Training Week 277
Highlight of the Week: Running in Playa del Carmen!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday | February 2, 2015: 5.5 m run (incl. 3×1 mile) + 6.5 m bike + teaching strength class
Loc: treadmill, Time: 55:55, Pace: 10:10 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: horrible
Bike Time: 30:00, Pace: 13.0 mph, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good!
Tuesday | February 3, 2015: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 6°/9°, Time: 53:01, Pace: 10:36 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: too cold
Wednesday | February 4, 2015: 14 m run (first 5 w/Kelly)
Loc: LSC, Time: 2:19:18, Pace: 9:57 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: clunky and tired
Thursday | February 5, 2015: rest
Friday | February 6, 2015: 5 m run (w/Gina)
Loc: Playa del Carmen, Temp: 64°, Time: 47:35, Pace: 9:30, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | February 7, 2015: 5 m run (w/Steve)
Loc: Playa del Carmen, Temp: 68°, Time: 50:52, Pace: 10:11 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | February 8, 2015: 6.5 m run (first 4.3 w/Gina)
Loc: Playa del Carmen, Temp: 66°/68°, Time: 1:00:19, Pace: 9:17 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Notes:
- Monday was NOT my day. Speedwork on the treadmill felt so hard (I have a theory that our treadmill is faster than it says. I’d like to think that is the reason I felt like I was about to fly off the back. Ha ha.), and I messed up the workout tracker on my phone during my bike ride. It made me feel stupidly frustrated.
- In fact, I felt a bit rushed and meh the first three days of the week. I knew I was trying to cram workouts in before I left for vacation on Wednesday night and that didn’t feel right!
- But! Everything was super relaxing and chill on vacation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Ahhhhh. It was my first time in Mexico! I absolutely loved running there! Our condo was really close to a bike trail that lead to several good places to run and I took advantage of it. It was so nice to run outside in a tank top and shorts!
Back!
Gosh, I got so lost in this knitting project for my snister that I haven’t posted in over a week!
Ja ja ja, just kidding, I haven’t quite moved to that level of obsession yet.
I was actually taking a blog/social media/texting break while we were in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, with our otra familia, Gina, Steve, and Luca, for the past week!
In August last year we decided it would be fantastico if the five of us traveled to Mexico together. Gina and Steve had gotten great recommendations for Playa del Carmen from a family member, so we found an affordable airbnb rental, and booked tickets in September (which happened to be just the right time to buy a few summery things on clearance for the trip!).
Booking in September was far enough away that I sometimes forgot we were going at all! Then I would remember during the beginning of a long run and spend the rest of the run daydreaming about what it would be like to soak up the sun in February. Ahhh.
It. Was. Great. I’ve never traveled anywhere else with such fantastic weather – cool in the morning (great for running!) and at night (great for going out!) and nice and warm during the day (great for the beach!). I was astonished that so many shops didn’t even have doors on them – could the weather really be that nice somewhere, year-round? Ha ha.
I wasn’t very familiar with Playa del Carmen (or any town in Mexico really – the closest I’ve traveled to it outside of the states is Aruba) before going, and honestly didn’t do a lot of research before I went. I knew I wanted to be lazy and hang out at the beach (check), see some ruins (check), and snorkel (check).
More to come in future posts…
What’s cool though, is that if I mentioned I was going to Playa del Carmen to people who had already been there, they raved about it! And I can see why – it has something for everyone – beaches, excursions, cenotes, scuba/snorkel, bars/restaurants, shopping… and it’s safe to be in town and explore.
I’m so happy we chose to go there, and especially with Gina and fam! And can’t wait to write all about it… once I get some rest. It’s been a long day of traveling back home!
Art store panic
It’s been over seven (nearly eight!) years since I graduated from college, and as evidenced during my lunch break, I still find myself in an odd state of panic when I go in to an arts supply store. Sigh.
The massive selections of pens, markers and pencils, rows upon of different types of paper, easels and canvases, paintbrushes, triangles, t-squares, stencils coming at me from all directions… AHHHHHHHHHH! SO. MUCH. STUFF. Why am I here again? What do I need? Are they going to have it all? How much is it all going to cost?! What will I forget this time?
I remember the first time I went to the art supplies section of the campus bookstore in college. It was the first day of freshman year and I was given a list of things to buy in my architectural studio class. I didn’t know what half of the things were on the list. I had no idea how much it was going to cost. Hours, three stores, and $250 later, I had what I needed (with a LOT of help from Steven, driving me around to the shops off campus, and telling me what the things were I was told to buy). Next step – figuring out what the instructors wanted me to do with it all…
Looking back now, the amount of discomfort I felt then, and every time I went to get supplies (typically once a week, sometimes several times a day) should have been a sign. A sign I was in the wroooooooong major. Shouldn’t I have been excited, to an extent, to go shopping for supplies to build and draw things? Shouldn’t I have gotten some enjoyment out of it? I bet a lot of my classmates did. For me it was always dread, dread, dread. An icky feeling of anxiety and discomfort I still feel now when I go to an art supplies store – and I certainly wasn’t there to buy drafting or model supplies today!
This must be why people use training plans
I typically wing the majority of my race “training.” My training “plans” tend to consist of me looking at the calendar to see when the race is, then back tracking weekend by weekend to see what kind of long runs I should do to get ready. Then I just do whatever I feel like the rest of the week. Super dedicated and purposeful, no? Ha ha.
This spring is a bit different. I am doing the same 5K in February and half marathon in May that I always do, but I also added a goal 5K in March and an ultra in April. That’s kind of all over the place. So I actually wrote myself a training plan. And have actually been following it, for the first four weeks. Gasp! So I CAN follow a plan!
Of course, note that the plan only consists of a day of speedwork and the weekly long run. Ha ha, so, still, not a plan. I am still winging the other five days of the week.
Note: this plan has since been revised – the 2×2, 2×3 and 4×2 sessions are only to be done 1x, not 2x (that would be cray cray!)
But I am finding it really helpful that I did write this plan. Or maybe I should call it a guide? Either way, it’s been kind of tricky to keep track of what I should be doing to prepare for a 5K PR and an ultra simultaneously (and what about that half?). I forget, from time to time, why I have such a long run on my calendar if I am training for a 5K. Then I remember, “Oh yeah! The ultra!” then think “good thing I wrote that all out.” Ha ha.
Time is getting away from me. I feel like I have all the time in the world before these events, but I don’t. My goal half marathon is three months from today. Three months out is when I started doing really focused training for the Dallas Marathon, and that was all I was focusing on! Oops. I hope this plan/guide can get me where I need to be, since I can’t seem to keep it all straight in my head. (Now, if only it could take care of my eating for me, too… cause you definitely can’t out run a bad diet!)
Are you a plan follower or do you like winging it?
Ahh, I just love to wing it and do whatever I feel like. I really struggle with being told what to do, every day… even if it’s something I wrote out! Ha!
Training Week 276
Highlight of the Week: Teaching cycling class at Efit on Saturday!
Monday | January 26, 2015: 8 m run (w/Yvonne (all) & Kelly (first 5.6)) + teaching strength class
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 14°/14°, Time: 1:11:15, Pace: 8:53 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: ankle/hand resistance bands & dumbbells, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: meh (mentally)
Tuesday | January 27, 2015: 6.3 m run (incl. 6x”800,” 5.8 w/Kelly)
Loc: LSC, Time: 57:17, Pace: 9:06 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: pretty good!
Wednesday | January 28, 2015: rest
Thursday | January 29, 2015: 8 m run + 15 m bike
Loc: hood, Temp: 33°/33°, Time: 1:17:15, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay, took legs 5 miles to wake up
Bike Time: 54:49, Pace: 16.5 mph avg, Difficulty: medium/hard, Felt: good – excited to try the workout at Sat class!
Friday | January 30, 2015: teaching strength class + 4 m run (w/Dawn, incl. 2 miles @ her tempo) + 12 m run
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: ok
Loc: LSC, Time: 40:47, Pace: 10:12, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 30°/29°, Time: 2:02:12, Pace: 10:11 avg, Difficulty: esay, Felt: okay – took legs forever to warm up
Saturday | January 31, 2015: teaching cycling class (17.7 m)
Bike Time: 53:53, Pace: 19.7 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great – psyched to be teaching cycling
Sunday | February 1, 2015: 4 m run + teaching fitness boxing + 6 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 27°/26°, Time: 42:48, Pace: 10:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fun to run in the snow!
Strength: boxing and body weight workout (w/Lebert Equalizer), Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: treadmill, Time: 59:15, Pace: 9:53 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: physically fine, sweating like crazy!
Notes:
- I ran indoors three times this week (twice at the indoor track and once on the treadmill) and my body seems to be dealing with it much better than before. I remembered to switch directions half way through, at the track, and I think that helped.
- Ugh, the treadmill. I suck at it. No mental strength, what-so-ever. But we have a blizzard happening right now so I’m happy to have the option to use it! I don’t even remember the last time I used ours… I think it’s been at least three to four years! The funny thing is that when Steven and I trained for our first “distance” race, the Wisconsin Half Marathon in 2009, we used it for almost every single run!
- I had a lot of fun teaching my first indoor cycling class of the year this Saturday. I have one more at the end of the month. That was actually the next weekend class I was going to teach, but it seemed so far away! So I added a fitness boxing class on the 14th, too. (There are four instructors, and we rotate who teaches what which weekends).
- I am four for four with my speed sessions this year! Next week is three mile repeats – eek!
- And speaking of being four for four, where I am after the first month of the year? Well, since you asked (ha ha ha, riiiiiight)… I ran 202.4 miles in January, and (indoor) cycled 74.7. I taught eight strength classes, two fitness boxing classes, and one cycling class. I did four strength sessions on my own. And I did not snowshoe. In February, I would like to do more strength sessions on my own, and get out there to snowshoe, at least once! We have the snow now!
Maybe wearing one earring will become popular again
When I lived in Rome, it was trendy for females to wear only one earring. I saw many other trends during my time there that eventually made it to the US, but never the one earring thing. I could use that, now.
Do you ever do something and feel like a very obvious life lesson is the outcome of it?
That was me, yesterday. In the morning, I grabbed the earrings I wanted to wear and saw they didn’t have backs on them (to keep them on my ears). “Eh, I will be fine,” I thought.
Yeah, you know I came home with only one earring. Sigh.
Many possible lessons out of this one: take care of your stuff, follow your instinct (to put backs on), don’t be in a rush and make stupid mistakes, and don’t get upset and act surprised when your choice with a potentially bad outcome, well, had the bad outcome.
Ahh, that last one. As soon as I realized it was gone (and not stuck in my collar or scarf as I had hoped), I was disappointed for sentimental reasons*, but had to laugh at myself. It was MY stupidity that got it lost! I should always wear backs to my earrings, but especially if I am going to be wearing a bulky scarf, taking a hat on and off throughout the day, and be using headphones! Derrrr.
It’s weirded me out lately, the things that bother me, and the things that don’t. My phone crashing and two pictures randomly deleting themselves (only to reappear 6 days later)? So very pissed. A super major issue at work? Eh. My computer operating slow and not letting me update google docs? OMG I COULD STAB SOMETHING. Train’s late? Oh well. My ride is late? WTF?!?!?!
Ha ha, so I really shouldn’t be patting myself for not sweating the small stuff that was my “fault.” I’ve always been good at that. I’ve always been very easy on myself, and not really let my “failures” get me down. It’s the small stuff that I have no control over, that I need to work on! Probably just like everyone else…
*I got these at an Egyptian exhibit in London. I didn’t wear them often at all, but they reminded me of good times visiting there.
Frozen Zucchini 5K Snowshoe Adventure 2015
Without the snowshoes, ha ha.
Ahh, first race of the year is DONE! Woo hoo!
Oh my gosh that picture makes me laugh!
I like starting my year off with a January race… because I like the idea of doing one race a month! I’ve only achieved that once – in 2011. Maybe I will again this year?
Anyone else aiming for the one race a month this year? (or maybe that is waaaay too easy for ya!)
This is actually the only race I’ve ever done in January (in 2011 and 2014)! And I plan to keep doing it in the future, if I am in town (although I may wait to sign up only if there is enough snow to snowshoe).
I first signed up for this race because the concept of running in snowshoes blew my mind so hard I had to try it out. And… I found out it’s super challenging. Really, the most intense kind of racing I’ve ever done. I love the way it pushes me, so I have been back for more. And bonus, the group, Smart Farm, that puts on this race is hella cool – they run an “educational” garden so people in the community can learn about “their agricultural heritage, organic gardening, the slow food movement, and best practices for living ‘green,’ sustainable lives. ” Hence, the title, Frozen Zucchini. Cute, no?
And man, they have some of the best swag ever!
I mentioned how awesome their swag is at packet pickup, and the lady giving me my packet said “I have never heard that word before, but you are the third person to say it today!” Ha ha.
Okay, on to the race! The course is two loops that make up a 5K. As you know, no snowshoes were allowed. We were warned that there was a lot of ice on the trail, and heavily encouraged to use Yaxtrax, but a failed experience with them several years back has made me doubtful of their usefulness* on straight-up ice, so I just wore my trail shoes. And was fine. But probably only because we got a light dusting of snow the night before, which made the ice more manageable to run on. The course was very well marked with orange spray paint, and there were a lot of volunteers out there, warning us about really icy spots.
It ended up being more like a cross-country race – we were on and off snow-dusted grass, to icy and snow-dusted paved trail, to sometimes (rarely) dry trail. It was still really challenging, especially with 20 mile per hour winds, and snow sometimes blowing in our faces. But it was FUN. I found myself wishing I would be out there longer. Rachel was visiting to do the race with me, and, well… she’s my ultra buddy! Running “only” 3.1 miles with her just isn’t enough! Although, I did tell her during that run that my maximum on a course like that would probably be 5-6 miles. And while I was warm enough when we were running, I was very happy to change after the race! Ha ha ha.
Seen at the finish line!
We ended up averaging 11 minute miles. Which, during and after the fact, I think is very good, but is not what I was expecting going in to the race. The race wasn’t chip-timed, so we lined up near the front, and thought we’d be able to go pretty quickly, since we’ve done trails before. Ha ha! Not so much! People were flying by us! I was impressed by how fast they were going on that course!
After the race, a photographer asked us for our names, and said he took our photo and planned to run it in the Daily Herald (our local paper). Our photo didn’t end up in the print copy, but we were in the digital one (and the same article, with a quote from me, was in both). Fun! It pays to wear goofy outfits, guys!
Also, this caption says that Smart Farm (well, “Fun,” a typo, ha ha) grows their produce for local pantries. Cool!
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit bummed I didn’t get to race in snowshoes. Especially because I really wanted Rachel to experience it (she had actually been training in them… unlike me!)! But, that is a risk with this race – you don’t know if there will be enough snow. I didn’t do it one year for that reason (and missed the other year because I was out of town). Maybe next year we’ll have snow again. Or maybe I will try one of these snowshoe races in the Madison-area that Rachel has been telling me about! We’re so awesome at falling on the trails, Rachel needs to try it on the snow, too, ha ha (surprisingly, neither of us bit it during this race).
With or without snowshoes, it was a fun race, and a great way to kick off the racing year! And it made me even more stoked about the (longer) races Rachel and I will be doing together in the upcoming months!
*Although I do wonder if the newer model with spikes would be better
Still knitting
Guys! I haven’t given up on knitting yet! I am actually, gasp, enjoying it, and finding it to be a soothing hobby (and especially like that it keeps my hands off my phone, and also out of my mouth, while I sit around, doing it)!
I worked a little on my washcloth, day by day, until the final class to finish it last Thursday. Even though it had a lot of errors, and looked pretty wonky, I was impressed by myself, that I actually made something, because I am so NOT crafty. Not one bit.
I immediately started another, because I wanted to keep working on the skills I learned, and finished that one in one night! Can you tell which below is the first one, and which is the second? Ha ha, I hope so!
After I was through with the blue skein of yarn, I moved back over to the one in the knitting kit Mica sent me, and yes, kept going with the same pattern, just adding a few rows. After Data modeled it for me, I kind of wished I was knitting him a bonnet. Muah ha ha, that time will come, Data.
(And why not knit him one? He doesn’t seem to mind having things on his head or around his neck! Check out the schweet lumber sexual hat that Rachel‘s cats, Soxie and Leo, got him. They said they thought maybe he got sick because he wasn’t staying warm enough, and thought the hat would help. Awww.)
Anyways. I am finding myself greatly looking forward to doing a bit of knitting here and there, most days, and am really pleased by that. I didn’t think I was someone who could enjoy making things, or be self-motivated to do so, after all my years in college of being forced to draw, draft and build models. Whenever someone’s suggested I take up a craft as a hobby before, I’ve always felt panicked by the thought of it. This… gives me hope. I really want to continue with it, hopefully taking some classes, but also looking up patterns and ideas on my own (I have a few, already!). I tend to be really lazy with research, so actually doing some would be good for me.
Do you enjoy “making” things?
Two underwear tales
(that both involve my snister*)
This summer, my snister, Christina, gifted me a pair of boy cut Brooks running shorts that she picked up at a sidewalk sale. How sweet that she thought of me!
But when I saw the shorts I only thought one thing – I can’t wear booty shorts! I’m an 7″ inseam gal. I need more fabric than that (to keep skin from rubbing together).
Christina asked me a few times if I’d tried them on and I kept saying no. I felt bad for not using them.
Then, this winter, I had an idea – I could use them to keep my buns warm in really cold runs. Yeah! Brilliant!
So I grabbed them, and went to remove the tag (hadn’t even done that yet) and noticed it said “thermo boy short,” and read the description:
The ultimate baselayer for cold-weather runs. Stay toasty and comfortable by slipping these super-soft thermal boy shorts on underneath your favorite running pants, tights, or shorts.
Wait a second! These aren’t even shorts! They’re basically underwear! FOR cold weather running.
Oh my gosh, I’m such a derpitty for not even reading the tag until four months after she gave them to me. Derr derr derr. There was never any reason to be afraid of them! How silly that I let one look make me think they weren’t for me, before investigating further.
Now I use them whenever it’s 15° or below (or if I’m wearing tights I think might burst like at Sunday’s race) and I LOVE them. Which is odd – I never wear underwear when I workout… unless it’s cold, I guess! I think I might order a few more pairs!
Buah ha ha. And this story. My snister and her husband bought a new home and we visited over New Year’s and had a great time! Right before the trip I was complaining to Christina about Target jeans (don’t buy them!) and how the dye is rubbing off on my hands and coat (seriously, I had to get the coat dry cleaned) and it’s MAKING ME CRAZY.
So we’re sitting on her brand new beige couches and she’s like “um… are those the awful Target pants?” (that I had on). I told her yes and she asked “can you please take them off?”
One of the horrible pairs of Target pants (yes, I have two pairs… sigh). Oops.
I immediately went upstairs to take them off. I felt bad I sat there at all! What was I thinking? I didn’t want to ruin her new furniture!
Then I came back downstairs. Without any pants on. Christina didn’t see me enter the room but she saw me after I sat down.
Oh my gosh, the look on her face! Ha ha ha! I don’t think she was expecting me to come back with NO pants. We both laughed. Then she gave me sweat pants to wear. And explained the rules of who gets to go pant-less in the house (I guess you have to live there).
Dexter doesn’t have to wear pants since she lives there. Lucky.
Ha ha. I still laugh now when I think of the look on her face!!!
It seems pretty obvious but neither Brooks nor Target sponsored this post.
*for newer readers, “snister” is the pet name my sister and I call one another
Training Week 275
Highlight of the Week: Running my first race of the year with Rachel!
Monday | January 19, 2015: 14 m run (first 5 w/Kelly) + teaching strength class
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 23°/26°, Time: 2:23:36, Pace: 10:15 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, underdressed
Strength: ankle/hand resistance bands, Difficulty: medium, Felt: great/excited about the new workout
Tuesday | January 20, 2015: 6.5 m run (w/Kelly)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 31°/32°, Time: 1:04:33, Pace: 9:56 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: sleepy tired, overdressed
Wednesday | January 21, 2015: rest
Thursday | January 22, 2015: 7.2 m run (incl. up/down ladder)
Loc: hood, Temp: 33°/32°, Time: 1:00:46, Pace: 8:27 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: really good
Friday | January 23, 2015: teaching strength class + 6 m run (w/Dawn)
Strength: ankle/hand resistance bands, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 28°/28°, Time: 1:01:44, Pace: 10:17, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, finally dressed right
Saturday | January 24, 2015: 16 m run
Loc: Around Round Lake, Temp: 30°/39°, Time: 2:50:59, Pace: 10:41 avg, Difficulty: easy (except for ice), Felt: good
Sunday | January 25, 2015: Frozen Zucchini 5K Snowshoe Adventure (w/Rachel) + 15 m bike
Loc: Citizen’s Park, Barrington, Temp: 29°/29°, Time: 33:27, Pace: 11:00 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Bike Time: 1:05:55, Pace: 13.7 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: laaaazy
Notes:
- I didn’t run indoors at all this week, and I didn’t feel sore at all this week, either. And that was with a mileage increase (since I did last week’s long run on Monday)! So maybe my body doesn’t dig the indoor track… or maybe it was just getting used to starting speed work again. I will pay attention to how my body feels if I hit up the indoor track again.
- Speedwork this week was one of my most dreaded workouts – the up/down ladder – 400 m, 800 m, 1200 m, 1600 m up… then back down, 1200 m, 800 m and 400 m. Starting out fast, getting slower for the mile, then speeding back up. It went surprisingly well. Yay!
- When Rachel was visiting she reminded me that the RAGBRAI route announcement was yesterday. AHHH!!!! GUYS! They are stopping in Cedar Falls this year! That is super close to my hometown, which means I bet I can get Dad to do a leg again, and hopefully Will (my brother-in-law) can join this year, since he had to back out last year (to go to a wedding). YAY!!!!!
- Rachel and I really enjoyed the race! Of course, it was a bit of a letdown not to use our snowshoes, but I know we will have more opportunities this year, and, dang, it was still challenging on the snow dusted grass and ice!!!
- While Rachel was here we signed up for our Michigan ultra and booked our hotel. Woo hoo! I am signed up for races in two new to me states this year (MN and MI) and have two girls’ weekends planned out of it!
- Next weekend I am teaching at Efit both days – cycling on Saturday and fitness boxing on Sunday. I am looking forward to my first cycling class of the year! The workout is really heavily music based (I use it as a tempo guide) and I am excited to work on my playlist!
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! 🙂
