I'm a bachelorette this weekend. Four days to myself. I'm invited to 2 parties tomorrow evening, but I don't really want to go to either. I had a fun time dancing with gay boys last night, but my euphoria at being out in a club quickly wore off. I had a decent 8 mile run this morning -- surprising considering my lack of sleep, lack of proper hydration and nutrition, and the oppressive humidity -- but I'm still not feeling like myself.
Life is hard. There are constant challenges to navigate, difficult decisions to make, and expectations -- your own and others' -- to live up to. Stress is taking its toll on me, and I'm not handling it well. I spent 2 hours at the pool today with tears streaming down my face. I simply could not stop them. Thankfully the pool was not crowded.
I really should use these four days to meditate, think, pray... whatever you want to call it. It's all the same. Instead, all I want to do is hole up in my house and escape from reality. Cry. Scream. Hit something. I'm tired of thinking. I was told recently that I overthink things, and I suppose that's not too far from the truth.
One of my favorite Pearl Jam songs is Hail Hail. At one point, Eddie Vedder sings, "I don't want to think. I want to feel." That's what I want too, Eddie. But how do I do it? How do I turn off my brain and all that's worrying me? I honestly don't know how.
So I'll go through the motions this weekend. I'll take Miss Shaggy to the dog park later today, and I'll make brief appearances at the parties, and I'll run Monday morning like my life depends on it.
I'll muddle through. I always do.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The pressure is on! Poll results.
74% of you think I'll do Monday's 4 mile race in less than 32 minutes. OK, now I have a goal. I won't let you down! :)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Yeah!
Remember my long run a few weeks ago? The 12.1 mile one that I hated?
Same course today... 12.5 minutes faster!
Yeah, baby!!!
Same course today... 12.5 minutes faster!
Yeah, baby!!!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I love this picture!
That's possibly my best race finish picture ever. I don't look nearly as miserable as I felt at that point, plus I've still got some spring in my step after more than 3 hours of racing.
(Which just proves that I dogged the race and had way more to give. Oh well. Now I know.)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Run 4 Mike's Kids
Want to register online? Just cut and paste!
http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1624363&assetId=2445b0af-4aa1-47ea-b91d-dd102e6c8f45
Sunday, August 17, 2008
HOLY HELL that was hard!!!!
My first Olympic distance triathlon is in the books. What a challenging race! What a tough course! What the hell was I thinking?? :)
I had increasing anxiety and stomach distress as the week progressed and I grew closer to race day. In fact, I actually had tears in my eyes as I walked away from IronHubby this morning toward the swim start. This seemed like such a good idea when I signed up several months ago, but now... Ack!
I was most worried about the swim and most confident about the run. Boy was I wrong. The swim was fine. I went at my usual pokey pace and stayed calm, coming out of the water in 44:27 (I figured I'd be between 40 and 45 minutes... closer to 40 with a wetsuit, but the water temp was too warm so wetsuits were disallowed).
The bike course was tough. Rolling hills throughout. Most of the roads were in good condition, and the shade was plentiful. I hoped to finish the 24 miles in about 1:15 to 1:20. Actual time, according to my watch, was 1:26:19. Not so good.
I had to pee for about half of the swim and the entire bike ride, so unfortunately I detoured to the porta-potties before starting the run. Since I had to cross the mat to do so, the potty break time was added to my run time in the official results. Drat.
Onto the run, my strongest event. My running has been pretty solid this spring and summer, and I wanted to maintain about an 8:30 pace for the 10K. Um, not so much. The course followed the first 3.1 miles of the hilly bike course before turning around and heading back to the transition area and finish line. Inexplicably, it was uphill both ways. (Someone please explain to me how this happened!) There was no shade whatsoever on the run, and the sun was strong.
My splits tell the whole story.
7:37 (gaaaa! too fast!)
8:58
9:02
9:13
9:38
9:28
1:50
Total time (by my watch) was 55:50, which IronHubby says is perfect for my first Olympic, considering my 10K PR is 50:45. So 5 minutes slower than my PR. When I look at it that way, it doesn't seem as disappointing as it was this morning.
I ran to the finish chute screaming, "This SUCKS!" to my friends, eliciting big laughs. It was a hard morning, but I'm proud of myself for sticking to my training and gutting it out.
Oh, and I lazed by the pool for 2 hours, tried unsuccessfully to nap, and ate ice cream this afternoon. :)
EDITED TO ADD:
I was DFL in my age group. I am beyond humiliated. Without the potty break, I would have been second to last. Whoop de doo.
I had increasing anxiety and stomach distress as the week progressed and I grew closer to race day. In fact, I actually had tears in my eyes as I walked away from IronHubby this morning toward the swim start. This seemed like such a good idea when I signed up several months ago, but now... Ack!
I was most worried about the swim and most confident about the run. Boy was I wrong. The swim was fine. I went at my usual pokey pace and stayed calm, coming out of the water in 44:27 (I figured I'd be between 40 and 45 minutes... closer to 40 with a wetsuit, but the water temp was too warm so wetsuits were disallowed).
The bike course was tough. Rolling hills throughout. Most of the roads were in good condition, and the shade was plentiful. I hoped to finish the 24 miles in about 1:15 to 1:20. Actual time, according to my watch, was 1:26:19. Not so good.
I had to pee for about half of the swim and the entire bike ride, so unfortunately I detoured to the porta-potties before starting the run. Since I had to cross the mat to do so, the potty break time was added to my run time in the official results. Drat.
Onto the run, my strongest event. My running has been pretty solid this spring and summer, and I wanted to maintain about an 8:30 pace for the 10K. Um, not so much. The course followed the first 3.1 miles of the hilly bike course before turning around and heading back to the transition area and finish line. Inexplicably, it was uphill both ways. (Someone please explain to me how this happened!) There was no shade whatsoever on the run, and the sun was strong.
My splits tell the whole story.
7:37 (gaaaa! too fast!)
8:58
9:02
9:13
9:38
9:28
1:50
Total time (by my watch) was 55:50, which IronHubby says is perfect for my first Olympic, considering my 10K PR is 50:45. So 5 minutes slower than my PR. When I look at it that way, it doesn't seem as disappointing as it was this morning.
I ran to the finish chute screaming, "This SUCKS!" to my friends, eliciting big laughs. It was a hard morning, but I'm proud of myself for sticking to my training and gutting it out.
Oh, and I lazed by the pool for 2 hours, tried unsuccessfully to nap, and ate ice cream this afternoon. :)
EDITED TO ADD:
I was DFL in my age group. I am beyond humiliated. Without the potty break, I would have been second to last. Whoop de doo.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Here's where you can comment on the poll
OK....
GO! :)
P.S. Yes, I can spell. Come combination? Uh, no. It was supposed to be SOME combination.
GO! :)
P.S. Yes, I can spell. Come combination? Uh, no. It was supposed to be SOME combination.
I really need to get a life
So far this year, I've...
run 626 miles,
biked 373 miles,
swum 12 miles,
taught 131 fitness classes,
completed 16+ hours of extra cardio on the elliptical, bike, etc.,
and lifted weights 55 times.
run 626 miles,
biked 373 miles,
swum 12 miles,
taught 131 fitness classes,
completed 16+ hours of extra cardio on the elliptical, bike, etc.,
and lifted weights 55 times.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Pukeworthy speedwork
Tuesday night means speedwork at the track. This is going to sound sick, but it might be my favorite workout of the week (as far as running workouts, anyway). Yes, it's hard... but it also gives me such a sense of satisfaction when I nail my goal pace. Maybe I'm setting the bar too low? I seem to be nailing my paces every week.
Case in point. Last week, my schedule called for 3x1600, and I decided to do them as close to 7:30 as possible. I did:
7:31
7:28
7:33
Cool. Afterward, IronHubby said, "You could have gone faster." Well, sure, I COULD have. But I wouldn't have been able to be that consistent.
Last night's workout was 6x800. IronHubby told me a few months ago to just do as many as I could before I started to fall off pace. The last time I did 800s, I did five of them. The most I'd ever done before that was 4... so 6 was going to be tough. Once again, I picked a goal pace that I thought would be challenging but doable - 3:35 to 3:40 for each 800 (7:10 to 7:20 pace). I did:
3:40
3:43 (oops)
3:36 (yeah!)
3:33 (now we're talkin!)
3:36
3:38
My heart was racing, my breathing was out of control, and my stomach was churning. I honestly thought I would puke. Oh, did I mention it was about 90% humidity last night and I did my intervals about 60-90 minutes earlier than I've been doing them all the other weeks?
But I did them. And I nailed those paces. Even IronHubby didn't have a negative thing to say when I was done. :)
Case in point. Last week, my schedule called for 3x1600, and I decided to do them as close to 7:30 as possible. I did:
7:31
7:28
7:33
Cool. Afterward, IronHubby said, "You could have gone faster." Well, sure, I COULD have. But I wouldn't have been able to be that consistent.
Last night's workout was 6x800. IronHubby told me a few months ago to just do as many as I could before I started to fall off pace. The last time I did 800s, I did five of them. The most I'd ever done before that was 4... so 6 was going to be tough. Once again, I picked a goal pace that I thought would be challenging but doable - 3:35 to 3:40 for each 800 (7:10 to 7:20 pace). I did:
3:40
3:43 (oops)
3:36 (yeah!)
3:33 (now we're talkin!)
3:36
3:38
My heart was racing, my breathing was out of control, and my stomach was churning. I honestly thought I would puke. Oh, did I mention it was about 90% humidity last night and I did my intervals about 60-90 minutes earlier than I've been doing them all the other weeks?
But I did them. And I nailed those paces. Even IronHubby didn't have a negative thing to say when I was done. :)
Monday, August 4, 2008
Train Kept a Rollin'
Remember that song? Aerosmith, circa 1974? (Turns out it was a cover song, but I never knew that.)
After just listening to it in preparation for Spinning tonight, I realized that I was kinda the train that kept a rollin' yesterday. I went out at 7:15ish a.m. for my long run. I'd done long runs of 10.4 miles on July 13 and 8 miles on July 27, with vacation and my race in between. Turns out the 8 last weekend was supposed to be 10 again, but I'd injured my foot on vacation and took it easy. (Plus I honestly couldn't remember if I was supposed to do 8, 10, a million... so I just did 8.)
Late last week, I asked IronHubby if I should go for the 12 on my schedule or try 8-10 again. He's fairly conservative, so he said to go out 4 miles, turn around and come home, and if I felt good to keep going a bit more. Made sense. I iced my foot every day last week and felt great Sunday morning... except for my steady 36-hour diet of Bobbies, Bobbies, and more Bobbies. Hey, we had leftovers! What was I supposed to do? Throw them away? PERISH THE THOUGHT!
So off I went. Despite IronHubby's advice, I knew I'd do at least the 10.4 mile loop again. When I got to the turnaround, though, I decided to add a little extra... so instead of heading right back I made an extra loop of about half a mile. By the end of my planned run, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, and my foot was killing me. Still, I persevered. I passed my house, tossed my water bottles on the front lawn, and did an extra mile through my neighborhood to end up with just under 12.1 miles total. Slow, laborious, painful miles. But 12+ nonetheless.
Longest run since November. Most painful, too.
After just listening to it in preparation for Spinning tonight, I realized that I was kinda the train that kept a rollin' yesterday. I went out at 7:15ish a.m. for my long run. I'd done long runs of 10.4 miles on July 13 and 8 miles on July 27, with vacation and my race in between. Turns out the 8 last weekend was supposed to be 10 again, but I'd injured my foot on vacation and took it easy. (Plus I honestly couldn't remember if I was supposed to do 8, 10, a million... so I just did 8.)
Late last week, I asked IronHubby if I should go for the 12 on my schedule or try 8-10 again. He's fairly conservative, so he said to go out 4 miles, turn around and come home, and if I felt good to keep going a bit more. Made sense. I iced my foot every day last week and felt great Sunday morning... except for my steady 36-hour diet of Bobbies, Bobbies, and more Bobbies. Hey, we had leftovers! What was I supposed to do? Throw them away? PERISH THE THOUGHT!
So off I went. Despite IronHubby's advice, I knew I'd do at least the 10.4 mile loop again. When I got to the turnaround, though, I decided to add a little extra... so instead of heading right back I made an extra loop of about half a mile. By the end of my planned run, my knees hurt, my hips hurt, and my foot was killing me. Still, I persevered. I passed my house, tossed my water bottles on the front lawn, and did an extra mile through my neighborhood to end up with just under 12.1 miles total. Slow, laborious, painful miles. But 12+ nonetheless.
Longest run since November. Most painful, too.
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