Thursday, July 31, 2008

arhghgh don't tell me it's only thursday



Yesterday night, I met my friends Sara and Harley at the Pine Hollow Trail head for a fun run organized by the Cuyahoga Valley National Parks Assoc. They offered a few trails that you could run, we chose the 5 mile loop that ended up being the same loop we did for the Muddy Paws. But that was fine, b/c it is super challenging. The trail has several very technical part and a lot of really steep hills/stairs. So, it was a sweaty, muggy, exerted 5 miler last night. I felt great when we were done, and made myself charge up the hills even if I had to walk it out at the top. We really enjoyed ourselves and capped the night with dinner at the winking lizard. For those of you who don’t know CVNP has a series of races in the fall, every Tuesday in Oct. They take place at different locations and you don’t know what you are doing until you show up. Once we did a team relay, once there was geocaching. It’s a great way to see the parks and have some fun. For $75 you can get all 5 races and a really kickass Pearl Izumi pullover with fall running series embroidered on the back and some of that money goes to the park. You can sign up online, go to the CVNP website or go into Fleet Feet. Good stuff. If you don’t want to fork out $75, you can just pay $5 for each run.

So, I didn’t get home until after 10 and by the time I was showered and in bed it was 11. 5:30 came way too quickly. But I knew Ilana was waiting for me so I dragged my tired body out of bed and ran 5 miles with her. We ran up Fairmount Blvd to Richmond road which is a steady incline that is deceptively hard. But you get to fly on the way back down. So, here I sit at my desk. My legs are pleasantly heavy, but I am tired. I didn’t get enough sleep and I prefer to have 12 hours between my runs if I can help it. Tonight if I can get home in time I want to go to yoga.

I am excited b/c I just printed out a HM plan for Gary. He wants to do the one I am doing in CA in Oct with me. I am thrilled! He’s never ran over 5 miles, but he is super fast and is totally built for running. I hope he gets the bug.
Do you find Patrick Stewart yummy? Baldness and accents = yummy in my world.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Hey there's a bandaid! And there, a clump of hair!

Lovely morning swim at the JCC. I had a real problem getting out of bed this morning. I can't even explain the issues I am having lately with my morning workouts. I cannot seem to get enough sleep. I have always been a morning person, but for 3 weeks now I wake up in a fog and let me tell you, it sucks, it sucks butt. But I made myself go this morning as I haven't swam in....drumroll please....3 weeks. The pool was nice and warm and it is so nice to see the sky as you turn to breath. But oohhh the junk on the bottom of the pool. So, I got my butt in the pool and I swam a mile and I kept my flippers on for most of it and I sucked. Wow, how many times can I say suck in one blog? Suck it! But I did manage to swim 300 straight with no fins or pull buoy. I decided I will stick with 1600 yards for a few weeks until I am swimming 2-3 times consistently a week, then work on getting one of those back up to around 3000 probably through a masters class.

Last night G and I had a nice bike ride, but it was obvious that it had been 2 weeks since I had been on my bike. I was having a severe tummy issue, but solidered through and was happy to have 20 miles under my belt. We were supposed to bike on Monday, but moved it to Tuesday night. Monday night we went and saw Wall E, it was great, you should really check it out.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Tuesday Random Stuff

I have nothing of interest to say today, so let me tell you some random stuff about me:

  • I had a pet baney rooster growing up named KC. I hatched him from an egg and he used to sleep in bed with me. When he hit puberty he got really violent and pecked my dad in the eye. My dad wore hard contacts back then, thank goodness or there could have been some real damage. Mom took KC back to the farm he came from after that incident.
  • I can't sleep on my back..period...can't do it, never will.
  • I never iron (just like boomer!). I hate it with a passion and more importantly I suck at it. I could spend an hour ironing and you'd never know it. I thank the gods daily for Downey Wrinkle release.
  • I am extremely crude and rude. I have a disgusting 4 year old sense of humor. I am not above telling anyone about how I almost pooped my pants running this morning, how my butt is itching right now and then totally scratching it, how i sometimes bite my toenails, burping cuss words or asking you to pull my finger and then ripping ass and locking the car windows.
  • I hate doing dishes and have no dishwasher. It makes me die a little everyday.
  • I like to sing a lot. To the point that when I drive to KY to visit my family I am usually hoarse by the time I get there. My karaoke jams are usually - Warm it up Kris, Bust a Move or Total Eclipse of the Heart
  • I love rap music, the more foul, the better. I am almost 30 years old, but still drive around with my windows down and Tupac blasting. I used to think that I would be the first white female rapper, I have not quite given up on that dream.
  • I love Davy Jones and once threw my bra at him and he caught it and swung it around his head while singing Daydream Believer.
  • I almost didn't go to prom b/c i couldn't get a date. Until the last min when I asked my friends little brother :(
  • I never played any sports growing up besides a short stint on the soccer team ( only 1 of 2 girls on the team) and one summer of tennis camp. I loathed sports until I started running. Well, I still loathe team sports.
  • I pretty much sit at work all day and figure out what I am going to do when I get home. I hate working. I am yet to find a job I enjoy even a teeny bit that will pay me what I want to make.
  • I have little to no patience. I hate waiting in line, I hate driving, I hate chess, I hate being on hold, I hate not moving at a rapid pace at all moments. Yep, nobody is perfect!
Monday, July 28, 2008

Wonderful Weekend

Oh bloggy friend where does the time go? I was having such a nice life and then all of the sudden it’s Monday! Ugh. I took Friday off of work and had such a great day. I made it to spinning and yoga class and cleaned my whole house and even managed to lay in my backyard for an hour just enjoying the nice weather. My sister and BIL made it to C-land around 5. Gary had to work a night job. So, the 3 of us had dinner at home and then went to see Batman. I really liked it, a bit too long, but it’s kind of like you get 2 movies in 1. When we got home, it was late. Already 11:30 and we made a ton of racket trying to get my sister to pull her car into our garage properly without hitting any of our junk. I felt bad b/c the neighbors house is right on our driveway and their dog started barking, then so did mine. Ugh. So, I let mine out to shush them and so they could go potty. They are in the backyard by our big giant willow tree and then Mushi comes running towards me chomping on something. I though “oh geez, he’s eating something, what the hell does he have” and I smack him on the bottom a few times and tell him to drop it, drop it! But then I realized, he’s not chewing, he’s foaming at the mouth! Shit. My dog got skunked right in the FACE. Poor guy, it must have been a direct hit to the mouth. I won’t bore you with the details, but the next hour sucked ass as my sister and I tried to scrub his poor face off, as that was the only place he got hit. My neighbor did wake up, but thankfully had some skunk shampoo. But for anyone who has had a pet skunked, you know none of that stuff actually worked. But it worked enough and now my whole house and Mushi smelled like skunk. Sleeping that night was rocky. Sat I was up bright and early b/c Mushi was rubbing his face all over the bed all night. Luckily I was smart enough to put an old quilt on the bed and not leave our duvet on there. Gary got home around 8 am and promptly went to sleep to recover from his night shift. Tina, Tim and I headed to Treemont to work at a fundraiser dog wash we were having for sharpei savers. Then we went to Lucky’s café for brunch and to the west side market. After that we pretty much lounged around and I had a hair cut and then it was time to get ready for the cornhole party. Which was a lot of fun. It was horribly hot out, but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I was glad some of my family got to meet some of G’s extended family. It was a great night and we ended it with smores around a fire! Perfect. Sunday morning we all had breakfast together and then my family headed home. I can’t even tell you how boring my Sunday was, I didn’t do a damn thing. I literally laid on the porch all day and read a book. It was fantastic. I cannot even remember the last time I sat still for so long when I wasn’t horribly sick. So, all in all it was great weekend. Did you have a nice weekend?

Tonight G and I are going biking, I won’t tell you how long it’s been since I was on my bike. But amazingly I have dropped 3 lbs over the last few weeks. When you are short, it’s amazing what difference something as small as 3 lbs can make. Hopefully I can keep up this momentum.
Thursday, July 24, 2008

Another day in paradise

Ahhhhhh it’s amazing what a nice run can do for your attitude. Yesterday I overslept and I felt yucky all day. I had a horrible head ache and I was nauseous. I totally forgot that I had made plans with Salty to run at North Chagrin after work until about 1 when I looked at my gmail. Uh oh. Then it started pouring down rain, which didn’t really get me excited to run, but I really didn’t want to cancel b/c I had to last time we had plans. So, I raced home to change and then over to North Chagrin. The rain was pouring downnnn. But thank goodness Salty didn’t change her mind b/c she got my butt out onto the trail and we had a great 5.5 mile run. It was wet, it was muddy, but it was a lot of fun. We didn’t run super fast, but I almost managed to get up the bad hill without walking! But the time we were done we were soaked through, but I felt so so much better. My headache was gone and my stomach had calmed down. So, big thanks to my preggers running pal for getting me out there. Girl still smokes me 5 months pregnant! Afterwards, I went home and had some yummy spaghetti and squash and then we walked the dogs. Taiko is still sick, he threw up 3 times yesterday, once on the bed! But his fever is gone. I think the upset stomach is probably due to all the aspirin I’ve been giving him to keep the fever down. But he is still not 100% better. My poor baby.

This morning I got up to run and my running partner stood me up! But I still managed to get 3 miles done and then did my ab DVD and some pushups. Then I spent the rest of the extra time doing some house cleaning. We are having like 30 people over Sat night (any bloggy friend is welcome to come!) and I have to get my house clean! I used the spare 20 mins this morning to walk around with one of those magic erasers and get the dog snot/slobber off of the appliances and walls and clean the guest room. Nice! Seriously, if you have never tried the magic eraser, they are amazing. They get anything off of the wall w/o hurting the paint.

Tomorrow I have the whole day off of work! Oh I have so much planned. On the to do list – run 6 miles, bike 10-20, mow the lawn, mop the floors, do like 20 loads of laundry, then sit on the porch and read and relax!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Where is my motivation?

I’m just not feeling it right now you guys. It’s like twisting my arm to get me to do anything besides run. I hate this feeling, but I know it will pass. I have gone through phases like this before, but they are usually only a week long. I am going on 1.5 weeks now since I rode my bike! Over a week since I swam! The only good news is that my running is on target. Slower than I would like, but I am getting the miles in. Running in this humidity sucks though. I have lifted a few times in the past few weeks and done yoga once. I am feeling run down and kind of yucky overall right now. Work is really stinky and Gary pulled a muscle in his back and has been out for the count for like a week. So, all of this has just kind of cumulated into a shitty workout attitude. I need to snap out of it. I have Friday off of work, so I am looking forward to that. My sister and brother in law are coming to stay too, so that is going to be fun.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesday

I worked from home today b/c Taiko is really sick. My poor baby has shar pei fever, which is a disorder, obviously just for shar peis. Mushi has never had it and usually if it is something they are going to have, they get it young. It's basically a really high fever and swelling in their legs, also referred to as swollen hock syndrome. He seems to be doing a bit better, but his fever has been so stinking high. I feel so bad for him....

Sara and I went to see Mamma Mia last night. Great flick. It was a lot of fun. I give it 2 thumbs up. I ran 3 miles today and was really struggling in the humidity. I was going to go out and run a few more, but now I am thinking I might just skip it! I have done a ton of housework today to prep for my sister/BIL staying with me this weekend and us having a party. I scrubbed the front porch, mopped the second floor, did like 20 loads of laundry which requires trips down the basement stairs, I put a new couch cover on our coach, dusted the windows and rehung some curtains, made 2 beds and scrubbed one bathroom. So, that other 3 miles just might not be happening! I do plan to swim in the morning though and ride my bike a bit in the evening. I have been so bad with the bike lately. I haven't been on it in....yikes 9 days! I was doing so well with 60-100 mile bike weeks, but now...0.0. Uh oh.
Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sunday wrap up

Well it's been a long week. Work really killed me. It's going to be bad at work for awhile, I will try and keep up on my blogging, but I got a large implementation to deal with. Such is life. I had a good 14 miler yesteday. It was hot hot hot. I feel sorry for those 30Kers that were out there. And this morning for the first time in forever, I went to yoga! I miss yoga so badly, it makes me feel strong (and a tad sexy!). My workouts lately have been more of a source of stress than enjoyment lately. So, I am going to be making some adjustments to my workout plans. Stick to the marathon training, but other than that I just want to do what I have fun doing. I don't know about tris right now, sprints wil be enough for me for awhile.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wow having to work is just killing my blogging time! I am so excited to get caught up on blogs of peeps that are doing lake placid this weekend. I cannot wait to read race reports. It looks like it's going to be beautiful weather. Placid is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. For those of you who live in my neck of the woods, it is worth the 8 hour drive for a mini vacation.

So, yeah, busy with work. I got a new account and I won't bore you with work stuff, but this isn't really a good thing, so I am a little sad. Monday I swam, Tuesday I ran, today I overslept so tonight I bike & swim. Tomorrow is run & bike, Friday Tracie and I are going to Fairport for an OW swim. Sat Sara and I are running 14 on the towpath, nice and flat to regain some confidence after the botched 10 miler last weekend! Sunday is brick day and Gary's little sisters 10th b-day party!
Monday, July 14, 2008

Sunburnt monday

Only have a few mins to write. I am going to be in training all week at work, so I don’t know if I will blog or not. I had a good weekend, hope you did too. It didn’t go totally as planned. Friday night I didn’t make the fundraiser, by the time I got home from work and the grocery it was already 8 and I was exhausted and Gary couldn’t go b/c he had to work, so I opted to just send in a donation and stayed home and read. Sat I went to the trail race, but it was just as hard as last year and I ran it with some friends and we opted out of the second loop and did the other 5 somewhere flatter. My time was so slow b/c we stopped for like 15 mins to help some guy with his dog that had collapsed from heat exhaustion, so I think I will take it out of my race list! Sunday was great, I met Beth and Janet and we rode the GCT course and the Fairport Harbor course. We met Tracie for a few miles too. Total we did 45. It was raining when we started and then hot as hell when we finished. Then we ran 6 miles. I was spent when we were done, tired, thirsty and sunburned, but I felt great! Love those hard workouts. Sunday night we sadly had to go to a memorial service for Gary’s friend who died. He had 2 kids and was only 40 years old. He went out to get his newspaper, bent down and had a massive heart attack. His sister said he was probably dead before he hit the ground! We had to wait in line for 3 hours to pay our respects, my feet were killing me, shows how well loved the guy and his family are. So, remember people between the swimming, running and biking, make sure you are living, laughing and loving. There is never enough time. Don’t let your training take place of spending time with loved ones.
Thursday, July 10, 2008

Oh my - daddy needs a new bike seat



I saw this on another blog and couldn't resist stealing it. tooo fuunnyy.



You know what makes me mad? I could totally do this HIM in August as far as the bike/run goes. I don’t think I’d have an amazing time, but I fully believe I could get through it without completely breaking down. I rode 52 miles last week and ran 4 afterwards and felt great. Beth and I are doing a long brick this weekend and I am going to run as long as I can afterwards. I still have a month. Is a month enough time to convince myself I can swim a mile in lake eerie (for those of you non Clevelanders, GCT’s swim is shorter than a normal HIM)? Even if it is, would I be better served just to do a shorter race and wait until I am much much better at swimming to attempt a HIM? So, frustrating. The real issue is that I already paid and signed up for it and it was $150! I don’t want to be out $150. That would just stink. I mean if worse comes to worse, can I just breastroke/sidestroke for a whole mile? Hmmm. B/c at this point, I cannot swim freestyle in open water at all. I think that I can, but as soon as I start I freak, and then it’s over Johnny. I hate this. But just wait people, in a year or two, I will be a fish! A PHISH I tell you. I just have to get myself into a pattern of swimming 3-4 days a week. It’s not happening now, not by a long shot. Grrrr. I wish I could just buck up and do it. I’m sure my dear bloggy friends are sick of my swimming whining, but hey it’s my blog!

On to better things. It’s Friday. Hell yeah. I love Friday. Tonight I am going to a fundraiser at the doggy daycare we take our dogs to from time to time, the Mutt Hutt in Tremont. Great place. So, if you are in Tremont tonight, stop by and have some grub and watch the dogs play. Donations are being taken at the door for their Second Hand Mutt rescue program. Mushi & Tai are super excited. I’m super excited for the Muddy Paws 10 miler tomorrow! This race kicked my ass last year. We get tech tees this year, woohoo. I do this for the swag.

thursday

After work last night I hit the pool and actually had a really good 1 mile swim, which I sorely needed. It's been awhile since I had a swim where I didn't completely struggle. I should have gone further, but was running short on time since hubby and I had a date. When I got home we quickly walked the dogs and then headed to Wade Oval Wednesday (WOW) to watch the JiMiller band. I love, love, love them since I love, love, love the Grateful Dead. It was a lovely night and I had a yummy snowcone again and some tasty curry chicken from one of the vendors. We got home and 9 and I was feeling guilty about my lost workouts this week, so G and I went for a run. But I could only manage a 2 miler, curry chicken is not the best pre run mean I found. But still, now I am only 3 miles behind, which sounds better than 5 miles. Yes, yes I know, don't make up workouts, but above anything I want my weekly running miles and I will get them this week and every week, you just have to adjust. I have a marathon in 11 stinking weeks. This morning I met Ilana and we had a nice crisp morning 4 miler. Tonight I have a brick on deck. Tomorrow swimming, Sat a race and probably an OW swim in the afternoon and Sunday my long brick. times a wastin, too bad I have to work!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Can someone please find my motivation?

After a great, spot on, workout week last week, I am lagging big time this week. I haven't made a morning workout yet! I overslept on Mon, standing up a friend for a swim, same thing on Tues, missed my run, then this morning I was going to go to Master's swim and it was raining - so I should have gotten my butt to the JCC and swam indoors. Instead I got my butt back into bed! What is wrong with me. Grrrrr. I am not sleeping enough for one thing. I am averaging about 6.5 hours of sleep a night, so I really need to work on turning the tv off before bed. I have gotten caught up in tv shows both Sun (I love Money on Vh1, yes, yes, thank you reality tv gods), and Mon (Dateline on 2 people who got stranded scuba diving on the barrier reef for 13 hours and survived!). But I did manage to get 10 miles in on the bike last night and weights. But I am behind 1 run and 2 swims. Not good, not good at all. I was supposed to bike tonight, but if it rains, I will make the run. To pay penance for missing swims, I will force myself to swim over 2000 yards next trip and hopefully get to masters on Friday. Hope you are all having an awesome week!
Monday, July 7, 2008

Lake Monsters and sunburns


Ahhh back to work. If only there was any other way…sigh. Anyway. Sunday morning I got up bright and early planning on a swim at Mentor Headlands. I was supposed to meet someone there at 9, but she called me around 8:30 and couldn’t make it. Well, I was already on my way there and it’s about 45 mins from my house, so I decided to go on out there and see if by chance there were others swimming. There were not. So, I decided that I was there and there were a few people on the beach, so I might as well get in the lake and put my face in and try and swim close to shore. Please no comments, I know swimming alone is a stupid thing to do, but believe me, my feet could touch and I didn’t go deep. The water was surprisingly cold and I was freaked out from the first toe into the water. Seriously, who is this person! I can’t decide what it is I am afraid of, I don’t think it’s drowning. I guess it’s lake monsters. Since I was having a bit of a freak, I decided to at least breast stroke for awhile and get some sort of workout in. So, I managed to breast stroke about 200 yards down the beach, stopping to stand up every now and then. I’m sure the people on the shore wondered what the F I was doing. After going out, I gave free style a go and was able to get back to where I started, but did stop a lot, I certainly didn’t get into a groove and I wouldn’t call it successful. I think if I had had someone swimming next to me I could have done a little better. But if I am ever going to be an IronWoman, I can’t depend on others for my strength. My issues with OW swimming are just stupid and I hate it. Its one thing to not have the stamina, but to just freak out for no reason…sigh. I sat on the shore for awhile afterwards and thought I might cry, threw rocks into the lake for awhile, tried to just enjoy the sunshine, tried to talk myself into getting back in and swimming some more. But I didn’t. I packed my stuff and headed to the pool. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I only did 500 yards. But at least it was something. Oh and I have a killer sunburn on the top of my legs from our long ride, it is making it so comfy to wear jeans today.

Gary and I had a big day of painting planned, but he has pulled a muscle at some point over the weekend and was in a lot of pain. I know he really hurts badly b/c he actually took aspirin and then later a muscle relaxer. This man hates medicine. So, we basically did nothing. It was nice. I spent a lot of time on the porch reading The Host by Stefanie Meyer. My friend Amy met me at 4 and we walked a little over 4 miles around shaker lakes. When I got home my legs were done. I was supposed to get up this morning and swim with Janet, but overslept due to a restless night. So, I hope to get to the pool tonight. Or it might end up being a rest day, but I am trying to only take one every 2 weeks. I had a good week last week, here were the totals:

Swim – 2400 yards (obviously this needs to go up)
Bike – 92 miles
Run – 24 miles
Saturday, July 5, 2008

F Ya, longest brick yet!

What a great weekend I am having. I love 3 day weekends and I love nice weather and I'm getting both! Thursday was a great monster workout day. I started the day off with a 5 mile run with Brock and Ilana, part of it on the track for speed work. After work is was kind of rainy so I threw my bike on the trainer and did 8 miles. Then G got home and said he wanted to bike too, so we went out and did 20. We rode up Fairmount to Gates Mill and back, lots of good hills thrown in there. Afterwards we ran about 1.5 miles. The run got cut short b/c we saw a bulldog we've been stalking and we needed to make a detour and go try to pet him. Unfortunately when we got up to him, his owner was on the cell phone and the dog was taking a shit. Foiled again. One day we will pet this bulldog.

Friday morning I woke up to the nicest weather. A little cool, sun shining, clear skies and I headed to Harper Ridge Picnic area to meet Ilana and Sara for a run. I had to do 10 miles, so I got there early and did 2 by myself. I realized very quickly I was overdressed, ugh, I had on capris and a wicking t-shirt, but I was sweating my ass off. Ilana, Sara and I did 6 mile together, then Sara and I finished up the last 2. So, a total of 10 miles. 10 very slow miles. It was a really hilly run and we were all struggling a bit. But there is nothing better than a long run with the girls. Afterwards, I ran some errands and G and I headed to his aunt's house for her annual 4th of July party. That was fun and we got to socialize with some family we don't see enough. At the end of the night, G, his mom and her boyfriend and his aunt and her husband, and I headed to Euclid high school to watch the fireworks. I could type a book on it, but long story short, some kid pulled out a paintball gun in the midst of a crowd, causing the cops to pepper spray or tear gas the crowd and the next thing we knew a stampede of kids was running towards us and a cop was chasing someone right by our blanket. It was scary, we didn't know what was going on, we didn't know if someone had been shot. The next thing I know my eyes start hurting and we start coughing. So, yeah we got pepper sprayed on the 4th. The cops caught the kid and my aunt got the story from another cop on a bike. The bad thing was that the hoodlum kids decided this was funny and stampeded 2 more times to see if they could get people to start running away. It was awful and I will never step foot in Euclid for an event ever again. Not only that mess, but the kids were so loud and disrespectful. The fireworks show was pretty good though. We got home late and sleppppttt.

So, we got going a little late this morning, but G and I biked 52 miles! Since we got started late we did this in the afternoon sun, but luckily the breeze stayed cool and it was a gorgeous day for a ride, but I have some interesting tanlines. We rode from cleveland heights into solon into hudson, into chagrin falls and back. We stopped mid way in Hudson and ate a cupcake at Main Street Cupcakes. That kicked ass! A lot of the ride was flat, but there were some killer hills. At the end getting back up from Chagrin River Road to Woodland hurt. But all in all I felt pretty good. I was done when we got home though. Yet, I threw on my running shoes and out the door I went for a 4 miler. I actually felt strong and was able to stay under a 10 min/mile the whole time! My lower back ached and I wish I had taken some aspirin at some point on the bike. Overall I give todays brick an A! I felt strong the majority of the day. Nutrition wise, I started the day with a PBJ sandwich, I had 2 GUs on the bike, one at 15, one at 45, with the cupckae in middle, along with a water bottle with 2 scoops of carbo pro in it. For the run, I put another scoop of carbopro in my bottle. I think I could have used 1 more Gu on the bike.
Thursday, July 3, 2008

Wade Oval Wednesday


We had such a nice night last night. We have this rad couple Renata & Dave that live across the street from us. R works at one of the museums on university circle, so the plan was for G & I to ride down with Dave to Wade Oval, meet her and then we would head down MLK and into downtown to watch the free concert on public square. Well, we got down to Wade Oval and it was of course Wade Oval Wed (http://www.universitycircle.org/content/events.asp). For those of you who don’t know, Wade Oval has free festivals every Wed night, it’s awesome, a ton of kids are there, if you live in the area you should really check it out. Next weekend the JiMiller Band is playing, I am so there! I am very excited for the Beathles tribute band on Aug 27th too! So, we milled around there, had dinner at the Botanical garden, then ate an amazingly delicious snow cone. Around 7:30 we realized the wind was kicking and the sky was getting a little dark and none of us were too excited about getting stuck downtown in a storm and having to ride home in it (especially on my slowass hybrid). So, we opted to ride around university circle for a few more miles and then biked to Pannini’s in Conventry for a beer and an Indians game. It was a lot of fun. We ended up doing about 14 leisurely miles, although we did have to bike up the giant hill out of Little Italy up to Mayfield, so that counts for something. We made it home right before the rain started around 10pm. Good times.

This morning I was extra sleepy thanks to the drink (1 drink, I am such a lightweight) from last night and had a hard time getting up. Thank goodness I make plans to meet people or I would never work out. Ilana, Brock and I ran up to University School and did some speed work. It’s about 1.5 miles to get there from our meeting spot, then Ilana and I did 4 – 400s with a 200 walk break in between and then 1 -800 (Brock ran 4 -800s, go Brock). I have always been afraid of speed work, but I kind of like it now. I like how my legs burn afterwards and how I am able to really push myself for the last little bit. I suck right now, but look forward to getting better. I am able to do a 400 in about 1:30-1:45. Which keeps me somewhere in the 6-7 min mile range. But my breathing gets really ragged about 200 meters in (there is no way I could maintain that pace for an 800), so I have a lot of room for improvement. We’re going to try and do this every week. So, if anyone in the Cleveland Hts area feels like speedwork at 6am, let me know, you can meet us at the school. Tuesday is the day we plan on doing it, we just got off track this week. I got some new shoes last week at Fleet Feet - Mizuno's, I believe they were the Alchemy's, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, they are stability shoes and I can really feel them under my arch, I am hoping they will get me through marathon training. Unfortunately they are ugly, the soles look like orthapedic nurse shoes :) But since I run in cotton t-shirts, I obviously don't care about style! And hey, yes i have wicking shirts, but who can afford 200 of them? Not me, that's why I do the races that hand them out and unfortunately they are all white and I have a bit too much belly for those shirts right now, they grab the tummy area! So, cotton it is for my morning roll out of bed runs. I'll pull out the nice shirts for races, so I don't look like a total newb :)

Tonight I had a bike ride planned. My riding for the last 2 weeks has been practically non existent. So, I was looking forward to getting 80 miles in this week. So, I wanted to do 25 tonight, but the weather isn’t looking good. If it does storm, I will just get on the trainer and watch a movie, which is fine by me. I also need to find a July tri to sign up for. I can’t do Milton Man b/c I have a hard trail 10 mile race the day before, so I remember being really sore from it last year, so doing a tri the next day is probably a bad idea. So, I need to find one on the 20th. That will be my last one before GTC.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Wussed out Wed

You have to love short work weeks. Thursday cannot be here soon enough. I had a good swim on Monday and a good run yesterday. Tonight we are biking downtown to see a free concert on the square, it even has fireworks afterwards!! It will be interesting to bike in the dark, I’ve never done that before. Also, I’ll be riding my giant old hybrid since our neighbors aren’t road bikers. It should be interesting trying to get up Fairmount/Cedar hill on that beast.

I don’t want to say it too loud b/c I am really not sure, but I did start marathon training. I haven’t signed up for a race yet, it’ll be Akron or Towpath, but that’s IF my foot holds up. It still hurts. But I got some new stability shoes that support my arch, so hopefully that will be enough. I’ve more or less given up on the HIM, but I am okay with that. It was very silly of me to think I could do that sort of race this year. But I will next year for sure. At this point I am hoping I can be ready for the Oly at GTC. That’s still a big maybe due to the swim. I think I can handle the bike/run distances now, but swimming 1200 yards in open water, that I am not so sure of. I was supposed to go to master’s swim this morning, but I wussed out. Maybe on Friday. I kind of think I hate swimming. I always talk myself out of it. But I just need to remember – Train to your weaknesses, train to your weaknesses.

Lots of good fun on tap for July! The Dirty Dog 10 miler (that kicked my butt last year by the way), a fundraiser at the Mutt Hutt for their dog rescue, my sister and brother in law staying one weekend, we’re having a corn hole tournament party, and then a CVNP fun run at the end of the month. Good stuff.

About Me

My Photo
Mnowac
distance runner attempting to run a marathon in every state, vegetarian foodie, mediocre triathlete, sucky swimmer, mommy to Harper, tea lover, coffee drinker, animal saver, hubby snuggler, race addict, full time working 31 year old living in cleveland
View my complete profile

Marathons so far

  • Sept 2012 - Corning, NY - TBD
  • April 2012 - Louisville, KY - TBD
  • Sept 2011 - Erie PA - 4:25
  • June 2011 - South Bend IN - 5 hrs+ (it was 98 degrees!)
  • Dec 2010 - Rehoboth Beach DE - 4:26:06
  • Nov 2010 - Huntington WV - 4:11:44
  • Oct 2009 - Towpath - Cleveland area OH - 4:30:35
Powered By Blogger

Total Pageviews