Getting back into things

So... I decided in the spring that I wanted to run the Chicago Marathon... I signed up in March...

Things were going well, until I started traveling every week for my job... I was simply exhausted all the time, grouchy and depressed... even when I cut out social time and booze and every distraction from sleep I could think of, I always hit a plateau at 20mi/week...

Eventually, after a few months of this, I got sick, and I didn't make the long runs for a few straight weeks... so I decided to call it quits...

I spent about a month sort of running, sort of biking, sort of lifting, sort of... recovering from being totally burned out...

And now, I'm ready to get back into things.

The plan for the next month or two:

Monday: Rest day (traveling)
Tuesday: Speedwork in the morning + weights in the evening
Wednesday: Cross train
Thursday: Weights
Friday: Long run
Saturday: Cross train
Sunday: Short run + weights

Gut-check in mid-October... see you then.

Halfway through winter: Feb 1st - Feb 8th

Sunday -- A warm winter day in Chicago

5 mi, lake shore north. When I looked at the forecast a few days ago and realized that it was going to be above freezing on sunday, it really lifted my spirits. When I left this morning it was about 2 degrees over freezing and breezy (a nice breeze, not the death ice winds from Canada), and basically felt fantastic. Apparently I wasn't the only person who thought so, since I saw dozens of other runners along the lake, along with cyclists, parents with strollers, people walking their dogs, etc. Another plus about this was the fact that the trail along the lake was completely clear, so I was able to hit a nice stride about 2 miles in.

Upon arriving home, I made blueberry scones and hot tea with milk. Life is good.

Monday



Tuesday



Wednesday



Thursday



Friday



Saturday



Sunday

28 Sept - 3 Aug (IL and TWU)

Monday

First day at new job. Basically just orientation, with lots of paperwork. No run, but I biked there and back: 15 mi.

Tuesday

Flying to India. No workout.

Wednesday



Thursday



Friday



Saturday



Sunday

21 July - 27 July (TX)

Monday

Took a train to my parents' place. Lazed around and played a lot of tetris. In the evening I rode around for about 30 min on my dad's bike, mostly just to figure out what I needed to adjust (move the seat forward), get used to the bike, get somewhat familiar with the area, etc.

Tuesday

22 mi ride in the morning. The roads were all FM roads through the beautiful northeast Texas countryside. I saw countless horses and cows, plus some rabbits and other critters. Route is on the right sidebar. Borrowed my dad's bike, helmet, gloves, and jersey, plus my mom's bike shorts. So, while nothing quite fit perfectly, it was my first bike ride with mostly legit bike gear. I've got to say, those jersey pockets are insanely useful. Why don't all shirts have pockets like that?

Wednesday

Feeling exhausted today, so I decided to take off. Made chow mein for dinner, which was well received.

Thursday

5 m run.

Friday

2.5 mi run. I didn't time myself or anything, but it felt fast.

Saturday

Bike ride with my dad. Same route as tuesday, but clockwise (22 mi). I struggled a bit on the hills.. it could have been a number of things, but I think I'm going to blame it on the trip to a super tasty German restaurant the night before. Mmmm, beer...

Sunday

Flew back to Chicago. 2 mile run in the evening, plus a bit of lifting. I wanted to run longer, but I went too soon after eating dinner and got a bad stomachache. Nervous about work tomorrow.

14 June - 20 June (TX)

Monday

Rest day. Drove to TX.

Tuesday

Rest day. Lazed around. Tried to buy some shoes but failed.

Wednesday

2 mi easy run, at night (still hot). Found some free weights in the garage and lifted a bit. Highlight of my day: I found a great running store here in Fort Worth. I got an asics motion control shoe and Charlie got another mizuno.

Thursday

3 mi run. hot. biscuits and gravy for dinner.

Friday

2 mi run in the morning. drove to lubbock.

Saturday

Was going to do cross training today, but I couldn't do much but run so I decided to take a rest day. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Sunday

Wanted to do a long run, but didn't have internet or a watch or anything, so I just ran for a while in one direction and then came back. Ended up being 3.5 mi... not quite long enough. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

7 June - 13 June (IL)

Monday

3 mi run. It was pouring rain outside so I did this on the treadmill. Felt pretty good.

Tuesday

Rest day, so no run. However, we did bike to downtown, around to a couple of different places, and back home, for a total of ~18 mi.

Wednesday

2 mi run. iirc, I came back and did some weights afterwards.

Thursday

3 mi run. I felt good today because I stepped outside and thought, "Ahh.. it's hot.. this run is going to suck," but it actually went really well! Maybe I'm getting used to the heat a little bit. Weights in the evening, as I watched part of stage 6 on TV.

I think we officially moved in completely today. We unpacked the last of our stuff and got IL drivers licenses. Wow what a surprisingly great experience that was! I looked up the address of the DMV online, and I figured we'd go downtown and spend several hours at least... but we went through in less than an hour! And what's better, unlike CA and TX, they print out your new ID and give it to you right away.

As we were leaving, we saw a blood donation center, and since this week we can finally give blood again (1 year and 1 wk ago we were in malaria-prone areas of Mexico) we decided to drop in. Charlie gave blood like the manly man he his; unfortunately I had to bail. So I apparently have really small veins that are hard to find. Every time I give blood or get an IV, the nurse makes some comment about this. She does, however, always manage to find one. At this clinic though... so the lady spends a long time trying to find a vein in my left arm, and eventually decides to go for one in the middle. By this time my arm is already pretty uncomfortable from the tourniquet, but you know, whatever.. there's a little discomfort involved in giving blood, right? Anyway she gets the needle and stabs it in there... no blood. She pulls back and tries again... still nothing. She literally digs around in my arm for about 30 seconds (felt like forever), my arm is totally numb, and eventually I say, "let's just try the other arm... please?" She pulls out and tourniquets the right arm and starts feeling around. After a little while she locates something, calls a coworker over for a second opinion and asks--and I quote--"Do you think this one will hold?" Okay... the other lady feels it. "Oh yeah, if you can get it then it should be fine. Do you think you can get it?" My nurse turns to me and asks if I want to just come back later and try again on the left arm, as I had casually suggested earlier. I figure, if I have no confidence in her anymore, and she has no confidence in getting that right arm... I'll just say I'm coming back "next week" (I'll be in TX next week). Oh, and as a last painful reminder to never come back to this place again, she manages to wipe the alcohol swab right over my puncture wound as she's cleaning up. Gee, thanks lady.. you're so thoughtful.

Friday

1.5 mi run

Saturday

No run, did some biking instead. I went up north to deposit graduation $$ in an ATM, and then downtown to check out the main CPL library. Worked out to be about 20 miles. I got some audio books for the trip down to TX, plus Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Perhaps by coincidence, someone had left a prayer card in the book. It reminded me of those billboards in Kansas and Oklahoma that are placed right in front of a porn shop and say "JESUS LOVES PORNOGRAPHY KILLS" or whatever. Not that Alison Bechdel qualifies as pornography...

Sunday

4 mi run with some weights afterwards. watched ricco kick ass on a mountain stage. finally starting to feel like i'm back in shape

30 June - 6 July

Monday

rest day. also, anniversary #2.

Tuesday

rest day.

Wednesday

1.5 mi around the park. hot. Charlie did 1.5 @ 10:40 (1st .5 mi at 3:15, avg 7:07 pace)

Thursday

3 mi run up along the lake. VERY strong headwind going out! Much better than the heat, though.

Charlie's parents were in town and we walked 6+ mi around downtown, since with the fireworks it was impossible to drive and even all the buses were stopped. We got pizza at Giordano's for the 3rd time since we've been here... Charlie got some pasta with alfredo sauce, which I thought tasted strange and couldn't quite put my finger on it... until I realized it tasted like gravy. Either that or MSG. Anyway, stick to the pizza if you go there.

Friday

Nice 1.5 mi run around the neighborhood. It was just after I woke up so I was pretty tight, but I kept up a good cadence to make up for my pitiful stride. Throughout the park there were lots of people already staking out spots to grill and hang out for lunch/dinner. It surprised me at first until I remembered that everyone around here is in an apartment and doesn't have a backyard.

Charlie and I went out to Aurora to visit a friend of ours who was having a 4th of July party. Lots of fun, too many sweets...

Weights in the evening.

Saturday

Beautiful day! We biked down to the south end of the lake shore trail, then back up north past 51st for a while, then back home. Total of about 14 miles.

I think later this week we'll probably go all the way north and back, which is ~30 mi. I'm pretty sure our legs are up for it, though I don't know if we'll have chafing or other comfort issues, considering we don't have bike shorts or jerseys, and we haven't ever tried a lot of mileage on our current seats. I guess if it all goes horribly wrong we can just take a bus back.

Sunday

rest.

April 14 - 20

Another week already? jeez...

Monday

A brief swimming session, followed by weights (endurance). We've moved up to 30 reps now. While swimming was short, I think Charlie got something out of it. He's been having trouble breathing, and I didn't know what to tell him, so I asked the swim coach to help him out. I think that was useful.

Tuesday

crappy run, 3-4 miles. also biked around some, maybe that counts for something.

Wednesday

30 min swim, weights (strength)

Thursday



Friday



Saturday



Sunday

April 7 -13

Monday

30 min swim. did weights (endurance) either this day or tuesday

Tuesday

30 min swim

Wednesday

rest.

Thursday

30 min run, 30 min swim, 1 hr weights (strength). We moved up on weight for this workout. Tired! Also made sweet potato biscuits, which were delicious.

Friday

I don't really remember what happened today. I remember eating chinese takeout for dinner, which is a good indication of laziness.

Saturday

30 min tempo to 9:15, then about half an hour hitting up the various machines in the weight room. After doing all those free weights, it sometimes feels nice to just concentrate on the big strong muscles.

Sunday

Felt bleh, so I didn't do anything today. bike is done now, which is great because that means no more walking to the gym. Disposed of a respectable amount of PBR.

March 31 - April 6

Monday

30 min. swim.

Tuesday

8x100 on the track, followed by weights (strength). Tired.

Wednesday

Was going to do some sort of cardio, but I screwed up my legs yesterday. The top sides of my thighs ( Rectus femoris according to wikipedia) which hurt mildly yesterday, were full of knots and just generally in terrible shape. Heat, massage, rest...

Thursday

30 min swim and weights (endurance). Legs seem okay, though still healing. Probably be fine to go on a run tomorrow.

Friday

laziness. no workout.

Saturday

I ran for about an hour and Charlie did sprints. Then we did a free weights workout (strength). Both of us are feeling pretty good, so I think we'll start moving up on weight and reps on the strength and endurance days, respectively.

It's been a month since the marathon, and I'm lamenting my loss of running skill/strength/endurance/etc. I think a better plan than these long, meandering hour long runs is to do shorter, more controlled runs where I concentrate on running well.

Sunday

3 mile run. Felt pretty good.

Spring Break (March 24-30)

In TX Sunday through Friday.

Monday

At my parents' house. Went for an easy jog around the neighborhood, maybe 30-45 min? Flat, windy, sunny... plenty of space. I think Texans generally don't like other states because they feel claustrophobic.

In german club in high school, some friends and I made a video for a German Club competition. I looked for the tape when I was home, but couldn't find it. However, I did find the original video camera footage so I put that on my computer. I've started to re-edit it and I plan to put it on youtube eventually.

Also saw my uncle for the first time in a while (wanderlust on his part), which was very cool.

Tuesday

Went to Bally's with my dad and had a great workout! I finally felt on top of things again, I guess I'm over the whole finals week/jetlag stuff (assuming I believe in jetlag). Did a tempo workout on the treadmill and then random free weights for another half an hour.

Went to Babe's for dinner--the Carrollton location. It was about the same as Roanoke, except the waitresses were way too perky and not as fun, and the biscuits were lame. Not that I'm complaining, though--the chicken fried steak hit the spot like always.

Wednesday

I took this day off ate all of my little sister's Easter candy.

Thursday

Crappy run. I went around noon, and it was hot hot hot and super windy. I didn't believe that the wind could have a significant effect, but I was wrong... ended up taking a detour through some neighborhood streets to try to avoid the south wind. Allergies killing me, like the rest of the week. Oh well.

Friday

Flew home, then went to the gym. 20 min on bike to warm up, then free weights for about 45 min to an hour. Had BBQ for lunch on the way to the airport. The place was called Bone Daddy's (http://www.bonedaddys.com/) and was basically a Hooter's except with good food. I think I was the only female there, other than the waitresses. Not that that kind of ratio is unusual for me....

Saturday

Easy jog down to lacy and back, about 5 mi. DDR later in the day.

Sunday

About 30 min of swimming, then weights (endurance).

Finished the german club video. Let me know if you'd like to see it!

Work... (March 17-23)

Lots of work this week (finals), so I doubt I'll be following any sort of organized workout schedule. Just trying to get in workouts wherever I can.

Monday

Ran down to Lacy Park and back. Started out kinda slow and tight, but did the last two miles hard and fast (short, quick stride) and felt really good. Now back to writing papers...

Tuesday

DDR!

Wednesday

Work...

Thursday

Work...

Friday

Work...

Saturday-Sunday

I went for one or two runs this weekend, and maybe went to the gym. I don't remember that well. Either way, not fantastic workouts since I didn't sleep much the past week.

Went home with Charlie on Sunday afternoon.

Transition Week 2 (March 10-16)

Monday

Ran around aimlessly for about 30 min. Legs were fine, but apparently I ran too soon after eating dinner because I was plagued by digestive issues. lame.

UPDATE: I have the best friends ever.

Tuesday

Ran down to the gym, then 10 min on row machine for warm up. Weights (strength). Felt good; finished almost all of it (a few reps on curls/shoulder). Legs feel great! I think I'll try a longer run this weekend (7-9 or so) just to see how they're doing endurance-wise.

Wednesday

The idea was to go play some DDR after my library shift, but there were people there already and we didn't want to have to take turns. So we walked to the gym and played some racquetball. Charlie seems to have aggravated his lower back, which he may have strained during weights yesterday? It's not good.. came home and iced, then laid down. Pain bending over, getting up from sitting position, etc.

For my part, I was tired and grouchy most of the day. Going to sleep in somewhat and then go back to the dentist tomorrow.

Thursday

Dentist sucked. Charlton's definitely not in good shape. On KB's advice, went to the trainer, who gave some advice and showed him some stretches. Busy, no workout.

Friday

Busy, no workout. Muscle relaxants for Charlie's back; able to move around reasonably well with support belt but still in some pain.

Saturday

My plan for today was to get out early and go down to Arroyo park, maybe a 7-9 mile run. This was a complete failure... about a mile into it I felt terrible, legs were really tight and I couldn't seem to loosen them up. I kept going for about another half a mile, then gave up and jogged/walked home. This type of thing tends to happen when I'm busy and stressed out, and while I got a lot of sleep last night (10+ hrs), I hardly got any last week. So while this was disappointing I have to accept the fact that my workouts are just going to suck during finals week and I can't do anything even remotely ambitious. I'm just going to try to fit in some short runs here and there so I can sleep at night and I'm not too grouchy.

Sunday

Went to the gym and did 45 min on the bike and about 25 min in the weight room afterwards. Feeling much better than yesterday, though it still feels like my legs have... I dunno, all this bad "humor" in them.. you know, in the medieval sense of the word. I think the bike ride help relieve some of this--a bloodletting of sorts. I know this is a weird analogy but that's what came to mind when I was on the bike. Charlie was feeling up to going to the gym and almost came with me (to do the bike, not weights), but thought he should probably wait one more day to be safe. Probably a good idea.

Transition Week 1

Monday

Rest day. Fairly sore, but not too bad. Only problem area is lower left leg (compensating for right hip during the run?) which has a few knots. Spend about half an hour massaging/stretching. Drinking tons of water.

Tuesday

Rest day. Feeling pretty good, actually. Sore getting out of bed, but after that I'm fine. More massage in the evening.

Wednesday

Went to the gym to get our 5 rep max numbers, which are on the right under "Weight Training". Charlie seems to be coming down with a cold. =(

Thursday

Crazy weights (strength). Finished everything but the squats and lunges--quads started to cramp up (!) I'm going to blame this on energy-depleted muscles (dehydrated and didn't eat anything all day except some pasta right before) rather than marathon fatigue. Going to be careful though... no reason to get injured.

By the way, dentist + hangover = arrrrrghghhh

Friday

Played a little DDR, but otherwise just chilled out today. Was ridiculously tired and sore, so I decided to take a break.

Saturday

Endurance day at the gym. After biking down there, I had a quick, easy jog down to lacy park and back. Legs definitely still work, though obviously not 100%. Knot in right AT. Endurance weights weren't that bad, though I feel funny doing ballet squats.

Sunday

Rest day. Groggy. Made bread.

Marathon training, Week 26

Monday

run: 10 mi
strength: pushups, pullups
foodstuffs: oatmeal w/raisins, protein smoothie w/banana, sandwich w/provolone and bell pepper, banana, roasted veggies, and one too many slices of pizza...

patrician. What a great run--quiet and beautiful. Since it rained yesterday, I could actually see for miles and miles down the valley once I got near the top of the hill. I was pretty tired for the last ~2 miles though... need some serious sleep tonight.

(Super) Tuesday

strength: pushups, core, pullups
food: oatmeal w/raisins, orange, apple, peanuts, "cobb" salad, pb sandwich

rest day. left knee and ankle hurting slightly.

Wednesday

strength: pushups
food: oatmeal w/r, banana, half a smoothie, "cobb" salad, beans and rice, roasted veggies over pasta, hot chocolate

rest day.

Thursday

run: 6 mi
strength: pushups
food: banana, (turkey) ham, eggs, and beans for breakfast, oatmeal w/raisins, pb sandwich, chicken, veggies, and rice

Down to kinneloa and back. Still tired... can't wait 'til spring break... =/ Generally felt crappy all day.

Friday

plan: 6 mi, weights (no legs)
strength: pushups, core
food: oatmeal w/raisins & banana, eggs in a basket

Saturday

plan: rest

Sunday

plan: last 20 mi before race...

Marathon training, week 25

Monday

rest day.

Tuesday

run: 6 mi
strength: core, legs, chest, pullups x7

6 mi santa anita/huntington/oak knoll to gym. Worked on chest with free weights. Upper body dead for the rest of the week, after this, which is why my pullups are so dismal...

Wednesday

run: 8 mi

8 mi arroyo loop. Getting there and back was annoying as hell (felt like I was stopped at every light, and spent about 5 min at arroyo/glenarm like usual) but it sure was nice down by the park. Quite a few trees and tree branches were scattered about from the wind, so not all the trails were in great shape. Reminded me of home... can't wait to visit in March. Also, the people at Bally's are awesome--I always stop there for water coming back on Green.

Thursday

No run. Didn't get much sleep--nervous about phone interview and behind on work as usual--so I was dead tired. But.... Adrianne and I went to the Ellen show!! We had standby tickets so we only ended up in the riff-raff room for most of it, but we've got guaranteed tickets for another show next month. Actually, some guy had to go to the bathroom, so during the last "act" I got into the audience. Jack Hanna was there with various animals, and when I was in the audience he had 2 hawks that just flew wherever they felt like (including up in the rafters). Not too much structure to this particular show... After the show was over, Ellen thanked everyone for being there and having so much energy. Then she asked us to sing happy birthday for Portia, who was there in the front row. Awww... =)

Friday

strength: pullups x3

Even more tired today. Maybe made some progress on my thesis? But no run.

Saturday

strength: pullups x6

Today was going to be a long run, but Charlie worked until 3 or 4 and, when he came home, "immediately" passed out. After the nap it was dark and cold.... instead of running we ate cookies (see "Marshmallow cookies" post) so needless to say I feel pretty gross now.

Sunday

run: 4 mi easy
strength: core
food: oatmeal w/raisins, 3 cookies (mmm), banana, handful of peanuts... then stuffed myself at mannion's

Too wet for a long one. Both of us felt pretty terrible on the run. Had plenty to eat afterwards, took some vitamin C, going to take it easy tonight.