHER G.D. LONG RUN IN SNOW AND FREEZING TEMPS, and let the following weekend's weather determine if I was dropping to the half or not. True story. Well that and the hardest semester of grad school smacking me in the face.

During those training cycles, the longest long run I did on the treadmill was 16 miles. I did several 2+ hour long runs. AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW I WAS CAPABLE OF DOING THAT. One 16 miler I ran through snow halfway to my knee, at a pace two minutes per mile slower than I was typically doing.

This year, we've been lucky in that our precipation levels have been really low. We haven't had a single massive dumping of snow. We've had a lot of snow, but nothing excessive. But this has been the coldest winter in like 40 years. The temps we were seeing in December are what we're used to seeing for about 10 days in the depths of December. There have been days were only 5 minutes outside would leave you with frost bitten extremeties. Uh, nope!

Since I'm training for a few halfs this spring, instead of a full, my mileage is lower, and my training schedule is a lot easier to flip flop around based on weather. Each week I take a look at the weekly forecast to see the nicest day of the week to get my long run in. This week is as follows:

Uh... Brr.

Friday might be ok, but if there's our regular 10-20 mph winds, that 17 will feel pretty frigid, and push our windchills sub-zero pretty darn fast.

Currently my options include:

1. Running my 13 miles outside. (yippee!)
2. Running part outside, and then move in to the treadmill when I'm freezing to death. This would require a wardrobe change prior to the treadmill portion of the run and it may be too convenient to not leave my apartment again....
3. Run 8-9 on the treadmill in the morning (90 minutes is probably my max sanity level on the TM) and then attempt the remaining 4-5 in the evening on the treadmill.
4. Forego the LR for this week, split the long run in to two runs, and turn one of them in to an additional speed work for the week. For now, I'm able to do two hard runs per week with (knock on wood!) injuring myself. Long run, and speed work. If I take out the long run, I could get in two speed sessions.

Last weekend's long run was awesome the first half when the wind was at my back. I had such a sweat worked up that by the time we flipped around to head for home, the wind cut right through my coat and layers and froze me to the bone. Wearing my face mask caused condensation to build up inside, and the wind and cold were so bad the last two miles that the inside fibers of the balaclava froze to my cheek. Ouch. 

Can someone just send my 2010/2011 motivation and speediness back to me? kthx

What option would you choose and why? Am I missing something? Will you just come and keep me company on Friday's outdoor long run so I have something to think of other than being freezing? Without Jenn this past Sunday I probably would've called it quits a few miles in!

Week 4 and Week 5 of Spring Training

Monday morning I hit the treadmill to run an easy shake out run. My legs were super heavy and pretty sore from my long run the day before. I don't know if I could've done further than 3 miles. The gym was ROASTING. I thought I was going to die. Luckily I didn't.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I could NOT get out of bed. I went to bed at or before 10am and my 5:30 alarm came and went every single morning. I think my body is still fighting off my cold/sinus crap from last week, because I'm normally a-ok with 6-7 hours of sleep a night. Thank goodness my weekly mileage is still low and easy to swap around training days at this point.

Thursday I hit the grocery store on the way to work to grab some healthy snacks so I wouldn't be STARVING when I left work Thursday night. Starving Jeri = grabbing crappy food for dinner and then feeling like crap and not being able to run.

I got home played with the pug for a few minutes and then hit the treadmill. Still crazy hot in there. Wasn't able to pry the window open for some breeze, frozen shut--NEAT! The temp in the hallway is set at 72* and it feels FREEZING out there compared to the gym, if that gives you an idea of the temp.

I was supposed to do a general aerobic run, but my HR ended up being in my recovery range. After the first 7-8 minutes my heart rate dropped dramatically, so I spent the remainder of the run bumping up the  speed on the treadmill and being excited as my heart rate would settle back down immediately after. Whoop. Fitness. Orange shirt, green hat, purple shorts, yellow shoes, running eyesore. Sorry.


Friday's long run didn't happen. So I convinced myself to do my tempo run instead. I ran my 1.5 mile warm up, half mile at tempo and was GASPING for air. Ugh. Long run turned tempo fail.

As of Wednesday I was still planning to run the Frostbite 4 on Saturday, so with a slight heat wave (above zero) I attempted my long run after work. Around the 1.5 mile marker, I was making my way across a street when a car came barreling through a stop light. A car was obstructing my view, so I had about half a second to react and did some high knees/sprinting combo so the car didn't take out my left leg. After I made it out of the way, I turned around, and the vehicle hadn't even slowed down. WTF. I was wearing my glow in the dark (practically) hat, white coat with reflective strips, and black tights with reflective strips. I also had my handheld which has reflective strips. Scary scary scary. Clearly I need the bright pink nike tights I've been eyeing lately for "safety purposes."

After this encounter, I was obviously pretty shaken up, and then was treated to ice upon ice upon ice. I kept going thinking that the residential area I was en route to would be better, but I was wrong. I know our city has a 48 hour sidewalk snow removal law, but clearly people aren't following it. So since we'd had a warmish day, but it was now cold again (see: bright red face in the photo) the sidewalks had frozen over to super uneven ice. Grumble grumble. I decided to turn for home around 3 miles. To keep it interesting, on the back half, I ran hard on the clear sidewalk parts, and then teetered/tippy toed on the super ice parts.

Friday after work I hit the treadmill for a 3 mile shake out run. No photos because there were people and I can't bring myself to do the gym selfie in "public."

Saturday I had planned to run an hour easy, because Sunday looked the nicest for my 2 hour long run, but my stomach was super wonky all day long. Instead I watched season 1 of Homeland for the majority of the day, and finished a pretty terrible book (ugh, review to come in a bit). I scratched the race completely because the windchill was -15 at race time. LOLNOPE.

Sunday I woke up, and for the first night in a REALLY long time, I hadn't slept with a hooded sweatshirt on OR under my electric blanket with the heat turned up to HIGH. HEAT WAVE. Jk, the weather said it was -2. But a windless -2. WHOOP. I was planning to do my LR around noon, where it was going to be +10. My running friend Jenn (non-purpleshoe Jenn) texted me to let me know she wanted to come run with me, AND IT'S HER BIRTHDAY. So of course I said yes. BIRTHDAY RUN!!!

I dug out my balaclava to save my face, and Ollie wanted to try it on. I also dug out my yaktrax, but those don't come in pug sizes.

The run was pretty great. Some areas of ice, and holy wind on the back portion of our out and back. I was so thankful I brought my balaclava along for it. I did 3 minute pick ups every twenty minutes for the first half, and then kind of forgot about them/got tired/was sick of running in the wind for the second half. I did pick up the pace the last mile to have a strong finish.