So I decided I hate running

Or maybe running hates me. Either way, I'm not loving it right now.

Last year at this time I was motivated and ready for race season. I was loving my workouts, seeing regular improvement, and ready to take on the world.

This year, I find myself dreading my workouts. Unless I'm meeting someone, I have to force myself out the door. My paces are way off, my mileage is down, and I'm finding no joy in running.

Worse yet, I really have no desire to race. I was called a running diva for admitting this, but since I know I'm slower than last year, what's the point in racing? When I race, I want to PR. I want to be better than I was at that distance or on that course the last time I did it. Why else would I pay money to run??? Isn't that what racing is about? You against the clock. You against yourself. Pushing your limits and seeing if all the hard work of training paid off.

So maybe I am turning into a running diva. Maybe I have a bad attitude about this whole running thing. Maybe instead of lamenting the temporary loss of my running mojo, I should just back off and take some pressure off myself.

Maybe if I relax about it, the mojo will come back on its own.

I sure hope so.

More good luck!

It worked last time, so here are more vibes for my Flyboys!!!






















LET'S GO FLYERS!!!!!!!!!

Track workout

Well, as usual, I completely screwed up my pacing this morning. Coach made me do another ladder (even though I hate the ladder!).

The bad news - I went out way too fast on the first interval.
The good news - I didn't slow down after it, at least.

1600 = 7:18
1200 = 5:27 (7:18 pace again)
800 = 3:38 (7:16 pace)
400 = 1:44 (6:58 pace)

My legs felt dead the whole time. I was really struggling to finish the intervals and ended up skipping the sprints (200 and a few 100s).

Now I'm just wondering when my running mojo will come back to me. Soon, I hope! I'll need it on May 3 (and May 16, May 17, June 13, July 27, August 16, September 20, October 11, and November 8). Yes, those are all the dates I'm scheduled to race this year. Good grief. Addicted, much???

Sending good vibes...

to my Flyboys!

Separated at birth -- NHL style

This is great. Cut and paste it into your browser when you have a minute.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0904/nhl.playoffs.separated.at.birth/content.1.html

Some of the resemblances are spot on. Some are rather unfortunate... but funny. :)

A post in three parts

PART I
LET'S GO, FLYERS!!!







PART II
LESSONS LEARNED DURING LAST NIGHT'S WORKOUT
Because I slept in a few minutes and missed my morning speed session on the track, I had to do a swim/run brick last night. Typically, I swim in the morning and run at night when I do that particular double, but my schedule was all kooky yesterday so I planned to reverse it. Well, I might have to reverse it every week, because I had The. Best. Swim. Of. My. Life. last night. No lie.

I again did 1350 yards of freestyle, but this week it felt effortless. I truly felt like I was gliding through the water. I counted my strokes, and I averaged 3-4 strokes LESS per length than normal. I really focused on my legs this time, too, and it obviously made a difference... I was nearly 2 minutes faster than last week and got a new PR for that distance! A 55-second PR! When you're only talking about a half hour of work, one minute is a pretty big deal.

Now, I know that 30:42 for a .75 mile swim is still laughably slow to most people, but for me that was a huge success. I was flying high when I exited the pool to begin my speedwork, sadly on the treadmill. I'll get to the track next week for sure!

Anyway, here's what I learned last night, in no particular order.

1. Never buy a new bathing suit when you are PMSing and/or bloated. You'll buy the only one that doesn't make you look like a fat whale... but then you'll spend half of your swim pulling it out of your crack and checking your cleavage to make sure it's not showing because the suit is too big for you.

2. I don't push myself hard enough on a treadmill. I could have and should have gone much faster, but I was so giddy from my swim (and so HOT after transitioning from the pool to the fitness center) that I settled for an average run workout.

3. I'll have to do another evening swim to determine if the time of day had anything to do with my success last night in the pool. Was I more buoyant in the evening after eating all day? Maybe I need to eat before a morning swim? Must test this.

4. I have to figure out a way to empty my bladder before/during a swim. OK, maybe not DURING if I'm in a pool, but once again I was desperate to pee after I was done... so I did a warm-up mile on the treadmill, my first 1200 interval, and then ran to the bathroom instead of taking a break before the next 1200.

5. After a great workout, I am much less likely to binge on junk food. It's like I'm so appreciative of what my body just did that I want to be good to it.

PART III
WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE
Let's hope I am able to continue lesson #5. I've joined the Weight Loss Challenge on kickrunners.com in order to get myself back down to where I was at the end of last summer. As of last week, I was close... darn close. But alas, the allure of my homebaked brownies, ice cream, and half-price Easter candy was too much for my feeble will-power, and I'm back up over 140 again. My goal is to get back to 137 as quickly as possible, but my more immediate goal is to lose 2 or 3 pounds before Broad Street.

Here's where it gets interesting. Maria has the same goal of 137, AND she has further challenged me that she'll get there before me.

Let the games begin.