One last schweaty run?!

Okay, so maybe the title is pure wishing, but it was so cool this morning, the roomie and I opened up the doors, aired out the house, and didn't end up with a humidity and heat induced glow! This all blew in last night, about the time Mom and I left the house to go pick up Chinese for dinner :)

Sooo maybe I run because I eat that, but it was a super special Mom weekend! Anyway, when we left, the rental car told us it was 81*. By the time I'd gotten totally lost talking to the cashier when she told me my frequent user card was only for Chinese people, gotten my food and re-started the car, it was 74. But...Um... I know a couple of Japanese people at work, but no authentic Chinese people, so how did I end up with this?! She told me it was only for students, so I explained I used to be a student at State, I just tend to lose and find these cards! It might have been the one KR gave me :P We swap fro-yo rewards cards for Chinese, win win!

 Okay, so yeah, it was typical warm and humid yesterday morning! The sun didn't come out til that last mile when we were on a tree-lined trail, and for that, I was truly thankful! We did a nice as-flat-as-Raleigh-has-to-offer 6 miles on mostly tree-lined greenways around a lake, behind/between housing and apartment complexes, and chatted about all sorts of things. For example, the main person I run with from my group is probably old enough to be my mom and she recommended Hope Springs, the Meryl Streep movie. A new person dropped down to our pace group and she's about my age, and she had good things to say about it. What?! Urgh...fine. Sooo that's what my mom and I ended up seeing yesterday, and she was thankful I would go see it with her, sparing her the humiliation of being that middle-aged woman sitting alone in a clearly-aimed-at-her movie.

 We'd been warned about this beforehand, but we saw something similar to this:

 Okay minus the striking, fake screaming or water balloon. More like this:

 Thankfully one of the faster pace groups saw a guy like this just getting warm (or cool?!) on the trail and while the participants just stopped and backed off, a fellow mentor SPRINTED back with a pep in her step saying "Copperhead COPPERHEAD in the trail!" I stopped our group there, turned around to pass on the message. I was ready to strangle a couple of runners that were like "oh, COOL!" until I realized they weren't from our training group, so if they wanted to tangle with this venomous {see, Huck! I listen} creature, more power to them- and no legal obligation to our training group!

He eventually slithered off, and you could still see the majority of his body continuing to go into the grass by the time we passed. Shudder! Totally gave our group an adrenaline rush and I'm pretty sure we dropped average pace by a few seconds even with our 30 second pause!

The group is experimenting with in-run nutrition and I'm realizing that running for 70 minutes means I need to eat twice. That last mile, I could feel my brain start to shut down, I talked even less clearly than normal (which if you know me says a LOT!) and had to seriously focus on getting through. I had a chocolate outrage Gu that had caffeine, and I really liked it. The consistency and taste were definitely chocolate icing and I wouldn't want to down one of those without water to wash it down, just to get the super intense sweetness out of my mouth. Sorry if this is TMI, but coffee makes me have to pee, so for long runs, the last thing you want to do is need to pee when you're 3 miles from the closest bathrooms, so I liked that this flavor had caffeine built in. Morning runs demand caffeine! I definitely stayed up til past midnight on that shot and a 20 minute nap!

I'm super-nerding it up this week, determined to take advantage of these cool mornings, so I have not just my work outfits laid out but my running outfits! Sports bras and non-cotton socks included :) My legs are getting tired and my right knee bugs me after long runs, so I'm taking the advice of the other mentor for my pace group and going to keep running on tired legs to build up the endurance. I'm going to use shorter runs to get my mileage, even though it might mean a 3 miler before work and another couple after. Tuesday's cross training will be some elliptical, too- "mileage" without the impact.

Off to get in some upper body strength :) What good are awesome legs if you have pudge arms?!

Here's to the next tv timeout!

-Syd

And such

First off, I need to be more aware of the weather. When it was triple digits for so long, I just gave up on it ever being less than 80 outside and it was 60-something last night. WHY DIDN'T I GO FOR A RUN THEN?! Well, a kitten with a broken jaw that I was feeding through a tube for one reason. Anyway, I'm going to check the weather every couple days, see if I can't catch some 70's weather. I might be getting up at 5am on Saturday to get a couple jogging miles in.

So here's my other random fitness stuff, out of my brain, onto the blog. Be afeared! :) <-- I've lived in the South too long... w/e. Embrace it, like barbecue, sweetea and y'all!

1- http://hellogiggles.com/10-reasons-running-doesnt-suck-as-much-as-you-think  Love this!

2- Pullup work continues! I can now do very slow, controlled negatives on the pullup bar. I can even hang with my chin up for a couple seconds :)

3- I had fun this week TAKING in some of my jeans :)

Before:

Jeans that fit that I used as my template:

After:

For the record, these are all Old Navy 10's. The template pair is a few years old and you can tell a huge difference in the denim. The old pair is very sturdy, feels like you could wear it for years, not wear a hold anywhere. New pairs? Ripped when I took out some overzealous seams!

I also took in the tech shirt I got for running my half marathon. I was super bummed when I got it and realized it was just too big. I gave it to Huck for a while, but darnit, I earned it! So I took it back, told him he could have my 10k shirt, and used a shirt I'd gotten from my training 8k group to know where to sew new seams for the half shirt. So far, so good :)

4- Its been over a month since Huck's been on the Paleo diet. He cheat a LOT thanks to the yummy summer drinks out like Lime-a-Ritas (not high class, but YUMMY!), but between the diet and pretty regular p90x, he's had to add another notch to his belt and I can tell he's lost the beer gut he gained after ending Insanity but before we got back into p90x and he went Paleo. Foods he used to take or leave have become treats, like almonds and other nuts.

As he's gotten more familiar with what is and isn't in the plan, the meals he cooks have become more varied and he can even find paleo meals at restaurants. Last night, he made these amazing eggplant lasagna stacks using fresh eggplants a coworker gave him. When he went to Cracker Barrel at lunch, instead of his usual chicken and dumplings, he got a Cobb salad, brushing off the bread crumbs and getting a vinaigrette dressing, which seems like a totally normal meal, but not only was it Paleo, it was SUPER YUMMY!  No longer is it steamed veggies and a hunk of meat, but its spaghetti squash with standard marinara, veggie stir fries, roasted any veggie, lots of summer meats like sausage and brats, lettuce wrap fajitas and typical meals, just making the rice or pasta sides for the non Paleo people like kids or girlfriends (:D) that might be eating. I don't know if I'm ready to go Paleo, but I do find myself eating less bread, just because I don't buy it as much and rely on the few English muffins or tortillas I might have in the house, and keep an eye on potential Paleo meals or ingredients to pass on to Huck.

5- For more info about the kitty with the broken jaw: http://dearwiley.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-adventures.html

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS- get access to a gym next week... might we see a return of a running Sydney?!?!

StronGrrrr

So since we're still in my summer running motto phase (I don't run when its above 70* outside) thanks to the fourth day in a week of triple digit heat in NC, I decided to set an attainable INDOOR fitness goal. Doing p90x with Huck, I've had to do more pushups, squats, pot stirrers and the grandaddy exercise of pullups than ever before.

Trust me... there are days where the things I CAN do- squats, all 50 million variations, bicep curls, evil pushup variations, and still be waddling like a penguin, so the days where my friend Tony gives us 10 different variations of pullups to do?! Yeah... when you can't even do one normal easy (whatever works for you) pullup, doing the scarecrow variations (go up, tilt right, tilt left, go back, then down)?! Make me laugh with the "yeah, right!" giggles and give me a break while I watch Huck get all buff.

Until.... Well, there are girls on the show that use resistance bands or utilize a chair to help them cheat, and I want to be them. They "bring it", don't wuss out, and look AMAZING as a result. That, plus lots of brown rice, chicken and steamed broccoli meals or lives as professional dancers. Whatever. So... in my self-imposed "man up! don't wuss out!" mantra, I've decided my goal by July 31 is to be able to do at LEAST 1 unassisted pullup.

To start off, my world of Googling told me to try with negatives. I jump up to the top, arms contracted, and lower myself down, hopefully slowly and controlled. So far, I'm using Huck's knee to jump up. Yes, ladies, I've figured out how to get a man down on one knee :) What, does that mean something to ladies in a committed dating relationship?!

Enough razzing the so-not-there-yet bf... more about progress! I remembered to do it on Monday, got in 1 solid one, and 2 semi-solid ones, then we did tris and shoulders, so that the next day I was still sore on the bottom half thanks to Saturday's legs and back workout, and then any arm movement made you aware of the muscles to twist or turn :) I did a happy circuit of pushups, squats, calf raises, Russian twists and jumping jacks (and other random bodyweight exercises) Wednesday morning when I could finally move with minimal pain, and before fireworks commenced, tried to get more negatives in to keep the progress. Now that I'm trying to remember how many I did, I totally can't remember. I did try to get above the bar on my own but having a pullup bar in a hallway just lets you Spidey up the wall :/

So that's my story :) Can't run?! Do pullups! Adapt or wither... and don't be a wuss!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

So many things

1- I SURVIVED (barely) Illinois' toughest 15k. I have the medal to prove it:

The medal is hanging around my nec.k... don't know how I have enough energy to smile

2- It was h-e-double-hockey-sticks! I don't run when its above 70 outside by choice. It was 70 at the starting line, before I had to go up this evil hill twice! I killed that hill the first time, was doing well despite an absent water stop pre-hill, even when I got lapped by...well... a lot of people! But... somewhere around that first loop near the zoo, even after going past one of my best friends who was doing a lock-in (Zoo Znooze) , the leg that pressed on the gas pedal for 13 hours a couple days before cramped up, the heat exhausted me, and the impending meet up with my dad started to suck the happy go-go-GO right outta me. I got down the happy little hill, had a spectator tell me my braid looked cute and whimpered at the sight of the hill again with no water break until I was up it and started to walk like a pro. My chest exploded and hamstring cramped up like never before as the heat and panic rushed over me to have me bawling right before mile 7. I thought about this picture:

And kept going. I knew that right after mile 7, it was down one hill, 2 miles of straight and flat at the end with my momma and sister waiting to cheer me in after they'd done the 4 mile race.

Oof.

3- I didn't run much after that. Serious amounts of pain. I even put this Biofreeze gel on my leg to try to numb it, and omg it got numbed and I smelled like mint and couldn't feel my leg the rest of the day.

4- The next time I ran? I was in Savannah, GA at a $42/night hotel with one of my best friends from high school, on the treadmill in the gym. I turned on tv, enjoyed The Mentalist, checked out my form while I ran, and tried to get in some speed work. I'd only waited about 20 minutes after eating this AMAZING $7.50 low country boil so when I was upping the speed (to 7.0 mph!! and BEYOND) I slowed down when I started tasting the shrimp, crab, sausage, corn and 'taters again. Had a GREAT time doing the HIIT though!

5- I've decided my goal for the month of July while it decides to stay in the triple digits outside in the BLAZING humidity is to do at least 1 unassisted pullup by the time August comes around. Huck has a pullup bar in the hall of his kitchen/living room, so I have a plan... if I can't run outside, I shall become a beast!

6- For the awesome new job (yes yes, official job offer paperwork came in a couple weeks ago! WOOO), I had to get a physical. The doctor told me that people like me keep him from being busy. I compared the results of my cholesterol from 3 years ago, when I would go to work, sit down, come home, sit down, go to sleep, repeat. My total cholesterol has gone down by 1 point, but the triglycerides, HDL and LDL all tell the story of a much healthier and active person :) As a scientist, its nice to see proof in fancy numbers like that.

7- Other proof that I'm doing something right? When I went home, my mom had tons of my high school stuff for me to go through, since she would be putting the house up for sale a couple days after I left (it sold in 40 hours, no joke). Out of curiosity, I tried on my junior year prom dress. At 25, the dress that 17 year old me wore doesn't fit... because its too loose! My senior year prom dress?! Even worse! At least the junior year one has just an inch or 2 of fabric that you can grab here and there. Because of the cut of the senior year one, it just doesn't fit at all! It doesn't help that I don't gain fat in the most...um.. desirable?! places for a girl, but even the back is loose enough to hold a 6 pack :)

Ok... I promise more updates! Life should settle down here shortly and you'll get to hear about pullup progress :)

Here's to the Next TV timeout!

-Syd

Sweaty Beast

OMG I was a little workout queen Sunday, thanks to TurboFire! And no, I dont have any photos of this and yes, you should be thankful!

My "to-do" list for Saturday turned from a "today" into a "tonight" and then "tomorrow" list. Things like putting away the laundry that sat in the dryer for 4 days and had now been sitting in a hamper for 2 days :/ (Somehow, I still have days where I think I have no clothes! Not true. Valid point, however? Clothes that fit! The joy of losing 30 lbs and now not knowing what the dress code at the new job is! eep!!! sorry, back to your regularly scheduled programming...) Things like making food at home to eat with the roomie (at the same time!), shower, and, of course, work out!

I just winged it as to which of the TurboFire dvd's to do since I'd ignored the plan to do p90x last week. Sooo I started at the beginning! I was supposed to do the Fire 45 and then Stretch 10 one day and then the HIIT 20 and  Stretch 10 sooo I had my game plan. Do the 45 min workout, and if I had it in me, the 20 min HIIT workout, and of course, the Stretch 10!

As usual, I got a bit lost on the choreography for the 3rd set of the Fire 45 and could feel my intensity was way down from the time I'd done the back to back fire drills. Chalene asked me to dig deep, and I said "k, fine! I'll do the HIIT workout!" I LOVED it because she walks you through it first (marking it) and then you do it 2 or 3 times. I totally stopped during the first HIIT session because I thought my tank was empty...and then I saw I had 9 seconds left, so I sucked it up and finished. No more stopping!

The post-workout stretch?! Gloooorious. It'd been about a week since I had done that video, so I'd forgotten just how much I loved it :) I was only a little sore today and I was walking down lots and looots of peanut rows, getting dirt in my shoes!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

X Training

Hey,

I realize I might only run once or twice a week now days (yayyy 90*+ weather :/ ) but I'm actually working my butt out more because I don't have to think about saving energy for the tempo/long/fartlek run, I can do what I do now barefoot (less socks for laundry!) and pretty much anywhere with minimal planning.

Huck has p90x, and I'll do that with him a few afternoons a week when he comes home from work. There's some of the workouts I'm just not strong enough to do, like the chest and backs, mainly because that's almost exclusively pushup and pullup variations. When I did it last week, I got through the first half, then went to do something else. Huck pushed me this week to at least get to the next water break after the halfway point. I'm never going to build up the muscles to do a pullup if I don't keep trying, right?

Tony Horton's plyometrics X is KILLER! Lots of sweating and trying to land softly and quietly...like a CAT :) The first time I did this, you could hear the thunks from outside. This week, I got a fist bump and "nice!" from Huck :) We needed to get some other stuff done that night, so we cut it short, but I still smoked his butt for some of it.

I went to KR's house on Wednesday for girl time, which included getting my hair blonded up! While driving to her place, I got the call that I get to start my REAL JOB in July! There's so many other awesomely happy things about this, but when they said "July" I did the math and decided to follow in KR's footsteps and add some bright (bubble gum, to be precise) pink to my hair. That, and making dinner and a celebration red velvet cake, took so long KR and I did the Insanity Upper Body Strength DVD Thursday morning.

I'd made Huck promise to kick my butt on hills at Fleet Feet's social run on Thursday night, so within 12 hours of Insanity working my arms, I was pounding the pavement. Huck had done a 45 minute p90x in 30 minutes so we could be on time, and it cleeearly killed him. Don't get me wrong, it was still warm, and our 1 mile warmup and then killing Mount Leonard 4 times was... ouch. He would sprint up the hills way faster than me and I'd have to gasp out "keep moving" to him, but we were both just ready to collapse after that 4th time. We tried to catch a group of ladies who had run a 3 mile route but to no avail :/

So that's my story :) I'm officially signed up for Illinois' Toughest 15k next Saturday and I'm trying to gain 5 lbs any way possible to compete in the Athena category but this darn cardio mixup is thwarting my plans. I've never wanted to gain weight more in my life!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Sydney

Sweet and Sour

Why yes, I had Chinese for dinner, why do you ask?!

This is the story of a "sweet" run and a very "sour" run! My sour run was Tuesday morning with KR. The tl;dr story? Flippin' heat. Almost 2 miles in, when we stopped to talk to the scandalous roomie, my head tried to explode, which my brain and ears didn't appreciate. I at least got up the major part of the hill, after I didn't start attacking it until 1.3 miles into the run, so yay for small victories.


\ <-- sorry about that! to hear from the culprit, go here : http://bit.ly/K5aYcj

Okay, so, on to my "sweet" run...a friend from my gladiator training days posted on facebook yesterday, asking if anyone would go do a 3 mile run with her on Saturday morning. I know her pace, and I can go that speed talking all day now. Serious signs of improvement for me, considering 11:30 pace used to mean concentrating :)

Heather told me it might end up only being 2, not 3, and considering the Roomie and I are doing a hilly 10k tomorrow morning, I was totally okay with that. I figured this run would just be a good "hey, legs, remember what its like to run? ok, then great, we have to do more of this tomorrow!" loosening up.

As we got to running, my running buddy explained her feet have been going numb around the 2 mile mark of her runs, no matter the shoes she wears and no, her laces aren't tight, tyvm. We talked the entire time, and it was weird being the fast one! If I talked, we sped up. If she talked, we slowed down. The first 2.38 miles, we did an 11:30 pace, but we stopped to let her feet get un-numb.

After the remnants of the tropical depression and other high/low pressure system mixtures hit NC, we've gotten lots of rain, which means lots of puddles on greenways. There was one that is obviously a continual problem, because off to the side, someone had placed 2 planks of wood for a makeshift bridge over a washed out creekbed next to a long puddle on the asphalt. This very high tech bad@$$ guy came and splashed in the puddle, couldn't get over it. I backed up a couple steps, hit the last high point on the puddle's edge, and made it across, no big :) Heather saw it and just laughed. You know how you race against people on the treadmills in the gym? I puddle jump competitively, apparently ;)

I've been trying to keep up the general fitness with the help of Beachbody :) Huck has p90x and I did a few workouts with him, and I wake up at 5am now to do TurboFire by myself. Its not as intense- its as intense as you make it, all body weight cardio stuff so far- but the cardio gets your heart rate up and turns you into a sweaty mess. INSIDE! Totally better than running when its 70, or 80 or even the 90 it likes hitting now!

We'll see how well the crosstraining is working after the 10k tomorrow. Recap and pictures tomorrow :)

Here's to the next TV timeout
-Syd

1,2,3

Theres been lots of reasons why I've been failing at updating. First. I havent been running as much. The heat is truly kicking my butt. My 3 miles this morning ended up being 2, a hilly 2, but the humidity made it impossible for me to catch my breath. The hill I've become so accustomed to destroying? Yeah that was 1.5 into my route this morning and I was thankful to get 75% of the way through it, took a detour to walk and then ran down. 

What I found on my detour- a Rose Garden! I stopped, smelled the air, and took pictures :)

I also had a "so bad I don't want to blog about it" run last Tuesday. We had 50 minutes and KR and Huck convinced me we could do the 4.5 mile route...and the the people talked for 5 minutes and the pressure was on to do 10 minute miles. Have I ever explained how badly I fail at running under pressure?! I waived KR and Huck on after a half a mile, said I'd wind my way back to the store and started bawling. Yes, some of it was the oppressive heat and (again) humidity, but I still wasn't over the crap race the Saturday before and the news that my dad's once full thick head of hair was coming out in chunks, thanks to the chemo. As much as I try to stay cool and calm, the surface keeps cracking and with less pressure now.

The second and third reasons I've been a running slacker? Well, they make me much happier. I started biking to work, which is only 4 miles roundtrip, but, being Raleigh, you're either pedaling for your life up a hill or coasting down its backside. Along with that crosstraining, I've been following through with my self made promise to get more weights in. Sometimes its just 18 burpees in the lawn, but last night it was 1/3 of the p90x video that made me hate Tony Horton. For the record, we're doing better, Tony and I, thanks Huck :)

The last reason? Well, he's cute and fluffy and 5 weeks old and still mastering the pounce. It's super hard to wake up and not just let my little Wiley man play all day. The first day I had to leave him and go to work?! Slayed me! Now I get the anxiety women get leaving their babies to go back to work! But, we're getting into a routine now, and I'm fairly confident Wiley will live, and he's growing with minimal parasites on/in him :) and like I said, he's mastering the pounce!

I fear I might have to give up running outside soon. When it was 63, the coolest part of the day, and my lungs couldn't keep up?! No bueno! When I get into a real job, I'll probably check out these gyms that advertise for $10/month memberships and go run on a treadmill and take classes, too! Until then, I'll run as much as possible, keep biking to work (after my "saddle" heals some!), and fall in love with Tony. I've already agreed to do the bi's and tri's tonight, heaven help me! (UPDATE: did it. rocked it! WOO, baby!)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Yep...he might be cuter than Lucy, but don't tell the roomie!

to Grandmother's house, we GO!

You know how I like freaking out when one thing throws me off my game? I was bound and determined to not have two bad runs in a row, and when it started to get dark, I figured I'd just throw on my gear and get my 3 done around home, not around the very evil lake with even more hills around the lake. Seriously, that lake is cursed! Anyway, I was fully charged, shoes on, when I got a "I'm on my way" text from Huck. Figured I'd rope him into running around home, but he reeeally wanted to do the trail around the lake and I it was part of the bargain from Monday. Argh... k.

Huck promised me trail, so I thought we were on the other side of the road, but no, we started running on the paved path, across the wooden bridge towards the evil cursed hills. But then we turned. I've gone past this spot a hundred times and never knew there was a trail there. Apparently Huck mountain bikes it often. Sooo it was over the roots, through the woods, splashing through the streams we went as the sun went to go keep people up in Australia. I had a headlamp on me (super awesome Christmas present from my aunt!) so I could better know when I was going up a sheer hill or down a root littered path.

A wider than normal creek bed as I officially couldn't see without light made me yell "okay, I'm done!" but I was promised that we were over half done. Thinking that meant it was shorter to go forward than go back, I sucked it up and kept going. When the shrubbery made a tunnel and Huck got further ahead of me than normal, I freaked. Darkness, woods enveloping me, unfamiliar terrain?! To a girl that's been told by society all her life that the way to prevent an attack is to not be out at dark in strange places,  this situation was CUH REEPPPPPY! Huck told me I was fine, I had nothing to fear, and started telling me "this one time, I saw this guy-" yeah, don't tell girls those stories until you're in a well lit area with lots of people around! Things like this still happen!

At which point the trail opened up to the asphalt path. "See! We're done!"...except there was still a mile to go around the lake. Huck and I were on different pages of "half way"- half through the trail or half through the lake?! I was scared and off my game, so I ran. No clue how fast, and every now and then I walked, but whatever.

Date night tonight and icing my shins as I prep for a long run tomorrow!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

...so THAT's why!

I learned why the SmartCoach plan had me running every other day at that pace and that I definitely need to make Tempo runs my b**** the reaaaalllllly fun way Tuesday night! Huck and I met up at one of my favorite route spots where the houses are HUGE, partially on a greenway around a lake and sort of idyllic for our 10:30 first "warm up" mile. My shins were SCREAMING at me as we went down the hill from where we parked our cars, but I figured it would be fine once it leveled out.

Well, sort of. I had a mini freak out when we didn't know whether to go straight or turn around the lake, and once my "go! go! go!" focus gets messed up, its pretty darn hard to tune out the feeling of being lost while your shins hurt and now your knee hurts and TADA your surprise for THIS run is your hamstrings are tightening up while you're pushing pace. While literally saying "something generically motivating", Huck got to watch the side of me saying "yeah, see! go go! you've got this! tune out the pain, focus, you've only got 2 more miles left at this pace and then a super easy mile cool down!" try to take down the "expletive EXpLETIvE this HURTS!" side.

Unfortunately, the answer was solved by salt water, namely the tears that started streaming down my face as we kept running, finally knowing the route. We walked around a bit, looked at houses that we will probably never be able to afford and their lovely gardens, and plotted what to do. I finally let Huck convince me to do p90X plyometrics workout, which has lots of jumping around since "even though you might hate Tony Horton, he really does just want the best for you, and there's lots of low impact modifications you can do" according to the boy. We walked back to our cars, played on a swing set, got leftover Easter candy at CVS, and then conqured p90x- and I only did modifications for the very last set of stuff.

Different parts of my legs hurt last night as we saw Daniel Tosh, and now my cheeks and abs hurt sooo much from laughing, but it was totally worth it. Trying to conquer Lake Johnson with its 3 evil hills this afternoon. Thankfully this run is "easy" and it shall be treated as such, darnit!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

April Injuries bring May Victories :)

Wahaha! It even RHYMES! 

Anyway...the almost 2 weeks off did what it needed to do. I didn't completely stop doing stuff- there was still Gladiator training , walking at NoBo, and a stern "why aren't you doing more arms/ab stuff?!" from the Army recruiter. Whoops...

But, thanks to a spontaneous trip to DC with Fred this weekend, I knew I wouldn't be running with the group on Saturday, so I said "to heck with the 14 day rehab!" and figured I'd let 13 be my lucky number- as I write this on Friday the 13th ;) But! I was super nervous to be running again. Would I be able to keep up with my group? Would I be able to handle the hills? Would anybody notice my cute new shorts?! Oh wait, that doesn't really matter... 24 minutes and 2 hilly miles later, I was sweating but smiling :)

I came home to ice the knees- front with corn, back with a legit ice pack- and haven't had much pain since! Thursday night, I also went to a great seminar with this lady and learned about the knee, the pains that result from running, treatment, and when you CAN'T run on them. OMG, I feel SO much better about the two different types of pain that I have, and way more excited that I know how to deal with them, that they're not eventually debilitating, and even when it feels like I want to cut off my leg to eliminate the pain, I know how to treat it. 

Fresh Haircut!

I might be a slight running nerd now :P

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Running makes you...

Take more pictures

Look forward to both the downhill AND uphill because while the downhill is easier, you have to contain your movements, and the uphill gives you this sense of "wahahaha! look what i have conquered!!!"

Appreciate your Saturday afternoons after a morning run

Pick up random bugs when you run under trees

Get tan lines in early April :)

Keep your watch on you at all times so you can be a good running mentor and time your run/walk intervals, because not having them makes you depend on one of the random people in your group, but its okay, because you have really happy nice people in your group who just thank you for being there and more excited than Kelly Ripa at 8am on a Saturday morning :)

Go for more walks

Bake more

Have a blast "playing" your guitar as your friend rocks out on her ukulele

Happier!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

LOL OMG

In honor of the newest words in the Oxford English Dictionary, I had a total "LOL OMG" run today :) I'm helping mentor (ha! yes, I know, my thoughts exactly! Since when am I a potential poster child for running?! But I am!) a running program called "No Boundaries" through Fleet Feet here in Raleigh. Its an awesome store, and yes, I'm biased because I bought my awesome shoes from there and a good friend of mine works there. The program has groups for people who just want to talk and who want to improve their sub-11 min mile time, all aiming for the June 11th Race for the Cure in Raleigh.

Our first run was Wednesday with lots of just getting used to what was going on, nothin' fancy! I'm a mentor for the walk to run group, which is lots of fun. I'm hanging out towards the back with some awesome women that are trying to step up their games, literally! And yes, there are men, but not so many. Explain this one to me!!!

We're doing intervals of running and walking, so right now its just 1 min of running, 2 min walking, but its a good time. I like being in shape enough to be able to talk a lot during the running parts. You know me, able to talk about prettty much anything with pretttty much anyone :) Wednesday's run was a mile, today was 1.5 and then, knowing I might actually be a runner, I came home and did another 1.4 on my own. I started out a bit too fast so when I went up the half mile hill, there was some definite soul searching and gut wrenching "come on! you can do THIS!" After telling it to others, its weird to say it to yourself.

So that's my running! I've been doing more weights/yoga/pilates recently, so we'll see if that helps with the increase in running. I love HAVING to run at least 2 times a week! 

Who am I and what aliens have abducted me?!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS- Gratuitous Lucy picture! She's showing off her "best" side ;)

Red Rock

Hi!

I did 2 runs this week and halfway through the run tonight, I realized I hadn't blogged about my enh-run on Sunday... and why that was my last run in Vegas!

But, I ran tonight :) It was dark, sort of cold, and it attempted to rain during the last mile. With as much as I heat up, the moisture was nice and cooling, so I didn't mind. The first 2 miles were with my friend Elliot, but when I could feel my hair coming undone, I took a minute to secure it again, and she went off on her crazy good pace. She's recovering from an injury and the only thing that *doesn't* hurt for her now is running up hills- perfect for this out-and-back route that was down, then back up! Running with her for 2 miles, though, was a nice challenge since we were talking the entire time. I'm way too much of a Midwesterner, that I suck at asking questions but have awesome stories to tell. Maybe running with other people will force me to shut up and listen more?!

But, my last run in Vegas was on Sunday night. I could've done another run on Monday morning, but lolling around with Fred was just so much more tempting! Plus, Sunday's run was not an encouraging one. We had just come back from grilling out at the park where I'd chased around some nieces and nephews, so when I got a cramp only 1/2 mile in, I knew I was in for a cruddy run. I kept powering through, but then even my knee started to fail!

I gave myself some credit because just a few hours earlier, I'd gone up "trails" like this:

To get to views like this:

With my big brother!

We have the same eyes when we smile!

Anyway, I have this awesome master plan to get me running more often. The weather is changing, the clocks will change, I miss my awesomely fit/toned running body, I will need something other than sweets to relieve my stress since I'm giving them up for Lent and yes, I realize this somewhat conflicts with my "more yoga/strength-training, less running" of a few weeks ago. Life life, make mistakes, make adjustments!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

A new partner

Last week, I went over to our neighbor's house to talk about something, and the husband mentioned seeing me running one day , apologizing for not waving back because he had no idea what this running blond was doing waving at him! While we were on the topic of running, they mentioned how their relatively newly-adopted dog, Tessa, had tons of energy, so I asked if I could take Tess running with me some time. Lucy's top speed is no match for me anymore (hee hee hee) and Tess was a bit bigger. 

Today I took Tessa out for a test drive :) She's a bit frightened by runners, ahead of or behind her. It wasn't until the 2nd half of what I'd decided was a very quick 1.5 mile route that she calmed down, realized what this "jogging" thing was and that no, I wouldn't run way or mow her down, that we got into a rhythm. After quite a bit of plant, hedge and sign sniffing, that is!

Isn't she adorable?!

The short half run/walk got me my much needed vitamin D, but its time to complete a real workout for the day. Exercise TV on Demand, ho!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

So I did it again

I ran.

I have no clue the pace. I think it was about 2.25 of the 2.5 miles in my route because, quite frankly, I didn't feel like running up the evil hill and feeling "blegh" for the entire route as a result, so I just walked when I felt like it. But then I ran.

I also sort of cried. My Sister's Keeper?! Suh-laaaaayed me! I was listening to the last 20 minute of the audiobook. Twist ending and tearrrss! But I tried to just keep breathing and not let my throat swell up like I wanted it to. 

Oh, and it was the perfect night. Seriously- upper 60's in February with a beautiful sunset. It was still light enough outside when I was done that I took Lucy for a little walk. We ended up at the top of a hill and I literally just stood there, admiring the view for a minute. *Breathe in... breathe out...* My bronchitis is pretty much fading, only cough a few times a day, and the pregnant boss doesn't send me home anymore :)

I did yoga last night after weight circuits, the third time since the evil donut run that I did. It feels so good, and I felt all nice and stretched out today :) Things hurt, but it was a "yay!" hurt!!!! With weather like this, I realize people will start seeing my arms and legs now, so they can be all nice and toned as they emerge :)

More running coming up! Still loving the yoga/cross-training!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

P.S. And yes, she knew I was writing about her, so Lucy, uncharacteristically, snuggled up to me. Especially weird since her mom aka The roomie, is 4 feet away... She gets a haircut in a week :) No more Teddy Bear, hello naked mole rat!!!

Heels

 I used to not think of myself as a shoe person, but over time, I realize I have a finely cultivated collection of heels. First up?

The ones I wore for Fred and I's first date, exactly 364 days ago. Not that I'm counting. So yes, it was early February, and yes, even though we live in the 70% of the country NOT hit by this week's snowpocalypse, it was still cold. Did I mention the short black skirt I had on, too?? Oh, and clearly the heels (and skirt) worked :D

   

After a night of wearing heels like that, I wore shoes like this A LOT the next few days!  And yes, the heels seem to be torn up. This is on purpose. I have size 10.5 feet, as does KR. Its how we became friends, true story. As a result of this mammoth, and thus, unusual, size, lots of the cheap brands- payless, targay- don't make 10.5. Its 10 or 11. Pick. So I picked smaller for these, clipped out the heel, and thus spared my Achilles tendon many many blisters.

 The next two pairs are my usual go-to during the winter. If I'm going to be walking around a lot, I go for the Sperry's, aka boat shoes, aka most versatile things ever. I wear them with socks in the winter, barefoot in the summer. They go with jeans, dresses, and even khakis if I'm running late for Sunday morning church. According to NC natives, they're the official shoe of the state, and base on how many pairs of them I see on campus, I tend to agree. 

My other go-to shoes are my boots! I bought these on a whim, totally expecting to return them. Instead? Love. Adoration. Worship. I only wear them with jeans, and always under! Well, unless it dumped 6" of Boxing Day snow on you, but that's a rarity.  They're comfy enough to stand in, make little noise, and give me an extra heel to make me feel even more intimidating, if needed :)

 These I talk about often. I log my miles, wear them religiously only for running, hit heel first, pushing off with the ball of my foot. The amazing Mom got me contraptions to basically turn them into slip-ons, but I haven't done it. Yet.

And last, but certainly not least, are the actual heels that slip into all of these. Yes, I have a tattoo. Its easily hidden, obviously, not offensive, recognizes 3 years of my life, and makes the occasional great conversation starter. 

But back to the heels... These things have been dragging recently. The token example came this past Saturday when, about 1/2 mile in, I lost it. Couldn't breathe, broke down crying- well, as much as I had the water/energy to- and could feel any and all mental resolve to keep pounding the pavement slipping away. With 3.5 miles to go. It had nothing to do with running, everything to do with my life off the road, but when you're that stressed out, the mind-body connection takes over. That same drive that tells you "YOU CAN DO THIS!" can also tell you "what's the point?!" It sucks to listen to that, but its like a Patronus charm in Harry Potter- you have to have a stronger positive thought to overcome it. At that moment, I had zero happy.

Runs like that make you dread everything from figuring out a route to lacing up again. Tuesday morning, 2 days of no running, and I couldn't even figure out a route, much less a distance. I ended up walking out the door and running about 1.4 miles- up a long evil hill, then back down it. I'd never run up it, always taking the shorter, more compact hill , so it was a nice mental victory, pounding out the long slow hill. No clue pace, and that's how I wanted it to be. My podcast was weird. Really weird. I changed it at the top of the hill. Seriously, who talks about selection for the perfect astronaut by talking about "flautus" for 10 minutes?!?! 

After runs like this and the general feeling of this quite often, after this Saturday's race (omg so excited to do it, then tell you about it, and most importantly, NOT PUKE!), I'm diversifying. I'll still run, but more yoga, pilates, weights, cardio classes. Less "run x in y miles." Run when you feel like it. Stretch it out often. And as always...

Here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

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

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 

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