Speed workout--The First

First let me start by correcting myself. It was not Bob the Tomato that sang The Hairbrush Song. It was Larry the Cucumber. I stand corrected.

Yesterday was a tough workout. The schedule called for 10 miles with 5 X 1000s at a 5K pace. Let's do a little math. My best 5K was approximately 22:00. 22 divided by 5 is 4.4, which equates to 4:24 per 1000. I started my run by doing two miles out Fodor Road and then two laps around the track. Then I started my 1000s, which I did 600m in between just to get an even number of miles instead of having to deal with quarter miles. Here were my splits for the 1000s: 4:41, 4:32, 4:32, 4:30, 4:31. So I never made the 4:24 I was supposed to hit, but it was cold, I was sore, and I was wearing layers of clothes. I don't think those times were so bad. I finished my run with another two laps around the track and then two miles out Fodor Road.

When I got home my legs were throbbing. I decided to take the advice of a fellow coach who was a world class high jumper. He recommends taking cold baths to keep from getting sore. So I tried. I drew a cold bath and sank in slowly with a long sleeved shirt still on and my skull cap on. It didn't help. I shook for an entire 5 minutes. Then I got in a warm shower. I'm not even sure it helped. I'm pretty sore today. But the days that I run and then swim are the days I'm the least sore. So there must be something to that theory.

I'm glad today's run is only 4 miles.

Oh Where is My Long Run

(To the tune of the Hairbrush Song by Bob the Tomato from Veggietales)

Oh where is my long run? Oh where is my long run? Oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh whereeeeeee....is my long run?

Seriously, where is my long run? It's a mere 7 weeks until the marathon and the longest run I've done is 12 miles. Yikes! I had planned on doing 15 this past Saturday but the group stopped at 12 and there weren't many who wanted to do anymore and I caved to peer pressure to stop running. I felt fine; I should have kept going. Now next week I'm going to have to jump to 18 miles from 12. Maybe I'll try to get in a 14-15 miler in the middle of this week to feel better about the mileage.

Rush Hour (or 40 minutes)

Please Olympics. Please end. You keep me up too late at night. And I'm tired. Zombie tired.

I went to bed last night after midnight. I woke up before 5:00 having to go to the bathroom. At 5:18 when my alarm went off I reset it for 5:45. Who needs breakfast anyway? At 5:45 I crawled into the shower only to be greeted by a bloody nose. Just after 6:00 I rushed through hair and make-up, throwing clothes into my gym bag, finding a Lean Cuisine in the fridge and was out the door at 6:25. Of course, my gas light comes on less than a mile down the road. Pumping gas, freezing my buns off. Turn onto Tuttle Parkway at 6:50. Great! I have time to go through McDonald's drive-thru. Why does it take them so long to make a bagelwich? Arrive at work after 7:00. Who cares I've been here OT the last two days.

I'm struggling with the running this month. I didn't run yesterday. I was fully dressed: tights, long-sleeve shirt, T-shirt, pony tail, HRM, socks and shoes. Sat down to watch TV. Crawled in bed fully clothed. Dave wakes me up at 5:30. It was only 4 miles anyway. I'll run tonight. Friday is weigh-in day for me at the gym so why go if you're not going to work out (I don't own a scale at home)?

I haven't forgotten about the pictures. I'm just busy and lazy. Last night was another OSU women's basketball game (Big Ten Champs BABY!) and I didn't get home until 10:30. Plus I think my battery needs charged on my camera. I'll pull that camera out this weekend, I guess.

Hope all you have a great weekend. Keep in touch. I loved the comments!

From the files of WHAT WAS I THINKING!?!

Last night I dyed my hair. Brunette with red highlights. It's soooo different. I've been a blonde my whole life, but I thought it was time for a change. I wanted an artistic/coffeehouse look. Instead I think it looks artistic/punk rocker/goth chick. I look like that scary goth woman from CSI.

What was I thinking?!

The Customary Monday Tempo Run

Yesterday was my tempo run, of course. It was 10 miles with 5 at half marathon pace. My middle five miles came out like this: 8:03, 8:00, 7:52, 7:23, 7:20. The good news, I think, is that I hit a new max heart rate yesterday which means I get to readjust my zones. I didn't think they were right anyway.

Not much to post on today. I HAVE GOT to stop staying up late and watching the Olympics. Today I feel like I'm in a coma. I'm all dizzy and achy and feel like my head is too heavy. But, I just had to find out about ice dancing. Tee hee! No seriously, it was the only result I didn't know and unfortunately kept me up until midnight and I got up at 5:45 (which is later than normal).

So from 'Sleepy in Columbus,' I'm signing off.

Seriously, it's cold

I know I've complained about it being too cold to run, but I didn't know what cold was until this past weekend. It was COLD, yo! Saturday I was supposed to run 16 miles. The temperature was 17 degrees and it was windy. The first half mile was brutal. Uphill, into the wind. My legs were almost too cold to move. The group kept pulling away from me and I just thought the whole thing was stupid. I made it about 2 miles with them and then turned around. The run wasn't so bad going with the wind so I decided to keep going when I reached my starting point. I went another mile and then turned back to try to meet up with the group. Again, going into the wind was awful. Back at my starting point, I took one lap around Antrim Lake which was a terrible idea. The wind coming off the lake knocked me sideways and I thought my face was going to freeze. Once back at the starting point again, I called it quits. It wasn't worth it.

Yesterday I couldn't venture out and try again as it was 7 degrees. Yes you read that right. SEVEN! I thought about trying it today but I might be a little short on time. I can start running around 3:30, but I have OSU women's basketball tickets at 7:30. I'm just not sure there's time to run 16 miles, drive home, and shower before heading to campus. I'll make a decision a little later.

I know it hasn't been a really harsh winter, but I'm really ready for spring. I'm tired of wearing sweaters, I'm tired of wearing hats and gloves to run in (you know, every other day because every other day has been 50 degrees) and I'm just sick of the grey. Did you know that Columbus, Ohio gets 190+ days a year of cloud cover? The only place in the US that gets more is Juneau, Alaska.

So for now, I'm feeling a bit frustrated by training. I'm going to be something like 50 miles off my target this month. Guess there's no reward for me.

Our Town

I've mentioned it before, that I live in the same town that I grew up in. I live in a suburb of Columbus called New Albany. It's about 25 minutes northeast of Columbus. Growing up, NA was a country town with lots of farms and open spaces. It was super-small and no one knew where it was (even though a trip to the "city" wasn't all that far). My graduating class was 52 people.

Times sure have changed. When I was either in middle school or high school, Les Wexner "discovered" New Albany and basically came and bought the town. Les Wexner, for those who don't know is the owner of Limited Brands, which is Bath and Body Works, Limited, Limited Too, Express, and Victoria Secrets to name a few. He formed The New Albany Company which bought all the land, tore down the farms and created beautiful million dollar houses, a country club, and a new school. Some of the outside areas of New Albany still remain farm land, but most has been redeveloped.

Last night's run was 12 miles and I started it by doing my usual country club route, but I decided to go backwards from what I usually do. When I got to the top of the route, I noticed there was more trails that veered off to the right. I had never noticed them before and I also noticed a gigantic house under construction so I thought I would venture. When I came to the end of the trail I was at Reynoldburg-New Albany road and right across from me was "The Farms." And the gate was open.



The Farms is a private gated housing development where the very, very wealthy live. I mean we're talking multi-million dollar houses. I just looked up one from that neighborhood and the price on it is $4.4M. Being that the gate was open, I decided to go back there running. This neighborhood is so private that there aren't even addresses; the houses just have numbers like #1, #2, etc. I went down one direction and some dogs started barking at me from their driveway so I turned back around. Then I noticed a little boy going up and down his driveway on rollerblades being pulled by his dog. As I approached that house, the dog took off after me, the kid in tow. The kid was smart enough to let go of the leash and fall into the grass, but the dog kept chasing after me. I was screaming at the dog, NO!!!! The dog came charging right up to me and I thought I was a goner. I turned my backside towards him so that if he was going to bite me at least he would bite me in a more meatier areas and possibly do less damage. Luckily, he just kinda circled around me. Then he discovered another dog down the street and took off after it. The kid was wearing those shoes that have the rollerblades in them and he came running up his driveway toward me. I asked him if he was okay and he was. Then he started yelling at the dog to come home and it didn't. The kid took off running towards his house and there I was left standing. I didn't know what to do. So, I kept running.

I came to a fork in the road and I decided to turn left. As I approached the end of the road I noticed 7 deer staring straight at me. They were in a field, or so I thought. I looked left and there it was. Wexner's house. It's like the holy grail of houses. Then on the other side of the road is Bobby Rahal's house. Bobby Rahal is a former race car driver who won the Indy 500 and now own's Rahal Racing with David Letterman. Supposedly Letterman has a house in New Albany too. I probably ran by it yesterday.

My run continued on around the country club. When I came to the end of the upper loop before I passed under Route 62, there was a gentleman running toward me who veered way off the path. I wondered what the heck he was doing. As he approached me he said that there were several deer just right off the path. I looked and there they were. Seven to either deer staring at me. If you're keeping count, that's about 15 deer in one run.

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. I did see a beautiful red cardinal in the woods. It looked really red among all the brown and grey of winter.

I had a great run. I did 12 miles, but I really thought of continuing on and just finishing the 16 miles I had planned for the weekend. By the time I ended, though, it was dark and I knew if I stopped to put my headlamp on that I wouldn't get started again. What a great adventure.

Monday Tempo Run

Don't have much time for a long post. I did my tempo run yesterday on the treadmill. It was freezing outside and very windy. The run was 8 miles with 4 at half marathon pace. This was the result:

Mile 1: 11:25.05
Mile 2: 10:36.17
Mile 3: 8:41.32
Mile 4: 7:47.53
Mile 5: 7:30.00
Mile 6: 7:44.35
Mile 7: 10:20.69
Mile 8: 9:21.27

I'm pretty sore today, but today is a recovery run of only 4 miles. I have to do that around a track coaches meeting a CPR training.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Weekend Roundup

This weekend was a busy one. The weekend included two birthday parties (one for the nephew, one for the sister), two basketball games, a family meeting with vacation presentations (he he he), two runs, and a lot of Olympic watching.

Friday I ran 6 miles on the treadmill at the gym. It was a good run and I felt really strong.

Saturday morning we ran 12 miles at Highbanks. The first 6 miles were good, but I struggled a little in the second 6 miles, although I turned in even splits. I'm sure not running for a week and having a cold probably had something to do with it.

Today's run is supposed to be 8 miles with 4 at 1/2 marathon pace. It's been snowing this morning, though, so I don't know how that will work out and I didn't bring any shorts to do the run on the treadmill if need be. I don't know what I was thinking. I always pack shorts just in case of having to run inside.

I must say, I have really enjoyed the Olympics thus far. I'm more of a summer sport fan than a winter fan (I don't care for the figure skating) but I have really enjoyed the speed skating and halfpipe competitions. I don't know how many days in a row I'm going to be able to stay up until 11:30 watching the competitions, but I'll sure try.

An update on the airline crap. We booked a flight out of Dayton on Saturday April 15th. The flight doesn't leave all that early (around 8:00) but I think we decided to stay at a hotel in Dayton on Friday night so we don't have to get up in the middle of the night to drive there. I'm glad that stress is taken care of.

It was a good weekend (especially to be a Buckeye--both men's and women's teams won).

I'm Pulling Out My Soapbox, Again!

Columbus is a small big city. In land area, it's bigger than Cleveland or Cincinnati, but really it's quite small. We have an airport here, Port Columbus, which really is a joke for an "international airport." Because of the tinyness of our airport there aren't many options in terms of carriers. We have no small airlines--like Independent or Blue or AirTran or Song or whatever. We only have major carriers like USAir and American and Northwest and whatnot. And, those never fly direct. They always fly to a hub. There used to be another airport in Columbus that was flying the discount airlines, but not enough people utilized it and it closed down.

So this week the group started planning their trips to Boston and it seems to be utter chaos. To fly from Columbus to Boston on April 15th and return on April 18th, the cost is upwards of $400 / person. Now Dayton is an hour to the west and to fly out of there it's about $200. But that flight is at 7am and my mom HAS to be there two hours before the flight, which puts us leaving home at 4am. Um, no. You can fly out of Cleveland for $144. Again that flights leaves at 7am and Cleveland's airport is 2-1/2 hours away so you'd be leaving home around 2:30am. Um, double no. You can fly out of Akron/Canton for $123 at 7am, but Akron is 2 hours away, which again is ridiculous.

The best option we've found so far is to fly from Columbus to Providence, RI and then catch Amtrak to Boston. The flight to Providence is supposedly $186 and then train to Boston is about $15. But, every time I look up the flights to Providence the websites say it is $186 but then when you pick the return flight which also says $186, I get a message back that says "we're sorry the price has changed," and suddenly the price is like $250 / person. It's ridiculous!!!

How the heck am I supposed to get to Boston? I should be able to fly out of Columbus and get to Boston for a lot less than $400. I don't want to have to drive all around the state just to fly for a cheaper price. Port Columbus is less than 7 miles from my house!

Any ideas, internet?

Update on Me

Yep, this cold has wiped me out. It's Thursday and I haven't done any running or working out since last Friday. I'm better, but I'm still so doggone tired. I'll probably run today, but I think I'm going to have to take a nap just to be able to run. Dave has fencing classes on Thursday night so I pretty much have the whole evening to nap and run.

And these medicines are the worst. I think it's the decongestant, but I am all dried out like I'm on accutane again. My face itches from the inside out. My nostril itch. My eyeballs itch. I am so dry!!!! And yet, my skin has broken out like I'm a teenager. Oy!

So to recap, I'm lazy and dehydrated.

Why Bert, You're Sick!

Uh yeah, duh, Ernie! And boy did I catch a good one. Last Thursday I started feeling bad...you know, feverish and prickly all over. Friday I felt good, though and ran 6 miles after work. Friday night I started to get all stuffy and Saturday when I woke up I felt terrible. I didn't run Saturday morning (more because it was pouring outside than actually feeling bad), but I did get dressed and have brunch with my family. This was the last time I was out of my pajamas until today. I stayed in bed the rest of Saturday, all day Sunday, and all day yesterday except for the hour I spent at the doctor's office. I've barely eaten anything since Saturday. I'm feeling pretty weak. Today I'm feeling pretty good, though. I can breathe through my nose; I can cough without losing a lung; and I don't feel completely nauxious today either. I was actually able to eat some applesauce without gagging. I don't think I'm going to run today either, but I'll probably get back in the swing of things tomorrow.

Lots O' Miles

I ran 11 miles last night because that's what my training schedule said to do. This training schedule is going to kick my A-S-S! The first 5 miles were tough. I walked some, I stopped and complained, but I got through the first 5. Dad had mentioned he might join me for the last 6, but I waited and waited and he didn't show up. I went in the lockerroom and put on more clothes as I had been cold the first part of this run. I think the extra clothes helped. The last 6 miles were much better and I did them continuously. I kept thinking to myself that (1) if I did all these miles that I wouldn't have to run on Friday and that I could swim instead and (2) if I ran all these miles that I could basically eat whatever I wanted for dinner because of the amount of calories I was burning. The best part of my run was around mile 9 (I'm guessing). I was finishing up the upper loop of the country club and the sun was setting. The sun was beautifully melting into the ground and was illuminating the water hazards and the big, big houses off in the distance. I wish I had a camera. Maybe I should get one of those disposable digital cameras to carry with me during my runs just in case something beautiful happens again. (Have you seen the disposable digital cameras...awesome!)

And now for the bad news. Dave has been really, really sick this week. We're talking hasn't gone to work yet and went to the doctor yesterday with a temperature over 102!!!! He was diagnosed with bronchitis and given some meds. He said he's feeling better today. But, today I'm feeling bad. Achy all over and feeling a little chilled. I have zero amount of PTO built up at work so I can't even cut out and go home and sleep and I've done so well with my training plan this week that I don't want to have to give up a run because I'm not feeling 100%. I guess the best part of all of this is that my colds always turn into a sinus infection and I totally know what to do with those. Not freakin' out yet.

Hope y'all's running is going well. Boston's coming fast!

January Totals

I had a good month of training in January. It really set the tone for the rest of Boston training. Hopefully the weather will continue to be good and I'll be able to get all my runs in as schedule.

Running = 117.85 miles
Swimming = 2000m
Biking = 30 minutes (yeah that's pretty wussy)