An Open Letter to Running

Dear Running,

On occasion you are the cause of my bad days, but more often than not you are the remedy for them.  Thanks for that.  By the way, I will be cheating on you this weekend with your hot brother Racing.  Hope that's cool.

xoxo

Jerbear

Obviously I was having a crappy day yesterday.  I almost cancelled really fun plans to sit around and mope instead.  I got home from work, threw on my running shoes and hit the road.  Within 2 minutes I was back to normal.  There's something special about running.  Perhaps it was the fact that the humidity was less than 60% for the first time in a looooooooong time.  80 isn't so bad when it's not a sopping wet 80.  Mind you, I was still sopping wet, but that's neither here nor there.

I did 6 miles in 58:42 for a pace of 9:47.

Speaking of cheating, I've been doing some blog cheating.  I started my Project 365 on August 1st and am going strong on Day 5.  Feel free to check out my photos so far.  I'm already having photo regret about yesterday's photo....... it should've been my surprise sushi picnic, or the mini golf hole in one I never got.  Dang it. ;)

July in Review

Total Miles: 102.3 up from 90.5 last month. (Wow apparently last month I knocked it out of the park with 130...go Jeri of 2009!)

Total Time: 15:55:59 up from 14:18:41.
Total Runs: 17 for an average of 6.02 miles/run.
Highest weekly mileage: 7/19/2010 — 7/25/2010: 30.1 Mi 4:44:05
Favorite run: My mock half marathon where the temps were cool and I was reminded of why I love running. Also, killer 800 m. repeats at the track. (To be honest, this also could've fallen under hardcore run as well. I'm a bit of a masochist apparently.)

Most hardcore run: Mile repeats.  Always will be the worst workouts EVER!

Favorite Race: Lennox Firecracker 5k.  I raced my smartest 5k to date, place 2nd for women, and won my AG.  Whoo!
Bike Miles:  88.7.  I outbiked my running mileage 3/4 weeks this month.  Uh oh running...you've got some competition!!
Current Jams: Weezer--(If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To & Can't Stop Partying.  Also really digging Eminem & Rihanna's Love The Way you Lie.
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Monday I had planned to join the area biking club for their 30 mile recovery ride.  We figured this would be my best introductory ride since they go pretty slow for it.  I broke down and bought some uggggggggly cycling shorts (camel toe illusion included FO FREE!) to accompany for the ride.  And then the storm came in.  Aaron and I rode around a bit to check out the flooding and then called it a night. 

Unfortunately, I had eaten like I was going to bike 30 miles (caramel roll as big as my face and 1/2 a Qdoba burrito).  Since our trails are still flooded and super muddy, I decided to hit the gym for some indoor biking.  Armed with some fitness magazines that I have neglected for months, I decided to bike for 60 minutes.  Well that 60 minutes led to another 25 when I realized I could get a solid 20 miles in total.  I did the first 60 on the recumbent bike (boring!) and the last 25 on the upright (much more fun and a better work out IMO).  I've never actually used the upright bike, so I was surprised at how much harder it seemed to be.  Plus I wasn't experiencing the weird butt/hammy pain that I was on the recumbent.

Whatever you do, please don't tell Princess Leia or Polly Sunshine about last night.  I fear revolt!  There's two of them and one of me.  Things could get ugly. :(

Also, thoughts on the Brett Favre retirement "rumors"?  He will always have my heart even if he has broken it on more than one occasion. ;)

Check out Julie's great giveaway!

Building an Ark: It's Good Strength Training

The Lord told Noah....there's gonna be a floody, floody!  Random fact:  At the age of 4 I could be found  dancing around the house and singing that song any time it was raining.  My parents probably regretted taking me to Sunday school for that reason. :)

We have had some monster rain this past week.  The trails were pretty wet and muddy on Thursday night for my tempo run, and as soon as I got home from the run, the skies opened up again.  And didn't let up until the morning. I got home from work to find my very own duck pond across the street!  Yay.  I also found 9 bazillion newly hatched mosquitos that were thirsty for my blood.  Boo.

Saturday I was scheduled to do my 12 mile long run.  I woke up, ate my breakfast, planned out my route to avoid the flooding, and promptly passed out on the couch.  For some reason I convinced myself that I would be ok doing my long run at 10am instead.  I must've been delirious because there is no way that would work.  It was in the mid-80's with humidity and the route that I had mapped out had zero coverage from the sun.  I decided to switch it up to 6 and do 12 on Sunday.  I'm a genius, btw.

That "easy" run was one of the hardest I've ever done.  Wow.  I was sweating my butt off and just struggling all around.  Plus, I live in a valley-ish area (hence the duck pond) so to run anywhere other than the bike trails it's all up and down "hills".  I understand hills aren't the end of the world, but when you're trying to do some easy junk miles they suck ass.  I ended up cutting the run short to 5.5 miles because I couldn't come up with a reason not to. :)  I also took a 1:45 walk break in the 3rd mile because I thought I was going to melt otherwise.

Can we talk about how impressive my perspiration is for running a slow 5.5 miles?

I did 5.5 miles in 55:52 for a pace of 10:02.

Sunday I was able to peel myself out of bed for my long run, but did.not.want.to.  Can you tell next week is my cut back week?  I start to lose it mentally when I'm coming up on my easy week, and my legs tend to follow suit.

I stepped outside and it was already toasty at 7:30.  I decided to try to get an out and back 5 miles on the bike trail before hitting the sidewalks for lame-o rolling hills around town.  I was shocked at how high the water had been (based on the muddy dirty debris left behind).  Far more flooded than it was after the spring thaw.  There were some extremely muddy areas that I had to try to walk around, but it should be runnable (hopefully) in a few days.  The first few miles were pretty slow and I was feeling the fatigue in my legs from running a hillier route than they are used to the day before.
1. 9:53
2. 9:53
3. 9:46
4. 9:50

The middle few miles I had to pee so bad (tmi, I know) that it was making me nauseous.  More than once I contemplated asking some random people doing yardwork if I could use their bathrooms.  I was dyyyying.  I should've just peed myself since it looked like I had anyway because I was sweating so much.
5. 10:12
6. 10:03
7. 10:21
8. 10:08

For some random reason, the last 4 miles I was fine.  The miles were still slower than normal long runs, but at least I didn't feel like I was going to vomit.  I ended the run with 3x as many mosquito bites as miles ran, so all in all I'd count that as a success.  ;)
9. 9:56
10. 9:53
11. 9:52
12. 9:54


12 miles in 1:59:29 for a pace of 9:58.  I managed to run 13.1 miles last week in roughly the same time.  It's amazing what 15-20 degree difference can do to your pace, eh? :)

Occasionally Procrastination Pays

After doing some major rearranging with my running schedule this week to accommodate my social life, I had vowed to wake up and do my tempo run before work on Thursday.  Thursday morning hit and there was no where I'd rather be than in my big ol' comfy bed.  Two hours later it was time for work.  A quick look at the weather report and the ominous clouds in the sky, made me realize very quickly that I had made the wrong choice.  The skies opened up all day long.  I figured I was resigned to the treadmill for my tough ass tempo run.  When I left the office at 8pm, I was surprised that not only was it not pouring rain, but it was cool!  Like mid-60s cool.  Take that procrastination.

Because of the insane rain (good band name, no?) I had to run some "laps" around a parking lot about a mile from my place, because the trails were pretty well flooded.  That actually ended up working my favor because I was out running later (aka in much darker conditions) than I typically allow and this area is way better lit.  I'm a tough B, but probably not that tough.

I had 7 miles with 5 at tempo pace of 8:05.  I had originally created this training program off of a 23:00 5k (which I was sure I would get this summer).  Well I never got there, so I've been revamping my tempo times slightly so that I don't...uh...die.  Instead I gave myself 8:10-8:20.  This tempo run was 1000 times better than last week's.  Granted last week I had company, which was nice, but talking while trying to run hard, does not work.  Neither does running in intense heat and humidity (for me because I'm a total wuss).

I ended up having one of the best runs in a loooooooooong time, which makes me super excited about next weekend's Urban Wildland Half Marathon.  I'm going to attempt to chase down Alyssa for a PR if the weather permits.  If I've learned one thing this summer is that it's not worth it to try to PR in hellacious weather. :p

I did the 7 miles in 1:01:18 for a pace of 8:46.  Tempo pace--8:17.
1. 9:52

2. 8:06
3. 8:19
4. 8:17
5. 8:28
6. 8:17
7. 9:59

Apparently I run lopsided and only kick my right leg while traversing the mud.  Neat-o huh? :)

In other news (I use that as a lead in for a lot of my paragraphs, has anyone else noticed that?  Apparently I want to be a broadcaster....heh), I'm going to start the 365 Photo Project that you may or may not have heard of.  Basically you take one photo everyday for a year.  Sounds simple enough, but I imagine I'll hate myself more than twice in the 365 day span for taking on the project.  I'm very interested in photography, and have no training/education but it's something that I love, so I figure this will help expand my skills and give me the motivation to further education myself.  If anyone has any suggestions about this project, or what would be the best place to host the images (ie:  a blog, flikr, etc.) please let me know!  I'm starting August 1st, so nothing like leaving it to the last minute.  Procrastinators Unite....Tomorrow.  ;)

Kisses to Ze Track

I'm in love with Princess Leia.  Since my car took a giant poo on me, I got to spend a ton of time riding her to and from work last week.  Recently I redid my training program so I could have Sundays devoted to my biking day.  My running/biking buddy is trying to get me to do a 30 mile "recovery ride" with the area bike club, so I've been trying to do longer rides so I could hang with the cool kids.  Sunday I set out to do 20-25.  Of course, I set out to do the ride after laying on the couch for hours alternating between apple juice, water, and gatorade to restore my hydration levels.  Oh, also giving plenty of attention to my DVR that has been sorely neglected as of late.

Miss Jenn had just gotten back in to town and wanted to hang out so I decided I'd bike to her (with some extra miles thrown in) and then bike home when I was done.  Obviously not the ideal way to get 20 miles in, but hanging out is more important than biking.  :)  Aaron had adjusted my seat height a couple days prior so this was my first ride post-adjustment.  It made all of the difference.  I felt way more comfortable on the bike, the seat felt more comfortable, and I felt a lot more steady.  I tried to focus on keeping my speed up and not being such a wuss with slowing down for twists and turns on the trail.  Success!

Of course, after hanging out much too late the sun was setting as I was leaving Jenn's, so I knew I was going to have to get only 20 miles total in.  Let me say that biking at dusk with the fireflies lighting up the trail has got to be the most beautiful thing in the world.  Yes, it's also one of the least safe things in the world, but we'll forget that part for now.  I saw a baby deer, that I scared the hell out of.  And then saw his giant dad a mile or two later.  Then I started getting really concerned about hitting a deer on my bike.  I'm deathly afraid of driving at dusk because I'm so afraid of hitting a deer.  Fairly certain that hitting one on my bike would destroy my bike, and potentially also myself. 

I did the 20 miles in 1:25:04 for a pace of 14.11 mph.
My fastest mile was 16.3 mph zoooooooooom!
And my maximum pace was 22.7 mph (yes, I was probably squeezing my brakes throughout.  baby steps people.)

Monday I hit the track for 8 x 400 meter repeats (6:28-6:48 pace).  Upon arriving to the track I noticed a few things:  1) it was hot.  2)  I failed to bring any water.  Excellent.  I started in on my slow warm up mile and I was throwing down some serious sweat droplets.

During my first 400, at roughly the 200 m. mark I felt a spark of pain in my right hip (similar to the pain the last time I did 400 meter repeats...fail).  I let up on the pace a little bit, and stretched out once I finished the 400 before going in to my 400 meter recovery jog.  I decided that I would revamp the work out to 800's instead of 400's using last week's pace guidelines.  Once the 800's were over, I felt the legs were loose enough to try another 400, and then 2 x 200's.  All repeats had a 400 m. jog in between them, except the 200's which had 200 m. jogs.  Following here?

warm up mile-9:28
400-1:43 (6:52 pace)
800-3:45 (7:30 pace)
800-3:41 (7:14 pace)
800-3:41 (7:22 pace)
400-1:47 (6:52 pace)
200-:49 (6:17)
200-:49 (6:49)
**These paces are factored on the actual distance (some were .01 long, so that's why the math doesn't quite add up.)  The 2nd 400 felt fine, so for future training, I will make sure that I do an 800 m. interval prior to starting 400's to make sure my legs are nice and warmed up.  It's not surprising that my body would have troubles going from a 9:30 pace to a 6:30 pace.

I did the 5 miles in 45:59 for a pace of 9:12.

It was the strangest thing, while doing one of my repeats, the smell of grilled meat filled the air.  As you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of meat.  But I wanted some right.that.minute.  It was insane.  I compromised with myself that if I ran hard for the rest of the speed work, I could get some meat for dinner.  Go figure, as soon as I was done, meat sounded as nasty as it normally does.  Silly tummy.

I Should Have Known....

Whenever you have the "worst run of your life" (because I tend to be overly dramatic I tend to over use statements like "best _____ ever" and "worst ____ of my life" pretty frequently, rest assured I still mean it), it's almost a guarantee that the "best run of your life" is just around the corner.

After being Bummer McBummerson after Thursday tempo run, I was tweeting with Chad about his recent sucky run.  After some slight convincing I came to terms that the crappiness of late is probably more the result of the weather than of me just plain sucking.  Which was a relief.

Saturday I was up with the sun to head out for my long run.  I had 13 on the schedule, but just *had* to bump it up to 13.1.  This was necessary, yes?  I was shocked that the temp was in the mid 60's.  Yes, the humidity was at 97% but let's focus on the awesomeness of semi-cool weather pleeeeeeeeeeease.  Not only was the run fairly quick, but it was fun and effortless (for the most part).  Hello running mojo, let's never break up again, k thanks.

This is the first long run I've done in a long time on the weekend.  Since I've been racing so much, I've been squeezing them in during the work week at insane hours, and I forgot how much I love being around other runners.  It's so nice to see some familiar faces out and about enjoying the beautiful morning.  There were some areas on the trail that were as flooded (if not more so) than Thursday night, but for some reason it didn't drive me cuckoo like it did for the tempo run (thank God).

I ran through puddles that went up to my ankles for 20 seconds....no biggie.  My feet squished and squeaked for the next 5 miles until I doubled back and ran through it again....no problem.  I ran the first half in 1:02 and the second half in 1:01, so I really ran pretty consistently through out.  I was starrrrrrrrving the last few miles, so I definitely need to remember 3 GUs for race day, and maybe eat a smidge more for breakfast.

I did 13.1 miles in 2:03:03 for a pace of 9:23.  Which is my magical auto pilot long run pace....so creepy.  In case you're a new-er reader, almost all of my long runs and easy runs whilst MARATHON TRAINING!!! (<---Oh how I miss writing that.....) were creepily at that pace.
1. 9:15

2. 9:20
3. 9:39
4. 9:35
5. 9:34
6. 9:29
7. 9:29
8. 9:26
9. 9:18
10. 9:18
11. 9:36
12. 9:20
13. 8:56
.1 :48 (8:17 pace)

I made myself ice bath after the run for the first time since last fall.  Not so fun, but my legs felt awesome afterward.  I rewarded myself with a trip to the water park to soak up some sun and also for a night out of the town with some of my favorite people.

We tend to make each other cuter in photos together. It's like magic.

Ze boys.

The head on my beer was atrocious.....

Favorite random photo of the night.  Hahah.

And at one point I thought it would be neat to take pics of everyone through their beer glasses.  This is mine. :)

Sometimes I Hate Running

I recently realized that blogger now has a super sweet function (similar to what wordpress offers, I believe) that let you know the stats of your site.  I've tried to set up Google Analytics, but apparently I'm computer duuuuuuuumb and couldn't get it figured out.  Since I'm a numbers/stats freak, it was so interesting!  I can not believe how many people have visited my blog in the past few weeks that these stats have been accounted for!  So hi and hello to all of you lurkers out there that don't comment (which is totally fine, btw)...glad to have you (and now know that you exist).

Sadly, this super cool new feature did nothing to cure my writer's block.  I've learned that when my running is sucking the big one, I have no desire to write.  Who wants to read about how bad I suck?  No one.  Perhaps an arch nemesis (nemesi if there are more than one of you I suppose), but other than that, no one.  I don't like to be all Debbie Downer, so I just scoot off into quiet land for a while.  Also, non-running life is quite a-ok so that also doesn't help the will to blog. :)  Also #2 (that is the appropriate way to include a second also back to back, yes?) I've been obsesssssssssssed with True Blood season 2 lately, so that's been a MAJAH time suck.

I had a pretty Sucky McSuckerson run last Thursday that was truly the straw that broke the runner's back (although not literally as I do not have a broken back....just a slightly broken spirit for a couple of days).  I had 6 miles with 4 at 8:01 pace.  Considering my 5k from a few days before was just slightly faster than that pace, I did not want to do it.  I've really been psyching myself out as far as tempo runs are concerned.  Based on the heat and humidity (and my general suckitude of late) I decided to shoot for 8:05-8:15 pace.  My pal Aaron decided to accompany me on his bike to make sure I didn't try to drown myself in the river keep me company.

When he got to my place I was throwing out every stalling tactic known to man.  Oh...gotta use the rolling pin.  Need to drink more water.  Maybe I should change.  AARON STOP EATING MY SHARKIES!!!!  (Btw, I was a pro at stalling at bed time as a child.  Guaranteed that will come back to bite me in the ass when I have bambinos...ugh).  Then the stall of all stalls:  Garmin LOW BATTERY.  For sure he was regretting his suggestion to bike with me.  That'll teach you to be nice!

After letting my watch charge enough we hit the trail.  Since it had downpoured for hours the night before, the trail was flooded in parts.  Of course, I didn't think about this until we came across the first "lake" blocking out the trail.  So I ran through some wooded area, ran around on grass for a bit, hopped back on the trail.  Encountered some thick ass mud that left me skidding (not to be confused with leaving me with skid marks FYI) around the trail.  And I was getting pisssssssssssssed.  It's not like tempo runs are easy, yo.  Ugh.

Somehow, shockingly might I add, that first mile came within the tempo pace I was shooting for--8:08.  After coming upon another section that was flooded out, we ended up having to loop around the same route that I ran totally sucky 5k from last weekend on.  Not fun.  By this point I had lost it mentally.  Which is unfortunate because I think tempo runs are 95% mental.  To be honest, all tough runs are mental for me.  If I ever fail at a race/long run/speed work session, it's never a physical feat, it's always mental.  Totally sucks.

My next miles were pretty pooptastic, and I was a crabby panda by the time all was said and done.  I apologized to Aaron for my piss poor attitude after the run was over, and he said he hadn't noticed that I was being crabby.  So apparently I didn't spout off the obscenities I was thinking about him, and how stupid him and his words of encouragement were, and that his bike was dumb...and so were his shoes....and haircut.... and mom.  Just kidding, scratch the mom part....I took that one step too far.

I did the 6 miles in 54:39 for a pace of 9:07. 
Tempo miles--8:08, 8:27, 8:39, 8:33.  Avg. pace:  8:26.

Best convo from the run (that's blog appropriate that is...ha)
Aaron:  You know...if your deep dark secret is that you farmer blow on your runs, it's totally ok to do it in front of me.
Jeri:  Ya I know.  And I call them snot rockets.  :)

Check out The Boring Runner's giveaway.