Run more, blog less?

Scatterbrained...

• I am now a mentor for... a HALF-MARATHON training program! Its actually amazing and wonderful because my mantra used to be "I don't run when it's above 70*" and I think out of the 8 runs I've done in the past 3 weeks, only one has been under 70. It sucks, I "glisten" by mile 1 and then sweat like a dog the rest of the way, I chug water like a pro from my new hydration backpack, and when its all over, I stretch until I'm putty, including the pesky upper leg muscles that aren't helped by sitting at work all day, and then drink some aaaaamazing protein recovery drink.
• I am stupidly happy when I run. Like, that and a good cup of coffee and I might be dancing all day at work. 
• My job? Amazing! I have lots of fun, its challenging but not so much that I run screaming because I have no clue what's going on, but I know there's lots to learn and the support I have around and above me is top notch. 
• Other super cool thing about my job?  My boss runs! He goes out during the day, even when its 11:30, sunny, 90*, 80% humidity... I ran with him and this other guy that is in a related division last week. I'm still acclimating to running and I knew that I would be slow, but the men were running my spring pace and I'm in out of shape summer pace :/ We'll see how I do when I keep training and it flippin' cooooools down!
• Final "yay!" thing about my work- the shower is amazing! Like... better than Huck's house! Might have to utilize that more this winter, run when its still light outside from work, shower, and hopefully rush hour traffic will have somewhat cleared by then. Oh my plots!
• Speaking of plots, talking to my mom tonight, I said "have I told you about my evil plot?" I'm sort of worried because her reply was "which evil plot?" I swear it was running related, but I'll tell you when I put where my money where my mouth is :)
• Back to mentoring- I LOVE the other woman mentoring the pace group with me since she's chill, laid back, total opposite of me, but when we get to rough parts, we're both offering up the "head up, shoulders back, hands loose" etc form cues. The people in the group are also neat- upbeat, thankful to be there, determined, and a lot of fun to talk to :)

So... I stink. The roomie tried to wash the shower curtains today (thanks!) but it failed, so she was out stimulating the economy when I got home and now that I'm thoroughly ripe, its time to shower :) 

Here's to the next TV timeout :)

-Syd

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

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

Things that make me go run...

1. Pushup babies. Let's be honest here.
2. The defined leg muscles. Not just the calves, although seeing the side cut and the split calf muscles are nice, but when you get them in your thighs too :)
3. Waking up at 6:30 and realizing the temperature outside is 50. Just 50. When you know that moments of late spring are quickly fading, 50 makes a warmblooded girl like me put on my socks and get OUT ZE DOOR! 

That was my story Thursday morning, and I was so blindly happy, I just went out the door with the music, no tracking app started. I went right up the baby hill, got to the end of the street, turned around and did the big hill until I hit the other end of the street. I always try to make myself go beyond the apex of hills, so I went to the fire hydrant, turned around, and hoofed it home.

The route was around 3 miles and I figured it was just a good "loosen up the legs, kill some hills" before Saturday's planned flat 10k. No clue on time or pace, and sometimes you just need to run, get out of your head. I mildly give up on getting out of my head, so now I just take those worries and pray. I figure that's more productive!

Up next? One of the most frustrating events of my life, which was followed by quite possibly the cutest event. Trust me...there's already 20 pictures of the cuteness!

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

Bargaining for the Win

I'd gotten so used to the SC plan telling me to do an EZ 2 miles on Mondays that I just thought that's what I had to do again for Monday, and when I got home and was comfy in my chair, ready to destroy the kitchen cook more, I definitely got to a sad face when I went to confirm my target pace, and maybe finagle the run for Tuesday, not comfy Monday night, and discovered this week is all short runs but Monday was an EZ 4, not 2!

By this time, Huck, who had done p90x and biked over to my house to run with me and would have to bike the 3 miles back to his place when we were done, was game for 4. We bargained back and forth, played with routes on mapmyrun, and settled on a flipping hilly 3. I got out of my comfy cooking clothes and actually put a damp wash cloth on my back and tucked into my bra straps to help keep my cool. There's a heat wave rolling over Raleigh this week and I'm so not used to this running in 77+ heat! (Side note- its supposed to hit 90 multiple days this week, so maybe its kismet that no long runs this week mean less time to be in the heat, but still get acclimated to running in it... sneaky sneaky!)

Huck and I didn't talk about pace for this run, but he'd basically echoed KR's sentiments of "there's no reason for you to run 11 min miles when you can run 8:30s during speedwork for a mile and not collapse by the side of the road" at lunch on Saturday, so I was bound and determined to keep up with him. Did I mention that he'd already been working out for 75 minutes before we started running?! Total point of personal pride to not let this pre-tired man beat me! I just didn't want to run 11 min miles- I'd take 10:45s and say the heat and the hills were my lesson, so I was alright when, at 7 minutes in, the GPS app told me we were doing just that, 10:45s.

The route was running one street end to end, plus a little beyond one end to make it 3 miles and still have a long cool down to look forward to. The I wasn't used to the first part of the run, but it was an uphill, turn around, come back down, down, down, kill the evil hill I always mention, keep going, turn around, run down the hill, the end.

People who train on flats crack me up. In fact, I signed up for a race Mother's Day weekend and since its within running distance of the beach, methinks it'll be pretty flat. Can't WAIT to destroy that 10k!

Anyway, the second time I heard our pace, we were at the bottom of the long evil hill, and we'd dropped down to 10 min pace. I literally laughed outloud to Huck who was a few strides ahead of me. Normally, I'd yell at him about being a bad pacer, but I knew he was just pushing through, and it challenged me to a) keep up with him instead of slowing him down and b) get into my own little uncomfortable groove. I definitely couldn't keep a conversation, but I could eek out "you okay?!" every now and then.

At the 2/3 point up the hill (trust me, I've run this road way too many times to know just where I get to look forward to a break in the hill), Huck doubled over, and I kept running, but I was the good gf and turned around to see how he was doing. He waved me on, so I kept trekking. Before we got to the top of the hill, though, he had passed me again, but he had to stop again at our brief moment of flat, and when he told me "I feel like $***", I told him to just walk back, I'd pass him when I'd turned around. Yes, this sounds mean, but he told me to come run with him that night and "kick my @$$!"


I cheated the turnaround a bit because I knew Huck was back there struggling, and I figured that knocking off .2 miles when I had these hills around me wouldn't make or break me. I'll add it on to another run this week! I picked up the speed down the final hill when I realized I was due any minute for another update to say I'd been going for 28 minutes, so I wanted to finish the roughly 3 mile course before I got that notification. Final stats:

Like I said, warm night, flipping hilly, but I pushed. I feel great this morning, and my little damp washcloth helped keep me cool. It was great to have when we walked back on the cool down. My face turns into a salt lick when I run, so clearing that off and having a cool relief made a world of difference.

Gotta go put my big girl suit on! Not one but TWO interviews today!

Here's to the next TV Timeout!
-Syd

When the GPS gets stuck, just keep going

SmartCoach, my new best frenemy, told me to go run 8 miles at a 12:35 pace today. Since I'd been shooting for ~1.5 minutes faster than what SC tells me, I wasn't too worried when RunKeeper told me I was running an 11:34 pace, I figured I would pick it up as I warmed up. For these long runs, I figured since I was getting tired of campus, the evil NC Art Museum hills and near where I live, it was time to go on an ADVENTURE!

I've hiked quite a few miles of trails at Umstead State Park and the only time I'd really been on the bike and bridle packed gravel trails was to cut short a hike but there are lots of races that go through there, so it was time to go try it out!

I parked near the trail heads on the bottom of that map piece. We took the orange dots east to the road, then onto Reedy Creek Lake Trail. I'd read somewhere that the Airport Overlook was 3.1 miles, so I knew somewhere after that, we'd have to turn around. I part spaced out and part didn't want to have the voice in my head telling me how fast or slow I was or how much more I had to run.

Ignorance was total bliss! Huck and I passed these two guys running up a hill and smiling when we weren't even 1 mile in. Crazy guys, smiling while going up a hill! Except... we figured out why they were smiling! They were all DONE with hills! Seriously... I'd heard people say some crazy things about these hills, so I should've been more clued in, but this hill just kept winding around and going up and for every crest, there would be 2 seconds of downhill, NO FLATS and then more hill!

At 3 miles in, Huck got a call from his roommate explaining that he'd locked himself out and he needed to do X, Y, Z and etc. Huck explained we were 3 miles in and thus 3 miles away from a car, but we still had more to do. It was at this point that the GPS app stopped, which we didn't realize for who knows how long. Having never been on the trail, I wasn't certain of the random open space as the airport overlook, sooo we kept running. We were about to just say "enh, screw it!" when we saw a billboard shelter thing with a map in it, so we ran to that and realized we'd gone to the park's edge! Yeah, we ran to the right edge of that map slice which connects to a county park and a Cary greenway, definitely past 4 miles.

I was flat out deliriously happy at this point and both Huck and I turned on our GPS apps so we could figure out the "out" from the "back." Plus, we knew that all those hills we'd had to climb up the first 2 miles were going to be nice easy downhills to cruise down! ... except we forgot about that first hill, the one where we cruised down and Mr. Happy smiled up :/ I tried, oh how I tried, to kill that hill, especially since I know next Saturday I get a 1 mile uphill 8 miles in to my race but when we rounded a corner and Huck's "motivational" gasp was "yeah, don't look up" because we still didn't see the top of the hill, I winced and realized I couldn't quite keep my breath :( Some other runners passed us (sad face) and I had this "enh, good for you" which is neeever a good thing!...until we saw the pavement, our agreed upon stopping point. We kicked our butts from walking into "dear heaven, let us just be done" with a little friendly sprint race to see who would be first through the gate and we were DONE! (Huck won, which isn't all that surprising- he's faster/stronger but doesn't have the pink shoes like me ;D )

The final "back" stats were 4.3 miles at 10:53 pace, 500 calories burned for moi. For an 8 mile 12:35 long slow run, my 8.7 at sub-11 has me deliriously happy! Ice, NSAIDs and compression sleeves are my best friends, especially since the muscles around my butt are sore! Guess that's how you gain/lose a butt, going up those hills?! Good thing I got my interview pants taken in this week!

Here's to the next TV timeout!
-Syd

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

You want me to do WHAT?!

Prescribed run: 2 miles at 12:35 pace
Actual run: 2.11 miles at 10:26 pace

How did I get that "prescription" you ask?! Well, you see, on the heels of that "ok, let's run a 2 hour half!" conversation with Huck, I explored around Runner's World website and found their "Smart Coach." The target race is Nov. 4, and it took some finagling, but I finally input all the right stuff to get the end race distance to 2:04, the closest it would get me, based on my first half results. And yeah, it spit out this for the first week. Yes, a 30 week plan starts with this :

PS Mom? If you put in my 8k time (55 mins), it starts you out at 12:30 pace and finish out at a 2:10 half, just sayin'!

It was supposed to be "easy" but Huck and I kept pushing each other. As he pointed out, a couple months ago, I'd yell at him, tell him he was fired, if he pushed pace. Now?! When my shins KILL on the uphill and I switch to the balls of my feet, I match his stride length and turnover and he warns me "don't push pace too much!" because our "easy" run has quickly turned into a "I'm not backing down, are you?!"

Running at 6pm was kind of BLEGh especially when you add the fact that maybe 200 feet of the run was flat?! It was 72, pretty sure cars kept kicking up dust into my eyes as I ran, and my mouth was parched by the time I was half up the hill. Loved that beyond the half point, Huck turned around and said something generically motivating and we had a hilarious "this is how I hurt" ... and kept running.

If I stayed on the balls of my feet as I ran downhill, I could match Huck's turnover and it hurt WAY less running! I also made sure to stretch like crazy when I got home. Like always, I have to remind myself that I just have to get past the first 5 minutes of the run and life is ... well, life?!

Oh, and as for the prescribed plan? I'll play it by ear, do what feels easy, even if its (hopefully) way above pace for SmartCoach :)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

"Oh my gawd, you're beautiful"

I'm still in that post-run high, so with apologies for the scatterbrained, here goes the list:

1.  Loving that song right now! Hit play, and keep reading :D
2. Also super happy the weather in NC cooled back down a little so I didn't have to wake up before the sun to beat the sub-50's to start my run. Started out around 9am when it was sunny but 48*. As a "thank you" gift for mentoring for the 8k program, we got Brooks compression arm sleeves, and I had one on my right arm. No real reason except I wanted to rock the one sleeve look?! I took it off when I started warming up, about 2 miles in and tucked it into my shorts. Was suuuuper tempted to tuck it into my back and give myself a tail but when you're already wearing a neon green shirt that says "I got lucky..." on the front, well, I was standing out :/ Oh, and I totally rocked my aviators! I got "sport" sunglasses but they keep  trying to slip off my face, so I decided that even though my $10 polarized metal frame aviators aren't DESIGNED for running, if they work, go with it!
3. Totally about to make these babies when I'm done, although I am lacking green chiles. Good thing the Grub Cat around the corner has less than zero standards for my post-shower high fashion!
4. 
   Had an AMAZING post run high going on (will explain later), and even realizing that Huck and I had been locked out of his place didn't dim it much. Again, the weather was BEAUTIFUL, so we watered the new plants in the front, the food garden in the back, even the brussel sprout plants the bugs are devouring, and sunbathed on his deck as we relished the fact that at least BOTH of us stank :) Huck now has lantana and a blue (fave color) hydrangea (favorite flower) growing in his front yard. It looks super put together now. He's raising the bar for all his neighbors, muwhahahaha.
5. I'm going to probably keep running for as much as I can this summer, even if it means dying in the heat. Might have to do the run 6 days a week thing and make the runs short and at the crack of dawn...so I say in April when July's heat and humidity hasn't begun to wreck its havoc, but if I build up momentum, I won't want to lose it. I've decided the next goal is a 2 hour marathon, which equates to about a 9 min pace. Keep in mind that I just did a 2:30 half, which is a 11:20-ish pace. That's 2 minutes/mile over LONG distance to cut. Oh, and the goal race is a nice and hilly one in November and has just become the NC Half Championships- no pressure! If I increase speed, doing long runs will be less annoying and time consuming and I might start being in the first half of the finishers for races! If I want to keep running into my 70's, I've got to build some speed to lose over the next half century! So, 7 months (including the brutal NC summer) to drop 2 minutes off my race pace?! That's why Huck said "suck up the pain for your legs and let's go." His lower calves are killing him, so going up hills was painful for him and watching Huck admit pain isn't something I see that often, especially since he likes to be all macho and tough for me ;) Meanwhile, my shin splints make hills somewhat of a relief. Yes, my gluteus maximus and thighs kill, but at least the shins go "wheee!!!" for a bit. Yin and Yang, Huck and I are!
6. Out of somewhere, which now that I think about it, I have no clue where that came from, Huck decided our magic min. distance for today should be 5 miles. I mapped out a course from his place, threw in a killer hill that's about a mile and when you've almost conquered it, ratches up the incline just as a "hey, how do you like me NOW?!" I always have to tell myself to just. keep. running. even after I get to the top, teach myself that yes, you can kill the hill and then keep going :) For speed nights with the 8k training group, we used to go .15 miles down the street and RUN up that hill, then do that 6 times. That makes ANY other hill you ever have to do seem like a breeze, straights feel like downhills and downhills feel like you're more than coasting :) Oh, and this hill was about the halfway point of our run. But, once we got to the top, I caught my breath and gave Huck the "we're through the worst of it, I promise!" and he kept plodding. 
7. We walked through the shopping center a bit after the aforementioned evil hill. Don't want to tackle/dodge Whole Foods Saturday morning shoppers! Oh, and its the complex where Fleet Feet is, I was wearing a shirt that boldly proclaimed my FF allegiance, sooo I decided to set a great example!
8. We had to stop to cross a super busy road, and we knew from about that corner to our stop corner was 2 miles, straight shot, a few busy streets to cross, so Huck and I looked at each other and just said "kill it?!" We know I can run 10:30 miles for a while, so our goal pace for this 5-er was to drop the pace by 10 seconds. Not much, but enough to make it a little uncomfortable but attainable. If we'd set 9:30s or even 10s for the goal pace, when we kept going too slow, I'd have burned out and gotten way too frustrated. 7 months to drop pace, this was a long steady run, so only slight pressure. I'd started my running app (I'm on to Map My Run now, btw since I can load my pre-determined routes onto it and then make sure I'm on track if its roads/turns I'm not familiar with mid-run) before we actually started, so it kept telling me I was doing 12, then 11 min average pace, while Huck's more accurately started app said we were doing 10 somethings. He hadn't given me an update in a while, so standing at the stoplight, we agreed to start leaving more of ourselves on the sidewalk- major hill killed, less than 2 miles to go, knew the pace needed to drop a bit to be on goal. Green light...
9. GO! Slight downhill, and I was just re-warming my legs up after standing at the stoplight for longer than my shins liked. About halfway up past Meredith College, Huck suggested we kick it up, but we were a bit too far from the stoplight for me to steadily maintain the burst I knew I had. There was this patch of shade and it looked like around there was where the sidewalk got another few degrees of incline, so I spit out a "not yet." We kept plodding, although this plodding was quite an attack, but under that tree, I just ZOOMED! Out of Huck's mouth? "Oh my gawd, you're beautiful," even as I had to maneuver behind a car that was coming out of the intersection and threatening to derail my utter slaying of the hill and leaving the bf in the dust. Best. running. compliment. ever?! 
10. We had to stop at the light at the almost apex of the hill and Huck paused RunKeeper, saw our new average pace and said "flippin' A, we're killing it, but I'm not telling you because I don't want you to slack off. Let's just keep going like this and... wow!"
11. Nothing like the past minute to keep you motivated, so we kept going... and going...and going... hit one more stoplight and plotted. "Leave it all out here? Less than a mile 'til home? Its okay if we can't keep it up, but let's just see..." as we faced these rolling hills. They sort of suck because you can't see the valleys from even 1/4 mile away. It just plain seems EVIL, darnit! We got down, up, down, and I eeked out a "I make no promises to X street", the next top of the hill "driveway!", telling Huck I promised the driveway halfway up the hill. But then we got there, and I was letting out some growls to remind the hill that I that it was my b**** and just. kept. going. I could see the top of the hill and downhill slope to our stop point, sooo why not keep it up? 
12. I pointed out a car that was a bit before our stop street to end at, just to make our cool down longer since we'd gone beyond 5, so really, the harm of an extra 200 feet of cool down? Nada. Huck agreed and after the last cross street it was ON! We raced and sprinted to the end and it was about this time that Huck checked his phone, stopped it IMMEDIATELY to not let our lazy walking interfere with this apparent miracle we'd pulled off. 
13. 5.3 miles. 9:56 average pace. Goal pace de. STROYYYYED.

14. Yeah, I sort of feel like the bug now. Half that, and half "I wanna go dance party it UP!" But its amazing to have that under your belt and know that your 600 calorie burn for Saturday morning is dunzo :) 

Have an AMAZING Saturday!

Here's to the next TV Timeout,

-Syd

P.S.

Put better than I ever could with AMAZING illustrations!

Happy Monday?!

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

Running Buddy

At our post-race celebration lunch on Saturday, lots of people started asking if Fred ran, since I'd been demonstrating my running prowess for weeks ;) His answer surprised me, sort of. I knew he hadn't run in a while (science calls!) but I had noooo idea that he could run a 5:40 mile in high school.

My weeks of joking that I could out-run (and now, out-pushup) him led to a huge *gulp*, especially when Fred agreed to go running with me Tuesday morning. Have I mentioned how much of a morning person he's not?! I actually made sure to get to bed early and set my alarm, picking him up at 6:45 for a 2 mile route I thought was way more flat than it was.

Guess I totally forgot about the extra hill that made the end of the run go \/\ , not the easy /-------\ I expected it to be. Do my little slashdot hills make sense? Anyway, my 2 mile course was a bit more of a kicker than I thought it would be, and when I had an empty tank going down the last hill, Fred finally broke away. 

It was only 70 outside, but I was drenched in sweat and stretched it out a lot afterwards. Even after a day spent running around a forest hunting for ticks in jeans (don't ask), and gladiator training that had lots of cross-fit added into it, my chugging water, stretching and smart eating led to a pain-free me today :) Well, except for the swelling on my hand from hitting it with a hammer while trying to get the rebar for the combat crawl in to the ground. The hammer was evil evil and had a meat tenderizing end to it and evil point on the other end so you had to watch your eyes AND your hands and I missed some times ;) 

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

1+2=3 for 4

Writing the title made me think of this song, and now it's in my head!!!

The No Boundaries run last night was a solid 1 mile, still doing 1 minute run, 2 minutes walk. Needless to say, that was sort of easy. Thankfully, there were 3 other women who wanted to do more, and, ta-da, at my pace!!! 

So off we went for 2 more miles, making 3 miles for the 4 of us :) A nice 5.6mph clip, while talking, made for a nice evening run.

Its literally taken me hours to write this, my brain is dead, and oh the thoughts rumbling through there. Let's just say, Gladiator training might just kick my butt...

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 ;)

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

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

Hurtz Donuts

 

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

"yeah!"

*PUNCH!*

"Hurts, don't it?!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gorgeous spot where I began/ended my run!

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

Grey's time ;)

Here's to the next TV timeout!

-Syd

PS-Birthday flowers :)

From the sisters

From Fred :)

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

in which I don't run

Yep. A blog where I document running but sometimes you have to document purposely not running, like today! KR and I went to morning yoga, then had some quality time on the ellipticals afterward. I had planned on taking Lucy out on a walk to make her be tired, but smushy-face is getting off easy, thanks to tons of rain! She hates the rain so much, that when it's time to take her out for potty breaks, she goes down the steps, then around towards the house to the area under the roofing. Smart/lazy dog!

I got some awesome news today and am super excited for the upcoming weeks :) Getting the 5k conquered this weekend will actually make me more excited to work out. I'll probably re-start more strength (yoga!) training and other aerobics, like biking! I'm clearly getting burnt out on running, so a nice break from it, but not from working out, is in the works. Besides, I was checking myself out in yoga today- she told us to, I swear!- and realized my butt's getting smaller :) 

On to the next TV timeout- and my first 5k!

-Syd