Always brush your tongue
One day in February last year, I woke up with a dark spot on the back of my tongue, and when I brushed my teeth, I was spitting up something dark, too!
I actually took a photo of my tongue, because I was worried something was wrong with it (ha, I won’t force you to look at that photo). But then I noticed the more and more I brushed my tongue. The more the spot went away.
Then I remembered I ate about a zillion of these the night before:
Ha ha. So. Apparently, if you eat a bunch of truffles and don’t brush your tongue very well, you will think you have some crazy disease when you wake up in the morning.
YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!
I was thinking about that incident yesterday as I cleaned out our “junk” shelf in our pantry (some stuff went to the trash, some will go toward the “office dump,” some was kept), because I didn’t realize how much chocolate I had. I keep it all in a box and forget about it. There were four dark chocolate candy bars, a new box of truffles, half a box from before, and all of Steven’s milk chocolate. Geesh! No one needs that much chocolate in their house! If I were to eat it, I would definitely think I had some tongue disease again, ha ha.
Did you see the “report” (pdf here) this week that people start to amp up their purchasing of junk food toward the holidays, and continue to a bit in the new year? And that, yeah, that would make it harder to lose weight if that was a “resolution” of yours, because you are still in some sort of junk food purchasing auto-pilot.
We actually did fairly well not buying a lot of junk for the holidays this year, but mostly because we were traveling. If we were hosting, I would have had a few candy items around the house, and baked something. The only items I purchased were for Steven’s family’s stockings (And I forgot to get my snister her favorite treat! Sorry, snis!), and of course, I received a few things. Apparently enough to make me do a purge of the “junk” shelf!
Mostly… I am happy to have the holidays behind me and get back to my typical eating plan! It’s fun to eat treats around the holidays, but my body can only tolerate a little bit, ha ha!
Are you back to your normal eating plan after the holidays? Or do you feel like you are still buying some “junky” items, like that article suggests?
The only marathon I may do this year
For Christmas I asked my parents for The Fast and the Furious Collection*, and they delivered!
I’d actually forgotten I asked, and was surprised and excited to receive them**… and eager to start watching! So Steven and I started the movie “marathon” on December 29th. Our New Year’s Eve travels set our “marathon” back a bit (as well as wanting to watch out Netflix disks), but we’re currently on Furious 6 and nearing the end of the series***, which I am actually a little sad about****.
I keep joking with Steven about the “importance of this ‘marathon”” as it may be the only one I do this year. Ha ha. After saying it for about the zillionth time last night, he asked “But aren’t you doing one of those ultra things with Rachel this year?”
That is true. Rachel and I are targeting an April ultra that is 33.5 miles long. But… here is the thing – in my mind, ultras fit in to the “race for fun” category. Actually, to me, every distance BUT 26.2 does, meaning, I would run any of those race distances just for the “fun” of it, and not care what my finish time was, or if I had trained specifically for it (trained enough miles, for sure, just not in a specific way).
I’d also run any of those distances for a goal time, it’s just that the marathon doesn’t fit in both categories. It’s… a purposeful race for me. It’s not something I want to BS my way through. It’s potentially too long and painful for that. If I am signed up for one, I want to have specifically prepared for it, and actually have a goal finish time in mind.
So, I am a bit hesitant to have one on my calendar. Because, at any moment I can choose to run my other “goal” race distances just for fun (yes, I build in contingency for myself to stop caring about goal finish times I’ve had in mind – cause it’s definitely happened), but I don’t want to be “stuck” signed up for a marathon that I no longer feel like doing.
Ha! All of this sounds very negative to write, especially since my last two marathons went so fabulously! But, that is just how my brain works – it’s still hyper sensitive about keeping the marathon “sacred.” Respecting the distance, really. So apparently, it’s the only distance I respect, since I am willing to run most others willy-nilly!
Do you have any race distances that you won’t run “just for the fun of it”? Or are they all that way for you? (Yeah, I am not a very “serious” racer!)
Oops, I thought this post was going to be about movie watching marathons. To which I must say, as much as I love this one, Star Wars will always be number 1!
*Minus the first one, which we already owned.
**Although you’d never be able to tell from this picture! I was still getting over being sick and you could totally see it in my face!
***We’re watching them in story chronological order, not chronological release order, so we still have to get through Tokyo Drift.
****These movies are ridiculous but I find them to be enjoyable and entertaining to watch! Now I’ll have to wait until April for Furious 7!
Treadmill or indoor track…
… which would you choose?
Today was my sixth run of the year, first one indoors… and first one with Kelly*!
Gah! We had not seen each other (to run or at all!) since December 18th and I felt SO off. Off because that meant I was doing a solo workout later in the day, and not starting my day feeling energized from a wake-up-and-go run. And also, SUPER off because Kelly is the friend I chat with most in person on a weekly basis, and not doing that (among several other things) was making me feel grumpy, and anti-social. Which made me not want to talk to anyone. When really, that is what would help my mood. Ahh, it’s a vicious cycle. Ha ha.
Anyway! We met for some miles at a local, inexpensive indoor (around .25 miles) track this am. And I was just thinking about what a nice option it is, for when running is so dangerous outside (I am more concerned about the sheet of ice covering the street in my neighborhood than the high of -1°F with a “feel” of -14°F or whatever today… but I do have to say, I was able to go farther indoors that I would have been, outdoors). I think I will be using it more this winter, since I actually have 17 weeks of speedwork planned out to get me ready for a goal 5K and half marathon, and I don’t want to slip on my behind while running repeats!
How about you? When it’s your definition of too dangerous to run outside, are you on the treadmill, hitting up an indoor track, taking a rest day or cross training?
We have a treadmill, but I don’t have the mental capacity to use it. Although I should! I could use the mental training.
*Don’t worry, I won’t annoy you with these stats all year-round! I hope not, anyway. Err…
Training Week 272
Highlight of the Week: Starting the new year with a workout with my dad! And actually being able to workout, right away in the new year.
Monday | December 29, 2014: 5.6 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 27°/28°, Time: 53:32, Pace: 9:34 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good/hungry
Strength: Sand bags, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, in shape
Tuesday | December 30, 2014: rest
Wednesday | December 31, 2014: 4.4 m run + 10 m bike/10 min core
Loc: Millennium Tail, Temp: -2°/-1°, Time: 42:07, Pace: 9:35 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Bike Time: 40:47, Pace: 14.7 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine
Thursday | January 1, 2015: 10.3 m run (w/Dad on bike)/10 min strength
Loc: Indian Creek Trail/Overland Park, Temp: 30°/34°, Time: 1:41:28, Pace: 9:51 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fantastic
Friday | January 2, 2015: 6 m run (w/Dad on bike)
Loc: Overland Park, Temp: 37°/37°, Time: 58:41, Pace: 9:46, Difficulty: decent, Felt: so full from lunch, ha ha
Saturday | January 3, 2015: 8 m run
Loc: Line Creek Trail (KCMO), Temp: 33°/35°, Time: 1:20:45, Pace: 10:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | January 4, 2015: 4 m run
Loc: Line Creek Trail (KCMO), Temp: 6°/8°, Time: 42:56, Pace: 10:44 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay
Notes:
- I had the flu/some lung issues at the end of 2013 and in to 2014, so my January last year was… less than stellar. I am so grateful to be healthy and working out right away in 2015!
- And my first three runs of the year were in such nice weather! 30s and hardly any wind! Sunday was a dose of reality again – 6°F out and feels like -13°F because of 19 mph winds with gusts in the mid 20s. Ha ha, winter is here!
- I also started 2015 out with my normal tracking spreadsheets, and some new ones. I just love tracking pointless data (like who my runs were with, in which state, etc.) even though I could very likely run a report on Garmin to tell me all that info. Eh, it makes it fun for me! So far, 50% of my runs this year were with my dad on his bike, and 50% of them were in Kansas, and the other 50% were in Missouri. Those stats will change very soon!
Training Week 271
Highlight of the Week: Having my dad, brother, brother-in-law, and aunt accompany me on their bikes while I ran on Friday!
Monday | December 22, 2014: 5 m run + teaching strength class (sick)
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 35°/35°, Time: 50:05, Pace: 10:01 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay (getting sick)
Strength: Kettlebells + UNO Core Workout, Difficulty: medium/hard, Felt: hot & dizzy
Tuesday | December 23, 2014: rest (sick)
Wednesday | December 24, 2014: teaching strength class (sick)
Strength: Lebert Equalizer, One DB, and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | December 25, 2014: rest (sick)
Friday | December 26, 2014: 7 m run (w/Dad, Anthony, Will and Sue on their bikes)
Loc: George Wyth State Park, Temp: 34°/34°, Time: 1:10:29, Pace: 10:04, Difficulty: x, Felt: good! happy to be running!
Saturday | December 27, 2014: 11 m run (w/Dad on his bike)
Loc: Cedar Prairie Trail, Temp: 30°/28°, Time: 1:48:10, Pace: 9:50 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, annoyed w/wind 2nd half
Sunday | December 28, 2014: 10 m bike/10 min strength
Bike Time: 38:58, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (bored, ha ha)
Notes:
- I started getting a scratchy throat and dry cough on Sunday the 21st, and my first thought was “No! This can’t be happening to me again!” I had the flu last year from Christmas to New Year’s Eve and it really set me back with my fitness (and ruined a lot of my enjoyment of the holidays). This time though, the cold seemed to be on a rapid path, which was FINE by me. Instead of having days with certain symptoms like I normally do, I went through symptoms on a day basis and felt mostly better by Wednesday! Yay!
- But… I still took it pretty easy all week to play it safe. I am looking forward to exercising more next week!
Helper Cat vs 2014
It just wouldn’t be the 2014 holiday season without some Helper Cat assistance!
Data just has to be in the holiday wrapping action. Sitting on paper as you try to wrap a gift, attacking ribbon and bows, jumping up on to the tissue paper on the table…
… and falling right off and getting stuck between the chair and the table. Ha! I wish I would have gotten a photo of that! He only acted embarrassed for a little bit before he came back to the table.
(Actually, he loves those springs!)
Do your pets “help” you wrap gifts? Do you have much gift wrapping done?
I am very happy that almost all of ours is done! All we have left to wrap is our gifts for one another!
And I wrapped some very special gifts this morning for Steven’s birthday!
His birthday is today, but we are both working, so we went out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate and to see a holiday show… “A Klingon Christmas Carol.”
The show was the Christmas Carol story, told with a Klingon twist – it was about honor and courage. And! It was all told in Klingon, with sub titles! The space sat around 75 people, so it had a really intimate feel. I was actually really impressed by it – I can’t imagine memorizing all of those lines in a made-up language!
Training Week 270
Highlight of the Week: Adding in more daily strength training, and some cross training!
Monday | December 15, 2014: rest
Tuesday | December 16, 2014: 5 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 43°/42°, Time: 47:40, Pace: 9:32 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: Kettlebells and UNO Core Workout, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good/strong
Wednesday | December 17, 2014: 6 m run/10 min strength+core
Loc: hood, Temp: 28°/28°, Time: 1:00:54, Pace: 10:09 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent
Thursday | December 18, 2014: 7 m run (w/Kelly)/10 min core
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 20°/20°, Time: 1:07:57, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good! No wind! So warm!
Friday | December 19, 2014: teaching strength class + 7 m bike
Strength: Kettlebells and UNO Core Workout, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: spent, in a good way
Bike Time: 30:00, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, sore butt, ha ha
Saturday | December 20, 2014: 4 m run/10 min strength+core (w/Steven!)
Loc: Millennium Trail, Temp: 28°/28°, Time: 38:43, Pace: 9:40 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: ok, not in the mood (started too late in the morning)
Sunday | December 21, 2014: 8 m run (w/Bobbi) + 8 m bike
Loc: Grant Woods FP, Temp: 32°/34°, Time: 1:30:52, Pace: 11:21 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Bike Time: 31:01, Pace: 15.5 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (butt still sore)
Notes:
- I had an entire “what’s next?” post drafted out for this week, but felt meh about it. I’m not much of a goal-maker or sharer (as documented many times)*. The more I share a goal, the less excited/dedicated I become about it. Weird, right? Sharing goals is supposed to help you stick to achieving them and it does the opposite for me. Anyway. In future training posts, you will hopefully see notes with strength and/or core moves after a run, like on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday this week. That is something I am trying to incorporate – more strength training.
- Here’s a silly question – how do you keep your shirt tucked in to your pants when you run? Only a few of my running tights have drawstrings, and those seem to be the best at keeping my pants high and tight, with the shirt tucked in. So I have resorted to safety pins – one to fold the band over to keep the pants up, and one to secure the shirt to the pants (so it doesn’t come untucked and make my back cold). There must be a better way!
- This week Gina told me that someone at her running store was super excited she finished the marathon around 4:20, because she had told them that was the time she thought she would finish, and she was pretty much on the money. That made me wonder what we put for our estimated finish time when we signed up – 4:22! Also super close!
- Gina’s dad’s wife’s camera apparently has some feature that makes clips from photos and puts them in to a video! I have no idea how it works, but I downloaded her pics and stumbled across this video that shows a lot of their spectating experience. How cool! I like that the camera did the work of meshing all the clips together!
*I am also like, “who cares?” and “people don’t need to know everything I am doing” (even though you can see a list here).
2014 Racing Statistics
My 2014 racing year is over which means… it’s time for one of my favorite posts of the year to put together – the Yearly Racing Statistics post! Yay! (You can see 2012 here and 2013 here. AND! You can use this list to put this information together, for yourself, if you’d like).
Putting these stats together has taken some digging the last two years, but this year I tracked all of this information immediately after each race, in spreadsheets or on my race recaps page (I sure do love me some spreadsheets!!!). So this year, all I had to do was grab the info and update the graphics! I also love me some Photoshop!
Observations:
- I did two less races than last year, but really, quite a few less running races, since 3.5 of the races were cycling events!
- And no “new” running distances raced this year! Again, the “new-to-me” stuff was all cycling.
- I did one more half marathon than 5K this year (7 vs 6). Last year I ran 12 5Ks and 6 half marathons!
- I did three races in my “new” state this year! I am targeting two to three new states in 2015!
- My “races per month” chart makes it seem like me saying summer is my off-season was a bunch of baloney… but it wasn’t. Those numbers are high because I did a cycling event in June, July, and August. Summer is a good month for cycling!
- It’s interesting I raced almost the same amount of times in Wisconsin (8) as in Illinois (10)! And it’s sad I only did one trail race this year. Last year I ran six trail races! Gotta get back to it in 2015!
- Ha ha, I definitely ran less free races this year (3.5 this year versus 6 in 2013), and that shows up in the amount spent on racing!!! Although, my cost per mile raced went down, because of cycling miles.
- I was pleased to place three times as a 30 year-old this year, even though they were super small races (<— like I’d place in any other type of race!).
- My last race of 2012 was on December 16th, with Gina. My last race of the year in 2013 was on December 15th, with Gina. My last race this year was on December 14th, with Gina… fun! Guess I know who I will be with on December 13th, 2015!
In a musical mood
I read an article this morning that confirmed (with research!) everything I’ve ever instinctually (<— not a word?) thought about music:
- “If a song was playing during any big first — a kiss, a college party — that song will later cause certain brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex, which is integral for retrieval of long-term memories, to light up, essentially transporting you back to that moment.” The title of the article was actually “We May Never Stop Loving That Mariah Carey Christmas Song, According to Science.” Hee hee. Certain songs (especially some holiday songs) may make our brains “high on nostalgia.”
- We may also like music based on experiences we can’t even remember. People tend to like music that was popular when they came to age, but also, during their parent’s prime – so, maybe things you were listening to, but too young to remember. I have very specific memories of Van Halen’s “Jump,” and other rock music that has heavily influenced me. Um… why else would I be going to see Foreigner in March?!
- We associate with certain songs depending on how happy or energized they make us feel. It’s not so much the musical content we are associating with, but the reaction it starts in our brains.
- And once you are connected to a song, hearing it only intensifies your love for it, by “increasing connectivity between sound-processing regions and the hippocampus, which is involved in memory and social emotion.”
- And lastly, we got more pleasure from songs we know (especially all of the words to); songs with which we are familiar. (I have definitely noticed that, and talked about it before!) Hearing familiar songs actually sparks activity in certain areas of the brain, whether you like the song or not!
Have you noticed any of these before?
I actually drafted this little music survey two months ago and haven’t posted it yet! Fill out your answers in the comments (or on your blog), if you’d like!
- What song are you listening to on repeat now?
- What song do you always listen to all the way through?
- What is the last full album you downloaded?
- What is the last soundtrack you downloaded?
- Are you able to listen to music and read?
- What is the last concert you attended?
When I wrote this, I was listening to Sam Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One” on repeat, and singing along (see point above about knowing all the words). Now it’s Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk.”
I skip music a lot but always listen all the way through to P!nk ft Nate Ruess “Just Give Me a Reason,” Britney Spears “Criminal,” AC/DC “Thunderstruck,” and CeeLo Green “Bright Lights Bigger City.”
Last full album downloaded was Milky Chance Sadnecessary.
Last soundtrack downloaded was either for Black Swan or Tron.
I absolutely cannot listen to music and read. Or do much else. Just workout. And drive.
Last concert attended (not counting classical music) was Van Halen in 2004. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
Eight years a runner
While running with Kelly this morning, she told me about her first half marathon in Kentucky eight years ago, and that she couldn’t believe she’d been running that long*. Of course, that made me wonder, “how long have I been consistently running?” It turns out, about the same – also eight years!
I started following Fitness Magazine’s 6 Weeks to a 5K program** in late 2006, to lose weight and to train for a New Year’s Day 5K.
I put the program in a chart and made it my desktop background on my computer, and put a check mark on each date after I completed the workout. That kept me motivated to keep going, because it was in my face a lot of the time!
(click to see larger)
I didn’t even know this until I looked at my files this morning, but I apparently have a running start date anniversary – November 10th! Fun!
It’s funny that something so innocent like this turned in to an obsession. I guess that’s how it starts!
What’s the longest hobby you’ve consistently stuck with, and for how long?
Mine’s not running – it’s blogging! I started that in July 2005! I would also venture to include photography, but it’s not like I compose my photos very well. I just like documenting everything!
*Or maybe it was nine years ago – morning running brain confusion
**I still think this is a fantastic beginning runner program, and recommend it to anyone who wants to start!
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! 🙂
