Sake Guts, 10mi Run

Just a quick post. I've been remiss in my blog writing as of late. Trying to balance that whole "social life" with the training. I'm signed up for the Urban Epic which is a new race. A bit nervous since it's in Boston and I'm not too familiar with where the course is. It's this Sunday so I'm hoping to go up early on Saturday, pick up my packet and spend awhile getting intimate with the course.

I drank for the first time in months. I haven't had more than 2 beers since MARCH. So I drank like a fish, only to aggravate my gastritis. It hurts as bad as it did when the symptoms started. I've been downing antacids and Prilosec. I won't say that I can't believe I was so foolish. I don't feel foolish. It was only a matter of time before the stars aligned, the mood was right, for a fun night of drinking to commence. I wish I was better about it, but I refuse to be hard on myself about this. I'm suffering enough for it as is. Hopefully I will be back to normal by Wednesday.

Last Thursday I ran my first 10 mile run. I went out hoping for 6 miles, and I just felt so strong at 6 that I kept going. Taking sodium pills and Clif Margarita Bloks before runs have really helped to minimize cramping. My pace was alright too, with an average of 8:43. My longest run before Thursday was 8.5 miles at an 8:55 pace way back in March. I remember ending that run thinking that running any more than that was insane. This run felt way better, and though I hit a few slow patches, I also found some great bursts of energy. Those bursts may or may not have to do with the fact that the sodium pills I bought contain taurine. I didn't realize they had it until after I had bought them. Not sure how I feel about that as an added ingredient.

Running 10 miles in under an hour and 30 minutes felt like quite the accomplishment and I was happy for days about it. Still am. So now I don't think running 10 miles or more is insane, and it's starting to feel completely doable again. There may be a half marathon in my forseable future. I'm so thankful I'm a decent runner. I am such a slow swimmer, and below average on the bike, it's nice that I at least have the running down.

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Catch Up and Triathlon Training Horrors

I have been remiss in my postings. So much has happened since my last post. Last week was a surprisingly good training week. I went into it not expecting much since the week before I hadn't done ANY biking. The rain has been practically daily, and well, I don't know what is going on. I look at my bike and I just DON'T want to ride it. I don't want to go anywhere. Maybe I'm just bored of the same local routes, maybe I'm still subconsciously defeated after the Bloomin' Fail. I have no idea. So I bought a trainer and have been going to spin classes.

Sure spin class isn't exactly an indoor training session, but it makes me push myself really hard. Last Tuesday was my first spin class in ages and by the end I was sweating so hard, my sweat was hitting the pedals and spraying me in the face. It was awesome! I felt so invigorated, all the negativity I've had about training washed away and onto the floor. Afterward I stretched for a long time in the sauna.

Wednesday brought an amazing swim class. The coach wasn't really prepared, usually they have a swim workout planned ahead of time. She grabbed post-its she had her favorite swim workouts on and we decided on one. All in all it was 2400 yards. I can't even remember it now, but I believe the main set was 50 yards x 24. 25y moderate, 25y fast. The girls in my lane and I were going insane by the 15th set. 24 of the same thing is insane, but we pushed ourselves and I didn't give up. My arms were killing me by the cooldown but I wanted to complete the workout.

Thursday was another awesome spin class, and Friday I had a camera put down my throat. It's official, I have gastritis. The experience sounds awful but it was quite nice. The worst part was not eating until after the procedure, which was around 2pm or so. My parents came all the way down from Massachusetts to drive me there, and we got there early. Like, an hour early. But it was great because they were able to do the procedure basically right when I got there. I was put under with a different chemical than usual, so I even had no side effects! I drifted to a peaceful sleep, and when I woke up, it was over and I was upset! I wanted to be asleep longer, I didn't want to wake up just yet! When I got home, my indoor trainer had arrived, and as soon as I opened the box, the sun came out. Typical.

Saturday I had great kickboxing and kettlebell classes. Then, for some god awful reason, (Because studies show running barefoot is actually better for you) I decided to run barefoot, for a mile. I thought this was starting out easy. I was all psyched up for a 6 mile run, I figured I'd do the first mile barefoot on the track by my house, and then the rest in shoes in the neighborhood. That was a ridiculous plan. RIDICULOUS. But at the time I had no idea. After the second lap I felt my feet burning, this seemed normal because, well I'm running barefoot on a rubber track for the first time. So I pushed myself, and ran the entire mile in 8:30ish. Sweet, right? Uh then I put my shoes on, and it felt like I was walking on gel packets. It was SICK! So disgusting and I was like, oh God I'm screwed.

I ran into my friends who were on their porch as I hobbled up. I told them what I just did and they looked at me like I was insane. "Wanna see?" I asked. "NO!" said one friend. "YES!" said the other. I slowly took off my shoe and peeled off a slightly bloody sock to reveal the most disgusting blisters I've ever seen. The pad of my foot was bubbled up, like filled with a massive amount of lymph. They screeched in horror and I laughed. I laughed probably because I had A. Just run a mile, and B. My adrenaline was kicking in due to the pain. I hobbled back to my apartment and that's when the pain REALLY set in. I called a fellow Trifitness member who I know runs barefoot. I had completely forgotten my tri group's triathlon was Saturday. I'm a great member aren't I? Anyway, he told me about the race as I whimpered, searched Google for answers and then I asked what the HELL do I do?! He had no clue because apparently he's never had blisters before. My voice cracked and I got off the phone, and then I just bawled.

I sat there in my apartment, alone, blubbering for a good 5 minutes. I was screwed, and I did it to myself. I had sidelined myself right when I was feeling on top of my game. Idiot. Moron. Imbecile. All the names I had for myself ran through my head. I called my friend Dan. I told him what happened to get it out. I got off the phone and attempted to deal with my wounds. I could hardly walk, I used whatever I could, braced myself on counters and walls. This wasn't going to work. I texted Dan a plea to come over and buy stuff for my feet. Meanwhile I searched the internet, to lance or not to lance? What do I do? Dan wrapped me up but after an hour or so I was like, we need to lance these things. We fired up a needle, and sat on my couch. It was something out of a movie, pretty hysterical I'm sure from someone else's perspective. We're on the couch, hunched over my feet, I'm whining, whimpering and yelling while lymph squirts out of my blisters. One squirted me for 30 seconds, all over my shirt. SICK! But I was relieved to get the crap out of my feet.

The difference was major, and if you ever find yourself in the same position, LANCE IT. Stab it! Get it out! Just be careful, sterilize, and do it! (Just know you are risking the chance of infection, and I'm currently paranoid I'm still not in the clear for that.) I was walking again, albeit hobbling. By Monday I was already running again, though in shoes this time, and on the treadmill. I don't think I'll be doing any good distance this week until all the pain has subsided and the skin that's post-bubble flattens out completely.

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Week of April 12, 2009

Goals for the Week:
Swim: 4000y
Bike: 60mi
Run: 15mi
Strength: 2hrs
Rest: 1 day

Actual Totals for the Week:
Swim:2000y
Bike:75.92mi
Run: 16.85mi
Strength: 1hour
Rest: 0

So I ended up biking 15 miles more, and almost running 2 miles over my goals and not meeting anything else. Whoops. I have to admit my goals were pretty lofty. This week was insane. Mid-week my roommate decides he's moving out, out of NOWHERE. He just wrote me an email saying some friend of his asked him to move in with her and decided to pack up and go. Whatever, his cigarette smoking was disgusting and out of control. I found a new roommate within 3 days, a new record for me. This was the third time since moving into this apartment I've had to find a roommate. This place seems cursed but I love it so I deal with it. Thought I'd give a quick run-down of the week.

Sunday: It was Easter Sunday, the Trifitness group met up in Fairfield for a group ride. I decided it'd be better than riding alone like I had planned to. We did 27mi and it was so hard for me to catch up. First of all I'm still kind of dumb when it comes to shifting. Secondly, everyone had clip shoes and pedals except for me. Third, I only had a protein shake before I rushed down to Fairfield and not enough carbs. After I shoved down a mini Luna bar around the 15th mile or so I felt a lot better. Later in the day I tried to bike one of my commute options. Got to the most ginormous hills I've ever attempted and decided I'd plan a different route. Rode 40mi total.

Monday: Swam 2000y on my own, no drills. Timed myself for my second set of 1000y and did it in 21:50. That comes out to 2:11 for every 100y. I dont know what's a decent time, but 21:50 had me pretty happy.

Tuesday: Ran 6.77 miles before work down in Shelton. Decided to start by running up a giant hill without much of a warmup. Lesson learned. My boss seemed horrified that I'd even attempt the route I did. The giant hill (Coram Rd) is not only steep but cars usually speed around it and don't think to look out for runners. Saw a dead possum followed by a dead beaver, gross. Road kill is a lot more disgusting when it's at your feet.

Wednesday: Kettlebells and kickboxing. Kickboxing was intense. I did about five 3min rounds with kettlebell/medicine ball/ab work between each set. First kickboxing session in a long time where I felt totally wiped afterward. I loved it.

Thursday: Ran 5 miles in the morning at an 8:20 pace. Not bad for running up some hills. At night I did my first computrainer class and I loved it! It was only me and another woman which was sort of nice, until she wouldn't stop talking. The bikes are set up to trainers with special equipment which connects to a computer. TriFitness has a projection set up, so you can see the route on the computrainer program you are doing. When you go up a hill, the trainer tightens as if you are going up a 2%, 6% or whatever grade hill you're supposedly on. During the session you see where you are on the route, how fast you are going, the watts you are putting out, how far behind you are the leader and so on. I did okay, especially for no pedals or shoes. I was completely soaked with sweat. I actually had to have Pascale run and get me more water because my right calve started pulsating and I knew immediately I was dehydrated. We did a 10mi route with two gigantic hills.

Friday: Ran almost 4 miles with Kelly. It was my first time running with someone and it was pretty nice. My pace was awful since my legs were still tired from Thursday's madness. Left her behind after the second mile, my legs just needed to go faster. I hate leaving people behind even though she was fine with it.

Saturday: Birthday! Instead of resting like I was supposed to, the day was far too beautiful not to go out. I planned out a 25 mile route to celebrate my 25th year. I actually ended up doing almost 26 after getting a little off course. Rode down to Milford, CT along the shoreline. It was a good time until I saw a horrific car crash. I was going really fast down this one giant hill and when I turned the corner to go up a hill realized the road was blocked off. There were a few ambulances and a few cop cars. Got off my bike to walk around it, neighbors were out watching the scene. The totaled car was the same make, model and color as mine. I started to dry heave a little when I realized the entire driver side door was crushed. It looked like a comet had exploded into the car. I couldn't see into the car or make out how the accident happened. Ever since my accident when I was 18 I have a really hard time seeing wrecks.

Out of nowhere one of the neighbors I walked passed said, "Woah you have a lot of tattoos. I only have one." It was some random guy in his 60s. I looked over at him and he rolled up his sleeve to reveal an ancient tattoo in old school lettering that read "Vera". "I was just a chicken shit, I only got one. I wish I got as many as you, they look good on you." It was definitely a nice change from the old man scowl I usually get. To my left an old woman who either saw the accident or didn't know what to do because the road was blocked was sitting on her car looking really upset. I couldn't tell if that's just how she always looked or if she needed attention, I wanted to say or do something but I didn't know what to do.

Overall my birthday was awesome. The weather was awesome, my parents came down to visit and that made them really happy. I wasn't completely excited to have them come down, but seeing how happy they were was worth it. I showed them how East Rock is a beautiful neighborhood, and the cherry blossoms in Wooster Square. My party went well and as usual I have way too much beer left over. I didn't get too drunk so I was fine going to swim class on Sunday.

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Adding Miles

Monday night I went to the gym before swimming class, and ran a moderate 3.47mi on the treadmill to kill time. Then I went to swim class in time for most of the pilates session. Unfortunately I'm not getting the emails from the trainer anymore for some reason, and I don't have the night's swim drills to look at. Basically the swim that night was A LOT of kicking. As awesome as my kicks are out of the water, they aren't that great in the water. It took me two minutes to kick 50 yards with the kick board. The trainer, who thankfully was more attentive than usual, told me to put on flippers. I hadn't put flippers on since I was 8 or something, so it felt pretty weird.

Once I got in the water and started moving my legs I was flying. I was doing 50 yards in around 45 seconds. It was FUN and I couldn't believe how great it felt to go fast. Later in the showers, one woman exclaimed how I was beating people in the fast lane who had flippers on too. I don't know about that, I don't think the few I noticed passing had flippers on, I do know that she did and I flew past her. So... all I need to do is have my feet grow like 7 inches longer and I'm golden.

This morning I woke up and added more miles, my first 8.5 mile run! I woke up at 5:30am totally awake. I haven't been as sluggish in the morning lately, either I'm getting better sleep or it's the warmer weather. I think the latter. So I decided to run, see if I could go past 7. I planned my route, which is down Whitney Ave, and heading onto a part of the canal trail, back home again. I used to bike it in the morning all the time, and thought it was around 8 miles. Yeah, about 8, more like 8 and a half I would realize on the 7th mile.

I took the time to really stretch and drink my magic 3 pints of water (I use mostly pint glasses even though I hardly drink beer!) and cinnamon graham crackers. I left a little later than I had hoped to, but figured it'd be motivation in the end to make me run faster so I'm not late for work. Right from the beginning I knew my 8:30 pace from Monday was not happening. I pushed and pushed, but I was always around 6.5mph. It was so frustrating, but I had done over 3 miles the night before, and the 2800y swim. The map shows little elevation change, but there are hills, I swear! It felt way more hilly than Monday's run. I don't get it! I don't remember any visible hills from Monday, and this run has hills, or I've lost my mind.

I had safety pinned a pocket thing I have from this crazy gothic Japanese outfit I have to hold tissues and a Clif gel. Thank god I did that, that gel was overdue at mile 6. I needed something to give me a boost cause I felt myself getting weaker and weaker. I tried so hard to push myself to go faster, it was around here that I was running 7.5mph and a little higher, but I couldn't sustain it for long. When I ended my run and walking back to my apartment I used my iPod's calculator to figure out the pace. Around 9min miles. Sigh. I found myself talking out loud. "Not only did you swim last night you ran. You usually don't even work out after swimming. 9's okay. I mean you did good Monday. You're tired, 9's are fine." I'm insane.

I peeled off my clothes when I got in my apartment. Standing in my underwear in the middle of my kitchen, the bags of frozen vegetables felt amazing on my legs. My roommate wasn't home, but even if he was I wouldn't of cared, all I cared for was freezing cold ice on my legs. When I took off my socks I discovered a sweet blood blister. It's a baby, but it's the first one I've had on my foot. When I was in the shower I remembered that during the first mile I felt the weirdest sensation in my foot, like fluid moving around. I realized it was in the same spot, so I think I actually felt my blood blister form! Sick, I know. Weird that it'd happen so soon into the run.

Anyway that's that. I've ran almost 20mi this week so far. At the end of my run I had a moment of thinking how insane this all is. How could I run 5 more for a half marathon? How could I ever run three times that amount for a marathon? It all seems so far away for the first time. I know I have to slowly build miles, and it will come, but it just seems further away than before. You'd think it'd be the opposite, the longer my runs the better I'd feel. Maybe because this particular run, even though it was my longest thus far, I felt so worn out. I think I'll be smart and wait a week or so before attempting 9 miles.

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Lucky 7

There she is, finally. Mile seven seemed to have alluded me this year so far, but I nabbed that bitch with an 8:30 pace. After yesterday's depressing swim meet, I woke up today determined to prove to myself I'm not completely hopeless. I may not be a great swimmer, yet, but I can run. After three pints of water and some cinnamon graham crackers, I was good the entire run. I had a slight running stitch but it lasted a quarter mile. I got to Long Wharf in time for the sunrise, and the morning blow jobs.

Long Wharf is a notorious hookup spot, especially for men. It was my first time down there in the morning and I couldn't believe how many cars were lined up on the overlook spots. I ran passed 15 or so as Eve came on my headphones and my runner's high finally kicked in. It usually kicks in around 3 miles, the scenery helped. I said hi to a Canadian goose, but I think it hissed at me.

When I ran on Olive St I thought about how I should have my friends in the area put out water bottles for me the night before. I can run past like a reverse milk man and get some hydration. Or I can just get a damn Camelback fanny pack and look like the robot runner I am. Amphipod light and Garmin wrist laptop on one arm, iPod Touch on the other, heart rate monitor strap under my sports bra. I'm practically bionic. ...I think about some pretty weird stuff when I'm running.

Anyway, this run is exactly what I needed. Pep talks don't work for me, the only thing that works is proving it to myself.

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Hammonassett Run

Disappointing run today. I didn't get enough sleep last night, for some reason I just couldn't sleep and stayed up til around 2am and woke up around 8:30am. Felt groggy and listless, worked on the blog some more, and played around with the TrailRunner software I downloaded yesterday. It was supposed to be a bright sunny day in the 50s. I was determined to at least go out for a run. My initial idea was to run at Lake Saltonstall in Branford, CT since one of the trainer's at Aiki highly recommended it.

By the time I got to Lake Saltonstall it was 2:30pm. I drove around the park area a few times, the parking areas were closed and there were no good spots to park. I decided to scrap the idea, and thought of other places to run. Lighthouse Point crossed my mind, and would have made more sense, but I decided to spring for Hammonasset State Park. I was there yesterday with a friend, and as we walked around I saw a lot of runners and decided I was going to run there sometime soon. I wasn't expecting it to be the next day.

By the time I got to the Hammonasset exit, I was feeling off. A combination of little sleep and eating too early. I had planned to run around 12:30 or so, so I ate around 11:30. Now it was 3:00, and I was running near empty. It was a gray chilly day at Hammonasset. Everyone was bundled up, except for me of course. Run started out okay until a little after the first mile. Cramps. Stupid, annoying cramps. Breathed through them, and hit mile 2 surprisingly quick. Just after the second mile though, the cramps set in again. Breathed through as much as I could, but decided I'll make it to 3 miles and quit. The last quarter mile felt twice as long. The walk back to the car was depressing. I was probably a little over a half mile away.

Blah I really wanted to get more miles in this weekend. There's always next weekend...

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First Garmin Forerunner 305 Run

Today I fully merged my tech/nerd side and athletic side, and I'm quite pleased. I took advantage of the beautiful, albeit still chilly day to embark on a long run. I was hoping for 7 miles, but I definitely didn't eat enough breakfast. I petered out around 5.5 miles. Still good if you figure that my last outdoor run was a month ago. I readied my Garmin by connecting it with my computer and making sure it had the latest firmware on it. I also downloaded the Garmin Training Center for Mac program.

It was about 40 degrees when I started my run, and really bright out. At the end of my warm up walk, who should I see riding their bikes, but my dearest Kelly and her beau. She, of course, busted on my wrist laptop. As I started my run they caught back up with me a few blocks down. I shouted to them the distance from the street corner we met up at and their approximate speed. It's really cool to be able to look down and see my speed, it kind of makes me feel like I'm on some elaborate virtual reality treadmill. I tried to keep it in the 7mph range.

I should have drank a third glass of water before my run, I didn't factor in the green tea I drank this morning. I got a few cramps but I breathed through them. At one point I realized I'd be able to see the watch better if the face was on the inside of my wrist, so I moved it around. After a mile or so I noticed the speed displayed was lower than I felt like it should be. I had a flashback to the manual, and how they recommend keeping the face on the outside of your wrist for better reception. D'oh! Lesson learned.

When I got back to the apartment, icing down felt amazing! I let out audible sighs of relief as I moved my roommate's bags of frozen edamame around my legs. I don't remember a time icing down felt so good before! I then grabbed my laptop to play with the Garmin Training Center program. It was great to see my exact route on the screen, no more tracing with MapMyRun! I logged onto my MapMyRun account and downloaded the Garmin connection plug-in. I loaded the data into the training log. I definitely prefer the MapMyRun's Google map to the basic Garmin one. I used the Calories Burned Calculator to figure out the more accurate amount burned. The Forerunner data says I burned 523, whereas the calories burned calculator (that has been within 10 calories of the more accurate Timex watch) estimated 769 calories burned.

Now I just need to settle on what program I want to stick with for logging data! The only log I seem to be able to stick to is my notebook, but it doesn't make fancy charts and graphs for me. I try to stick with MyMyRun, for maps it's cool but I'm still not crazy about the format. Recently heard about www.buckeyeoutdoors.com and will try it out.

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Training Blog

Added a new blog, "Run, Bike, Swim, Fight! - Training". Today as I was writing in my training log I realized that its contents span 2 years this week. It started out as a food and exercise log, and then became just an exercise log. Writing down everything you eat is not only annoying, but I felt strange after awhile. My log definitely has some points where I dropped off from training and/or logging. From 6/5/2007 - 1/26/2008 I stopped logging. I do know for a fact I was still training. Impressively most of my workouts from 2008 are in there. It's kind of crazy to flip through. What I was doing at any point in the log reminds me of what was going on then in my life. Whenever I see "arc trainer" I know I was working out at Planet Fitness, and living at my apartment on Nicoll St.

I think my training log is integral to this blogging endeavor, but I realize it's pretty dry reading. I decided to add Run, Bike, Swim, Fight! - Training so that it can be separate from my thoughts but still accessible. There will be some overlaps of course between the two, but I really don't expect anyone to RSS to both, or even read the training blog on a regular basis.

Another observation I made while looking through my training log, is how far I've come in my running! The first mention of a treadmill is 5/6/2008 where I ran a mile in 11 minutes. By 6/5/08 I was running 15 minutes plus 3 minutes cooldown with a distance of 1.56 miles. A month later on 7/8/08, I ran 25 minutes with 5 minutes cooldown with a distance of 2.51 miles. In August I was running more than 5 miles outdoors. Unfortunately I slacked on logging my outdoor runs, and the only log I can find of running more than 5 miles is from 10/10/08 where I ran 7.39 miles, doing 9:33 minute miles. Still, I'm pretty impressed with myself, and I don't say something like that often! Looking at the progress I've made makes me look forward to how far I can run this year, and to cutting my times down even more.

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New Toys!

After almost a year of debating, I finally gave in and bought a Garmin Forerunner. My coworker says it looks like a wrist laptop. It practically is, and it's totally nerdy but at the end of the day I love gadgets and what else would you expect from an athletic web designer?! I haven't had the opportunity to run with it yet, but I can't wait. I did try to wear it to a spin class, but I hadn't read the manual and didn't know how to shut off the GPS function. The next day after figuring out how to shut off the GPS for "indoor mode" I ran on the treadmill with it. The heart rate monitor seems accurate, I compared it to the treadmill's sensor a few times, each time it matched very closely. Unfortunately the display doesn't change much if you turn the GPS off, so the heart rate gets lost on the display and is so small I could barely read it. Another annoyance I had was that I couldn't find the calories burned function. After reading up online, it seems the calories burned is way off anyway. It uses speed as part of its formula, so if you're on a bike and coasting down a hill at 17mph it shoots the calories burned up as if you're exerting enough effort to move a bike that fast. I mentioned this to a coworker (I had the Garmin box on my desk so people were asking all about it) and she told me she had a heart rate monitor she wanted to get rid of.


Enter gadget #2, a Timex Ironman Triathlon Heart Rate Monitor 50 lap watch. Another reason this is an awesome addition, besides the more accurate calories burned function, is that I can wear this underwater. For indoor workouts it's perfect, and the display shows my heart rate very clearly. I tried it out during two workouts this week, and I'm kinda in love with it. I had no idea before how many calories I was burning during my kettlebell workouts. Answer, A LOT. Like 200 in 15 minutes! Having the watch also helps me time my workouts, so I can accurately do 15 minutes of kettlebell work, 10 minutes of ab work and so on. This is great for pushing me to do more, or stopping me from going overboard. It keeps me focused as well as telling me which heart rate zone I'm in.

Since my heart rate with the Timex Ironman was just as accurate as the Forerunner when compared to the treadmill sensor and it factors in weight, I'd like to think the calories burned feature is pretty accurate. It says I burn more calories than the treadmill estimates, but then again, the treadmill doesn't factor in my heart rate a majority of the time. I did a bit of research and found this calculator. It factors in sex, weight, average heart rate and duration. This calculator was very close, within 15 calories of my watch. Obviously calorie counting isn't an exact science, but it's definitely interesting and helpful to know how much you are burning. I still can't get over how many calories doing kettlebells after running burned! I found yet another reason why I love kettlebells!

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First Run of 2009

First, before I write about the run today, I should say that I finally registered for a triathlon! I'm pretty excited! It's later than I had wanted it to be, but it looks like a really good first race. Basically, the course is FLAT. I figure, a flat course is key for a beginner. I've only raced 5Ks, and even then only two. My experience racing is very, very limited. So, July 19th it is. Seems sooo far away, and I think closer to spring I may sign up for one sooner if I'm feeling really confident. Maybe I'll just sign up for a 10K or a biathlon. We'll see.

I am very pleased with my first run of the new year! I haven't gone for a run outside since Christmas Day. I only ran about 3 miles that day, and I wasn't very happy with my performance. Today felt great! I went after my kettlebell class, starting around 11:30 am. There was still some really icy sections, but I slowed down or jumped onto the road instead of the sidewalk. I knew I was making great time because of the mix I was listening to on my iPod. It was nice to find that running mix fun again, last fall it became so familiar and boring!
I've really been focusing on strength training in my workouts, and I think it really came through on this run. I felt STRONG, like my body was well supported and could take on hills no problem. There's one section heading up into East Rock that's a 4% grade. I focused on my hamstrings while running up it trying to put forth the power I knew I had. At the end of my run I definitely felt like I could have kept running, but I had a hair appointment to go to. (Yeah, I cut off my remaining hair. With swimming, running and being generally out of my mind I decided, no more hair and NO MORE PONYTAILS!!)

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Hard Week

Really stepped it up this week! I started February at a steady pace, I hope I can keep it up!

Monday: 30 + 2 treadmill 3.4 mi
kickboxing + kettlebell work with Kelly

Tuesday: Bootcamp Style Workout
3 min jumprope
15 min kettlebell exercises
10 + 1 treadmill 1.14 mi
Ab work, butt blast
Swiss Ball: bridge, chest press, pelvic tilt
lunges, mod push ups, side bends, triceps
cooldown

Wednesday: AM Kettlebell/Kickboxing

Thursday: AM: 30 + 2 3.51 mi treadmill, side bends, triceps, ab work
PM: 30 + 5 3.07 mi elliptical, 30 min stairmaster, ab work

Friday: AM: Bootcamp Style Workout
3 min jumprope
15 min kettlebell exercises
10 + 1 treadmill 1.13 mi
Swiss Ball: Squats, Bridge, Pelvic Tilt, Chest Press
Kettlebell: Russian Twist, Chest Press, Bridge
Mod Push Ups, roll back, butt blast
PM: Body Works + Abs Class
Weight Machines: Calves, Ab Twist, Squat

Saturday: Kettlebells
First outdoor run of the new year!! 5.91 mi 9:07 pace

Regarding the "Butt Blast" Workout:
It sounds gross, maybe like the after effects of eating at a New Haven burrito cart, but I assure you, the "butt blast" is not as gross as it sounds. I joined "Spark People", a fitness social networking site like a year ago. I'm never on it anymore, but when I first started using the site I really took advantage of their workout logs, nutrition logs and articles. One of the best finds on there is this butt blasting workout video. Looking through my workout log, the first occurrence of the "butt blast" workout is March 4, 2008. It still burns to this day, and I swear by it.

Edited to add: Adding my treadmill and outdoor run together I ran 15 miles this week! Yay!

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