Ragging Road Rage Run and Monkey Privates

Random:

• Just got home from the most boring 9 mile run ever. Perhaps it was boring because it was so late and there weren't many interesting people to scope out.  And it was on a treadmill.  Enough said.
•  I gained 4-5 pounds just from eating like a horse and being on my period the past few days.  Always makes me feel great to get on the scale and see that that I'm putting on the pounds to go along with my bitchy mood.  I'm thinking the several pounds of red velvet and white cake that I've been grazing on over the past few days might have something to do with it.  Yay for leftover birthday cake! 
•  I'm loving the 7 comments I got on my last mommy post.  I'm realizing more and more that most my readers/followers are more interested in running related posts.  Now really the low comment count could also be due to the fact that I've been the WORST blog reader in the world the past several weeks and people have probably written me off their blog reading role.  I still read, I've just been at a loss for words (imagine that Chris) and haven't wanted to resort to comments like "great post" or "awesome!".
• My 4 year old daughter kept asking me yesterday what Monkey privates look like.  I told her that they probably look quite a bit like our privates.  She said something along the lines of "Well, next time we go to the bookstore, we can look up Monkey privates in a book and then we will know!"  Tomorrow we will go to the zoo and check out the monkeys!  
• I thought about introducing her to Google images but when I googled "Monkey Privates" I came up with a selection of photos that wouldn't be appropriate for a four year old.  I've gotten some great responses to this on facebook...one of my friends (not naming names) even sent me a great google image photo that she found while googling monkey privates.  Loved it!

Running:

• I hope to get 50-60 miles in this week but I find myself really excited to be done with marathon training and just be running for fitness and fun.  Hoping for a relaxed and fun summer!  I do love training for something but it takes a lot of time and there are some evenings that I just want to have a glass of wine with my husband over dinner and relax without heading out the door to the gym and missing out on family time.  But this is important to me right now and as long as it keeps being fun then I'll keep doing it!
• Sunday was a 13.1 progression run.  It was supposed to be 14 but I cut it short.  It ended up being an interesting run.  The pros:  My husband and I got to run together.  The cons:  I had just started my period, I had stomach cramps, it was windy, we were running in a really crappy area with way too much traffic, few sidewalks, lots of stop lights, big hills, lots of turns and I felt like the biggest Bitch in the world!  It was like running with Road Rage and being on the Rag (do people still use that term?) didn't help. Everything was pissing me off...the people in their cars, the stop lights,  the rain and wind...my poor husband.  But we decided to run close to where our kids were since we didn't want to add travel time on top of our running time.
• Progression run was supposed to be first 7 miles at base pace and then gradually increase speed until last mile is run at half marathon pace.  My goal was to run the second half of the run at lower 7's with the last mile at 7 or 6:50ish.  Considering the elements and how I felt, I'm satisfied with the run.  Here's the stats for all those who care and for my own reflection:

13.1 miles in 1:42.54

8:29

8:29

8:05

7:53

8:08

8:03

8:09

7:38

7:44

7:29

7:30

7:25

7:11

The rest of my week looks like:

Tonight: 9 miles@base pace and drills

Wed:  1.5 mile warm up; 5 x 1k intervals @ 5k pace w/3 min active recoveries; 1.5 mile cool down

Thurs: 4-8 miles recovery/base pace

Fri:  Tempo.  1.5 mile warm up; 4.5 miles @10k pace; 1.5 mile cool down  Cocktail party to go to that night!  Woot Woot!  I have an excuse to get all dolled up!

Sat: 4-8 miles @recovery/base pace

Sunday:  16-18 miles @ base pace

Running goal:  To stay focused and Have fun with it!  I'm not a professional runner so running shouldn't turn into a job.  Yes, I should work hard but I need to have fun with it too!

Personal Goal:  Continue to Relax this week (spring break)...read a good and light novel, let the house be messy, and ENJOY my children! Hug them, love them,  and take them to do things that are out of the ordinary routine!

Amanda

Toenail Polish, Race Plans, and Pushing Past "The Funk"

I've been in a bit of a funk the past couple of days.  Not a bad funk really...just a funk.  I actually have not really noticed much but those that I'm closest to, like my mom and my husband have brought my attention to it.  Today my mom told me that she was going to get off the phone with me because I was just being mean.  What?  And halfway through dinner, my husband "ordered" me to go the gym to run and workout!  You know it is bad around here with my mood when my husband tells me that he thinks I need to run ASAP.  It was like that in college too.  My roommates would sometimes walk me out the door with my running shoes and send me on my way.  They basically told me not to come back until I had run.  And run. And run.  Usually, all was well with life once I had my run.  I no longer saw the research paper as a giant and ominous cloud of dread.  I no longer felt like crying as soon as I had a sip of beer at some college party (okay, well I still cried.  Hey, what can I say , I was dealing with years of emotional issues.).  But really, running has always been my CALM.  My anchor.  Running is what brings we down and keeps me calm.  It is my Happy Pill!  I love you Running.  I hope you stay for a long long time.

The gym was CRAZY  first week in January packed.  Good grief.  Apparently, everyone in Oregon goes to the gym at 6:30.  I had to wait my turn on the stair master and the treadmill so I took advantage of the reclining bike to get some book club reading done since I am way behind and book club is on Thursday.  Doubt I will finish since I tend to spend way to much time reading blogs about running instead.  But I love your blogs!  They inspires me, make me laugh, and just make me want to keep reading.  Thank you.


Workout:
*  20 minutes of reclining bike (don't know the real name for this bike.  Just know that I feel quite relaxed and really don't feel like I"m getting much of a workout).
*  25 minutes of the stair master on level 13 fat burner mode.  Just enough to sweat but not too fast so that I couldn't keep reading my book.  But definitely sweat!  Yippie for cleaning out pores!
*  2.5 mile Tempo Run....short but sweet. First I stretched really well...especially my pesky hammy.  Started at 8 min pace and every .25 miles I clicked it up 2 notches of speed.  Ended up with a  7 min pace for .25 and then came back down for a bit.  Man oh  man, 7 min mile pace feels so much faster to me than it did before my injury.  I have some major work to do in order to be back where i want to be!  I want 7 to feel like I can hold on for marathon...or at least a half.
*  30 min of yoga.  I slipped in and slipped out.  The instructor was actually very annoying.  I think I need to find some real yoga centers if I'm going to get the yoga that I want.  This 24 hour fitness yoga just isn't cutting it yo!
*  Foam roll and stretch.

I now feel like a new woman!  Thank you God for Working Out!  And thank you for discovering an entire blog world out here where I can write about my love for running and working out without annoying people but rather find people that relate!  I can see that my blog is slowly turning into much more of a running/fitness type blog than the motherhood side. Fortunately, many of my "followers" are also MOMS so at least I know I won't scare all of you off when I start talking MOTHERHOOD!

While I was in Yoga, I noticed my toes.  Ugggh, now feet are not something I find attractive...on anyone really but especially my toes.  But bear with me.  Check out these toenails.

 Notice the leftover red polish?! Good grief lady, what are you holding onto?  A lot actually.  You see, it was the day of my big fall in the forest ....the day (August 15, 2010) that I completely ripped up my hamstring and was out of the Portland Marathon training when I got this red toe nail polish!  I didn't really admit it to myself that I wasn't running the marathon or that I was even seriously injured until a few weeks but I ended up wising up eventually.  Anyway, it was this day that I came home and decided I needed a pedicure to make me feel better after such a nasty fall.  So, I went to get my toes done with a friend.  I brought some ice and ignored her horrified expression when she saw the lump on my leg.  I just enjoyed my pedi and hoped to be running again in a couple of days.  HA!  so funny how we runners can be so stupid with our addiction!  Anyway, I have yet to take it off.  It has kind of been my way of saying to myself, "See, you have not lost that much!  You've still got the polish on from when you did this to yourself.  It's all good Dog!"  Time to take it off I think.  Maybe, maybe not.  I think I might just keep it on as long as I can.  Who knows, with the crap they use in products now, this stuff just might last until my next Marathon.

Great transition.  This brings me to my 2011 plans!  I have not decided for sure (this is going to be a long blog folks.  Please keep reading) what my plans will be but that is where you can help.

*  Newport Marathon on June 4th.  Anyone know anything about this marathon?  Definitely less known than the Portland Marathon but I'm thinking that I want to "try again" sooner than October and really, I think the Portland Marathon might just be something I don't necessarily need or want to do.  I mean, live in Portland and I've seen the city.  Really.  Also, I question myself....Can I realistically run a kick ass marathon time this soon after a serious injury?!  Feedback appreciated.

*  My husband has agreed to train for a race with me.  We are thinking we'd like to do a 15k since we both agree that the 10k is a little fast but the 10k is probably what we will find more of!  We'd like to run sub 7's for at least some of the miles( not saying that I will). Thinking of a Marchish race.  Any ideas for Oregon races?  Please share any 10k training plans you have.  I'm so excited to run another race with him!  We used to run together all the time but since kids, we have yet to do a race together.  Actually, I take that back, we ran the Nike One Hit Wonder two months after our first daughter was born.  I was nuts!  Never felt so crappy in a race!  And mastitis came to visit right after that.  uggh!


*  Already registered for the Hippie Chick Half Marathon on May 8th so I'm thinking that if I do decide to do the Newport Marathon then I can work this race into my training somehow.  Also my friend Tiffani (she does read my blog but this one is long so I hope she sees her name. The color will help if she is skimming)  is running this race too (the Hippie Chick).  Talk about inspiration.  This will be her third half marathon and she's come so far!  I can't wait to tell you more about her in another blog.  She's one of the most determined and self-motivated/self-competitive people I know and I think she is capable of so much. 


On to just plain Randomness:

My sweet girl and I before my 3 yr old's Christmas performance.  

 She was so proud.  My daughter is the one in the pink.

This photo below is really Hilarious to me!  Last night I insisted that my husband sit down and help with the Christmas cards/letter.  I asked him to write a heart felt message at the bottom of our family letter.  Ha!  You'd think I asked him to pluck his eyes out.  He whined and moaned!  "We are not doing this next year!  This is womens' work! I'm not in touch with my feelings like you!"  (he was really joking under all that fit throwing)  He did it.  All 20 if his share (out of 100).  What a baby!  At least he had whine (oh, I mean wine).

Part of my daily focus. My bathroom mirror.

Oh, and I love love love my new Mizunos.  Why did I ever insist on sticking to those Nike shoes.  No offense Nike.  Now, this week I will test out my Saucony Kinvaras.  Thank to all of you that had such great feedback about them!  So excited to run in them!

Feels good to run again! Feels good to write again and be reminded why  I started this blog...for ME!  But I really do love having all of YOU to read what I have to write too.  Thank you for all your wonderful and positive comments.  I've learned so much from you.  




What is the highlight of your week so far?  Any fun plans for the Holidays?


Peace out,
Amanda