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?!?!

A case of the Mondays

SmartCoach told me to go run an easy 2 miles, at a bit faster pace for Monday. When I looked at the weather forecast for Monday at, oh, 11:50pm while reading an old Runner's World magazine Sunday night, I realized that I'd need to be out the door by 8am to have any chance of finishing my run before it got to 70*, and yes, I am still a heat wimp when it comes to exercising. Only then. Other times I'm the first person to be cold in a room and deathly hate all air blowing on me.

Back on track... I put my magazine down and set my alarm for 7am, and figured that if SC wanted me to run 12:31 and I've been trying to go 90 seconds faster, that was 11 min pace...which I knew I could do, no big. Then I looked forward to the speedwork for Wednesday, and well, I'm panicking. Staring down only my 2nd glass of water for the day (whoops!) and remembering what KR wrote to me " Anyone can pump out an mile at a time with a rest, so quit stressing, hydrate and just prep for it, then cling on for dear life when we take off on wed :)"




Wrar, so, alarm went off, I put on my awesome new compression sleeve (story about the uber pinkness some time), made a cute little claw to make sure I got a full 2 miles in, and I killed the final hill so I had to run up and OVER the hill, with a nice long recovery walk back to the house and sleeping roommate :) The entire time, I had this in my head:

And I busted out 10:11 min miles with serious up and down hills. Even MapMyRun calls my standard hill a scorcher! Showered, got on with my awesome day, and generally did my happy "woo!" dance for the day. I did before 8 am more than lots of people do all day :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

Mic check....

So… I’m back. And when I say I’m back, it should also be noted that I’m about to take it easy. Whiplash yet?!

Let me backtrack… when last we met, I believe I was still slaving away at the thesis, dating Fred, looking for a job and chilling on the running because North Carolina in the summer isn’t the best for avoiding heat. Now, the thesis is done, degree in hand, Fred… is still Fred but not mine, details on the latest version eventually, back to looking for a job, and yes, almost about to take a break from running because its already 60* at 7am nowadays.

I got back into running in September. Yeah, no clue why I got back into it when it was SEPTEMBER and still suuuper warm, but I knew I needed to get back into some sort of routine. Maybe there were even a few cooler days that gave me hope?! I stopped writing stuff down, so who knows. What I did discover was that I was faster! I hadn’t lost the “speed”, but I could go faster! I started back on KR’s 10k plan, and then got boy whiplash and thought that maybe I’d ratchet it up to a half marathon in…January?!

But FIRST! The roomie, the mom and I dressed up like fools for a Turkey Trot 8k on Thanksgiving Day. What better way to make sure you won’t gain as MUCH weight from the turkey and stuffing and pies than to rev up the metabolism before all the goodies?! I tried to rev up quickly for a couple of halfs in January, but shin splints, traveling for Christmas and the realization that apparently yes, at 25 is when your body decides it wants to break down led to 0 half marathons for January.

Except… you see… I’d done something crazy on Thanksgiving Day, darn post-race endorphins! But let’s keep this chronological! Having conquered my own 8k, I volunteered to mentor for Fleet Feet’s 8k Training group. Making it even more fun?! I knew I’d have someone to drag, I mean, keep my company twice a week. The roomie had gotten into running, starting with the couch to 5k plan and was ready to go be faster, stronger and generally more bad-ass!

So, with our first run a chilling 2 miles on a Tuesday evening in January, the roomie and I were off! We were both in the 11-13 minute/mile pace group. I started off being comfortable at the back, but as the weeks progressed, I sometimes had to be the mentor at the beginning of the pack. Those 11 minute miles got trimmed to 10:30s and shorter, while talking, and before I knew it, it was the last week of January which meant…

MY half marathon training started! On Thanksgiving Day, I’d signed up for the first NC Half Marathon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. There were a few other races in that general time frame that I was considering. I figured late March would mean it would still be cool, maybe rainy, but warm enough to run without 50 million layers. The one I’d originally had my heart was soon ruled out. Never underestimate the power of bad word of mouth!

The roomie’s friends had heard that my “target race” was on a great course, but the people running it didn’t know what they were doing. Messed up logistics? Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for disaster at my first half. Plus, that was the race where KB got injured and was a hobbling fool for weeks afterwards. I started looking around and, having family near Charlotte, figured that driving 2 hours to go race was totally sane, so why not?!

I did the 8k with the training group, rocked it, but dear heavens, the HILLS around here! I realized I’d pushed myself more than I planned to or remembered when I went to go run the next day. It totally did not happen. I think I did 2 miles, and cried like a baby for the last mile. Always great walking into the house and explaining to your boyfriend that, despite being out for 25 minutes, you only went 2 miles and yes, your face is caked in snot and tears, Cosmo’s surefire way to attract men!

At this point, I had to juggle the Runner’s World half training plan I’d been following with what my body would physically allow me to do. I did most of my long runs, but my mid-week runs weren’t as long or as fast or inclusive of the speed work as I would hope or plan for. The two “perfect” examples were the 8 mile run that didn’t happen and the 10 miles of pure suck. The 8 mile was supposed to happen on a Thursday evening, about 2 weeks after the 8k. I’d run 2 miles on my shin splints the Sunday before and knew that if I could just get 5 minutes in, the pain would just be numbed and dull and I could power through.

Except… I couldn’t get out of my own head. This is a seeeerious problem for me, but that night, I just panicked, didn’t want to keep pushing through the pain, yelled at my training partner (aka dear sweet willing to mess up his workout schedule for me boyfriend) for always staying 2 steps ahead of me, not by my side, and other random thoughts just took over and I was DOA. I maybe did 2 miles? And that was it. Buried the thought of that run, shook it off, moved forward.

A trip to the beach that weekend threw a huge wrench in my 10 mile plans for that weekend, so I decided I was still on shin splint recovery rest, and had a much better and motivating 2 mile run with the bf and a dog that can actually run! (Yes, I still love Lucy, but the gremlin rebels at walks up hills, she can’t pace you for 2 miles!) There was still another weekend to do a 10 miler, so I marked on the calendar in Sharpie, planned out a challenging but scenic route, made sure the phone with music was charged and headed out! At 10 am... when it was really sunny…with plans to just get water/Gatorade at random gas stations and fountains along the way…and some darn evil hills…and a part with just the side of the road, no sidewalk…and one of the most stressing things that could happen to a girl less than 48 hours old … I did 10 miles.

Did. I didn’t run the whole way. Might not have run even half of it, but Huck (so bf has a nickname, its “Huck”…continue on) refused to let me turn around unless it was on the route. He let me walk some, took pictures of the snakes on the sidewalk near the arboretum, downed the world’s best Gatorade at mile 8, looked at me like a CRAZY person when someone that I knew (but didn’t explain to him that I knew) stopped to give us water, but most of all kept me moving and reminded me WHY I was doing this and that I was doing this for ME and HE was doing this for me, darnit! That’s love, ladies and gentleman.

They say awful training runs set you up for some pretty awesome races. You know, sort of like how awful dress rehearsals in band or for a play get out all the suck, so that all you have left when it counts is the awesomeness you have inside of you?! Well… today was awesome. There were signs that said “embrace the suck” but I didn’t, because there wasn’t any left. I’ve had some pretty awful days since the shin splints reared their ugly head, and not just because of running, but the kind of days where you have to consciously and deliberately remind yourself that its just a bad day in a good life, or an awful day in a flipping AMAZING life, focusing on the positive, working on the parts of your life that you CAN control. Today, I blocked it all out.

The butterflies grew noticeable as I was standing in line waiting to pee when it was 7:26 and the race was scheduled to start at 7:30 and I didn’t know exactly where to line up. Thank heavens for lightning delaying the start! Oh yeah, by the way, tooootally saw lightning driving into the speedway. Not scary at all! But, I peed like a champion speed demon, found Huck, and found my way to the start line, my pacing group and started the music, after taking a picture or 2, of course, and posting it to Facebook. Priorities!

There was a lot of “ok, run YOUR race, know YOUR goals, forget about the people around you, they didn’t train like you, their shins don’t hurt like yours, they might just be faster than you, this tank needs to last you longer than anything you’ve prepped for so its okay to be conservative now” running through my head for, oh, 2 miles?! I ran into people I knew at the first mile marker, had someone else talk to me shortly after that, and my mood was just ON!

The music was great, I ran into more spectators and runners that I knew, and at mile 6, picked up a running buddy. BJ was walking, but I told him to get back to running, he was almost through the worst parts! We ran into mile 10 together, when he peeled off for the bathrooms. He and I had the same goal pace, and were both super excited to not be crawling (yet…or do I?! keep reading!) and setting personal distance records with every step we took. Reason #918 I love running- you can make new friends mid-race and make 5 miles feel like a walk in the park.

Other highlights include:

    kid with the sign that said “slap sign for extra power boost”- I hit it twice!

    Running over US 29 on a pedestrian bridge that had some bounce to it. Later found out that a few years ago, one of those bridges collapsed! Seriously excited I didn’t know that before the race!

     I was on the 4^th mile when I saw the eventual winner, and he was in mile 9. Yeah…he did it in half my pace, but he didn’t look as happy as I did across the finish line and he probably didn’t get as many hugs as I did!

    I never. Stopped. Running. No walk breaks. NONE! I told myself to get to 10 miles, and once I got there, I pulled a mental switcheroo and said “enh, you only have a 5k left, no walking, suck it up!” and it worked! Personal pride, determination, not just to say “I didn’t walk” but also to just get this thing DONE with were amaaazing motivators!

     The course went around the NASCAR oval, then out around that track, around the dirt track and down and back over the drag strip, around the outside of the NASCAR track then, and this is the cool part, you ran through the tunnels to get onto the asphalt again. Something SUPER chilling about running through a tunnel, and then emerging to the light and lots more spectators and a finish line that, yes, is 2 miles away, but that you can at least SEE!

   

And last…but oh.my.goodness…not least. I smiled I ran across the line, and I cried for a second because I was done, I did it, in 2 hours and 27 minutes, without walking, and hey, here comes a super awesome medal. Seriously, this medal has cars that move and LED drag strip lights that do the countdown. I got my picture taken, grabbed food, found Huck, and just reveled in the glory that was my first completed half. Yeah, I said first. This might be a regular thing!

Every muscle in my legs is on fire, my upper abs even took a turn at being in pain, but the pride of what I did makes it all worth it. The medal is hanging on my door right now, but I need to find a place of honor to hang it in my room. Yeah, I’ve got my master’s, but right now, the accomplishment I’m the most proud of culminated with two and a half hours on a Sunday morning in Charlotte. Maybe it’s the post race endorphins, but dang they’re good and strong, and I wouldn’t trade my hobbling body for the world right now!

…pictures to come!

Here’s to the next TV timeout,

Syd

One

I had a random encounter at my running group today that seemed to tie together so many crazy thoughts I’ve had recently. With the help of quite a bit of wine, and without wine since, my roommate has noticed that her life is pretty much stress free at the moment. Her biggest worry was getting her super long hair cut, and that finally happened Thursday. Now? Well, the power and internet have been sketchy today thanks to storms, but we’re safe and sound, so in the big picture, her life is super blissful. She’s gorgeous, healthy, gainfully employed, and has wonderful friends and family.

There are times when I am stupidly intimidated by this, given the lack of permanent job (but huzzah for gainful summer employment OUTSIDE!!!), the last $3 in my checking account before payday this week, and, oh yeah, the molar I chipped about 1 hour after all my insurance-covered dentists were closed for the next 67 hours on Friday afternoon. The tension built up to a physical manifestation in me last night and carried through to this morning. I even woke up before my alarm, thanks to the overactive mind.

In this state, I went off to running this morning. By doing training for obstacle course 5Ks with a group, I’ve gotten to talking to more and more mentors during the pre-run times. One guy, let’s call him Tim, and his wife are both mentors and in the obstacle course prep group. Tim’s wife is off to a cruise, so I naturally ribbed him about watching his wife go on a tropical vacay without him, which is when he told me how they can’t afford a trip, so she was actually filling in for someone who had to drop out last minute and didn’t have to pay for it. We started swapping stories about how we earn a paycheck. I realized just how I look up to elite runners. I think of them as machines- if they can train their body efficiently, push through the pain I hit when I go too fast with KR, then I just presume that they’re college educated, run as their distraction from the corporate world.

I don’t know quite what I’m trying to say, but running, for as individual of a sport as it is, has drawn me in to more and more people. “I’m a runner” is such a conversation starter, a sort of secret handshake, but we’re all human. The simplest form of transportation and exercise unites the Olympian, flailing grad student, equestrian, interior decorator, project manager and unfulfilled produce man. I get why people who run are drawn to each other, because even thought it might just be something you do for 30 minutes, 3 times a week, it takes heart, soul, strength, discipline to go pound pavement in the calm of the morning, rush hour sidewalk, or hidden trail.

As my right IT band makes my right knee creak (it’s a Powerstroke diesel to the left knee’s 2mph Prius), I remember why I run and long for a run that feels good inside and outside, that feeds my soul and recharges the endorphins. If I wasn’t a mentor for this running group, I would definitely take Dr. KR’s recommendation and just take off 2 weeks from running completely, but I just do intervals on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. The people are catching up to me as they get better and I fade, much to my chagrin. I hide it cleverly with funny stories, energy during the walking intervals, and the sly smile that asks if they want to run it in when we can see the finish line, but I can feel the “blegh” settling in. Am I still a runner if I’m injured and fading?

I get to see my mom and Charleston, SC next week. Maybe a change of settings with the mom who is just awesome will clear my head and heal me- inside and out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Last blog/run of 2010

Well hello blog, we meet again!

This year has been full of changes for me :) I started off single, still working on the research for grad school, hating running and pretty much all exercise, and of course, this blog didn't exist! I end with an amazing boyfriend, research done, and loving running, then telling about it. Okay, maybe I don't love running, but I do love the feeling before/after, the conversations it sparks, the setting of goals that only you can set and fulfill, and oh yeah, that even Fred asks "so do you want a subscription to Runner's World?" Hee hee, why yes, because I am officially a "runner."

KR came with me on our spontaneous run. I didn't think I'd get a chance to run today, pre-tonight's festivities (house party?!) and my morning shower. Yes, with this much hair, getting it dry takes for.ev.errrrrr and I hate hair dryers. I didn't even own one until I was at least 21, true story. With my hair already washed and me already cleaned, the lazy bum in me went to work and said "well, no more workouts for me?" until I asked KR what she was doing. Behold, ta-da, everything fell into place!

We did my old 3 mile route. I was going to make the "out" portion longer to make the "back" section shorter and part of a long downhill, but as I came home, I realized all the runners were on the pavement of the scary twisty road that everyone speeds down because the ice/snow/slush was THAT bad on the sidewalk. 

Evil, evil quarter mile hill

I showed KR the route, and explained that there was a 5 min walk start built in, so we started after the 2nd cross street of our 3rd road. We got on the road, and she started running. Crap, had to somewhat keep up, so it was the hill. When we got to the top of the hill, ans subsequently, the 2nd cross street, KR gave me a "wait, did you just find the hardest, steepest hill to begin the run?!" and I reminded her the route hadn't technically started. Blegh! But I kept running, KR did a lot of running down the side streets as I trekked along. We sprinted one final driveway, then walked to the halfway marker. 1.5 miles in... 15 minutes :) There was a lot more walking on the way back, ack ack ack, but I think we did the full 3 miles in 35 minutes. Not bad for tons of walking at the end :/

KR and I are January babies, 354 days apart and when I was debating what to make for my birthday cake last year, we realized that making your own birthday cake is NO FUN! Hence, I made her cake and she made mine. Don't worry, I'll show that closer to the date, because no edible baked goods should have that color. BUT! As we walked back, we started talking about what we'll make this year. I think the current winner involves cheesecake :D MORE INCENTIVE TO KEEP RUNNING!

Here's to the next year AND TV timeout :)

-Syd

Three in One

Maybe its the Illini in me, but when I hear "Three in One" I think of this:

But, to catch up, you get three posts in one :)

First... Santa (aka my Aunt) was awesome and brought me... RUNNING TIGHTS! 

So of course, I had to test them out on Christmas. Can I once again say how amazed I am that I actually was EXCITED to run, especially on Christmas?! But I went with my mom to a little trail, and by little, I mean 1/2 mile. It will eventually link up with longer trails, but I didn't check the distance before we went out. Oh well :) I did a good 1.5 miles while my mom walked with Lucy. Part of my mom/Christmas-ness was a new Droid (go Verizon!) so I have 4 apps to track runs and 5 to play radio/music.  

I also realized I really need to work on crosstraining- aka weights! I have minimal arm strength and realize that better leg muscles should help limit the injuries. The legs had gotten nice and muscly, but the post-race/injury hiatus has led to them being loose again :( Also, while losing weight is somewhat of a goal, I'd rather weigh more and go faster, stronger. Plus, at 5' 9", I can weigh over 150lbs and still be in a healthy weight range, but qualify for "Athleta" divisions at races :)

Women's Health Magazine has some great workouts online, so I've decided that non-running days will be strength days. Many of them only require your body weight or light weights, which I have. There's something wrong with me and the fact that I love lunges and squats. Plus, the burn afterward? Yes it hurts, but you know you earned it!

Last but not least... I've decided its time to start working on the 10k! I want to be faster and go further- doesn't everybody?! So for now, I'm accidentally doing sub-3 mile distances, but according to the Droid apps, at faster pace- 11 min mile pace, even! And that's outside with natural changes in elevation :) I looked around at plans online and although there was one I loved, I knew I loved it because it was doable... and I need a challenge. So the one I picked includes a) hill work b) speed work and c) tempo work- everything to help me go faster and further! Right now, I'm thinking 10 minute miles as my goal- long term. If I can do a 10k at 11 min pace, I'll be happy- for the first one, at least! 

My little 3 mile route was derailed by 2 things today. First, I forgot Mom's ultimate rule of running: go pee before! About half a mile in, singing along to the radio was the only thing distracting me from the fact that omfg, I needed to PEE! Sorry, I realize its maybe TMI but it was not cool! Second, the sidewalks looked like  this:

Uh... no thanks! I've already shown how prone I am to falling on straight, flat, non-snow-covered surfaces! When I got to this chunk of sidewalk, the little voice in my head (aka Google myTracks) chirped up that I'd done 1.5 miles at 11 min mile pace. I could see my car, so I scurried back. 

This Eastern snow storm has me going "dang nature, you're scary!" a lot. When I came home today, I started hearing this crackle/crash sound and risked running on my walkway that looks a lot like the scary sidewalk above to get to the porch alcove. Its somewhat sad when you have to choose between potential fall on the ice or whatever scary ice/snow is about to come crashing to the ground. Thankfully, I got under the safety of a roof without falling and had nothing crash on me :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Antlers and fuzzy socks :)

So I'm a few days behind now (oh the exciting Christmas story I have for you!) but  have an awesome run story :) 

Remember how I said my mom could outrun me? Yeah... SPOILER ALERT! We went to the running store where I got my shoes and did their Tuesday night group run. The 1.5 mile route we did was designed to show off decorated houses. They also had a competition for the best dressed runners. Even with costumes like this (please note the ever-fabulous ugly Christmas sweaters), we didn't get honorable mentions. But we did get some good ideas :) 

Like I said, it was a 1.5 mile route and I have no clue how long it took, but it was fun to do :) I lost my mom some time around the half way mark. No clue how long it took, but getting back into "running with other people" was a nice change of pace :) 

Now that I've done this run with someone, I'm way less intimidated to do other runs at the store. They've got a lot that I can do now, and even more to look forward to. 8 miles at 8 min pace anyone???

Hope you're staying warm and safe and, as always, here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

Have a safe and happy holiday season, from me, Lucy and my mom :)

THANKSGIVING!

Greetings from the coldest cold I've dealt with this side of summer :) I knew it was cold when Fred handed me a hat to go with the coat I had already bundled around me and mittens on my hands. We took Penny the family dog out on her nightly walk and as long as I was walking around, I took a shot at running. Its weird, but it felt alright. Obviously, in my Thanksgiving dinner clothes, I wasn't quite equipped to go running, but after the 2nd try, courtesy of the grassy area around the grade school, I was hitting my stride, literally :) No running clothes with me in New England, but can't wait to run once I get back to Raleigh!

Some of the things I'm most thankful for Thanksgiving are awesome movies, people that love me, and adorable pets, so since I'm 1000 miles from my mom, cats and the Sound of Music and 700 miles away from the roomie, Lucy and Elf, its time for me to curl up with Fred and enjoy Across the Universe. They're fittingly at a scene at Thanksgiving now :)

Here's to the next TV Timeout!
-Syd

Desperation

I've dome some crazy impulse things in my life, but KR might have just helped me do one of the craziest...

http://www.ecrun.org/docs/131entryform.pdf

So let me backtrack... I went to the treadmill on Sunday, thinking I could cover the screen, and just go. It sort of worked. I pushed to just a mile, but that victorious 1.21 miles was still looming over me. KB realized in our runs that I suck after I quit to walk, but I tried to go again. Bleeeggghhh. I did check out my form a lot in the mirrors in front of and beside me. Hooray for leg muscles :) 

I can feel the leg muscles again today- calves and shins OMG! As KR and I were plotting our races, we realized that our plan A AND plan B were full :( Crap. Punting... KR jokingly suggested this weekend. Well, a joking suggestion got me into this mess, so why not have another one get me over this darned hump?! I am officially registered for my first 5k to run (I've done tons of Race for the Cures, but walked them all). So, with that in mind, I went out and took all the advice KR had gotten after she posted her little announcement on Facebook. I had the "you can do this!" mantra and mindset and stopped looking at my feet. I used to like the measurement of my progress, concrete square by concrete square, but just looking ahead helped me just be and go. I ran the longest I ever had without stopping- a full 1.78 miles. 

Like I said, my shins and calves are KILLING. I'll do yoga (yay internet videos!) tomorrow and Thursday, as well as finding a way to go 4 miles, a combo of running and walking, taking Lucy with me to TIRE HER OUT- GRRR- on Thursday. If I can get out of my head for 4 miles, I can do the 3.1 miles, pushing myself like none other, on Saturday.

Now accepting any and all ideas/tips! 

Here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

A big "enh"

The roomie warned me this would happen. North Carolina likes to tease you! It was nice and cool last week, I was prepared to bust out the boots and sweatshirts for the rest of the year... and then on the run yesterday, I was SWEATING! Its supposed to hit 80 today. This is me back to going "what the heck?!" about NC weather again! 

I'm sticking with my current outside route, and don't worry, I left my keys at home, hidden in a little spot where I wouldn't think anyone would try to take them. Nobody tried to come in the house while I was gone, so it worked out. To map my route, I use gmap-pedometer.com . Below, you can see how it tells me how far the route is , so I can change it to increase or decrease the mileage. You can either save the route or share the link, which makes it a lifesaver when I'm trying to decide on a route with a friend, so they can see what/how we're going. 
 
Another lifesaver feature with it is the elevation maps they have, like the one above. You can see my current route has a quick downhill, then pretty substantial uphill, main level path, and ends on a nice downhill. I realize races won't be this easy, but if you run my hometown's Steamboat Classic,  they set it up like this- begin on an uphill, flat 2 miles or so, then end on a downhill.

My 2.6 miles went fine yesterday. Nothing great, nothing awful. I was listening to a new mix of music, and I ended up skipping lots more than I actually listened to. I have just a little soreness in my back, but nothing some good stretching can't fix!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

The journey of a thousand miles...

...begins with a single step. Today, I made that step. I've always said I only run if the cops are chasing after me or if my life depended on it, two situations that don't normally come up. My mom- who became a runner late in life- sent me an e-mail this past week, part mocking, but maybe part serious, telling me about an update to a run she'd done the previous year at my alma mater. They were going to have a 5k on Friday night and then a 10k, half-marathon and full marathon on Saturday. Doing the Friday run and a Saturday event gets you a special medal, t-shirt, and happy feeling :) This got me thinking... And then I remembered- I have had to run for my life this past year! As a grad student in ag (trust me, I'll talk about this more), I've spent some time in my life on some seriously weird pieces of machinery, like the one you see me on above. There's a container for coolant on the outside of that machine, and on Memorial Day this year, my boss was driving the machine. It was 5pm, we had 10 plots left to harvest, and he reached back to check the coolant levels. As soon as he did, this white cloud emerged and EXPLODED. I literally turned around and ran, for what I thought was my life. Knocking down the wheat plots in an effort to beat the creepy white cloud, I was sure that my boss had been killed, or at least seriously injured. Half a field away, my fellow grad student thought he was going to be the only one surviving the drive back home that night. Everyone lived and my boss had a nasty burn on his arm, but I realized that yes, I actually have had moments where I thought it necessary to run for my life, so why not actually go collect a cool medal with my mom.

I'll be following the cool running "Couch to 5k" plan since for all intents and purposes, I am a couch bum in the running world! I looked at the plan before I left to go to the gym, but the numbers got a bit messed up. I did the "brisk" 5 minutes at a 3.5mph pace, then did 90 seconds jogging, 60 seconds walking for 20 more minutes. My walking was around a 3.7-4.0mph pace and my running was a 4.7-4.9mph pace, although my last jog I pushed myself to 5.5, just because I knew I still had it in me :D I went 2.5 miles and sweated BULLETS!

I followed it up with 20 minutes on a stationary bike, just kind of ambling as I read my Real Simple magazine.

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd