Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Tuesday's Tangent

Today, I feel all tangenty so...here goes:

Yesterday, I went back to my regularly scheduled life, and the gym.  I did legs, back, biceps, abs and the stair machine.  That thing is a beast.  Does anyone else sweat like a man on that?  I definitely sweat more on that than running any day...it's crazy.  It felt good to get in a good, jello-legged workout!  Today is speed work...1200's and 400's.  I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.  I'm hoping to get in 6 miles today total, but I feel like I'm dragging today.

My out of town trip was a slight bust.  The only successful day was Dollywood and biking through Cades Cove.  The rest of the time, it rained monsooned/hurricaned.  That means no whitewater rafting, tubing, hiking or any of the other fun things we had planned to do.  In the mountains.  Outside.  Boo.  So we were cooped up with 18 other people, that included two tired elementary schoolers and other family.  Fun.  


Here's the only picture I have since I was a loser and left my camera at home:
I took it so John wouldn't feel left out while he was still home working.  And no, I'm not hurting the little pot man, I just was giving him a thumbs down, even if it looks like I'm punching him in the face.  Oh yea, and Go Gators.

Did you hear about the problems United Airlines were facing this week?  We experienced them.  John did make it into the airport eventually, but I had to wait until 2:14am- for him.  Yea...not fun.  Driving in the middle of the night to the airport through the mountains...um...this girl don't see well at night.

We did get to bike through a place called Cades Cove.  It's an 11 mile, hilly loop.  It doesn't seem so hilly in the car, but get on a bike...after getting there late...when they're all out of mountain bikes, means you're going on a cruiser.  Like whoa.  I proudly only walked up a small part of one hill...less than anyone else-oh yea!
Yea...those signs are actually in there, and no, I didn't listen...I rode like the wind!  Here's a description on the Smoky Mountain website:
"The 11 mile Cades Cove loop has rolling hills and steep grades and there are at least 2 places when you must walk your bike in order to avoid serious injury."
It was a lot of fun, and we got it in before the rain.  Woohoo!

Here's my last subject today...
As you've heard me talk about before, construction is S L O W.  We are seeing it more and more.  Don't listen to the news about it picking up.  They are lying.  Our company is fortunately doing ok, but if there ends up being no more buildings to build, or at least not enough for all the companies around to stay in business, I wonder what I would do.  It is a possibility, although I'm not sure how much as I don't know how the market will go, but it's still something that's been on my mind a lot lately.

I wonder what else I would do, or what I would be good at.  During my undergrad, I was pretty sure I was going to teach or go to law school.  Obviously, neither of those happened. I decided against law school just because of the cruddy hours a lot of my friends have had to put in being bottom of the totem pole in their law firms, and I don't want to work my life away.  Teaching is appealing because of the schedule, but the parents of the kids are my concern.  I think I'd want to shake some of them.  I could coach, teach, even do summer school or work another job so I wouldn't be bored during the summer.  I'm sure the first couple of years would be challenging when trying to get my stuff in order, but my aunt's been teaching for years and she's got it down to where it's like a breeze now...the planning anyway...

So, I'm not exactly sure, but it's definitely something for me to think about...just in case.  I'd stay at my job forever if I could.  There are some really crappy times, but I like it.  I loved it when it was crazy busy.  I just don't know that we'll see that again for another 20 years or so.

If you had the chance to choose a new job, what would you do?

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Feelin' so fly...like a G6

Workouts:
Friday ran 10 miles in 1:44. My stomach was angry, apparently grilled cheese is a bad idea the night before. Oh well. Touché stomach, lesson learned.

Saturday rode bikes ~8 miles.

Sunday walked on the beach 4 miles.

Monday was speed work of 2 sets of 800, 600, 400 with a 200 jog between each interval and a mile warm up/cool down. Total run was 4.5 miles in 41:48.

Tuesday was my long run day; 10 miles in 99:32. Took it nice and easy since I did speed work the day before. Definitely didn't eat enough and was wearing out around 8 miles. I have to get back to eating more before the long runs. I did make it through the entire movie 'Mean Girls'.

I'm at the airport about to fly out! Soon, I'll be enjoying:
















Have a great rest of the week friends!!!!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Giveaway Winner...

...is Vanessa @ Gourmet Runner!  You should go check her out, I love reading her blog!

I numbered the comments 1-13 and entered it into random.org

Congratulations Vanessa!  Email me with your contact information and where I can ship the book!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Busy Day! Whew!

Man today has been busy!  I started a little after 7 this morning and have been cranking away on a proposal all day.  While I was waiting on pricing to come back, I got to sneak away for a little run in lieu of lunch, which I ate very, very quickly after run, so I could get this darn proposal out.  It would be nice to get the job...construction is sooo slow right now and we like new projects!!  Yay work!

Workout:
Tuesday: Stretching, I did back and a little glutes and hammy's Monday and man has it been killing me...I'm SUPER tight.
Wednesday: Run 4.33 in 41:07/9:30 pace.  Today was tempo a run, but it had to be a sorter one again.
1.33 miles warm up at 10:00 pace
2 miles at ~9:00 pace
1 mile cool down at ~9:40
The pace wasn't my most exact to date, but it was alright, it's harder on a treadmill to make those exact than outside with the Garmin.  Run was followed by major stretching.  Hopefully I'll loosen up soon.

I'm gone for the day!  I love when days go by fast!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway...today is your last chance to enter!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I Have The Need For Speed!!

Friday work out: Ran 8.06 miles in 1:17:56/9:40 pace, then a 7 mile bike ride as John's water support because he decided he wanted to try running his distance run outside at 6:30PM in the 90+ degree heat...what?!  I had to be the watergirl!
Monday speed: 3-1 mile repeats with a warm up and cool down and 2 min walking RI between each mile: 5.67 miles in 50:02.  I was pretty impressed with my speed yesterday.  It pretty much made my day!  Running followed by back and abs.

What a difference certain aspects of training makes.  I've mentioned before my dissatisfaction with our local YMCA, well, we dumped it yesterday and I went back to Gold's...which I love.  It's not quite as convenient but it's pretty close to work and it gives me energy.  I'm focused during my workouts and get in there and knock it out successfully.  I don't wander around in there, I just get it done.  Plus, they have much better equipment! I'm so happy to be back!  I also got an awesome price on my membership.  I'm pretty sure the guy on the phone misquoted me, but I wasn't going to pay tons of money every month to go to the gym in this economy.  So, I got $1 enrollment and a cheap monthly rate.  I was thrilled!  We're now saving 63% on our gym membership now that John's back at PF and I'm at Gold's!

Today is John's birthday!!!  Yay!  Happy 28th Birthday to my hubby!!!

I really, REALLY want to run the Rock n Roll Philadelphia 1/2 marathon
but John said I have to wait until next year.  I feel like I need to get in lots of races during training because:
1. Last time, I trained for 8 months until our first race and it burned me out since I didn't have milestones along the way
2. I feel like I waste mileage when I can run those distances easily and I don't take advantage of it

I'm still working on him.  I LOVE Philly!  I would get to see:




All on the race course...talk about a good price for a tour of the city!  If I could only get John to agree!

What race are you dying to run??

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Blog Swap Goodies!!!


I was partnered up with Becky @ How To Train Your Husband

Check out my awesome summer goodies!!


Awesome...right?!

I'm totally using the margarita glasses and the wine charms this weekend for John's birthday!!  Yay Summer!

Thanks Becky!!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

I'm a rule breaker...or something like that AND A GIVEAWAY!!!

Does anyone have a problem following running plans other than myself?  I feel like I always end up altering the plan somehow.  Like Tuesday, when I did my first official run inspired by Run Less Run Faster, my plan was a 4 mile run, 1 mile easy (10:14), 2 miles short tempo (8:39/mile), 1 mile easy (10:14).  I adjusted them to how I saw fit. So I added a little speed to a 9:40 on the warm up (which is my usual warm up pace), did my tempo runs and could not bear the thought of taking it all the way back down to 10:14, so I didn't, but I did cool down back to around a 9:40.  I don't think there's harm in running a bit faster when it's comfortable...right?

Or you know those days when you're tired.  Like, can't move my legs up enough to stop literally pounding pavement until my shins hurt, so the run just needs to be cut short.  I have every intention of following the work out, I just usually alter it to how I'm feeling.  I understand the difference between pushing myself and running when I shouldn't for the most part.  Sometimes, I think it's important to listen to your body.  

And then there's actually running on the days.  If I'm planning on running 14 miles on Saturday morning early, and I can somehow make it work on Friday night...you bet your butt I'm going to get out there if I can get prepared and knock it out.  No harm right?  The miles are done!

On a training note, I'm obsessed with this book:

And yes, rule breakers totally tab pages that are awesome...

If you're questioning what you should do for a training plan, you should check this book out.  It works for all distance races from 5K's to marathons.  The book gives pace charts for each type of run and training plans.  Just be sure to build your weekly mileage so you can start your first long run at 13 miles 16 weeks out from the race if you're going to look into the marathon plan.  It's a great, smart read for all runners in my lowly opinion.

Now for the fun part...MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!!  You will win your very own copy of Run Less Run Faster.  A winner will be announced June 9th.

To enter leave a comment for each item separately:

1. Become a follower--a must for entry into the giveaway!

2. Blog about the giveaway and leave me a link

3.  Tell me what are your thoughts on following a training plan.  Do you follow the plan every time, or do you listen to your body and gauge your workouts more around that?

4. What race(s) are you training for this fall?

Good luck!!!