Christmas

I am way behind on posts! I have a lot of things to talk about, including the Bloomington Bagel Company Turkey Trot, triathlon related Christmas gifts, 2012 races I've registered for (check the Race Page), and goals for 2012, including being a better blogger.

Right now I'm visiting my in-laws, but I promise to get caught up, make excuses for why I'm so behind, and do better in about a week!

Swim Report

Laps in the pool this morning. I did the alphabet thing again, with a geography category. I only made it to X this morning before I ran out of time (600 yards). It is so crazy the thought process one goes through when working out. For example, I counted Arkansas three times... one for A, one for K, and one for S. And then I forgot how the alphabet goes and put W before V. Crazy.

CycleFit

We did something a little different in CycleFit today. Perfect timing, as I finally recruited someone to come to class and then we switched it up! We did a little warmup and then a 21-minute long race simulation. So we were more or less on our own to "race as hard as we could" for the entire time. Judy did tell us what she was doing, and I think most of us just copied that. I know I did anyway... I ended up burning 442 kJ, but I'm just not good at envisioning racing scenarios. If it were an actual race, I'd probably put forth more effort, but I just can't do it for a pretend race. I much prefer the method she usually cues us on (power zones, perceived effort, or cadence). However, Shelly enjoyed the class and may stick with it! I hope she does. Just because I love CycleFit and want everyone else to love it too. :)

NROLFW

Workout B of Stage 1 seemed easier than Workout A. Today I did deadlifts, dumbbell shoulder press, wide-grip lat pulldown, lunges, and swiss-ball crunches. Again, I had more trouble with the lunges than anything else. I find it difficult to balance sometimes. My legs were still sore from Monday, but I think it's more because I broke my right ankle in high school and it just isn't as strong as it should be. I have a hard time balancing on it. But maybe this will help fix that.

Today was a little entertaining because there were a lot of guys working out this morning. So there are like four around me, lifting much bigger weights and then there's me right in the middle with little pitiful ones. I hope they were impressed that I was lifting instead of making fun of me in their heads. Not that it really matters anyway. I'm impressed with my efforts to get stronger and be in better shape, and that's what's important.

Run Report

Ran 2.9 miles with Shelly this afternoon around campus. We got a late start due to some troubles in lab.

Also, I found this virtual Turkey Trot 5K at A Journey to Thin. Since I'm already doing the Bloomington Bagel Company's Turkey Trot 5K, I'm totally using that! I'm really looking forward to free coffee and BBC bagels. I eat there like twice a week, so clearly, I have no problem getting up early on Thanksgiving to get free bagels. And I convinced Seth to do it too. And most likely Shelly and her husband, Grant. Woot!

Swim Report

I read this funny article this morning while drinking my coffee. She pretty much nailed what goes on in my head when doing any sort of lap, but I have an even shorter attention span in that I can't count past four. I'm pretty sure this is due to the years I spent in band.

Anyway, I thought this alphabet thing was genius, so I tried it this morning. It totally worked! I made it all the way to Z! Only I didn't limit myself to any category. I just thought of whatever I could that started with whatever letter I was on. Sometimes it was people, many times it was food (especially candy products...), and for some reason P started with possum and ended up with all the P elements in the periodic table. There are a lot. I counted lead. And then spent the rest of the lane debating in my head whether or not that was legitimate.

So, clearly that article was meant for me. But I'm quite proud that I swam 650 yards this morning.

NROLFW

I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women this morning. I'm really excited about strength training!

However, Stage 1 is already kicking my butt! This program is going to hurt. In a good way.

I love how this is a quick, simple workout, but you definitely get some bang for your buck. Today's workout was 2 sets, 15 reps of five exercises: squats, pushups, seated row, prone jackknife, and step ups. Given how much I use my legs with the cycling and biking I do, I expected squats at least to be easy. Boy, was that a terrible assumption. I also expected the seated row to be hard since I feel that I have limited upper body strength, but it was very easy and I will definitely have to increase the weight. I'm looking forward to mastering these exercises and really knowing my way around the gym. And getting stronger and leaner in the process.

Run Report

It's amazing what not really running for a week can do for you. I really wanted to get out there, even though it is super windy this weekend, and I must have needed that run because I ran fast! I did 2.84 miles through the neighborhood and the part of the Clear Creek Trail I normally avoid in 28:25 for an average pace of 10:00 min/mile on the dot. I was sort of pushing it, but felt great. I think I have to attribute part of it to the most awesome playlist ever. I found it on fitbottomedgirls and it has quickly become a favorite. I even danced around my lab to it earlier this week.

Booty Playlist

1. Ms. New Booty by Bubba Sparxxx
2. Rump Shaker by Wrex N Effect
3. Back That Thang Up by Juvenile
4. My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas
5. Shake Ya Tailfeather by P. Diddy featuring Nelly
6. Booty City by Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
7. Shake Your Booty by Public Enemy/Flava Flav
8. Bootylicious by Destiny's Child
9. Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe
10. (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty by KC and the Sunshine Band
11. Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot
12. Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

Seriously. Get this playlist. I highly recommend it. 

IMM Official Photos and Swag

 Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon official photos are up! Brightroom Photography took the pictures. I look pretty stupid in most of mine, especially the finish line photos. Here are a couple proofs:

To the right, still happy

I'm not ashamed to admit I applauded the entertainment. And some of the people cheering for me.

Towards the end, carrying my Garmin. Can you tell my left hand is swollen? I love the look of concern I have.

Falling asleep at the finish line. Seriously, this was the best finish picture. Will work on that for future events!

Half Marathon Medals

 I also managed to forget to put my pictures of the swag on my last post about the IMM. Here's some of the goodies I got:

This thing is red. I don't know why my camera thinks it's orange.

It's a pretty nice medal.

Gender specific shirts!

 

 

 I read online that the shirts run small, so I ordered a large. Maybe this was different than last year, but I probably could have done with a medium. I like the shirt though. They also gave us toboggan-style hats, but that thing is in the other room and I don't want to go get it to take its pictures. Also, it's sort of ugly. 

Commitment

I just registered for the Beach to Battleship 70.3 on November 3, 2012.

This is for real. It's going to happen. I'm going to make it happen.

CycleFit

I was exhausted and my head hurt all day at work today. I don't know if it's because I got up early to swim this morning (and then felt dry and smelled like chlorine all day despite showering afterward) or if it was just one of those days. I didn't have high expectations for CycleFit. But I surprised myself and still burned 461 kJ of energy! I couldn't quite work at the level I think I was supposed to, but it still wasn't too shabby.

And, I wore my Monumental Half Marathon shirt to class today. Turns out another regular ran the half as well (her fourth half)! She finished about ten minutes ahead of me (I think)! Awesome! :)

Commute

Time: 22:53

Distance: 4.996

Average Speed: 13.1 mph

Max Speed: 23.3 mph

Calories Burned: 167.9

Fat Burned: 19.5

First commute after Daylight Savings Time. Used my lights but made it home before it really got dark. Perfect weather today.

Also, my legs feel great after the half. They really recovered well. I think it's the compression shorts. I need more of those things! 

Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon

I DID IT!!!

I can put that 13.1 sticker on my car and pretend I'm a queen for the next week!

So, how did it go? Glad you asked!

Got up at 4:30 this morning and choked down some oatmeal with peanut butter and honey. I was just so nervous/excited/etc that it was hard to eat! We made the drive up to Indy and waited at the starting area for about 45 minutes. It was good we got there so early because I left my Garmin (and the camera) in the car. I almost made my crazy dream come true! Luckily Seth went to retrieve them.

It was SO. COLD. waiting for the start. Barely above freezing this morning. I had on an old pair of Seth's sweat pants over my capris and my raincoat to keep warm. I paced around a bit until we had ten minutes left, when I handed Seth my raincoat and joined the marathon 4:40 pace group.

Me at the start (awesome sweatpants, huh?)

Seth holding his awesome sign

Only the marathon had pace groups, and they split off at around mile 7 when the two routes diverged. But since the 4:40 group was pretty much the pace I was aiming for in the half, I thought I'd stick with them as long as I could. Turns out, the 4:40 group had a subset of half pacers! Yay!

Then, we were off! I was running right with the pace group and handling the congestion pretty well. It had been so cold, I left my warm up sweatpants on and actually anticipated wanting to wear them the whole time. I don't do cold so well. But around mile 2.5-ish I warmed up and wanted them off. Plus they felt weird. I stopped when I got to a good spot, but I could not get them off over my shoes! I had to sit on the ground and work them off! I have no idea how long it took, but it seemed like forever. And in my wrestling with the pants, I think I accidentally hit the lap button on my Garmin, so after that it didn't beep with the mile markers. (It still took 1.0 mile splits, they were just off by a bit.) Lesson learned with the warm up pants. Take them off before the start so you don't waste time later!

I saw Seth for the first time around mile 4 I think. He almost missed me! I had to yell at him as I passed. He was clearly easier to see with his amazing sign.

 

There I go

I was still working to catch back up to my pace group. They were further ahead of me than I wanted them to be (dumb pants). I could see them, but I wasn't next to them as I had been. I was running a pretty good clip to get back up there. I really didn't want to lose them. Playing that game, the first six miles just flew by. Before I knew it they were over. There were also lots of spectators and cheerers in this section. There were some places with bands set up and running around downtown was really pretty. I've never been to Indy during the day, so it was nice to see all these things up close and personal. Maybe next time I'll try to carry a camera so I can capture the sights.

After the first six miles, it got a little more boring. Less spectators and we moved away from the real downtown area into the historic districts. Really pretty houses through there, but I think I preferred the downtown area. I saw Seth again around mile 7 (maybe? 7-10 kind of run together for me). I saw him in advance and waved so he'd see me. I was starting to get a bit tired by this point.

On the right, in green, getting tired

And then the marathoners split off, just as I finally caught up to my pace group! And then my half marathon pacers started walking! I actually think one of them was having a bad day or something. She seemed a little beat down. So I ended up passing my pacers. I had a goal not to walk! (Except through the water stations... I just can't manage to run and drink out of a SOLO cup at the same time.)

Anyway, the next few miles were tough for me. They really blur together. The only thing that stands out was passing the Children's Museum. The cheering section there was amazing! They were all wearing green with frog hats and bouncing on these giant green balls. They were very enthusiastic. I loved them. I saw a lot of signs telling me to go faster in these miles. I didn't really like that. I also saw some encouraging signs. I even saw a That's What She Said sign! And I saw a sign that I'm pretty sure was made by my friend Carman, whose husband also ran the half today. (He ran at a 6:00 min/mile pace and came in 24th place. He's pretty awesome.) Oscar's sign said "How bad do you want it?" above a giant handlebar mustache. Pretty much the best sign ever.

I eventually only had two miles left to go so I tried to pick it up a little. I got some extra motivation when the elite men's marathon leaders passed me! They were so inspiring and it's crazy to think that they ran twice as fast as me for twice as long. I was really tired, but I cheered for them (the top four ended up passing me) as they went by.

And then it got a little depressing. My Garmin hit 13.1 miles (2:20:37... right in my goal range!), but I hadn't even passed the 13 mile marker yet. I was prepared for 13.1 miles, but I was not mentally prepared for 13.49 miles. I was unhappy that I wasn't going to officially meet my goal and I was really ready to stop running. Also, my left hand (the one I wear my Garmin on) had swollen up like crazy! I could barely touch my fingers together and my wedding bands were really tight! I was a little concerned about that. I took my Garmin off hoping it would help. Running does make you swell a little and I think maybe my watch was just too tight at the beginning and that stuff just couldn't circulate very well after the running swells settled in. Or maybe I need to look into some salt tablets to put in one of my water bottles? Losing too many electrolytes and start retaining water? Regardless, I had gone that far; there was no way I was stopping until it was over!

I finally rounded a corner and saw the finish line. I ran down the shoot.

Almost there!

I could still make my less than 2:30 goal according to the clock. I ran as fast as I could. I don't remember what the clock said exactly (2:29:5x), but I made it. I crossed the finish line and got a space blanket and some food and a finisher's hat and medal. I was tired and freezing and puffy, but I did it!

Finisher!

I am so proud. And thankful.

Official results:
Time:  2:24:47
Pace:  11:04 min/mile
Place:  3271/4586
Division Place:  321/480
Gender Place:  1602/2590

Garmin data:
Indy Monumental Half Marathon 2011 by jamadren at Garmin Connect - Details
Time:  2:24:41
Distance:  13.49 miles
Pace:  10:44 min/mile

Taper crazies

Okay, maybe taper week is driving me crazy and I just didn't know it!

I jumped awake at 4:17 this morning in a panic. I had dreamed that I was late to the half marathon tomorrow, but they still let me start when I finally got there. I proceeded to run at what I thought was my normal pace (of course I forgot my dream Garmin in my haste to make it to the start line), but when I got to the half-way-ish point there were weird loop-da-loops and turnaround things. Actually they really seemed to resemble some stem loop structures from last week's lab meeting. Anyway, one of these loopy things you had to do twice, and somehow I got all confused and thought I was lost (or maybe I was lost, I don't know, it was a weird dream), and then finally I hit the 6 mile mark and there was a race clock that said it had taken me two hours to get there! I woke up at this point all crazy because I thought it was Saturday and I was actually late for the half. Luckily Seth informed me that it was still Friday and that I was crazy and should go back to sleep. But I was all jazzed up and had trouble calming down. I still felt confused and not 100% certain it wasn't Saturday.

Hopefully tomorrow will go much smoother than my crazy dream race.

Run Report

Training plan called for a little two-mile run this morning. I love how less than six months ago running for two miles was incredibly painful (not actual injury-painful, just omg-I'm-out-of-shape painful) and now it classifies as a "little" run. Since it was so short and it was cold and drizzly this morning, I did my two miles on the treadmill at an easy 10:30 pace, but I was still dripping sweat less than a half mile in! It is SO HOT in the gym. I think I'm just going to have to get a balaclava and some running tights to maintain my progress over the winter. I think I'd rather bundle a little and run in the Midwestern winter than pass out on the treadmill in the overheated gym. I might draw the line at YakTrax though.

CycleFit

Power challenge in CycleFit today! I like power challenges, but this one was not the best scheduled for me. Hopefully working at that hard of an effort won't hurt my half this weekend? I mean, this is Sparta taper week!

New 100% Power Zone effort = 215 Watts, up from 205!

Goals

I want to talk about goals. Since the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon is in three days, let's start there! Here are my goals related to that:

1. Finish
2. Finish in less than 2:30
3. Finish in less than 2:24:06 (11 min/mile pace)
4. Finish in less than 2:17:34 (10:30 min/mile pace)
5. Have fun!

I already plan to wear my medal for a week and pretend like I'm a queen. I already told all my friends they had to at least pretend to be impressed. I will be very happy to finish between 3 and 4. Faster than 4 and I'm wearing my medal for the rest of the year while pretending I'm a queen.

After the half, I have some other goals in mind for the winter. Although in my mind, they're called plans. Here are my winter plans:

• I've been doing core and weight exercises on Wednesday mornings at the gym. I'm planning to take that up a notch. I want to do core exercises at least twice a week and will be starting The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm really excited about building strength. This can only help me in my athletic development. 
• I will continue taking CycleFit classes. I love CycleFit and I don't want to lose any gains I've made in my biking this year. I may also get some spin DVDs so I can train better at home too. I have a trainer. I should take advantage of it.
• Start swimming. Swim at least once per week. I may even finally sign up for those swim lessons at the SRSC so I don't have to worry that the lifeguards are secretly laughing at me while I flail myself from one end of the pool to the other. Also, I want to swim correctly and efficiently. 
• I would like to continue running at least two, but preferably three days per week. I may start working on getting faster.

That's a lot of exercising to schedule around a full-time job, husband, dog, holidays, all that life type stuff. But I think I can do it, and I think I will be happy about it. Plus, most of this is indoor stuff, so I won't be deterred by possibility of freezing. (I can't wait to move somewhere that does not have this winter nonsense when my husband gets out of grad school.)

And finally, here are some random long-term and/or fun goals, in no particular order:

1. Become an Iron(wo)man
2. Run a sub 30 minute 5K
3. Run a marathon
4. Do a Rock N Roll race
5. Do a Disney race
6. Complete a century bike ride
7. Do RAIN
8. Conquer Mt Tabor in the Hilly Hundred
9. Cross-country bike tour
10. Lose 30 pounds
11. Figure out how to work yoga into my routine as well
12. Make my blog more interesting/popular
13. Eat better more consistently
14. Convince my husband to work out too

This is all doable, right?

Run Report

It's taper week!

Some people hate to taper. Drives them crazy. I think I'm going to like it. 

Today I ran the slowest four miles ever. I don't know if it's because my body just shuts down when it's less than 40*F outside or if having Halloween candy for dinner was a bad idea (What? Candy isn't carbo loading?) or if my legs are still tired from running ten awesome miles and then dancing all night in a dinosaur costume (and by dancing all night, I mean shuffling around for a couple hours because I don't actually possess any dancing skills), but I just could not get a move on this morning. I was SO. SLOW. Painfully slow. Like, I-haven't-downloaded-my-Garmin-data-but-I'm-pretty-sure-that-was-12-min-mile slow.

In happier news, I signed up for the Pile on the Miles challenge at runeatrepeat.com for the month of November. I'm excited about this! Yay for motivation after November 5th!

Long Run Report

Redemption! This week's long run was way better than last week's crappy one.

I didn't really want to get started, but I knew I had a better chance of doing it today than tomorrow, what with all the Halloween festivities going on tonight, so I hit the road this afternoon, after it warmed up a little. I never want to get started, but once I do, I'm generally happy about it. And it was a beautiful afternoon to be out today! I didn't map out a route, which I usually do, and thought I'd just run laps around the neighborhood so that I could stay close to home in case I needed the bathroom or more water or whatever. I was feeling a little blah, but knew that I really needed this run, both the physical training and the mental boost for the half marathon next week.

I did a mile through the neighborhood and decided I'd hit the Clear Creek Trail, even though I don't normally like to run on it so much. Today, it wasn't so bad. I joined up with my favorite B Line Trail and just cruised. I saw lots of families out walking and riding bikes today. I passed an older couple and then ran towards them a couple miles later, after turning around. They were so sweet. They cheered for me. That was about mile 7. I was feeling good. I just ran for fun, wherever I felt like. I eventually found my way back to my neighborhood and was worried I'd be a little short of the 10 miles (It really was an important milestone to me and I really wanted my Garmin to say 10.xx miles. It's a mental thing.) so I decided to run up the giant hill behind my house and get back the long way. It was really painful to run up that giant hill, especially along my backyard where I could just stop and go inside if I really wanted to, but I just told myself it was good training and buckled down and did it. I made it home with 10.04 miles under my belt in 1:46:25 (average pace of 10:36 min/mile).

I feel awesome! I am much more confident about the half marathon next week. I did 10 and I felt like I could do 3.1 more. Woot! Exciting!

Run Report

Planned to run five miles on the track this morning, but it was so cold! And I convinced my husband to go to the gym too, so I made the last minute decision to run on the treadmill instead. Bad idea. I was way overdressed in my capri length pants and long-sleeved shirt (note: Layers are awesome. In the future, do not leave home without them.) and was pretty toasty in the gym. I ended up doing 3.38 miles on the treadmill at the sort of speedy for me pace of 10:20 min/mile. Kanye West is crazy, but his songs do make me harder, better, faster, stronger.

CycleFit

Bleh. I was sluggish in CycleFit today. I have got to stop eating apples as my afternoon snack on CycleFit days. I love apples and normally they are an okay snack for me (not filling, but delicious), but they just make my stomach do weird things in CycleFit. Weird considering how awesome the apple cider was during the Hilly Hundred. Anyway, we did a good mix of speed work and climbing, but I only burned 327 kJ! Can I blame it on the fact that I used a different bike than I normally do? No? Okay, I'll keep blaming the apple.

Run Report

Track run this morning. 5.10 miles before work! Average moving pace of 10:24 min/mile. I think I was a little faster than normal because it was cold! I wanted to test if I could wear shorts in 40*F weather just in case those are the conditions for the half marathon. I think it was just a shade too chilly for shorts for me. If it's less than 45*F to 50*F, I'll be wearing my capri length pants.

Long Run Report

So you may have noticed that I decided not to do the Hoosier Half Marathon and instead signed up for the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon. I just couldn't figure out if the Hoosier Half got cancelled or what. Registration never opened and it was getting too close. I didn't want to do all the training for nothing, so I signed up for the Indy Monumental, which is two weeks earlier and only two weeks away. This actually works out according to the training plan I've been following, but I'm a little freaked out not to have that two week buffer period I had built in. The idea of only training up to ten miles for a half marathon is scary. But at this point, I'm just going to have to trust that Hal Higdon knows what he's talking about. :)

So today I ran nine miles. It was painful. But I learned some important lessons. Like don't drink Mike's Hard Lemonade the night before a long run and always carry chapstick with you. I think I must be a little dehydrated, even though I've been trying to make a conscious effort to drink a lot of water. I guess with the changing seasons and the drier air and the Mike's, the amount I've been drinking just still isn't enough. I also learned that running on Kirkwood on a Saturday is a bad idea. Too crowded. I also learned that while my Smartwool compression socks are awesome, I don't really like to actually run in them. Too hot. I'll stick to using them for recovery.

Anyway, even though it was painful (especially after mile 6), it was a nice run. The sororities and fraternities were having some sort of bicycle time trial event, I'm assuming something related to Little 500. A car full of guys (probably undergrads, which, let's face it, I'm too old (and married) for) honked at me. It was a little flattering. At least I hope so. I wore my ipod the whole time, so who knows if they honked to tell me I'm too slow. I'm sticking with the flattering option. I saw my friend Aulaire walking her dog Juno. I stopped to pet the puppy and talk for a minute.

So I ended up running 8.85 miles at a 10:35 min/mile average. Not too bad considering how much my butt and hamstrings hurt (after mile 6 or so). I refueled with chocolate milk and showered and Seth and I headed to Indiana Running Company where I got a shiny new foam roller. I just got finished using it. It. is. AWESOME. I am in love. In a hurts so good kind of way. Oh baby.

Here is the link to my Garmin info. Untitled by jamadren at Garmin Connect - Details I used autopause, but I'm unsure I like it.

And just for photo evidence of how painful and gross this run was:

No, my eyebrows aren't the gross part.

When I came in, Seth asked if I was wearing sunscreen. Confused, I said no. And then he says, "Oh. OH! Is that salt?"

So, yeah, no drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade the day before a run, no matter how crappy the data you get at work is! Trust me on this one.

Run Report

Hoofed it on the treadmill this morning. Too cold and windy and rainy and nasty to be outside this morning. I managed 3.0 miles in 31:00 minutes for an average pace of 10:20. Not too shabby. I knew I had to go fast if I wanted to get my three miles in. I started at an easy pace of 10:30 for one mile (walked a little at the very beginning to get my ipod and stuff situated), then did mile two at 10:00 min/mile. Mile three I bumped it up a notch for the first half (9:40-something pace) and finished strong with two more notches for the second half mile at a 9:30 min/mile pace. I was tired, but felt like a rock star at the end. I was quite proud to get in all three miles in the little time I had.

CycleFit

Speed work in CycleFit today. I normally don't necessarily enjoy speed work and usually feel that I'm not very good at it. After all, I am from the South where we do everything slow. :) But today I felt like I was rocking it and managed to burn 499 kJ. So close to 500, but I just couldn't push it over before it was time to get off the bike. Although if I had remembered my water bottle and didn't have to get off the bike twice during class to visit the fountain, I could have PRed it! Oh, well. Still felt awesome and that's what counts. :)

I just registered

for the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon on November 5th! I am scared. But I think I can, I think I can.

I'm going to try to remember this guy while I'm out there running. :)

Run Report

4.23 miles around campus. Average pace a little on the slow side at 10:55 min/mile. Guess my legs are still tired from the Hilly Hundred. Although I have to say that I think there's something to these compression shorts. I slept in them Saturday night and my legs were fine on Sunday's Hilly ride. I didn't wear them Sunday night and they felt tired on Monday. So I wore them last night and while my legs were a little tired today, I think they were much better than they would have been if I didn't wear them. Also, it was 45*F and raining this morning. I was the only runner I saw out! I felt hardcore. I ran around campus today instead of on the track. I thought my shoes would get gross on the track. Campus is a little hilly and I learned that the sidewalks that the sorority houses paint for upcoming events is pretty slippery. But I felt good about getting over four miles in before even getting to work!

EDIT: I finally got the Garmin connect website to work! I have discovered that the average pace my Forerunner displays is different than average moving pace. Maybe I should use the autopause feature? I thought I did okay with pausing at stop lights and stuff, but maybe not? Anyway, my average moving pace was 10:46 min/mile, a little closer to my "normal" run speed. Here's a link to all the info that I'm still working with. I'm so excited about all these numbers!

Hilly Hundred Day 2

The Hilly Hundred was such a great event! I had such a good time!

Here is the Day Two route:

Again, ridewithgps lists the elevation gain as 2953 ft, but the info they gave us says 3597. Quite a discrepancy. My Garmin also said 2355.

Speaking of my Forerunner, I did much better managing it today. I still forgot to turn it off at at least one of the rest stops, but overall, I did much better. Here is what Garmin Connect has to say:Hilly Hundred Day 2 by jamadren at Garmin Connect - Details Average Moving Speed of 12.2 mph over 49.71 miles.

I had wanted to compare Forerunner activity to my old cyclecomputer activity, but somehow my cyclecomputer managed to do some reading on the car ride home. So the numbers I got from it aren't right. I did check it at the end though and I averaged 12.8 mph over the 47.1 miles. I will have to do some more testing. :)

The morning started chilly again, but the wind was insane! I heard a lot of people talking about it. Here is a screenshot of the current weather:

That is some serious wind. It was like that pretty much all day.

Here I am at the start line, rocking my new leg warmers and jacket.

I met up with Rachel and Barb and we set off. The ride to the first rest stop was short. It was also a little more crowded than yesterday's ride as we had more stop signs and busy intersections to deal with. I did take a few pictures though. It was a beautiful day out.


At the first rest stop we ran into John and his brother-in-law. It was nice to see another MRT rider, if only briefly. We refueled with apple cider and hit the road again. The ride between Rest Stop 1 and Lunch followed roads that I'm familiar with, Sample, Bottom, Anderson. The big attraction was Bean Blossom Hill. I was worried about Bean Blossom. I've only ever gone down that hill, and it is a lovely downhill. I didn't really understand why anyone would want to go up it. It is both long and steep, but does have built in rest plateaus. Sort of like a stretched out staircase. It is a beautiful, smooth road though that goes through Morgan Monroe State Forest.

I made it up the hill! I did stop on one of the plateaus because I was hot and my jacket was sticking to me, so I took it off. I waited for Rachel and Barb at the top and we cruised downhill to lunch. Apparently the other side of Bean Blossom is just as fun to go down. :)

Lunch was the same as yesterday. The bands at all the rest stops were awesome, but I particularly enjoyed the one at the lunch stop today. It warmed up considerably during lunch (like yesterday) and I stashed my leg warmers and jacket in my rack trunk. Except for the wind, which continued to be brutal and never came from behind (always cross or headwind), this was perfect bike riding weather.

In apparent Hilly Hundred tradition, there was a fairly steep climb right after lunch. I didn't think it was awful. After climbing Bean Blossom, I was convinced I could do anything! I made my way along, up another hill and onto a ridgetop. The views were beautiful, but the wind made for a very exhausting ride. We rode through lots of open farmland with no shelter.

We saw lots of cows and goats and horses. I had to stop to take a picture of these two beautiful horses right by the road. I didn't make this lady move because she cracked me up and had smuggled apples from lunch to feed the horses. She said they do this every year.

Around mile 33 or so, I was starting to feel tired. (TMI approaching, don't be shocked.) I also had gotten my monthly visitor (that's a nice euphemism, right?) and Tylenol just wasn't keeping the cramps at bay so well today. I had gotten a bit ahead of Rachel and Barb so when I saw a church, I pulled over for a little break to see if I could get some of my organs to calm down. I waited for a good while, but I was glad for the break. I took a self portrait while I waited.

Isn't my new mirror awesome?

Rachel and Barb caught up with me and took a little break themselves. Apparently this was a good stopping place. I had thought the last rest stop was before Mt. Tabor, the most notorious hill of the weekend, but it is after it. If I hadn't stopped at the church, I would have been in for quite a rude awakening.

We left the church and after a mile or two, we hit Mt. Tabor. This is a short, but very steep climb. They put a sign at the bottom instructing walkers to stay right. I am sorry to report that I had to join the walkers. I made it about 3/4 of the way up; the end was thisclose, but I was tired from battling the wind and uterine cramps and then two guys practically flew past me with super loud Zipp wheels. I got totally distracted and lost my (little) momentum. I had to put a foot down. I thought I would start back up, but it was next to impossible to get going on that hill once you stop. So I walked the last 100 feet or so to the top and waited on Rachel and Barb. Here are some pictures from the top:


Next year, Mt. Tabor. You're going down! Or at least I hope to make it all the way up.

The last rest stop was in the little town of Stinesville. I was a little scared the Porta Potty was going to fall over. But the chocolate chunk rice krispie treats were awesome. As was the cider. Apple cider on a fall bike ride is the best idea ever. Love it.

The last section was more open farmland, but I ended up riding with a woman from Indianapolis who was very nice and enjoyable to hang with. We talked about random things for a few miles.


And then, I was at the last hill of the Hilly Hundred. Water Tower Hill at mile 46 (cumulative mile 103!). Another short but steep monster. I conquered it. And at the top, these lovely people set up their own unofficial rest stop. I wasn't going to stop because it was so close to the end, but the girl they had advertising on the street yelled, "Free drinks! Free homemade cookies! Free candy corn!" For me, the exact scenario went like this: Free drinks... that's nice. Free homemade cookies... wow! Free candy corn... "STOPPING!" pullover brake brake CANDY CORN!!! These people know how to please!

I took a handful of candy corn while I waited on Rachel and Barb and had a cup of sweet tea (sweet tea in Indiana!). I didn't have a cookie, but everyone was talking about how good they were. I think this was my favorite rest stop of all. It was so nice of these guys to stand out there all day and provide treats to the cyclist. I made sure to sign the guest log and dropped some money in the donation box.

Rachel didn't stop, but Barb got a drink and then we rode the last couple miles back to Edgewood High School. Seth greeted us at the finish line and took our picture.

Overall, I had an absolute blast! The wind was a challenge, but I am really happy I decided to do this ride. I hope to make it a tradition.

Hilly Hundred Day 1

I am so happy. Today was so fun! And even though I was worried that I'd have to walk up all the hills since I have barely ridden my bike in over a month, I didn't have to walk at all and feel that I actually sort of kicked butt.

Here's the route for today:

The ridewithgps website lists it as 4015 feet of elevation gain, but my Hilly Hundred route says 5202 feet. I wonder which is more accurate?

And here are the numbers:

Time: 4:26:46

Distance: 56.120

Average Speed: 12.6 mph

Max Speed: 35.9 mph

Calories Burned: 1929.2

Fat Burned: 199.8

My day started with an awesome breakfast that my amazing husband made for me.


We headed over to Edgewood High School and I met up with Rachel and Barb. It was really chilly this morning. I was just going to wear a jersey and arm warmers, but then I decided that I'd wear my raincoat too, and I was really glad for that decision! I didn't take it off until after lunch! And was still quite chilly this morning.

The first part of the day wasn't too bad. There were a couple tougher climbs, mostly just in steepness, none were terribly long climbs today. Before I knew it we were at the first rest stop, 14.3 miles in. I got a pumpkin doughnut. It was great! I also saw these people who were kind enough to let me take their picture. And I'm pretty sure they didn't drop bananas on the road or throw turtle shells at people. :)


Between the first rest stop and lunch at 28.1 miles in was pretty uneventful for me. I talked to a guy on another Surly for a while. I got a little ahead of Rachel and Barb, but I was too cold to stop and wait on them. We got to the lunch stop and enjoyed live music while eating chicken, pasta salad, veggies with ranch dip, and delicious cookies. We refilled our water bottles and hit the slightly warmer road.

After lunch it started to warm up (I even took off my raincoat!) and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. It was a very fall day and fall is my favorite season, so I was very happy. Not far after lunch was an excellent photo op of the Tulip Train Trestle.


And me with the whole thing.


The rest of the afternoon consisted of a lot of this:




With views like this:



It was great. We made it to the third and final rest stop where they had the most amazing chocolate rice krispie treats and apple cider from Musgrave Orchard! After that stop, there was one more big hill and a lot of rollers. The apple cider really energized me and I flew the last 14 miles. I was passing people left and right. But still managed to stop to lend my air pump to someone that needed it. I just felt awesome. It was a little chilly again, but I made it back to the school without having to stop to put my jacket on.

Once it was over, I hit up the vendor tent and picked up some stuff I needed. I got some leg warmers and an actual cycling jacket (no more black raincoat!) and I got a helmet mirror made my the Mirror Man.

Overall, it was a great day for me and I'm very excited about tomorrow!

PS I did take my Forerunner today, but I'm an idiot and experienced some user error. I'll try to do better tomorrow!

CycleFit

CycleFit and 6:15 AM do not get along for me. Apparently Wednesdays are a good day for me to work late. I ended up missing Judy's class yesterday. So I decided I'd make it up at way-too-early this morning.

We did a lot of climbing this morning. But it was weird climbing. Instead of adding resistance, we always just spun faster. I didn't like it. Although it could be that I felt miserable since I didn't eat breakfast before I left. I was pretty pitiful within about 15 minutes (bad in a 45 minute class!). I did push the watts up some (made it to Zone 4 a couple times), but not as consistently as I normally do and my recoveries were a much lower wattage than I typically do. I just didn't have enough juice today. I only ended up burning 362 kJ.

Also, it was depressing to go to campus and come back home, all in the dark and rain. And then go back to actually work. Although it was nice to shower in my own shower...

Inspiration

I've learned that I can do this, simply because I say I can.

Run Report

Man, I'm awesome!

I was in the mood to work hard this morning. I guess I was making up for the shortened long run on Sunday. Also, I was excited about my new compression shorts.

I ran on the Woodlawn Track this morning. I did 3.09 miles in 32:10 for an average pace of 10:24 min/mile!

I decided to do some mini interval training. I warmed up for about a mile and a half and then ran the long length of the track (about 1/10th of a mile) as hard as I could three times (running normal pace the other three quarters of the track). It was tough, but felt so good! Here's a breakdown from my Garmin:

Mile 1 (warmup): 10:41 min/mile
Mile 2: 10:14 with a 6:40 max!
Mile 3: 10:34
Mile 3.1: 7:40

Turns out I can go fast! Just for very brief periods! But I'm hoping to incorporate more interval training and hopefully start getting faster overall. I'm hoping to break 30 minutes in my next 5K.

Run Report

Long run fail! Ugh.

I was so excited about my new Garmin and testing it out on my Sunday long run.

I even made my husband take some pre-run pictures.


My training plan called for a 10K race this weekend, but there weren't any going on and I'm cheap. However, the Hilly Hundred is next weekend, so I thought I'd switch the 9 mile run scheduled for next week with the 10K for the Hilly Hundred. So the plan was to run 9 miles. I laced up my shoes, put on my Garmin and hydration belt, and donned the bandana of awesomeness (aka get-this-hair-out-of-my-face-now) and I was off.



And four miles later, I was sitting in a parking lot waiting on Seth to pick me up. Fail.

I don't know what happened, but it was hot and I was sweaty and managed to get chafe! It was on the inside of my right thigh and it hurt. I knew I could keep running, but I didn't want it to get worse with the Hilly Hundred next weekend. I definitely don't want to be suffering uphill for a hundred miles with the inside of my thighs burning. So I cut my run short.

But I still got fun data! I'm still figuring out how to make the software do the cool stuff I want it to do, but here's some numbers in the meantime:

Total Distance: 4.08 miles
Total Time: 44:25
Average Pace: 10:53 min/mile
Total Calories: 522 cal

I set it up to autolap every mile. Here are the mile breakdowns (min/mile pace):

Mile 1: 10:20
Mile 2: 10:56
Mile 3: 11:01
Mile 4: 11:11
Mile 5: 11:34

So a little slower than I was hoping, but the first half is all slightly uphill. I was expecting better numbers on the way back. :)

Anyway, I'm still super pumped about my Garmin and am looking forward to using it a lot.

Commute

Time: 22:16

Distance: 5.214

Average Speed: 14.1 mph

Max Speed: 27.1 mph

Calories Burned: 186.4

Fat Burned: 21.7

Worked up a sweat on my way home today. Just a little bit.

Came home to my shiny new Garmin Forerunner 305 on the porch!!! I'm so excited to configure this thing and test it out!

Run Report

Ran my four miles on the track this morning. Fall is my favorite time of year, but it's hard to dress for! At first I was wearing shorts and a tshirt for my run, but thought it was too chilly when I let the dog out so I put on capris and arm warmers. By the time I made it to the track, I knew the arm warmers were too much (although they were nice for the walk over) and by the end of my run, I wished I had stuck with the shorts!

I'm enjoying running with my ipod lately. It makes the track more entertaining and usually if I feel like quitting (which is easy on the track since it's so close to the gym), a good song will come on and reinvigorate me. However, I've just been sticking it in my waistband and it's a little annoying. It slides around and pokes me and my headphones don't stay in well. I'll just add better headphones (maybe with those over the ear thingies) and one of those arm band ipod holders to the wish list.

CycleFit

Mostly climbing in CycleFit today. It's like she knew I'm worried that the Hilly Hundred is going to kill me. I burned 487 kJ today, close to my PR of 508 kJ. I felt lazy, but I guess I was pushing the power. I may have even been able to beat my previous record, but I chose a different bike today and there was something weird going on with the right pedal. Oh, well.

I heard about this ride tomorrow to advocate for women cycling here in Bloomington. I think I may have to go!

Run Report

Four miles before 8 AM on the Woodlawn Track. About 50 minutes. I felt slow, but my playlist was working better for me today. Thanks to Shakira.

I finally ordered a Garmin today. Forerunner 305. Watch out for crazy data overload coming soon. Yay!

Commute

Rode home today. Left my cycle computer with Seth. It's interesting riding home in my work clothes. I got my shoelace caught in my chain today. Luckily I was at a stoplight. I saw two deer on the Clear Creek Trail. And I'm definitely loving the weather. Hopefully October will see more bike miles than September did.

Swim Report

Swimming is hard work.

I have been having a hard time sleeping lately. I'm just so jazzed up! I don't know if it's the awesome weather (seriously, where is it fall all the time so I can move there ASAP?) or the pumpkin goodness or if I'm drinking too much coffee, but I keep waking up at all hours of the night ready to go! So getting up early this morning to hit the pool was not so hard for me. Seth, however, was a little pokey this morning. So we still got here later than intended and I had about 25 minutes in the pool.

I saw Laurence (of kick my butt and leave me in the dust at the Popcorn Road Ride fame) in the locker room. She was heading out as I was heading in. She told me I was getting a late start and that I should convince Seth to swim with me. I told her it was hard enough to convince him to get out of bed at 6 AM. :)

Anyway, I swam for about 20 minutes. I did 10 laps for a total of 500 meters (or yards? I'm not sure how the HPER pool is measured). It takes me about a minute to do one lap and I rested for 30 seconds between laps. Much like when I first started running, I did well for the first 4 laps, but was pretty tired on laps 5-8. Laps 9 and 10 I picked it back up since I was close to the finish. I need to learn to do that fancy flip turn without drinking half the pool. I'm scared to do it and look like a dummy or run into the wall or something. I really think I should do the swimming lessons. I make it from one end of the pool to the other, but I have no idea if the lifeguard is secretly making fun of me for flailing around like a fish out of water.

Run Report

Yay for Sunday morning long runs!

I really never thought I would ever say that I was looking forward to running eight miles (or two miles for that matter), but I was totally looking forward to this run. I've been more or less following this half marathon training plan and I really like the add one mile approach to the long run. I think it's as much mental as it is physical. I don't get really tired until the last half mile or so. I mean, I know I can do the previous mileage and surely I can do one more mile. And today I even thought that the only reason the last half mile is so bad is because the giant hill I have to run up. In fact, I'm pretty certain that I'll be able to do the half marathon in November. :)

Anyway, my run today was pleasant. It was really chilly this morning when I woke up (37*F!) so I skipped church and ran later when it was in the 50s. I felt like I was going really slowly the whole time, but decided I didn't really care and that it was beautiful and that I was just going to enjoy it. I got passed by pretty much every other runner I saw. Although I think the majority of them were on the IU track team. Three or four groups of five or six guys all in IU shirts passed me. They were really fast. And they had nice legs. Even if I was fast, I might have let them pass me anyway. :)

I figured today's run would take me between 1:20 and 1:30 to complete. I also got a mixed box of Honey Stinger gels in the mail this week. I figured running for an hour and a half, I could experiment with my nutrition some more. So I took a Gold Honey Stinger gel and ate it at the half way mark. Holy cow, delicious. I think I may finish off the Gus I have left and never look back. Honey Stinger is where it's at. It was delicious (tastes like honey) and was thinner than other gels I've tried so it was a lot easier to eat. And my stomach did not complain at all as it sometimes does with Gu. I also feel okay about eating it as honey is nature's energy food.

Anyway, I ran 8.1 miles in 85 minutes! That's a 10:30 min/mile pace! I'm pretty proud of that, especially since it was pretty windy for part of the way too.

Commute

Time: 21:45

Distance: 4.935

Average Speed: 13.6 mph

Max Speed: 22.4 mph

Calories Burned: 170.6

Fat Burned: 19.8

Wow, it felt great to commute today! My husband had to drive to a conference today, so I had to ride my bike home. I am very happy about that! It's been too easy to just commute to and from work with him, even though I often have to stay later than I want to. I'm going to make a better effort in October to commute home more. (Too dark to commute in, plus I'm already getting up God-awful-early to go to the gym with Rohini.)

Today's weather was perfect. Chilly, fall weather. I just wore my work clothes, no changing in the bathroom today. It was fantastic. I've missed my bike.

In related news, I'm pretty sure the Hilly Hundred in two weeks is going to kick my butt.

Run Report

I decided to do a real run today since I always run out of time on the treadmill. So I mapped out a route around campus.



I was great to run for real! I was slow. It took me about 40-45 minutes to run this, but considering the hills and unfamiliar territory, I think it was pretty good. It was nice running by all the sorority houses on Jordan and seeing the stadium bright and early in the morning. The only bad thing is that some of these streets are severely lacking in sidewalk!

CycleFit

Good mix of speed work and climbing in CycleFit today, with a slight lean toward speed work. It felt good to be on a bike. I can't believe I've ridden my bike so little this month! 418 kJ today.

Gym Report

2.5 miles on the treadmill this morning. 30 minutes. Pitiful. I even walked a couple times. Early morning workouts are just hard. And I suck at making playlists. Seriously. Don't ever let me near your iTunes. And I packed my bag last night in hopes of not being late today. My priorities are all out of order given that somehow my belt made it into the bag, but socks and underwear did not. Ugh. Maybe I should stick to running in the evening.

Also pitiful... I want to work in some strength and stretching to this regime I'm doing. Like weight lifting and yoga. Yesterday I did some stretches and just a little weight lifting (bicep curls and bench press) and some ab exercises (sit ups, crunches, plank). My arms and abs hurt today. Like I'm scared to laugh because it hurts. I apparently have a lot of work to do.

In good news though, it's officially fall and I can eat all the pumpkin I want. I had it in my oatmeal this morning. Pumpkin is my favorite time of year. The apple cider isn't bad either. :)

Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K

Woot!

I had a blast at the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K!

Being my first 5K ever and really not being a runner (despite how much running I've been doing lately), I was feeling pretty nervous about this event. Nervous and excited. I set some tentative goals. I definitely wanted to finish in less than 36 minutes and decided I could buy the Garmin Forerunner I've been wanting if I finished in less than 33 minutes. Seth said he'd buy it for me if I won. :)

We picked up our bibs and tshirts yesterday afternoon. I got #1499 and Seth was #1775. This morning, we got to the IU Stadium about 45 minutes before the start of the race. We watched the kids start their fun run. Then we lined up with a ton of other people for the 5K run/walk (map). Although the morning was pretty chilly, it was warm in the crowd. We situated ourselves pretty much in the middle. Then we were off!

It was crazy being in a mass start. Pretty slow going at first. I figured I'd take it easy and just see how it went. We were really going slower than I wanted to be at first, but eventually we found ourselves behind the IU Ladies Rowing Team. They were all wearing crimson shirts and I figured I'd just follow them as they were easy to see. And they ended up being pretty good pacers for me. :) About 1/2 to 3/4 mile in it started thinning out a little as people needed to start walking or had sped ahead of the crowd. Seth said we reached the first mile marker in 9:05!

The rest is kind of blurred together. I really enjoyed running with 1500 people through the streets of Bloomington. People were outside on their balconies cheering for us. People parked their cars along the way and had their radios going. My favorite was playing "Eye of the Tiger". Also, all the middle schools in the area had their cheerleading teams along the route cheering for us. I thought that was really nice. It was also really touching to see all the people running in honor or in memory of someone they loved who has battled cancer.

There were a couple of water stations. I discovered that it is really difficult to run and drink water out of a solo cup. I had to walk to drink my water. I think next time I'll just take one of my little fuel belt hydration bottles. Other than to drink water though, I ran the whole thing.

We made it back to the stadium and got the finish line in sight. We made the turn into the last straightaway and saw 32 minutes on the clock. We did a sprint and made it in 32:54! I knew I had definitely beaten my goal! And not even just my easy goal! Yay!

This comes out to a 10:37 min/mile pace and placed me 40/95 in my age group. Top half! I was 873/1500 overall. Not too shabby for a first 5K! I will definitely be doing more of these. :)

Run Report

Another treadmill run. Although this time, I almost made it the intended 4.5 miles before they kicked me off at 8:00! I could have made it if 1.) I wasn't running late this morning 2.) I didn't leave my water bottle in the locker room and have to stop running and go to the water fountain to get something to drink. At least I remembered my ipod this time though! It was nice running with the ipod, but I definitely need to make some running playlists so that crazy slow songs don't come on and mess me up. And I wore the new running skirt that Seth got me for my birthday. I felt really cute. I'm planning to wear it to the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5K this weekend.

3.76 miles in 39:56 for a 10:37 min/mile pace.

Swim Report

Swimming is hard work.

I'm getting to work super early and walking to the HPER with my friend Rohini. I don't want to run everyday, so today I decided I'd try swimming again. If I'm going to be an Ironman, I need to learn to love swimming too! I've also been considering adult swim lessons to refine my form and be more efficient in the water, but hadn't fully decided if I wanted to do that or just wing it.

I lose count of swimming laps even worse than running laps. I have no idea how much I swam. Definitely more than 5 laps (there and back, not lengths that are just there), maybe even 10. But not more than that. I think I did okay, but it definitely makes you tired. But I'm sure that, just like running and cycling, it will get easier the more I do it.

I like sort of have a plan to Ironman. Exciting.

Run Report

Treadmills are weird.

I got up super early, had my breakfast (currently addicted to Nutella), and headed to the HPER. I swung by lab first to put my lunch in the fridge and pick up my ipod since I already knew treadmills are boring as hell. My lunch made it in the fridge, but I forgot my ipod. So I had to go back to get it. Made it to the HPER, found the treadmills, and dropped my stuff in the locker room. I made it all the way to the treadmills and discovered I left my ipod in the locker room. Ugh. I ran without it.

I was supposed to run 4.5 miles, but apparently the HPER has classes in that room at 8:00. So about 2.5 miles in (just as I was getting good!), a guy comes to tell me that the room was closing in five minutes! So I cranked it up to 9 min/mile pace and ran fast (for me) for half a mile. It ended up being 2.6 miles in 30 minutes (11:30 pace overall... I started really slow while figuring out the treadmill).

My legs felt really weird when I stopped. Sort of like when I started CycleFit or after walking on land after being on a week long cruise. But I felt good about keeping up that fast pace. I definitely can't do it for many miles (yet), but I am pretty certain I could/should be running harder than I have been. So even though the treadmill is dreadfully boring and the HPER needs to think about their scheduling, I think this was beneficial and I may try to learn to like the treadmill. I think it could help me become a faster runner.

And maybe next time I'll remember my ipod. Now taking suggestions for good running songs!

Run Report

Things I learned today:

1. Running shoes are pretty heavy when they're soaking wet.
2. Moisture wicking socks don't do much when they're soaking wet.
3. Rain makes you run faster.

It was sort of drizzly and cold this morning, but weather.com said it was going to go away and be nice after 10:00 or so. So, I put off my long run, went to church, spent some birthday money, and watched Toy Story 3. I finally decided to stop being lazy (I mean I already cut both my runs this week in half; there was no way I was going to feel good about not putting in these seven miles.) and headed out. I put on some tight capri length pants and my new fuel belt and set out. Then about two miles in, it started drizzling. Fine, whatever. About another half mile and it started raining pretty good. I persevered. I ran by some graffiti that said "Fake it til you make it." I decided that was a pretty good idea. Soon it was just me and other miserable looking people running on the B Line Trail. I have definitely become assimilated... they all waved at me in mutual hey-we're-hardcore-running-in-the-rain-ness. I was feeling pretty good. I hit the halfway point (3.5 miles, the Grimes St bridge) in 34 minutes. I decided to do some mini-intervals on the way back. For fun. I ran hard from one streetlight to the next, then my normal (slow) pace to the next, and so on.

I'm pretty proud that I sucked it up and did it. In the pouring rain. Seven miles in 75 minutes (10:42 min/mile pace!).

CycleFit

Today was Power Challenge day in CycleFit. On Power Challenge day, we warm up with easy stuff for about ten minutes, then do four minutes at 100% effort. We measure our average power output over those four minutes. Then we recover and repeat and average the two four-minute challenges together to get our 100% effort number, or upper Zone 3 range. We fill in the rest of our power zones from a chart.

The very first time I did a power challenge last January, I was at 150 Watts. My second power challenge was in March and I was at 180 Watts. Today, 205 Watts. It's awesome to see steady improvement. :)

"Run" Report

What a craptastic run. More on that in a minute.

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm feeling pretty old at 26. I'm pretty sure I peaked at like 16 and it's all gone downhill since then. I'm hoping the 30s have something better in store for me.

I am happy though that my husband got me the sparkle heart running skirt that I wanted, as well as some colorful New Balance running socks. We also went out to dinner (Uptown Cafe... the gorgonzola filet was delicious) and I got drunk off my first ever martini at the Serendipity Martini Bar.

So it was a late night and I had a hard time getting up before the sun to run this morning. So this evening, I set out for two 2-mile loops through the neighborhood. I skipped my new skirt for now, but did wear the bright yellow pair of socks I got. However, I have a blister on my left pinky toe and that may not have been the best idea ever. It was hot and I was slow. My toe hurt, my ankle hurt, my hips hurt. And then I got lost. In my own neighborhood. Well, okay, not lost exactly, but I couldn't remember the simple route I had planned out. So I ended up doing most of one loop and then cut it short. 1.9 miles

I need to figure out what to do about blisters.