Week In Review: 8/15 - 8/21

Sun 8/15  Disc golf at park near Galloway's house

Mon 8/16  group ride, 23 miles easy

Tue 8/17  track: 1 mile warmup, 4 x 800, cool down. 3 miles total running.

Wed 8/18  4 miles in 39:01 (9:50 pace)

Thu 8/19  17 mile bike ride with Richard

Fri 8/20  off

Sat 8/21  8 miles! Around Mason.

running: 15 miles

biking: 2 hours 37 minutes / 40 miles

Monday Night Ride

Monday night's group ride ended up just being me and Rich, which was fine. We were both on the same page about not wanting to do a whole lot of miles really fast. He's trying to build his base back up. I'm trying to...well, I never had a base to begin with. So I'm just trying to do something aside from running that will help make me stronger. The difference? Rich is 60. I really hope to be in half as good of shape as him when I'm 60.

We headed north on the trail as usual. And turned off at South Lebanon to tackle some small hills on the roads. It went by nicely. It was such a great night for a ride.

Back on the trail we rode side by side again and chatted. We were pretty much talking the entire ride except for the times on the road. Rich is a really cool guy. He's done a lot of different things and knows a lot of interesting people, so always has something to say about most subjects. Topics we touched on: art, marketing, trade show displays, homosexuality, dogs, church, photography, retail, biking, and friends. In no particular order.

And it wasn't over when we got back. Rich went over to UDF and grabbed a 6 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager and two small bags of pretzel nubs. We went in the bike shop and poured our beers into water bottles. The shape of the bottle made it foam up pretty good, but there was plenty of room in it for the 4 inch head. Then we went back outside and enjoyed our post-ride snacks on the chairs in front of Starbuck's, laughing that Glen was missing out. More talk of photography and music was had while we drank our recovery drink. 

It was 34.6 miles done in almost 2.5 hours. Nice and slow, but still really good. I'm pretty sore today and was so tired this morning when the 6:00 a.m. alarm sounded. Now I've just had the crappiest shake from a place here in Loveland that touts itself as a nutrition store. I thought they were slicing up bananas and crushing nuts to put in my shake in the back room where they were making it. Turns out they were just adding two scoops of powder and hitting "blend".  I feel duped.

Another 8 Miles

Saturday morning, Casey and I ran 8 miles from my house. The run was quite different from last weekend for many reasons. An important and welcomed one was cooler temperatures and a sun that hid behind the clouds the entire time. Another was it wasn't the flat trail. And yet one more was that we took Gu half way through, which helped fuel the last half.

All in all, everything felt good for me. My legs took a few miles to "wake up" and stop hurting. They were just super tight, feeling like there was pressure in them. Once that was over, I just battled the breathing and being weak. Our first 4 miles was completed in 42:02, which was a great pace. The last half was 42:21...still a fine pace. But I really slowed down every time there was a hill. I couldn't talk because I was breathing so hard. I wanted to stop many times. 10:30 should have felt easier.

I probably dwell on it too much, but I hate feeling so weak and I'm really just very mad and in a funk about it right now. It's not like I haven't done this before for crying out loud. This time should be better, I want it to be better. I am not sure what to do. I know improvement always takes time. I guess I'm just not working hard enough.

Bike Ride with Richard

Richard was in town today and posted some notes on facebook to me and Greg about skipping work and going for a bike ride with him. Well, since I work for myself, this was a biking opportunity way too difficult to pass. On top of that, I had to miss spinning (possibly the good music class - I don't know yet) this morning because of a meeting with a fellow Chamber member. I was thinking I'd go for a slow run after work before this jewelry party I am going to, but yay! Bike ride! With a person!

We met at 12:15. Richard had his stepdad's "practice" bike. It looked old and pretty stripped down. It had really old clip-in pedals and he had shoes to go with it. He had never ever worn clip-in shoes, so was a little nervous about that at first. But once he did it and clipped in and out a few times while holding onto the bench, all was good.

We went up the trail starting at a leisurely pace. Then Richard asked what I usually bike at. So we did that - averaging around 16 mph. But I wasn't feeling it today. Monday night we cruised up the trail at 18/19 but 16 felt pretty difficult for some reason today. Oh well, at least tomorrow is a rest day!

It was a good time chatting about triathlons, duathlons, running, biking, Erin's crazy 100 hour work weeks, his new job that is starting Monday, his Ultimate Frisbee league (which is competitive) and Louisville. 17 miles flew by.

On the last stretch, Richard suggested we go hard the last 1.5 miles. I tried. But I just didn't have much in me! I managed to hold 20 mph for a bit, but it was pretty pathetic. After we got back, I had a Tiger's Blood flavored shaved ice. Then I rode back to the studio. It was nice to get in a bike ride, and especially not solo. This week's workouts are pretty much all accounted for... we just have to do the long run this weekend! :)

Wednesday 4

FINALLY! Cooler weather!!!!

4 miles with Casey this morning was OK. I felt like we were moving along at a faster pace than we were. According to my watch, we were holding a 10 minute pace for most of the time. Then our last .2 push brought the average down to 9:52. I'm fine with that, but I was working. The best part was the cooler weather and no humidity. It was so nice to be able to breathe again. I still got winded on the slight hills, but I wasn't wheezing so that was great.

My legs feel good. Hopefully Casey's knee feels better after today with Advil and ice. And then we'll see what the weekend has in store for us. I think I'm going to start doing leg lifts, as a precaution for keeping my knees and hips aligned and happy. Simple little exercise that really seemed to help when I was in PT.

Track Night

We tried out a different track this week - the Sycamore Jr. High track. I'd been there with Fleet Feet running groups before and knew it was very much open to the public. It seemed so small compared to Mason. Only 6 lanes instead of 8, and the surface was a black old style one, probably part asphalt and part tires?

Tonight's crew was me, Greg, Roman, Erin, Christen and Christen's friend Paige. Shaun was absent. He's doing a 50K race this weekend. Crazy.

Anyway, we warmed up for a mile. There were some kids streaming onto the field, playing football and soccer and cheerleading/dance kind of stuff. There were also a lot of adults streaming onto the track. I figured there would be some Fleet Feet training groups going on. It got crowded quick. Unfortunately, there was no track etiquette followed whatsoever. Walkers just chose lanes and went along not paying any attention to what was going on around them. There were groups 3 to 4 abreast starting in lane 1 to lane 4. On a 6 lane track that had about 20-25 people going around it. Ug. I got to witness some crabby lady who was walking in lane 1 complain about Greg and Roman passing her. Right after they went by her, she haughtily started throwing her elbows around while complaining, as if to say she'd elbow them next time...and I passed her (on the left) at the same time as she was doing this. Crazy lady. It reminded me of the cars that drive 35 mph at an angle across the Meijer parking lot and then give you a dirty look and throw their arms up in the air when they have to stop in order to not hit you as you properly travel down the marked lane. Oy, people. Maybe I should make up some track etiquette flyers for next time. I would have thought the Fleet Feet coaches would have told them about lane speeds, but I guess not. We all had bad experiences this evening with these people, who clearly owned the track tonight. Next time we all decided we'd just start yelling "track!" and push when they don't move :)

Anyway, the workout was overshadowed by stupid people, but I still had a good run. I did 4 x 800, so ran a total of 3 miles. :)  The first 800 was a little quick, at 4:07. Then the next two were 4:17. Last was 4:20. I'm happy with it, given the unfortunate distractions the entire time.

Back on the Road, er Trail

It's been weeks since I've been on my road bike. Well, I guess since the Caesar's Creek duathlon - so about a month. I have noticed my fitness lacking since I haven't been on the bike as much. So, it was time to get back into it. 

I took one spinning class last week but that's it. So I wanted to ease back into it and not hurt my knee, which seems to complain while I'm on the bike. I think it's mostly because I don't ride enough and then all of the sudden do 35 miles with hills. A little shocking to the system. 

I talked to Rich at the shop and he was fine with just doing 20. I was prepared to drop off when I needed to and let them continue the ride they wanted. But Rich also wasn't up for a very long ride. He was on vacation last week and just doesn't have the base right now, so didn't want to go really far. So at South Lebanon, we parted. Glen went out to do hills on the roads while Rich and I turned around for an easy cruise back to the shop.

Now that it was just two of us, we road side by side and chatted the entire way back. That's the most I've ever talked while on a bike ride. I've been out with just Rich before on the roads after we dropped Glen and his teenage son, but it was roads and we usually couldn't ride side by side. The 11 miles back went by in an instant. We chatted about bike laws, crazy drivers and accidents that have happened to people Rich knows recently. We talked about ideas for campaigns that would help educate people and make this city into a more bike-friendly city (if that even really exists) and how companies like Trek could help. Then we talked about art and music. He's an artist, composer and adjunct professor at the Art Academy. It's pretty neat- he writes music and then does art representing the piece visually (website). Rich is a pretty cool guy and I really enjoy listening to him. He just turned 60 over the weekend...I hope I'm riding like he is when I'm 60. 

Once back to Branch Hill, we played in a little bit of traffic again and got back to the store. 23 miles total, and they were at a really easy pace. I think we averaged 15 mph. Perfect "get back into it" ride. I stretched last night and this morning and feel pretty good.

8.25 miles!!!

Saturday morning, Casey and I ran 8.25 miles...the farthest I've ran in a long time, and the farthest Casey has ever ran! There will be so many more weekends of this "farthest ever" running. It's really exciting for me. I keep thinking about the first time I trained for a half and also about my marathon training last year. It's fun to revisit all of the thoughts that go through your head when you're running farther and pushing your body. I love how every run is different, given how you feel or what your mood is.

It wasn't a cool day, but the shade of the trail helped. David and Elizabeth were in town, and Elizabeth was getting in a 10 mile run while we did 8. She headed out one direction on the trail and we went the other so we'd see each other later on our passing routes hovering near the water fountain. My GPS crapped out on me at the start. So I just started my timer at a mile marker and we went from there. Casey does math while running very well and always knew our average pace :)  However, I really want to figure out the GPS issues (was it just the trail, just the cloud-cover that day, or is the thing really just done) and maybe look at getting a new one. And definitely a replacement stopwatch for track and the shorter runs where we know the route is needed too. I miss my old, trusty, ugly stopwatch.

Our pace was super comfortable for me. I finally had a run where I could talk with ease and felt like I was holding myself back. I felt great, like a runner, and was having a wonderful run. We did the first two miles out and turned around. I did regret not taking my water belt. Next time I will; it's just too hot to not get water every couple of miles, when I want it. We stopped at 4 and drank. There was a church giving out bottled water and Casey took one. I can't stand carrying water in my hand when I run for some reason, so I opted not too, but I should have. What I shared out of Casey's was great - both drank and pouring on my head.

We saw Elizabeth as we headed out for the second half of the run. After we turned around, I really had to focus to stay at a pace and keep running. I couldn't wait to drink some water. It was a struggle and my body was definitely getting tired.

Elizabeth ran the last .1 or .2 with us and we were finally done. I downed a cold, cold bottle of water and splashed a lot on my face. I can't get over how good water tastes after a run like that. We chatted and stretched a little. Then I put my disgusting sweaty body in my car, sans towel, and went home to shower. I need to start remembering a towel. It's a little stinky in my car today.

So 8.25 miles done and I'm really happy with our pace of 10:25. The last two-three miles were hard, but it felt good. I'm not sore today either, which I'm super happy about. I can feel it in my muscles that I ran farther, but have no hip or knee pains :)  I love running.

Week in Review: 8/8 - 8/14

Sun 8/8  Disc golf at Mt. Airy, walking

Mon 8/9  spinning class, 1 hour

Tue 8/10  track: 1 mile warmup, 1 mile Indian Run, 1 mile cool down

Wed 8/11  4 miles in 39:01 (9:50 pace)

Thu 8/12  off, missed plan spin

Fri 8/13  off

Sat 8/14  8.25 miles! 

running: 15 miles

biking: 1 hour

*** Better week. Back into spinning again. ***

A Day of Desk Work

My plan to go to a spinning class at the comfortable time of 8:15 Thursday morning was changed by my lack of motivation to suddenly move on the large pile of work that accumulated Wednesday night via my inbox. That was a long sentence. Anyway, there are a few clients of mine who do some emailing at night... and want to "touch base" in the morning. I got up early to start the work, but it was slow going. I never got to a point where I could leave everything, and I was waiting on phone calls. So I didn't go, and that made me pretty grumpy. The rest of the day my ass was glued to the chair, working from home. Boooo.

Today is another day and I'm super glad it's Friday. With a scheduled run of 8 miles tomorrow, I don't really want to run today. But, I might be able to get myself out on the bike for a little bit this afternoon. I really feel like I need some kind of physical release. We will see. I'm looking forward to running 8 tomorrow. It's a good distance.

Wednesday Run Through Muck

4 miles in 39:01 = 9:45 average pace.

I felt like we were going a lot slower than this, and that my legs were about 6 inches shorter than usual. My stride felt forced and I just didn't feel that strong. But I guess I really can't be too upset with that pace for 4 miles in super humid weather.

Track Night in the Heat

I didn't do the 4 x 800 as planned. Everyone kind of felt like switching things up.

- 1 mile warm-up.

- 1 mile of Line Sprints? Not sure what to call this. Everyone runs in single file and then the last person sprints to the front... repeat for all people. BRUTAL. I think our mile pace ended up being 8:36, but it felt way more of an effort than that. That's what the heat will do.

- Some laps of cooling down. Christen had goosebumps - not a good sign. She was a bit too warm, so we ran a couple laps and then walked a few.

All in all, a great workout!

Catching up. Again.

Sigh I guess I'm bad at this. I don't know why my motivation for tracking my progress has been benched. I got excited for it again, then took a nice long weekend away from my focus.



Last week was good, but i'm not going to go into to much detail. Not all that much to note except for 4 days in a row of strong cardio work, and an interesting pain development in my right lower back/hip area.



Monday - Spinning

Tuesday - switched out 1 day of lifting for a 3rd day of running. 3 miles in the heat.

Wednesday - 4 miles with Steph

Thrusday - Spinning
Friday - Off
Saturday - 6 Miles on the trail
Sunday - Disc Golf at Mt.Airy. about 2 miles of hiking.

So, now onto this week. It's tuesday, and I have 2 days to report on so far. Monday was spinning of course. here's what I remember since my days seem to blur together;
It was a new music mix day. Karen said it was her first new mix in a few months, but honestly I don't ever remember a "new" mix. Sure there was the first time I've heard a few of her routines, but I don't think she ever called them new. Overall the music was good. All of it was instrumental... nothing poppy or programmed into a synth/mixer. I did make mental note of what was there, but I've forgotten already. Green Day, U2, and a few Muse songs were there, but not Knights of Cydonia as I requested. (oh well, It sounds like I don't have any room to complain. sorry Steph /sadface ). The seating arrangement for the day was pretty disadvantageous as well.
Really, the problem is that we've got a bunch of new people signing up for classes. It's not a problem perse, but they come in, choose a bike, and inevitably displace a regular rider from there normal spot. Inevitably, it's the slackers in the back row that get moved... because the new folks makes sure to be early, and will stake out a back row bike to stay hidden. Well, all of the regulars that like to slack... including super loud annoying girl get displaced to the middle row.... right behind me. And her partner in Slacker-crime, we'll call her The Enabler because she brings out the worst in SLAG, chose to move up with SLAG so they could chat each other up. Now, since the middle row of 4 bikes was half full with the displaced SLAG and Enabler, the shit rolled forward.
Monotone lady, whose annoyance trait should be obvious by her name, sat to my left. Generally she's only an issue when she's talking...and believe me I've had to talk to her plenty during my time at the 'desk. She has absolutly no inflection in her voice, none. Not even when she gets mad about something... But this is spinning class, and people don't talk that much, right? With Tweedle dumb and Tweedle dumber sitting behind her and a whole new level of annoyance was reached. It was terrible. Some comic relief was found though. Monotone, who is reletively new to the class(3 weeks perhaps), and doesn't fully particiate (she never leaves the saddle), makes fantastic faces when she's pushing. I wish I had a secret camera so I could record it and play it back over and over. Also, she doesn't this crazy repetative tongue thing were she sticks it straight out again and again. perhaps she's licking her lips but it sure didn't look like it. OK OK enought co-worker bashing.
The class went pretty well. I'm not sure if the fans were situated differently or what, but my sweat puddles werent as large as normal. It was the usual routine of hills and speed work. Near the end of class, there was a double hill. The second song was Muse Hysteria, which is very slow and driving. It was so slow, that I really needed to pedal faster than the cadence. Anyway, for whatever reason, be it super human capabilities, or just a worn down breaking system, I was able to completly max out the resistance on the bike. The knob wouldn't turn any more, and the pedals weren't that far behind. I've been staying in the saddle for long hills, instead of getting out to ease up the work on my legs, but I couldn't this time. I had to get out. And when I sat down again, and slowed up just a bit, the pedals came to a complete stop. It was a good class. Karen and I talked for 20 minutes after class about running into each other this weekend on the trail, the people in the class that don't try very hard and how it frustrates her, and the thought of starting an intermediate class.

Tuesday Running.
So, now that we're training for the half marathon in October, I've dropped a lifting day for another day of running. I think it's going to be tuesday going forward, but I've always got Friday to alternate out if needed. Today was 3.5 of the treadmill. I decided no to try to run outside so I could keep the sweat factor down. Last week I did 3 outside, and I sweat for an hour after my shower. I started off listening to ESPN (tv), then HGTV, but resorted to Meshuggah - obZen. It's a hard album for me to listen to. Much like catch33, the songs just seem to flow together on obZen... but this makes for a good run soundtrack. Meshuggah and I went running along. It was good.

First Spin In a While

This morning I dragged myself out of bed, after hitting the snooze in my sleep once, and made it to the community center for 5:50 a.m. spinning. I haven't been in months!

The community center is looking good. Still under construction, but I think it's going to be pretty awesome when it's done. 5:50 a.m. is early and I need two alarms. I just put my clothes on and left. I had everything set out the night before and came back home for a shower so I didn't have to think too hard about what to bring. I was up later than I had hoped to be last night, so I kept it simple. Ah, the convenience of living close and working for myself.

When I woke up I was really hungry, so I grabbed two peanut-butter filled pretzels...as if that was really going to help, lol. Just a sign of my grogginess I guess. After I got there, I paid my month and class fee and was on my way. The bikes are back in their old room, which is much bigger and roomy. I got my bike set up and the instructor came in. I've been in her class once before, and didn't really remember what she was like except that she was big on the heart rate thing. I played along and checked my heart rate throughout the class. It was a bit high.

There were only about 7 people in the class... odd. I guess maybe since it's summer there aren't many people making it in? Or it's not the new year? We warmed up and then did some short sprints and then hill climbs. The biggest set of stuff we did was 10 standing hill climbs, 1 minute each with 1 minute seated recovery. The last 20-30 seconds of that recovery was usually a sprint. It took me a while to get back into being able to judge how much I could push. The 10 climbs went by pretty nicely. Then we did a ton of jumps, 5 seconds each, then a set of 15 second ones. There were other variations of hills. This class was definitely a hill class rather than a sprint class, which was fine by me.  

The music. Oh disappointment. It sucked. It was more of a background thing (wasn't very loud) and just wasn't good spinning or workout music. There was nothing coinciding with what we were doing. For crying out loud, "It's Raining Men" was played. Sigh. I need to get it out of my head that I'll ever have a "Karen" or a "Karen playlist" and just focus on the physical stuff. But man, when the music is driving and/or fitting, it just helps so much and is so much more fun! Thursday's class is taught by a different instructor, the one I used to always have, so maybe it will be better even if it is Top 40.

Even though the music left a big hole of disappointment in my workout soul, it was still a good hour long workout. And I was reminded how beneficial spinning is – I need to remember that. For this class, I was definitely back in the "just get through this class" mode rather than pushing mode. So after a couple of weeks and a couple more crappy light rock songs, I'll hopefully be there.

Long Run on the Trail

Saturday morning Casey and I did our first official long run for the half marathon training. We met at the trail and did the out 1.5 mi and back, water break, and out the other way 1.5 mi and back to get to 6 miles. 

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning with no humidity. Nice change (though I suppose it didn't last long, looking at this week's forecast). For the first 3 miles, I felt great. The last 3 were more difficult. I became tired. My body felt pretty slumped. While we managed to maintain the 10:00 mile pace, it got hard for me. I was pretty frustrated with this. That pace for 6 miles on the flat bike trail, on a pleasantly cool and dry day should have been cake. I should have been able to talk easily and bounce along, just doing the 6 because that was what is on the schedule. It wasn't the case for me. However, Casey did awesome, and I'm very glad for that! (You're rocking it already! And thanks for pulling me along those 6 miles!)

By the time I got home, I was 100% disappointed in my slowness. I'm slow and I hate it, but this run also left me feeling weak. So, solution for the crappy running and feeling of loss of strength: back to spinning/biking I go. It was something Casey and I talked about during the run briefly, and now that I've thought about it more, it really makes sense and is important. Earlier in the year, I had been biking a lot more and was reaping the benefits of the added physical benefits on my runs. 

So enough dwelling on that. If I get all of my work done for LC tonight and don't find myself having to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to work, I'll instead get up at the butt-crack of dawn to go over to the community center, re-establish my membership, and take the damn early 5:50 - 6:50 a.m. spinning class. I am pretty motivated and know I'll love it...once I get there. It's been so many months! So I too will hopefully be spinning Mondays and Thursdays. Thursday the class at the community center is at 8:15 (woohoo!). Monday nights I can still plan to go on the shop ride or spin, whichever I feel like. This week there isn't one, so spinning it is. 

Other than this Saturday's run, I only ran Wednesday. It was a crummy week for schedules. And my hip. Which is fine now. Well, it still hurts, but I feel like it's back in "maintenance" pain :)  I've been doing a lot of stretching on the floor. Today's round of disc golf was probably a good thing for loosening up sore legs/joints. Walking is always good for that.

Lapse!

In posting! Aaaahh!! I think I've just been overly-computerly-stimulated. ly.

Anyway... the last week of July... it's kind of a blur and unfortunately I didn't post anything on my logyourrun log. Not sure how I managed that. :(  All I know is that I ran Tuesday and Wednesday... and I think I ran Thursday? Something ate that part of my brain that was last week. I know I wanted to run Friday, but didn't. Likewise with Saturday - slept too long before having to leave to go up to Perrysburg.

So on to this week then! Starting with Sunday...and kicking off the half marathon training!!! I ran 7.5 miles in Perrysburg. Went down to Sidecut Park and ran on mostly shaded trails and it was AWESOME. I wish I had something like that so close to my own house.

I stretched after that run, but Monday I noticed my right leg was really tight, specifically my hip. Then it flat out hurt like hell. It hurt to walk and lift my leg up when seated while my leg is extended or bent. I wake up every time I move in bed at night because you use that part of your body to propel yourself one way or another. Ouch. I have been here before. It was the cause of my first ever therapy session at Oxford Physical Therapy with Hot Rob. I was training for the Columbus marathon and my hip tightened up like this to the point I couldn't run without it hurting. So I went to therapy, got exercises, poked, e-stemmed, iced and stretched all a few times and everything was fine; I went on training and ran the marathon with no problems. I also learned all about hip flexors, how complicated they are and that my hips in general are weak. So I'm not worried about it, I just have to work on my hips again. Get out the elastic bands and start my side step crawls through the house. I seem to be a lot more high maintenance these days. Must be that over 30 bullshit.

Anyway, I was very very happy with the 7.5 miles! I took Monday off, and Tuesday also, unplanned. Track plans kind of fell apart. Roman was traveling, Shaun had to work, Christen's back hurt and Greg didn't want to go. I wanted to go, but considering my hip, thought it would probably be better to rest another day and get it under control. Which leads us to this morning's run. Casey and I went 4 miles and my hip is fine. It is fine while running - I don't feel a thing. I can feel it now if I try to lift my leg, but I do think it's better than yesterday. I've been stretching and rolling my little heart out, and will continue to do so. Damn high maintenance hip flexors. But I'll take this over the IT band crap any day!! :)

So there - now I'm caught up. Sunday 7.5 and Wednesday 4. Already more miles than I've been running in past weeks! Tomorrow I will probably try to go for an easy bike ride. Just about 15 miles without straining anything but getting my heart rate up. I've been eating better this week, which is a nice change. I'm wondering if I can start dropping weight again, since I've plateaued after Greece. I definitely have room to lose more and then get more toned. We've got 12 weeks until the half, so maybe I can drop 10 more pounds. That would be a super-fit ideal weight for me.