Training Week 295
Highlight of the Week: Running with mi otra familia in KC / Kelly getting a 5K PR!
Monday | June 8, 2015: 8.4 m run (w/Steve & Dad (on bike))
Loc: Line Creek Trail, Temp: 69°/75°, Time: 1:26:31, Pace: 10:18 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: ok!
Tuesday | June 9, 2015: 6 m run (w/Gina)
Loc: Line Creek Trail, Temp: 68°/72°, Time: 57:17, Pace: 9:33 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good, hot!
Wednesday | June 10, 2015: rest
Thursday | June 11, 2015: 3 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 60°/60°, Time: 25:52, Pace: 8:37 avg, Difficulty: easy then medium, Felt: great to run in cooler temps!
Friday | June 12, 2015: teaching strength class + 10 m ride
Strength: Lebert – bodyweight & kettlebells, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly energetic
Bike Time: 38:25, Pace: 15.6 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | June 13, 2015: Rock n’ Sole The Big Gig 5K (w/Kelly)
Loc: Milwaukee Summerfest Fairgrounds, Temp: 55°/55°, Time: 23:14, Pace: 7:30 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good
Sunday | June 14, 2015: 11.05 m run
Loc: Millenium Trail to Nippersink FP, Temp: 62°/73°, Time: 2:03:04, Pace: 11:08 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: slimy, sore legs, agitated with bugs, etc, etc, wah, wah
Notes:
- I’ve officially hit the sweet spot of training – where I am signed up for races but with no goals beyond having fun! Woot woot! This is perfect timing, as I am starting to slow down as I experience nasty humid runs. Ugh. That was my long run this week – really humid with no breeze (where is the wind that plagued me all winter?!), looking for shade in the woods but getting attacked by bugs, the CeraVe sunscreen the dermatologist recommended making my face sweat like crazy (I will give it another try), sore calves and hamstrings from my race on Saturday… gosh, it seems like I forgot to complain about something. Ha!
- I did hit 1,000 miles run for the year during my long run though! I am going to see if I can get to 2,000 for the year, so I am about two and a half weeks ahead of schedule.
- This may have actually been my lowest mileage week all year, but that is okay – my body needed the rest, and I think next week will be one my highest mileage weeks of the year. I am running in a 47-mile relay next Sunday for The Longest Day and to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. My team has a goal of raising $1600. Please see my donation page here if interested!
- It’s crazy how much doing speedwork every week has paid off for my 5K times – they’ve stayed consistent over the last few, even though my weight hasn’t. It would be crazy to see how’d they change if I actually stayed at a consistent weight. Ha!
Rock n’ Sole The Big Gig 5K Race Report
Another successful race in the rain!
It seems like forever ago that Kelly and I decided we needed to make a trip to Milwaukee to get Holey Moley donuts and that June 13 would be the day. A run along the lake followed by donuts? Sounds perfect!
Then I did what I always do when I’m traveling (yes, even barely over the state line) and looked up races. I found the Rock n’ Sole series which has a half marathon, quarter marathon, and new this year, a 5K. And even better – the race started at the Summerfest grounds, which is really close to The Third Ward, where the donut place is. Sounds perfect (again)!
I asked Kelly if she wanted to go for a 5K personal record (PR) a few days after I failed to be a good running partner at the Wisconsin Half. I wanted redemption – at a distance I knew I could handle! Luckily, Kelly was on board, and we fit in the speed training we could.
We drove to Milwaukee nice and early this morning. We were greeted with good racing conditions – mid 50s and light rain! I definitely owe the racing gods for giving me nice race temps two Saturdays in a row!
The half, quarter marathon and 5K all started at the same time, but the 5K had a different start location. Good for race congestion… but definitely confusing – we saw quite a few people walking to the 5K start when we were on mile .3 of the course. Hopefully they have better signage next year (it was there, just difficult to decipher)! We only knew where to go after asking someone and double-checking the map online.
The course was almost all right turns, which made it easier to run the tangents. We started near the Summerfest gates, went north toward the Milwaukee Art Museum then turned south to run along the lake and back to where we started. There was one minor incline on a bridge and that was it! It was almost completely flat! And there were a few spectators and DJs/bands/drummers. I wore headphones* to listen to my own music though, which seems to help me for a 5K.
Map from here
Kelly and I started at the front of the pack and still had to deal with a few people in our way out the gate. After that though, there was no race congestion, even as we caught up with the teams pushing kids in wheelchairs (who started a few minutes before).
I should have asked Kelly what she wanted to do for race strategy. Her PR coming in to the race was 23:56 and I wanted us to run 23:30. I figured I’d set the pace (too fast first mile like always) and she’d be next to me. But she was behind me most of the time by a few steps, then more toward the end. I slowed down in mile 2 for her to catch up with me, then when she stopped behind me in mile 3 because she felt like throwing up, I stopped too and told her to keep running. Pretty sure I told her to barf later or barf while running. Ha, such a nice friend. My splits were 7:05, 7:40, 7:55, 00:32.
I didn’t notice mile 1, 2 or 3 markers but they had 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 “to go” signs along with the sign for mile 13. When we had a half mile to go and were just over 19 minutes in I knew she had a PR. What I didn’t know was by how much!
We stuck together for the last half and she took off for a sprint for the last .05, finishing in 23:08! That’s a 48 second PR for Kelly! I finished in 23:14. I think** UPDATED we were both 3rd in our age groups!
I am so proud of her! That’s a huge PR!!!
And I was so happy I was finally part of a race where I didn’t crap out on her. FINALLY.
After the race, we went to the car to change (we parked really close for $5) then checked out the post race party. Both of us didn’t realize that Summerfest is an actual permanent structure, ha! It was neat to see it!
Then you know what we did after… donuts! Oh my gosh. That vegan pear fritter?! Why did I only get one?! Ha.
I’m so happy we got to spend this time together. I’ve run with Kelly more than anyone else over the last year and a half. I consider her to be my training partner. And… she’s moving out of state very soon. I haven’t let myself think about it. I know we’ll keep in touch because I work hard on my friendships and have lasting and close long-distance ones, but the truth is there will be a big void for me when she is gone. No one can replace that. But I will continue to not face it until she leaves and just spend as much time together before then!
A few other randoms:
- This race had a nice expo! I wasn’t expecting it to be so big, because I had forgotten the other two distances were associated with the race as well. This 5K didn’t cost much to do and included a Summerfest general admission ticket (and a cotton 5K shirt).
- It did feel weird to be running the shortest distance out of all offered! We were done so early!
- We ran in to our friend Amy on our way toward the donut place! She was coming to see her husband finish the quarter marathon! So fun to run in to a person we really like by surprise!
*I always play my power song before a 5K. At this race they had music at the start that made it hard to hear, so I listened for a bit then paused it when I heard an AC/DC song play over the loud speakers. Then they played “Thunderstruck” (my power song) right before the race started anyway.
**The official age group results are all messed up, but we 12th and 14th women overall, and I counted how many were ahead of us in our age groups. We finished 56th and 61st out of 1,449 runners.
Hospital Hill Half Marathon Race Report
I’m still on a bit of a high from Saturday’s race! I can’t believe how awesome I felt during the Hospital Hill Half and that I was able to run the last two miles as my fastest (by quite a bit)! Two things had a big play in that: the weather and hill work.
I didn’t bother checking the forecast the morning of the race. I knew every day of our Kansas City (KC) trip called for sun and a low in the high 60s/low 70s and highs in the high 80s/low 90s. I figured I was going to be running in full on sun with a lovely side of humidity. Imagine my surprise when it was, yes, hella humid at the start, but overcast! Clouds covered the entire sky! Hallelujah! Even though I had sweat dripping down my arms by mile 1, I was grateful there was no sun in the sky.
And then what was that we felt around mile 7? Rain drops? Woo hoo! It started as a gentle rain then got a bit heavier, never a downpour, and never enough to make it so I couldn’t see (I didn’t expect it and didn’t have my visor… but I did have my sunglasses, which I handed off at mile 5!). But enough to keep me cooler and was it my imagination, or did it make it feel like it was less humid? I was a very happy camper, running in the rain.
Rain, rain, rain
And on to dem hills.
The elevation chart makes it look more scary, but it felt more like this:
We don’t have hills like this where I live, but we do have inclines. As you know, I ran hill repeats and hilly long runs every week, for a month, leading up to the race. Even though they were nothing like what I’d be running, I hoped they’d help, and I think they did.
During the race, the hills didn’t feel very challenging IF I remembered not to chat with Gina while I was running up them! Ha! And not to follow any instincts to drink (water… although, some people did set up a beer aid station!) or fuel. Sure, I was out of breath when I got to the top of some hills, but none really made me hate the race or wish it was over. In fact, the race went by really quickly! Too quickly! (Although, we had so much on our schedule for Saturday, I’m happy we ran the pace we did, ha)
Let’s start the race on an uphill! Woot woot!
But… the truth is I definitely would not be this cheerful about it had it not been overcast then rained. So I’m VERY grateful for that – especially when it was incredibly hot and sunny for the rest of the trip.
And I’m so grateful this was my first race of the year with Gina (and her first Missouri race)! It was a birthday gift from me (wanna see your friends?! sign them up for races in other states, ha!) and a chance for us to do a race for fun – no time goals. I just wanted to finish strong (we did!) and was actually pretty surprised our finish time averaged under 10:00 minute miles (I figured I would be slower, not Gina) at 2:09:49.
Apparently, they timed us on certain hills – fun!
The reason we chose to do this race is schedule related. I had asked Gina and fam if they wanted to go to KC the first weekend in June and spectate at the half iron man Andrew, Will and I did in 2013 (I know, what a fun thing to invite someone to do, ha!). Lo and behold, that race was canceled for the year, BUT! The Hospital Hill run series, with a Friday night 5K (and option for an additional medal if you do that with a Saturday race), and Saturday am 10K and Half Marathon was going on. And it turned out it was the only weekend in June that worked with my schedule. So let’s do this random race! I signed myself and Gina up for the half, and Andrew signed up as well.
Now that I’ve done the race, I am surprised I haven’t heard rave reviews of it before! It has a fun expo with quite a few vendors, plenty of race parking/porta potties, clear communication (errr, minus the race website being down Friday night), tons of water/Gatorade stops (filled my bottle up almost every time), a great course that goes through downtown/a campus/residential/by the plaza/by the WWI Memorial/and yes – by several hospitals, HUGE medals, a cool shirt and flip flops, and a post pancake breakfast (that we missed – that’s what happens when the bib tab says “BBQ” lol).
The Liberty Memorial in background (not me, but you get the idea)
There weren’t many spectators, but the ones who were there rocked – many fun signs, and offers of candy, oranges and tissues. It was so funny to see the Kleenex guy out there with an umbrella in one hand covering him and the tissues while he ran with people to make sure they got one without slowing down. I’m always appreciate of spectators, volunteers and police course marshals, but even more on a rainy day (or in any cray weather).
And we had our own spectators! Steven, his dad, Steve, Luca and my dad saw us around mile 5, mile 9, and at the finish. It’s so great to see your peeps and awesome that they wait just to see us for a few seconds! It makes me feel very loved and honestly, want to perform better!
This is definitely a race I’d do again. And I’d like to try the 5K the night before then the half (which they call the Re-Run). We’re already planning on making this an annual trip! And I know it likely won’t have this fantastic weather again. Ha! Maybe more of us will do events next year though!
A few other randoms:
- We got lots of compliments on our flowers! I actually saw another gal with a orange Fellow Flower. Gina joked that I should go run with her, since she was my real bestie, ha.
- This race actually started 5 mins early. When does that happen? Ha!
- About 5,000 people did the 10K and Half. It was never too crowded but it was nice when the 10Kers split off.
- I liked that the course was a long, skinny rectangle. I like course maps I can visualize in my head and that don’t go by the finish until it’s time to finish.
- There were a few drummers on the course! The last set were on the top of the one really steep short hill – it encouraged me to get up faster.
- Gina and I saw two girlfriends with matching tattoos (a symbol for friendship). Hmm, that’s an idea…
- I made this post sound like the entire race was completely pain-free but I did have an upset stomach a few times due to cramps. The kind of cramps you can’t do anything about if you get my drift, ha!
- It was so fun to have this time with Gina to chat away! It’s truly a treat to have that one-on-one time with her (most of our time together is in group settings, which I also love, but, ya know, sometimes you want your bestie ALL TO YOURSELF).
- It’s kind of funny the last two races Gina and I have done have ended with rain. Fine with me!
- This race had FREE pics! Schweet! If I would have known… I would have made an effort to find the photogs and smile. Ha. Usually I just ignore them and look for Steven.
- This race had a virtual goodie bag – I really like when events do that and don’t give you a bunch of unwanted paper at the expo!
- And I don’t even know how to explain this, but the race director sent out some goofy emails that really made me laugh (one example – channel your inner Pac-Man for the race, ha) – it’s fun when the race emails have a sense of humor in them!
Training Week 294
Highlight of the Week: Running a kick-@$$ half marathon with Gina on Saturday!
Monday | June 1, 2015: 5 m run + 5.5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 49°/52°, Time: 47:22, Pace: 9:28 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: too hot
Loc: hood, Temp: 54°/56°, Time: 53:13, Pace: 9:40 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay but tired. And hot. Ha ha.
Strength: Lebert – bodyweight & kettlebells, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Tuesday | June 2, 2015: 5 m run (w/Kelly) + 15 m ride
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 41°/39°, Time: 48:09, Pace: 9:37 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: tired (legs)
Bike Time: 58:50, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good for the legs
Wednesday | June 3, 2015: rest
Thursday | June 4, 2015: 5 m run (incl. 1×1600, 2×800, 2×400)
Loc: hood, Temp: 79°/81°, Time: 47:50, Pace: 9:34 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: okay, hot stomach
Friday | June 5, 2015: teaching strength class + 8 m ride
Strength: Lebert – bodyweight & kettlebells, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay – hot and struggling with headache
Bike Time: 29:39, Pace:16.2 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine
Saturday | June 6, 2015: Hospital Hill Half Marathon (w/Gina)
Loc: KCMO, Temp: 70°/70°, Time: 2:09:49, Pace: 9:54 avg, Difficulty: medium/easy, Felt: good/great
Sunday | June 7, 2015: 3.3 m run
Loc: Line Creek Trail, KCMO, Temp: 82°/85°, Time: 34:24, Pace: 10:26 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: hot hot hot
Notes:
- I might have to quit running on the forest preserve trail behind my house – I stop too much to take nature photos on it! Like this fawn, on Monday:
- A headache kept me from meeting Kelly on Thursday am to do speedwork. I was bummed to miss doing it with her, and worried because skipping the am time slot meant I would be running in much hotter temps later in the day. It was about 80°F when I went out. I survived. I aimed to hit an 8:00 mile pace for each interval. It’s slower than I would have done in the morning, but WAY better than not doing it at all! My body felt fine, but my stomach did not – something about the heat and sun makes it feel so… icky. Not queasy or barfy, just all sloshy and hot.
- I woke up with another horrible headache Friday morning at 1:00 am and was really worried about my upcoming trip to Kansas City (KC) – the constant changing weather (and sometimes dehydration) gives me nasty headaches, and we were going to really hot temps in KC. And… I am just no fun when I have a headache (or am sick). But, luckily, I had ZERO headaches in KC despite it hitting the high 80s/low 90s most days and being outside a lot. Yay!
- Oh my gosh – even though it was crazy hot (for me) a lot of the time in KC, we had AMAZING weather for the race – overcast, then rain for the last five miles! We had a stellar race and the hills didn’t even feel that horrible… and I know A LOT of it is because the weather was so great (and because of the hill work I did to prepare). I can’t wait to write the race report and actually look at the photos Steven took at the race (ha ha, been a bit busy since then!). Steven, Steven’s dad, Steve, Luca and my dad all spectated the race (Gina, Andrew and I ran)! It’s such a treat to have personal spectators out there!
Random Thoughts Thursday 73
- Beyond Kelly being my training partner (read: close friend/unofficial therapist), she’s also my wreath supplier! She helped spruce up our front door last spring (top left), this winter (top center) and currently (bottom left). She also made a wreath for my paternal grandma (top right) and maternal grandma (bottom right). She is talented!!! It impresses me when people have a vision of how they want something to turn out, and make it all come together from separate elements, like with these wreaths (and like Steven and his welded art projects!). You can check out other wreath styles on her Etsy and Facebook pages.
- National Running Day seems to always be on a Wednesday, which is typically the most difficult day of the week for me to workout at all, due to my commuting schedule. So no run for me. But! I did do something kind of running related – went to a free skin cancer screening. I don’t wear sunscreen when I run, and wanted a dermatologist to look over my skin. He said everything looks okay, and that I should get checked again in one to two years. He also gave me a recommendation for a sunscreen that might let my pores breath when I run (that’s why I don’t wear it).
- This year, my dad, brother-in-law and I ordered the RAGBRAI jerseys in advance and they arrived this week! Here’s my snis modeling mine (she ordered them all, hence it being at her house). I love the design! And my sister said one of her husband’s sisters is joining us on the Thursday ride – we need to get her a jersey, too! This is one event where it’s not lame to wear the shirt while you’re doing it!
- My Nike Dri-FIT shirts came! Yay! Now I have several colors to choose from!
That was a Western?
Here’s what I wake up looking like when I stay out past my bedtime:
Ha ha. Yeah…
What were we up doing*? Seeing Mad Max: Fury Road. Holy cow, what a FUN movie! I haven’t seen a movie that creative (that I enjoyed, anyway) in a long time.
When I saw the trailers for Mad Max, I had no interest in it. I know nothing about the original series. And all the trailers showed was a bunch of driving in the desert** and lots of fighting. It looked a bit boring. I love action movies but get frustrated with the ones where the action is so fast you can’t follow what’s happening***, and your eyes glaze over (see: last few Transformers films). I wasn’t planning on seeing this movie. Ever. But then it got crazy good ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and everyone I talked to who saw it made me want to go. So. Yeah. Five dollar Tuesday movie night it was!
And the movie was mostly driving in the desert, and fighting, but it wasn’t boring at all. My eyes didn’t glaze over. It was extremely visually interesting, and I liked how the story was told with very little dialogue. The acting was great and you found yourself invested in the characters right away, even though you knew nothing about them. I’m happy I saw this in the theater – it wouldn’t have had the same effect on me at home.
I know, I told you basically nothing about the plot. I don’t want to give it away. And that’s not what this post about. Ha.
I was surprised when I read about the film to hear it being called a Western. Or at least, to have Western themes. I’ve read that about Star Wars, too. Here’s the thing though – if you had me make a list of film genres I don’t like, Westerns would be on the top of that list, with gore and horror. I think it’s odd that this movie, and Star Wars both appeal to me so much, and are compared to Westerns. Maybe I don’t fully understand what a Western is. Or maybe I just like the modern versions better!
*Mind you, the movie was over just before 10:00. Ha!
**Ha, I originally wrote “dessert” and remembered a trick that a math teacher (not english, ha!) told us for remembering the difference – “there are two ‘Ss’ in dessert – just like you always want seconds of it!”
***I read that the director slowed down some scenes on purpose, so you could follow the action, and sped some up on purpose, where he didn’t want you to follow as much.
My first knitting injury
(Un?)Fortunately, it’s not this exciting ^
A few weeks ago I was having a hard time typing on my computer after lunch break. I felt like my pinky finger was frozen and took a long time to “thaw.” I just figured it was a bit too chilly in our house, and didn’t pay any attention to it.
Until it kept happening again, and again. So, bizarre, right?
Ha ha. Yeah, I finally figured it out. Knitting is making some of my fingers go numb (and since I knit during lunch break, I sometimes feel it in the afternoon). It’s only happening in the left hand though, which seems odd – the right hand is the one with yarn wrapped all over it.
It was particularly bad Saturday night – my ring finger tip went numb and felt tingly all day Sunday, and still felt weird Monday! I wonder if my wedding rings are messing with the circulation to my finger tip, but why does it sometimes bug my pinky, too?
The two fingers that tend to go numb aren’t even doing anything! Maybe that is why they start to lose feeling?
I’ve been noticing it more when I use smaller (size 5) needles – they’re more flexible and I think I press against them harder.
A quick google search shows lots of different ways people become sore from knitting, and ways to prevent it. Who knew there was so much “risk” in knitting? Ha ha. I am going to pay more attention to it and try to figure out how to prevent it from happening again. I don’t sit down and knit for hours on end (I’d fall asleep before that could happen), so I am a bit surprised! Anyway…
What is making my fingers go numb? More washcloths! My mom bought yarn for me to make her some, and I will see her this weekend and want to have a few done:
The one on the bottom right is me getting rid of extra yarn. Ha ha- it’s my little fraken-cloth. Also, isn’t it interesting what that yarn is doing with the waffle pattern compared to this one?
My snister sent me this link for a waffle pattern washcloth so I tried to do a few of those. As you can tell, the orange one was the first one – ha ha – I have to be really careful to hold the yarn at a consistent tightness with those. It’s a fun pattern though, and it’s easy to remember and really quick to make. Just gives you a numb finger… which always beats impalement.
Early influences
I was ecstatic when I saw Super Mario Bros. was on TV a week ago. It’s been sitting at the bottom of my Netflix queue for years, never seeming worth a disk. But I remember really liking the movie as a kid, and I wanted to see how it held up as an adult.
Eh…. It held up okay! Ha ha!
What really stuck out to me though, was a scene where Princess Daisy declines a plate of meat. She says, “I am a vegetarian, I don’t eat anything with a face.”*
It stuck out to me because I remember really thinking about that line, when I first heard it, as a kid. The movie came out in 1993, when I was nine. I wonder if it’s one of the first times I started thinking about vegetarianism (while I always loved animals, I wasn’t one of those kids refusing to eat meat when I was little – at least that I know).
Then this weekend, Raptorfest was on AMC – showings of all three Jurassic Park movies in a row!** I actually didn’t watch the first one, but thinking about it, I remembered that Lex Murphy’s character is a vegetarian. She says “I happen to be a vegetarian!” and her brother teases her about which dinosaurs are vegetarians. (And there is a scene of her eating jello, which is NOT vegetarian, but we all know that’s just because jello jiggles when dinos are near.)
This movie also came out in 1993 – and those “vegetarian” comments also stuck with me. The point of including them was probably to make fun of vegetarians, but they made me curious.
I didn’t become vegetarian until I was sixteen. When people ask me why, I sometimes jokingly say it’s because I worked at McDonald’s, but that’s not really true. It was something I’d thought about doing before, because of my love for animals, and I’d been spending more time around a vegetarian then, and felt encouraged to give it a try.
Mostly unrelated photo of me as a shift manager at McDonald’s in 2001… ha ha. Didn’t want to “borrow” a movie image off the internet, so you get this lovely photo.
And watching these movies reminded me that seeing characters I perceived as strong females, who were vegetarian, encouraged me to think about it. I’m surprised I had forgotten about this! I wonder what other early influences would be jolted if I watched other movies from my youth. Luckily, nothing came to me when we watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 1990 version) I or II earlier this year, ha ha.
Can you remember any specific movie influences from your youth? What are they?
*Then you see the Goomba very sweetly get her a plate of steamed vegetables, only to be torched in the hallway by some bad guys, while holding the vegetables! Luckily they put out the fire.
**The first one ended and I said to Steven – “I wish they’d show all three!” Then the second one started and I checked the TV guide and “OMG IT’S LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE! Mario Bros. last week and now this?!???” <— now you see why I have so much time to knit while I sit on the couch watching high quality movies from my youth.
Training Week 293
Highlight of the Week: A confidence boosting speedwork!
Monday | May 25, 2015: 7 m run (w/Bobbi!)
Loc: Grant Woods FP, Temp: 67°/71°, Time: 1:18:08, Pace: 11:10 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: tired and a bit hungry
Tuesday | May 26, 2015: rest
Wednesday | May 27, 2015: 6 m run (incl. 10 hill repeats) + 4 m run
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 63°/63°, Time: 1:02:08, Pace: 10:21 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: sore (glutes)
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 73°, Time: 36:41, Pace: 9:10, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | May 28, 2015: 5 m run (incl. 4×800, w/Kelly)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 59°/57°, Time: 45:38, Pace: 9:07 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Friday | May 29, 2015: teaching strength class + 5 m run
Strength: Lebert – bodyweight & kettlebells, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 70°/70°, Time: 49:27, Pace: 9:53, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, super sweaty!
Saturday | May 30, 2015: 20 m ride
Bike Time: 1:15:10, Pace: 16.0 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but butt got sore
Sunday | May 31, 2015: 13 m run + 4 m walk (w/Steven) + 10 m ride
Loc: Round Lake, Temp: 43°/48°, Time: 2:10:45, Pace: 10:03 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good
Bike Time: 39:28, Pace: 15.2 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Notes:
- I was surprised the 4×800 workout went as well as it did Thursday am. I woke up with a headache and felt out of it. Right before the workout, I told Kelly my legs haven’t felt like my own lately – they just feel off (not injured), probably from all the hill work. I thought we’d be doing the 800s in 2:00 minutes, but we hit the first one right on pace at 3:40! Then each one got faster – 3:36, 3:32 and 3:30. Like I said – a total surprise!
- My body is getting acclimated to running in the heat and humidity… as long as it’s not sunny. Ha! I’ll take whatever I can get!
- We had heat and humidity most of the week then wind and cooler temps on the weekend (with rain on Saturday). I biked indoors to stay safe (and sane – I am not interested in cycling when it’s a steady wind over 15 mph, ha). It’s definitely boring compared to cycling outside, but I was able to ride two days in a row to try to get my body (mostly my butt!) used to that for RAGBRAI, so that’s good.
- I didn’t teach Monday because it was a holiday, so Friday’s workout felt a bit harder than it should have and I was SORE Saturday am. Sigh. I really need to get better about solo strength workouts <— broken record.
- May recap time! May was my month of hill work! I did four dedicated hill repeat workouts, and purposefully ran hills on four of my long runs. I probably haven’t gotten too much quicker on hills, BUT… I do think I am running them with better form, and without getting as out of breath. And when I see one now, I don’t dread it! I ran four doubles (two-a-day runs) in May to get ready for a relay in June. I also did my first outdoor bike rides this month (later than other years, oops!) and went on three walks. May was a good month! I ran 177.4 miles, and cycled 102.6 (monthly distance record for the year and twice of what I cycled last month). I taught eight strength classes and co-taught one Burn & Buff class.
A new look for Data / This is my family
Data wore his new bow tie to the vet yesterday and it was a hit!
They even asked to post a picture of him on their Facebook page! Aww, color this cat mama proud.
And… that was the extent of Data making me proud of him at the appointment*. Ha ha. Poor guy. After having to fast all day for a blood draw, he was NOT in the mood to be poked and prodded. He was a bit testy.
So much that they had to put him under to take his blood. Normally when they do this, they shave a little bit of his leg, like so:
This time, for whatever reason, they did his chest!
Oh my gosh, Data looks so goofy. He won’t be entering a beauty pageant anytime soon! Maybe I should have him wear the bow tie all the time until his fur grows back, to distract from the shaved patch?! Ha ha.
But the good thing is, he had a clean bill of health (this was his annual check-up) and I am hoping the blood results will say the same when we get them back on Monday!
*Actually, I am proud that he was doing so well at that point! He had quite the day.
Edited to add this rant, since I am already talking about Data: Someone asked me and Steven if we plan on starting a family. I gestured to myself, Steven and Data and said “This is my family.”
“You know what I mean,” they responded, “Children. There’s something to say for being able to leave something behind in this world, beyond pay stubs. To say you created something.”
I was a little annoyed so I changed the conversation flow to say I love interacting with and hearing about my friends’ kids (I do) and am amazed by gestation (I am). But, I don’t need someone I’ve just met, who is only there giving me a sales quote, to tell me why I should have children.
Or to make fun of me for having a government job.
Or to ask me how many times I’ve “given in” and eaten meat since I became vegetarian.
Sigh.
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
