Training Week 91
I am training for the Milwaukee Marathon on October 2nd.
Day 631 | July 11, 2011: rest
Day 632 | July 12, 2011: 3.43 m bike + 15.37 m bike + 3 m run
On Tuesday I rode my bike home, then met my running club friend, Chris for a long and easy out and back ride on the Millennium Trail. We had a great time chatting. Chris is someone I’ve always wanted to get to know better, and it seems this week was my chance (I saw her every day from Tuesday-Saturday). We saw a beautiful sunset on our way back… something a photo just can’t capture (although her iPhone did a very decent job!). Seeing natural beauty like that really makes me love biking (and running!).
We tried to time our ride to get back before the entrance to the forest preserve was closed, and got there right as the forest preserve guys were showing up to close the gate. They waited for us, thankfully!
I ran 3 quick miles in the dark when I got home. I accidentally left the shoes on I was wearing for the bike ride – bad idea – they were my old Asics which have a ton of miles on them and are way worn out! I won’t be doing that again!
Bike Time: 19:28 | Distance: 3.43 | Average Speed: 10.6 mph
Bike Time: 1:16:16| Distance: 15.37 | Average Speed: 12.1 mph
Distance: 3.0 | Temp: low 70s (!!!) | Time: 26:41 | Avg Pace: 8:53 | 1: 8:56 | 2: 8:59 | 3: 8:44
Day 633 | July 13, 2011: 4 m (3×800)
So, Wednesday. I was originally scheduled to do my tenth strength session with Brian (which I had to cancel the Saturday before) but my train was late so we canceled (again). I was bummed, but… ended up going to my first speedwork session with the running club! We did 3×800, which looked really easy on paper, but I didn’t do so well: 3:30, 3:37 and 3:43. I mean, part of me is happy I could run that fast, being so much heavier than I was during the winter, but those are incredibly inconsistent splits. Boo.
Distance: 4.0 | Temp: low 70s (again!!!) | Time: 36:18 | Avg Pace: 9:04
Day 634 | July 14, 2011: rest
Instead of working out, I went to the Grayslake Running Club social, to have a short club meeting and meet new club members!
And play silly games…
Bobbi and I know all about the correlation between running and TP (unfortunately?).
Day 635 | July 15, 2011: strength + 2.5 m run + 8.16 m bike
On Friday I finally got a strength session in. It had been a week and I was missing it! I worked with an exercise ball and hand weights. I was surprised how well I did with the ball. I am always worried about those things since I have no balance, but I didn’t fall (okay, it’s not like I was doing a pike or anything and Brian was usually holding the ball for me). I am always impressed with all the different stuff Brian comes up with me to do. I think he is like an evil exercise genius. Seriously! I don’t think I have done the same workout twice. I mean sure, the same moves from time to time, but he really shakes things up.
In the evening, I ran 2.5 miles at the Grant Woods Forest Preserve, then biked with two girlfriends from the club. It was a fun and easy bike ride! We chatted in the parking lot for at least over thirty minutes after the ride. It’s just easier to chat without the wind blowing in your ears…
Distance: 2.5 | Temp: mid 80s | Time: 23:08 | Avg Pace: 9:15 | 1: 9:32 | 9:04 | 3: 4:30
Bike Time: 48:14 | Distance: 8.16 | Average Speed: 10.2 mph
Day 636 | July 16, 2011: 14 m run
Alright. So, long run day. Bobbi and I met early (5:30 am!) on part of the Des Plaines River Trail to beat the heat. Yeah, you know how it goes – whenever you do that, it’s already muggy when you get started. But, at least it wasn’t sunny. It was pretty much Bobbi and me running together from 5:30-6:30, although we doubled back at 6:00 and 6:30 to meet more club members. I was feeling okay, but toward mile 8 (I think Bobbi turned back at 7.5), knew I was going to run out of water and it wouldn’t be pretty. I didn’t plan well for this run. I was going to fill up at my car, but didn’t make it back, so I got a bit thirsty. And slowed down big time. It was kind of a crappy run. I ran to a gas station at 12.5 miles to buy a 34 oz water and a huge gatorade. I drank most of the water right then and there. Overall I drink about 70 oz. during the run (and took GUs at 4, 8 and 12).
There were also lots of gross bugs during this run, and I got a weird rash and bites. And was covered in trail dust when I left.
But… it was fun to spend so much time with Bobbi, and other people from the club!
Distance: 14.0 | Start Temp: mid 70s | End Temp: mid 80s | Time: 2:38:42 | Avg Pace: 11:17
Day 637 | July 17, 2011: 7 m run + 4.41 m bike
I decided to do some heat training and run right before noon (with LOTS of water). I ran in my neighborhood and the one next to ours. It went okay, but I did drink all of my water (32 oz) and have to stop in the shade a few times (our neighborhood is so new, we have few trees and little shade). And I was really happy to be done. When, I got back home, I immediately drank about 20 oz of water and ate one of our deformed popsicles (melted and re-frozen after we got power back).
Distance: 7.0 | Start Temp: 89° | End Temp: 91° | Dew Point: 71° | Time: 1:17:47 | Avg Pace: 11:06
Updated to add: In the evening, Steven and I went on a fun bike ride on the trail behind our house.
Week Summary: 30.5 miles
New GU flavor?
What do you guys think? Should I give it a try on my next long run? Yummy…
Random Thoughts Thursday
I’ve had a lot of random thoughts that aren’t amounting to full blog posts lately so here are the snippets:
- If your neighbors were outside being loud past 10:00 pm and you couldn’t sleep, would you do something about it? Would you try to talk to them or just call the police? I cannot tell you how many times we have had to call the police to tell our idiot neighbors to STFU. We tried to talk to them once and Steven was verbally assaulted so the cops have just told us to call them and not communicate with our neighbors. Will do. Had to last night. Sigh.
- Do any of your family members blogs? My sister started a blog this week. I will let her share it in the comments if she wants.
- I’ve noticed a lot of my tops and dresses are wrap tops or have belts/ribbons to tie around the waist. What’s up with that?
- I am on work travel next week, then on vacation for a whole week then in training the next week… meaning I don’t have to do downtown all that much for awhile. WOO HOO! I am so sick of the train commute.
- We are going on a short vacation to New York City!
- I was able (schedule-wise) to run track last night – my first time meeting with the club. We did 3×800. I am not sure if I should be happy I was able to run the paces I did, being so fat, or if I should be disappointed in myself for being so inconsistent, and fat. I run so much faster (and it’s easier!) when I am slimmer. But I have known that for a long time and done nothing about it, so, yeah.
- Holy crap this book makes me cry (picture below). Why do animal stories always do that to me? Damn you, Dewey!
Well, that wasn't there before…
It seems the trail has changed a bit since the last time I road it home from the train:
They’re calling Monday’s storm a “derecho“* – a short, violent windstorm that pounded the Chicago area with hurricane-force winds. The funny thing is, Steven missed the entire storm because he was in the shower! From what I heard from other people, it sounds like it was pretty freaky – the storm picked things up and moved them around. Our garbage and recycling cans were the only things moved around. Luckily(?), our neighborhood is too young to have huge tree damage like on the trail. The thing that cracks me up is that our bird feeders always survive these windstorms. What is up with that?
Anyway, when I rode my bike home today I was pleasantly surprised to see the light outside our garage was on, and to hear the AC unit running. Our power came back – an about 16 hours earlier than ComEd said it would! Now I just hope power is restored earlier than predicted for all of my friends in Lake County who still don’t have any.
*I found that phrase in the google reader preview for this article, but don’t see it anywhere in the actual article – strange!
Use for a useless gift
I am not so good at selecting birthday and holiday gifts for Steven. His birthday is three days before Christmas, and as much as I try all year to come up with good ideas, I usually fail at one gift. This year I bought him a super cool birthday gift (he got to drive/race a formula car on a track for 15 minutes) and a super LAME Christmas gift (this solar gadget charger). I was way off the mark with that one.
So why I am talking about this today? There was a weird windstorm throughout Chicagoland this morning, and we are one of the lucky half a million ComEd customers without power. Steven drove around all morning trying to find a place to work (he normally works from home), but every place with power and internet was packed – and there were so many trees and power lines down it took forever to get anywhere. So he went back home, and has been using his iPhone to work. But that battery doesn’t last long…
It dawned on me this afternoon that he could be using that silly solar gadget charger I bought him (photo above). Hurrah! Useless gift is now somewhat useful. I hope it works well – I hear we may not get power back for a few days. Yay… I can’t wait to try to sleep without the AC on*. Did I mention it’s in the 90s today?!
*I shouldn’t complain. I haven’t even been home yet today to deal with it. Legitimate complaning will resume tomorrow. Ha! What am I talking about? I lived in Rome an entire summer without AC and it gets HOT there. This is not big deal. Right? RIGHT?!?!!
Strawberries
Whoa! Check out these awesome strawberries from our garden!
Ha, I am totally KIDDING! We did not plant strawberries this year. These strawberries are actually from Stade’s Farm – a local farm where you can pick your own produce (and participate in other various events). Steven and I headed out to the farm on Friday with his dad and brother, to pick fresh strawberries to make a pie. It was the last day they were allowing people to pick their own strawberries, but we still found a bunch of good ones.
I saw surprised by how miniature the strawberries were compared to the ones you get in the store. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was.
And they were so sweet and good – perfect for the pie!
I really enjoyed picking them, despite being out in the blazing sun!
And we only used half of what we picked for the pie – time to figure out something else to do with them! Shouldn’t be too hard!
Training Week 90
Day 624 | July 4, 2011: cross
We’ll call water skiing crosstraining, right? Even if I didn’t spend that much time vertical? I spent a lot of time trying to get vertical!
Day 625 | July 5, 2011: 4 m run
I met Erin and her work running group for a 4-mile lunch run. I knew if I ran with other people it would force me to run faster in the heat and it worked! We averaged around 9:10-9:20 minute miles (ignore that third mile split – it includes walking around a water fountain and other walking to meet the group – I wasn’t sure when to stop and start the garmin). It was fun to chat with Erin and her friends from work (with whom I ran the relay). It went by too fast though! I wanted to chat more.
Erin was asking me how skiing went and I told her how challenging/fun it was. She asked if I was sore and I told her no. Well, I wasn’t at that point, but I sure was by nighttime! My forearms were so sore it hurt to open the door to my car!
Distance: 4.0 | Temp: high 80s | Time: 37:37 | Avg Pace: 9:24 | 1: 9:08 | 2: 9:11 | 3: 9:57 | 4: 9:18
Day 626 | July 6, 2011: rest
Day 627 | July 7, 2011: 4 m run + strength + hills (4 m run)
I woke up early in the am and ran at Rollins Savanna with some guys who I know would make me run fast. It worked! We ran negative splits and averaged 9:09 miles (which is very slow for them). We started running at 5:15 and it was only 58°! Craziness! I had not run when it had been that cool in a LONG time. It felt so so good. I was actually cold when I left and cold the rest of the day until…
My strength training session with Brian. This is #9! Can’t believe we have done that many! We did a kettlebell workout. It felt kind of easy, so I am not sure if I was half assing it, or if I just like kettlebells that much. The core work was not easy. Some boat-pose type stuff and twisting planks. Lots of work left to do there.
Brian mentioned he had free time but it was too hot to do anything outside. I said, “No it’s not! Let’s go for a run!” and took Brian on the hilly course by my house. Well, only he ran ahead (which I told him to) and I slogged behind. My legs were SO dead. And my left heel has been bothering me, so I was really midfoot striking, probably too much. But, I got it done. With super POSITIVE splits. Yay. I was thinking on the way back, how many damn hills are on this small course? There are eight frickin’ hills, and most of the course is up and down. It’s only flat in the beginning. Brian said he found it challenging and thinks I should encourage other running club members to run it for hill work. That makes me feel less crazy for thinking it’s so hard.
Distance: 4.0 | Start Temp: 58° | End Temp: Start Temp: 57° | Time: 36:45 | Avg Pace: 9:09 | 1: 9:27 | 2: 9:09 | 3: 9:04 | 4: 8:56
Distance: 4.0 | Temp: high 70s | Time: 41:50 | Avg Pace: 10:27 | 1: 9:06 | 2: 10:14 | 3: 11:10 | 4: 11:18
Day 628 | July 8, 2011: cross
I rented a pedal boat with Steven and his dad and brother at the Independence Grove Forest Preserve. My quads were SO SORE from the day before, that pedaling around the lake for about 40 minutes really took its toll!
It was a beautiful day though! I loved being out on the water… even though I wanted to be IN it!
Day 629 | July 9, 2011: Grayslake 5K
I ran the Grayslake 5K with my brother-in-law Andrew and he got a huge new PR!
Day 630 | July 10, 2011: 9 m run
I met Bobbi (and a few running club folks) at 6:00 am at Independence Grove to beat the heat for our long run. Nice try – it was already humid and in the high 70s at that point! I have kind of been ignoring how hot it’s getting, and just making sure to bring lots of water, or run by water fountains (I drank 40 oz. on this run, and took one GU at 4 miles). We took this 9-miler nice and easy, just the way I wanted to! I was still completely drenched in sweat by the end though. So gross.
It was really nice to catch up with Bobbi. We just talk away on our runs. I think I may have to do a few more longs runs with her – we are both training for October 2nd marathons!
Distance: 9.0 | Time: 1:40:40 | Avg Pace: 11:09
Week Summary: 24.1 miles
This was kind of a different week for me – doing some very different cross training, one two-a-day and not much strength training. Still a very fun week though! I didn’t do one run alone – and I liked that!
I feel like I should note that my left heel has been bugging me since mid last week. I think it might be from wearing flats when I was in Louisville. Either way, it is affecting the way I walk and run. I need to be careful with that. Also, my quads have felt so shredded since Friday morning. I hope that goes away soon – I can barely walk down the stairs! And I was just getting to be able to walk down the stairs like a normal person (or as Steven says “normal for me”) again!
On a more fun note – SUPER drool – I saw the new Asics Gel Cumulus 13s online this week – the pink ones are SO cute!!!
I totally want them. But I am going to be responsible and stock up on the 12s now that they are much cheaper on Amazon. But if anyone wants to get me shoes for my birthday, I wear size 12B!
Grayslake 5K Race Report
This morning was the Grayslake 5K – a race my running club (the Grayslake Running Club) has a pretty big turnout for:
There were around 20-25 club members running, along with many of their family members – even I brought one – Andrew, my brother-in-law, who was visiting from Kansas City.
Our goal on this sunny (low 80s?), mostly flat course, was to break the 30:00 minute 5K barrier and get a new PR for Andrew. How did we do?
Mile 1: 9:30
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 8:54
Mile 3.1: 00:37
Garmin Time: 28:17
Official Chip Time: 28:14
I’d say that was a success! And negative splits, nonetheless!!!
I enjoyed running with Andrew. I think he really pushed himself and could run a 5K even faster, soon, if he wants! Thanks for running with me Andrew, and hanging around while I farted around with the club.
And it was really fun to run a 5K and not feel like I was going to keel over in the end. I enjoyed just running a race for fun. Sometimes I feel like people lose focus on just running for fun, and get too hung up on getting PRs and placing in their age group. At least, I feel that way, now that I am friends with more members from the club and see all their constant Facebook posts about running, paces, preparing for races, racing weekend after weekend after weekend… that is just TOO much for me! I am actually getting running-talk overloaded… can you believe it? I never thought it was possible, but I think it is!
Color preferences
Last week, Kandi commented on my Skirts for the summer post that most of her skirts are black and white. Me too, Kandi. Me too. I counted – out of my 13 skirts, 7 of them are black and white, 1 is all black, and 1 is black and red. And most of my dresses are black too. I hope that doesn’t say anything about my personality!
What color do you have the most of hanging up in your closet? Now, which color do you wear the most?
I noticed most of my work tops are black, gray or white (and green seemed to be the most represented color):
but I think I wear purple the most, and yes black.
In my workout clothes, I have mostly blue and pink:
and I definitely wear pink the most! That is for sure.
For street clothes, it seems I have a lot of reds, pinks and oranges:
but really, I usually pick one shirt and wear it all weekend, unless I am going to be with the same people all weekend, or get sweaty. I usually wear the same two teal shirts over and over that I love.
Orange is my favorite color, but I don’t have a lot of orange clothes!
The Fourth of July Curse
I’ve injured myself the last two Fourth of July holidays* – my wrist in 2009 and my leg in 2010. I approached this Fourth of July holiday weekend with caution – I was going to be careful and the curse would stop. Well, it did! But only because it was passed on to my dad. He managed to hit himself in the head with a pole driver while he was fixing my grandma’s dock. Here he is holding the pole driver (yes, I made him pose**):
The pole driver cut the top of his head and it resulted in a lot of blood all over his face. Being my dad (or, being male?) he kept working on the dock and ignored the bleeding until he has so much blood on his face that he couldn’t see.
Anyway (he’s fine), that happened on the 2nd, and since the curse was lifted, it left me two whole days to be reckless. And this time my new form of danger was water skis:
Apparently, at some point on Saturday I mentioned that I would like to try water skiing. Come Monday morning my mother brought it up and really wanted me to try it. My sister’s boyfriend, Will, was encouraging, but nearly everyone else thought it was a death wish, so of course, I had to go for it. My mom kept saying “We did it all the time as kids! We never got hurt – the worst was just a little enema now and then.” Yeah. She wasn’t lying about THAT.
But I did try it and managed to leave uninjured! Of course, I had NO idea what I was doing. Will gave me some pointers, but I wasn’t getting it. I kept trying over and over and couldn’t get up (note: these skis are from the 70s or 80s – not sure if that makes a difference). My aunt went by in her boat (she used to be in a ski club) and gave me some tips, and I finally got up after about 10 tries.
Once I got up I was like “What the eff do I do now?!” and would hold on for a bit then let go of the rope (before I killed myself – it felt like we were going really fast). Next time, I will conquer it. I think I will make Erin try it when she comes to Guttenberg this summer too. Muah ha ha.
My “skiing” (really, attempted skiing) inspired my mother to try (she used to ski) but she mostly ended up doing water ski aerobics:
Our entire weekend was really great. We spent Saturday on the beach in the full hot sun
and went to a parade in Guttenberg in the evening. On Sunday we went to a flea market in Marquette, IA (meh) and went back to the beach (it was overcast, but still hot), then played horseshoes and bags in the evening while my mom cooked us an awesome dinner.
Monday was another parade in Garnavillo, skiing and a bit of boating. It was another beautiful day with full sun and I did NOT want to leave! We didn’t get home until nearly 11:00 pm. Oops.
I can’t wait to go back!
How was your Fourth of July weekend?
*We spend the fourth in Guttenberg, IA, on the Mississippi River, where my family has some homes/cabins.
**Hey dad, I got the other pics from mom of your bandage… should I have posted those? HA HA HA.
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! 🙂
