Taper in Bullet Points

I’m feeling lazy, so please enjoy my life and running update via bullet points, aka the laziest blog post format there is.

·         I saw 7 deer on my run on Friday night.  That’s almost a 1 mile: 1 deer ratio.  Zero of them ran away from me.  They have obviously learned that I am friend and not foe.  Please refer to me as the deer whisperer henceforth.

·         I spent most of this weekend cozied up in my bed reading young adult fiction books.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The only time I wasn’t in my bed was when I was:

o   At work

o   Running

o   Watching football

·         Speaking of watching football, I went out to watch the Bama v. LSU game on Saturday night.  And it was so boring snoring that I wished I was in bed reading a young adult fiction book.  True story:  I’m not yet a diehard Bama fan.  I’m working on it.  Another thing that should be worked on?  The kicker’s FG skills.  Perhaps take a minute from dumbbell curls and work on it, mmmmk?  Interesting fun fact:  This is the first time I've done my hair in a month. Obvs photo documentation needed to occur.

·         The Packers game almost killed me.  I don’t like close games.  They give me anxiety.  Most things in life give me anxiety.  Kyle laying next to me snoring his face off didn’t help said anxiety.  Yes, I woke him up, convinced if he slept it’d be the reason they lost (I deem him a GB good luck charm for some silly reason) and I knew I’d hold a grudge for HIM marring our (yes, our) perfect season.

• Clearly after a close win, the most obvious thing to do is take cheery pictures of yourself while you wait for that one guy to wake up to watch The League and Sunny with you.  You don't know how badly I want to include the pic I took of him in my green and gold headband while he was snoozing, but I think that's grounds for relationship termination.

·         In taper crazy update, I’m not running.  I have a weird knot in my calf after this weekend.  I’m giving it a couple of days of rest, ice, beating the ever loving $#!t out of with a foam roller/rolling pin, so it’s a-ok for Philly.  At first I freaked out, but now I’m pretty confident it’ll be good to go soon.  Because freaking out doesn’t help, did you know that?

·         Also, since I haven’t ran, I’m cranky.  Just sour.  I’ve learned that ice cream gives me the same happy endorphins that running does.  So naturally I ate some right out of the carton with Kyle last night until my intestines started protesting. 

·         And obsessive weather forecast stalking has begun.  Three out of four sites call for no rain.  Clearly accuweather.com is on my $#!t list.  My current BFF weather site is weatherforyou.com that states it’ll be a high of 43 (aka Jeri is cool as a cucumber).  And since our race shirts are long sleeved, I’d prefer the coldest option possible.

·         P.S.  Are shirts are kind of amazing.  You will not be able to miss us running.

Go Pack Go!

The second reason this weekend was so great was the Packers v. Vikes game!!!  I had planned to go to this game since the schedules were released way back when.  I did some work to convince Aaron to attend the game with me.  I was super excited to watch my boys dominate..... and maybe see my ex-boyf Brett as well.  :)

There were so many Packers fans at the game, I was really in heaven.  So many "Go Pack Go" cheers erupting through the crowd, which were actually louder than the "Fire Chilly" cheers later on in the game.

I really feel like I thrive amongst "my people."  You know...the cheeseheads....  good times.

Wednesday I got in a short and easy recovery run on the treadmill.  I took Tuesday off because my IT bands were beyond pissed at me for Monday's tempo run.  I've become a bit of a sadomasochist the past few days with my rolling pin.  Eeeeeeeooowwwwwww.  But in a good way, ya know? :)  I had that random pressure under my right knee cap that I had previously in my left knee before the annoying runner's knee kicked in.  Oh and just in time for the MARATHON.....joy!  I'm still hoping it's just the random taper aches and pains and nothing normal.  I did 3 miles in 29:02.

And in holy crap that's disgusting news:  Monday I was hustling booty after my tempo run to get ready and meet Matt at for some catch up time over drinks and football.  Since I knew I was going to be having some beers, I was trying to rehydrate at mach speed while getting ready.  I love me a good Cool Blue gatorade, and this was no different.  When I got home later that evening, I noticed that there was something floating in my Gatorade that was still one third full.  Upon closure inspection, I realized that there were black mold spores/chunks floating around inside.  Based on the sheer number of mold chunks remaining in the bottle multiplied by the two times the drank amount almost made me lose my $#!t.  SOOOOOO GROOOOOSSSSSSSSS.  But I haven't died yet, so I'll probably be ok.  Blech.

Ice Cream Taper? No way!

While my legs may be enjoying a taper from running, I'm definitely not tapering from ice cream consumption.  Does anyone else think I need to change my blog to Ice Cream Runner?  Geez...this is getting out of hand (and into my tummy...muhahahah.)  Of these 4 cartons (purchased on Sunday) I am 2/3 (at least) done with the strawberry cheesecake and the snickers.  Doing work, kids!

This morning I woke up early to head out for my tempo run that had been swapped from Tuesday.  I checked the weather per usual, and realized I needed to bundle up!  38 degrees, that's COLD.  I dug through some running clothes and found my light running jacket and gloves and was out the door.

I had 7 miles with 5 @ a tempo pace of 8:25.  Since it was cloudy/gloomy out, I didn't know how the garmin would fair (he tends to FREAK and tell me I'm running 11-12 mm when the clouds are out).  A half mile in to the warm up, I knew I had made the right decision with swapping out my runs, mid-run.  Especially during taper time, there's no sense pushing too much.  My legs felt great!

First two tempo miles were kind of all over the place as my body was searching to find that "groove."  Dare I say it, but shorter tempo runs are *hard*.  You have much less time to hit/find that magical pace.  At the turn around (3.5 miles) I decided to set my virtual partner on my garmin to 8:24 (apparently I've had BQ pace on my mind, and was oblivious to the 8:25 my training called for....silly brain :p).  This helped dramatically!  I was worried that the VP would be effected in the same way that my average pace display is when cloudy, but it was spot on.  Hence why my splits were a lot more consistent the second half.

I ended up with 7 miles in 1:00:21 for a pace of 8:38.  My tempo pace was 8:20.  Heck yes!  (P.S.  I can't WAIT to run a HM post-marathon to see if my legs have any legit speed left in them!!)
1. 9:30
2. 8:29
3. 8:15
4. 8:19
5. 8:23
6. 8:16
7. 9:06

Don't you just love how the cool down mile always feels sooooooo slooooooooow and ends up being at a pretty decent clip?  I sure do. :)

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a carton of ice cream yelling out my name.
Amanda at Run To The Finish is doing an awesome {shweaty, just my style!}giveaway.  Check it out!