Love

I am in love ;)

Pandora is my hero. Namely the Disney musical/Golden Oldies station that I listen to on my runs :)

You see, I made a *complete* fool of myself tonight as Pandora played that and I was only about the halfway mark of my run, facing a hill with an uncertain zenith. I did some of the dance moves- twist, mash potato- as I ran. Sort of?

There was also a bit of the Lion King, Little Mermaid and the Monkees :) Like I said... LOVE :D And oh boy did I need it today! 4.09 miles, 5.9mph pace with a stupidly hilly 2nd half, and energy enough to want to skip the last quarter mile of the trail that stood between me and the car. WOO! 

Actually, I did get a little "blegh" about the time I hit the 2.5-3 mile mark. My legs started to feel like lead. Did I mention the squats/lunges/plie dips I did yesterday?!? Sorry, I feel like those add to the bamf-ness of my long run today :) When you have about the same mobility as your 5 months pregnant boss? Its a sign what you did the day before was clearly needed! 

So... that is my story. I can mash potato and run at the same time ;)

Here's to the Next TV timeout!

-Syd

Wait...this is for real?!

After my junk miles on Sunday, I decided to turn up the pace but still do the distance KR planned out for me, so my final total was 3.6 miles in 34 minutes. It's been 3 weeks since I sat there thinking "this is so dumb" as I went on a 3 mile run that only took 30 minutes. THREE WEEKS! 

Today? The GPS was in my ears right at the 3.0 mile mark to alert me that only 28 minutes had passed. Even more exciting?! I kept increasing my speed for the last mile or so of my run. Some people walking their dogs were probably a bit creeped out as I raised my hands a la "Rocky" after I heard that my speed was up to 6.3 mph after a very steady 5.9 for most of the run.

So maybe I can run? And maybe in 3 weeks I'll be telling you about how my long 6 mile runs are at the "slow" 10 minute pace??? Ha! I can keep dreaming :) For now, I can outrun my mom, thanks to helpful tunes on Pandora radio like "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" with a few selections from Phantom of the Opera to keep me going. Oh yeah, I totally sing, or at least mouth & dance, along :D

And now? Pictures from the roadtrip to get Fred a car...

There were tons of signs about a bridge coming up. This didn't look intimidating enough for all the signs.

But this? The Delaware Memorial Bridge- is totally deserving of tons of signs! Apparently you can ask a cop to drive your car over it *coughmomcough*.

What is this?! Looks sort of like a building in London. And yes, I remember it from movies, like Harry Potter :D

Fred's new car :D

The temperature for Sunday's run. Brrrrrr!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Junk Miles

I've always wondered about people who talk about "junk" miles when running. Most of my runs have meant something- better time, better distance, something. Today? Not so much.

Fred and I spent most of yesterday in the car to a car dealership 4, almost 5, states away, then at the dealership, then driving back halfway to his family's house. I was soooo ready to just go to bed and crash, but they were up and socializing took every last bit of my energy. I also got to thinking about some life things, so I went to bed with a crazy mind, and woke up still bouncing around in my own brain. To combat it, I decided that I could go put the new long-sleeved wicking shirt (kudos, roomie!) to the test in the further north weather.

Using gmap-pedometer, I mapped out a route before, but this was an area super unknown to me, and as soon as I was on  my 2nd turn, I was lost and off track with a bad dinner from last night as the last thing in my stomach :/ I kept running, first wayyyyy too fast, then slowing to a walk for no reasons at time, running on the street because the sidewalks were destroyed by tree roots. Just...blah! I finally got on to a street where I knew I was 2 turns away from the house- once I figured out whether to turn right or left at this intersection!!! I chose right- both literally and figuratively :)

I promise pictures tomorrow from this adventure, or at least the few I took. Tonight? I have nada left in me. When a 2 day trip turns into 3 and you eat a lot of spoonfuls of peanut butters and crackers... BOoo. I felt quite resourceful when, post run-shower, I turned the bra I'd worn Friday night inside out to be decent in public for Sunday :) Today's 2.3 miles were junk. Will be doing a legit 3 fast, maybe tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday. I feel like I need yoga!!!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Hurtz Donuts

 

Thankfully, my siblings were so much older than me that it was usually unfair of them to pull pranks on me like the old "Hey, you want a Hurtz Donut?"

"yeah!"

*PUNCH!*

"Hurts, don't it?!"

I've officially reached the point where literally every joint/ligament/flat part of my lower body hurts or aches! Cursing my reading that ibproufen inhibits muscle growth, so for once, I tough through it all...

After speedwork on Tuesday, my Wednesday was marked by tons of twitching in the back of my thighs. What are those muscles? Hamstrings?!? Anyway, I had to keep sitting up in a desk chair, looking into a microscope, so I couldn't stretch them out. TWITCH!

My knee cap will occasionally feel like its about to give out- always a fun time! It never feels that way while running, thank heavens!, but when it's there, it comes randomly and I look like a freak, walking around gingerly!

The shins officially "splint". My inner right leg hurts the most, consistent with shin splints for a right-y like me :) They now get iced after every run to feel better! So far, less pain :D

The ankle has always been weird, and I find that about 2 miles in to a run, the inside left ankle is just announcing its existence. Thanks, middle child. I see you!

Today? As a sort of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" present? The balls of my feet announced their displeasure with my increased distance post-run. Nothing bad at all, just another example of my body adjusting to "Running Sydney."

Anyway, like I sort of hinted above, I did more mileage today! I did 3.9 miles in 40 minutes. Today's exact pace was supposed to be "easy", but with my drive for speed, I tried to keep up the pace as myTracks talked to me :) I seriously need to update my running playlist and/or find a good radio show to listen to. The trail was one I'm super used to, but I started at the "end" so I could have gorgeous views to inspire me!

Gorgeous spot where I began/ended my run!

I felt pretty good and went to an awesome "roll it out" class soon- stretching with rollers? HECK YES! "You might have some pain" they told me and OMG I did, but so much feels "loose"- even muscles I didn't know could be not-loose. Arm pits, anyone?!

Grey's time ;)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS-Birthday flowers :)

From the sisters

From Fred :)

Art!

Ladies and gentlemen...

For your viewing pleasure tonight, we have the last 4 pictures I took as a 23-year-old...

In an effort to do speed work, I went to a nice little 1/2 mile trail that is flat. Well , mostly.

I call this one "bite me, hill!" My shins have been KILLING me post-runs recently, so, with knowledge that I just need to be fast on the flats for now, I decided to keep up the distance but nix any and all hills. Weak sauce, yes, but after icing my shin and knees tonight, I have faith in my later runs this week. 

I did the first mile with 60/30 second intervals runsofastyouknowyoucan'tsustainit/ jogandbreathe . Miraculously, I did an 8 minute mile this way. WHO AM I?!?!

With this latest revalation in mind, I call this one "gofast"

I was oh-so-tempted to just go back to the car after the fast mile, but seriously, an 8 minute workout? Weak sauce. Plus, I knew my daylight was fading fast, so maybe I'd get some pretty skies without the creepiness of being alone on a trail with just my cell phone freaking me out. The 2nd mile was just nice- I pushed and went faster than I wanted to relax at. The timer was purposely off for that. Sometimes you just need to run and time by yourself. 

Egads that sounded pretentious...

So here, look at the last two pretty pictures!

Oh, and I totally felt pre-guilt driving me to run today! I made cream cheese pound cake to take into work tomorrow for the big 2-4! Nothing exciting about this birthday. Is this part of being an adult? Having way less anticipation for your birthday?!

Boo hiss...

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Home Alone!

This is usually the time that I'd slap on some aftershave and SCREEEEam, but instead, I show you Lucy's "snuggle" position and 

"srsly...why must you WAKE ME?!" position :)

The Roomie is off on a grand adventure, so, in my mass boredom, I shall tell you what I've done :) And yes, I have a boyfriend, but he's stinging over his team losing a game they had and withering away in the lab. Be kind on Fred, I gave him some news this week that's enough to make lots of people bust out the Home Alone "SCREEEEAM" :/

Anyway, I decided to test my endurance by running both Friday and Saturday. Both were supposed to be "fast" days, but I think only Friday really was. I did a nice 2 miles in 20 minutes. I ran fast, but also took walk breaks every now and then. Realizing that I a) really need to hydrate through the day and avoid the awful dry mouth and b) I need to figure out how to better fuel myself up. I eat pretty healthy, awful Target gnocchi-in-a-pack from tonight notwithstanding, but I feel like my tank is on empty wayyyy too often/soon!

I did my 3 miles today at the evil trail where I last rolled my ankle. I ran with C, the sheepdog owner, and if she wanted me to talk, I had to walk! The hills on that trail are eeeevil. So steep that going downhill is awful because you have to hold back or prepare to lose your footing and tumble down the paved trail. 

My web searching of the day also confirmed what I was fearing/hoping would go away if I ignored it- I definitely have shin splints. Much worse on my dominant (right) leg, and it hurts after, for a while, and on the inside, so at least its not ITBS. It comes from upping mileage/time/hills too quickly. I need to keep running and getting faster, especially given a very defined goal that's in the near future, so I might just cut out the evil hills for a bit, focus on getting fast on the flats while upping the distance.

Back to my awesome Saturday night, home alone :) Might even go to bed EARLY! Yes...this is the life of a 20-something with a boyfriend :D

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Red Randoms

Today, my brain doesn't really process full thoughts, so you get a numbered list instead...

1. Due to the ice (see above), I tried to go do the 3 miles for Tuesday on a treadmill. 
2. The gym was packed to a level I have literally never seen. All machines had someone on them.
3. Instead of waiting around for someone to hopefully yield after their 30 minutes, I came home and tried our tv's "fitness on demand." 
4. The first lady had  "Madonna arms."
5. The second lady was entertaining and had way less distracting arms.
6. Somehow, pilates and yoga have made my arms, especially triceps, hurt. A lot.
7. I scoped out the sidewalks today on my drive home from work. The 3 mile route sidewalks were clear. The 2.4 mile sidewalks? Not so much. BEHOLD A SIGN FROM THE RUNNING GODS!!!
8. So I did my 3 miles. After the first half mile, my legs literally kicked into gear. They knew the hill was done, and it was all pretty much level from then on. Good little legs :)
9. My mom got me a Cookout t-shirt for Christmas. I forgive you if you've never eaten there because you either live out of their area or you don't want to swell up thanks to their burgers, shakes, chicken nuggets and onion rings. By the way, you can get one of each of those for under $6. 
10. There's a Cookout in walking distance from my work...doom doom!
11. Anyway, the point of the Cookout story is that I wore it today on my run :)
12. As you can see below, its bright red!
13. By mile 1, my arms were the same color. 
14. There was lots of wind today! It was a headwind on the way out and a tail wind on the way back. 
15. I got so used to breathing in to the wind that when I turned around, I had to re-figure out how to breathe.
16. I get post-run cough these days. My mom got to hear the full effect of it during our Sunday talk this weekend and I fear she will hear it tonight during our Wednesday talk.
17. We only talk Sunday/Wednesdays, I swear. Usually. Unless something great/bad/cooking happens :)
18. No clue how long the 3 miles took. Loving the arm band. Fred does good :)
19. By the way, Fred got rear-ended today. Thankfully, not his fault, but the poor boy is hurting. Haven't seen the car yet but Fred's descriptions sound slightly foreboding...
20. Large scary man was "walking" 2 dogs and by "walking" I mean "getting pulled by" and so I waited til there was a break in the busy 4 lane divided highway to step on the blacktop, off the sidewalk, to pass the stopped man and leering dogs. Large scary man then yelled "hey! get off the road!" at my back....seriously, dude?!
21. I feel a little hardcore running in sub-30* weather.
22. Unfortunately, this weather makes me twitch a lot. My muscles get unusually tense or loose these days. Nothing feels weird when I run, but when I stop and the next few hours after, things feel a bit off. Still running, just cautiously.

Woo Cookout shirt :)

I wanted this to show that my arms matched my shirt. They did...but then I cooled down a bit :/

 Here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

In prep for the storm...

We had "work at home and fear the storm!" day again today :) Even Lucy got in on the action at the table, at least for a bit! See the evil snow coming down?...yeah, its weak, even by NC standards.

With the impending snow, KR convinced me to wake up not one, but almost 2 hours before sunrise on a Monday morning to get a gym workout in. I had a feeling that yoga would be canceled due to weather, so I did 15 min on the elliptical, then another 20 minutes on the bike afterward. This was not fun- I got super sweaty and my legs yelled at me the entire time. 

 

They continued to yell at me at work later when my boss asked me to do the evil bending/leaning/moving-terra-cotta-pots-around task. By the way... my jeans? Don't really fit anymore. I've always thought fitness bloggers were crazy when they said they couldn't find jeans that fit, but omg... Jeans that fit 2 weeks ago are rebelling! I had to keep pulling them up every time I leaned over, for fear of blinding them with crack! Totally okay with having a problem like this, but oh dear... I live in jeans! And my dress pants, which I will hopefully have to wear for some mysterious real job in the future, don't like to stay up anymore either. Hurry up summer so I can wear skirts and dresses???

 

Here's to the next TV timeout! (And maybe even non-snowy weather tomorrow? I need a good 3 miles!!!)

 

-Syd 

Armband Buddies

So Lucy is now apparently smart enough to brush her own teeth, thanks to the use of a child's toothbrush from the standard neighborhood dentist and chicken flavored toothpaste. Personally, I like my Crest, but to each, their own :)

I went back to the site of my freakish 3-in-30 to run with C, owner of the sheepdogs today. KR had "3 miles, slow" on the agenda for today. Unfortunately for C, she usually just goes out and runs at whatever pace and distance she wants, and has built up to a 9-10 min pace. She bounced. A lot. Meanwhile, I had a lot of grimacing, looking at the ground, cursing my iPod for going on "all" shuffle, not just my "running" playlist shuffle. That's the only explanation for hearing this around the 2 mile mark... Not a very motivating song!!! Both C and I had our iPods in armbands, me listening to lots of Glee, C listening to lots of Muse. She's obsessed. Just a bit ;)

C was sure her route was just 3 miles, but, having run there just this week with GPS in my ears, I knew we had gone farther, so when we got to the playground about a half mile from her house, I ran towards the swings, not home! We took a nice swing break before finishing home. I LOVE SWINGS! They're still my favorite playground equipment, although slides are pretty fun!

Sure enough, the route was 3.4 miles :) No clue the timing Thank you gmap-pedometer! I had side stitches for the first time during a run and oh the sore pains I have now :P Shoulders, shins- what is it with these things hurting?! Will be super-sure to keep stretching. Trying to talk KR into yoga tomorrow as I type. It'll be packed with returning students and January joiners, but I want group stretching!!!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

bike a lil, run a lil

The joy of a gym pass is that when you don't really feel like doing your 3 mile run, you can still go and do pre-pre-pre-pre-triathlon training and bike a little, run a little :) On KR's plan today was a 3 mile run and OMG I didn't have it in me. I didn't know when I wanted to do it, what route to run and most importantly, what to wear ;) Okay, so it was typical indecisive NC weather with the forecast calling for snow, and yet partly sunny 40's. Ugh...

I finally realized the perfect thing to make me run- a partner :) KR was off on a long run- I even passed a running KR as I drove to the gym ! I honked and she turned around and saw my awesome unique license plate, so I made her smile. Once at the gym, I was quite glad I hadn't decided on a run at that time. I wanted to bike 5 miles then see how far my legs could go without feeling like I'd really pushed them, given that I'm definitely doing 3 tomorrow. Brick workouts are when you do one part of a tri- swim or bike- then immediately do the next part of a tri- bike or run. I didn't feel like swimming (actually, I suck at it and am semi-deathly afraid of the deep end of pools, lakes, etc) so it was bike/run. 

The 5 miles took me 20 minutes, so I decided to see how the run went. As I was biking, it turned into a full-blown bilzzard! Everyone was looking out the windows because its North Carolina! It doesn't snow this far south/east! Ignore what happened on Boxing Day, I promise!!! From what KR told me after, she thought she was hallucinating with the snow :)

the snow that tried to stick, but melted instead :)

For the run, I set the treadmill at 11 min pace. Nothing "clicked" like it usually does. It all felt loose, and I had to really concentrate on taking a step and not just falling. I fall a lot ;) After a half mile, I could just feel the pain, so I said "enh, good enough!" and walked for a bit. Work this morning meant lots of bending over, writing things while bent over and moving terra cotta pots full of plants around at odd angles. I never had back issues until this craziness started!

Super excited to run my 3 miles and see the sheepdogs tomorrow :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Go fast!

This will be short because I think my eyes are rebelling from so much screen time- laptop, work screen and Droid :) This totally falls into this category : http://whitewhine.tumblr.com/

Today's scheduled run was 2 miles, "fast". I came up with a 1 mile route that left from work and planned to do an out and back- until I went on the route. My work is really close to NC State's campus, technically part of it, but its on a way far side of campus, surrounded by houses, churches, mosques, apartments and random little businesses. Also, I decided to use the fancy new iPod armband Fred got me for Christmas- and yes, we finally did our "Christmas" this Tuesday :P Since I was rocking out to the tunes, I wanted to see if I could push myself without GPS in my ears. 

As I went out however... I had sidewalks that were more like this --> \ / than this --> _ _ _ .... Even better? I passed a work crew half on the sidewalk, half on the street, and all eyes on me :$ The street I turned on next routed me under a semi-creepy bridge, made even more creepy by people actually hanging out under it! 

Highly creeped out, I turned down a street earlier than I'd planned and didn't just turn around. I knew this route would pass me by the police station and my NEW JOB :) Its part time, but its cool research that's super useful and gives me some interesting and varied experience. Oh, and plenty of time to finish writing... and run ;)

I looked at the timer I'd started on the iPod to guess how far I'd been running. At the 16 minute (and "crap, running up that hill was hard") point, I knew I hadn't been running *that* fast, so I took my 30 second pout and finished the run. Did I mention there were a few ups and downs in this spastic route??

The end result was 1.7 miles in 18 minutes, a 10.6 minute pace. Not as fast as my fluke run, but weirder route on the 3rd straight leg-cardio day. Definitely doing weights tomorrow, probably arm stuff and yoga :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Weirdest Mantra to Date

I found myself today thinking "this is so dumb" over and over again as I went for my run. I guess I should explain a bit of the background... Knowing I was frustrated by the "too easy" and "too hard" plans for 10ks I'd found, KR made me a "Goldilocks" plan- just right ;) Her setup had it as a MWF, but since I ran Sunday, I decided I'd make the first Monday today. On the list? 3 miles, easy. KR knows my pace, so "easy" was 12 min miles, enough to be able to hold a conversation while going along. 

I went to my friend's house to let her dogs out. This is typical of how it went: The boy leading, saying "let's GO!" and the girl mozeying, taking her time sniffing the sidewalk. Girls, seriously!

Before I'd driven to the house, I looked up a good 1.5 mile route that I could do an out and back, as long as I was already outside and away from work. The doggy-mom and I have run together in her neighborhood before, too, so I had some ideas, and knew that for the most part, the area was very flat. Its around a golf course, so no evil hills there!

Again, I set my gps/phone to give me updates pretty frequently. I didn't want to overdo it, especially since I'd never run 3 miles without a walk break before. Even during my 5k, I took 2 walk breaks, but those hills were mean! The first update told me I was going 6.3 mph, so I slowed a bit. Next one said 6.1, but I literally couldn't slow myself down. The mechanics wouldn't do it. Every time the nice MyTracks lady came into my ears to tell me I was going at 10min mile pace, I kept thinking "this is so stupid" but I kept running :) 

Overall? 3 miles, no walk breaks, in 30 minutes. I would've made a mad dash to the end, but the phone started to yell at me for low battery right about then. My usual post-run stretch routine was broken up by grocery shopping and I want to apologize right now to all the people at the WalMart Supercenter who smelled me post run. I swear, I bought new deoderant today!

We'll see how I feel tomorrow :/

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Icky weather

Today was one of those days where there were lots of "shoulds"- I should go to church, I should wake up from my post-church/lunch nap, and of course, I should go for a run. I went to work dressed up for church, and oh the comments that garnered and so I did go to church- I would've gone without the comments. However, being the only person in dress pants in a greenhouse, moving around plants for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning when your co-workers and even boss are in jeans or pj's makes you stand out. Juuusssst a bit ;) Oh well! My handsome reward was a full choir to sing along with the Christmas songs!

Post church/lunch, I started falling asleep while checking up on stuff. I gave in and napped for a nice 2 hours. Mmm. But getting up with weather that was icky and rainy was not a way to motivate myself. However, new clothes? ALWAYS WORK! I put on my running tights, even though it was probably 50 outside, hat to hide the hair that had gotten smushed in the nap, and figured out my route.

The snow is all melted, so I conquered the evil hill from the last run first, ran the majority of my time on relatively flat sidewalks, then had a nice 1/2 mile hill down to end my 2.44 miles. My awesome new Android has an app called My Tracks and I set it to tell me my distance, time elapsed and pace, every 2 minutes. My goal was to keep around an 11 min mile pace. Yes, its slow, but my first race 2 months ago was 12 min miles, so I'm improving :) Oh, and running, not walking, the hills ;)

Why yes, you are indeed the route I ran today and exported to google maps!

 To make things even more cool, the app exported the data, both the route to google maps, and the pace/distance/etc info to google docs. Muwahahaha! I'm using the runner's day-by-day log my mom got me for Christmas and they mesh well together :)

My goal for the month is 15 run days, 10 weight/strength training days. Making the double batch of risotto I had for dinner last night doesn't count for strength training by any chance, does it?! Also, I get to keep track of how many miles I run, which I sort of do here, but if you asked me off the top of my head how much I run, only now can I say "well, this week it was 7.5 miles, but I'm hoping to keep increasing my mileage, but no more than 10% per week." <-- true story :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd