blame it on my ADD, baby

Check. out. this. lineup.


http://www.dc101.com/pages/chili-cook-off/schedule.html


Training that weekend will just have to fit around it. :)


Finally rode the Columbia course on Saturday. Weather: 50 degrees, damp, and breezy. (The GoreTex socks I bought in October finally came in handy) I hope it's not like that on the 20th! Because man, that course is HILLS. You're either up, or down. No flats. Though I'm slow at it, I kind of like it that way.


8mi in RCP yesterday, and another successful morning at Master's today. Bring it, Columbia.

i'm brilliant.

I thought I'd continue to use my Bikram livingsocial deal (2 more classes to use before 5/5.) So I jammed in a 6a class on Thursday.

See prior post for Wednesday's schedule- first day back at Master's AND a stair-intensive track workout.
(-1)

I realized 6a is not the same as 6p as far as how hydrated I can be before class. The first time I went, I drank water all day long. At 6a, I had time for ~1 pint glass worth of water.
(-1)

The room felt 20 degrees hotter yesterday than last time, and I was already dripping buckets by 20 mins in. After the first two poses, I was feeling the soreness in my arms from Masters, and started getting dizzy/nauseous every time I had to bend my head off-center. I had to sit out most of the standing postures in the first half of class.
(-1)

So I'm already down a couple based on my own naievity (or ignorance) about my own ability, then the Bikram instructor gets into it. For a sport/lifestyle that preaches things like 'listen to your body- this is your practice', I was not expecting to hear things like 'Stick with it! Everyone needs to do these together. If one person fails, the whole class fails!' from the instructor. I was already feeling terrible and ready to leave the room, but as soon as she said that, I just stayed on the floor, just out of spite. :)

Let's just say, the experiment was a disaster. Felt crappy all day. Made even worse by the fact that I still had a headache when I went to bed, had a crappy night of sleep, and totally blew through my alarm for Master's this morning. And what did I gain? Nothing, really. Ugh.

Going to try to make up some pool time tonight, but mostly resting up for (hopefully) an eventful weekend on the bike. If the weather freaking behaves.

on the upside of a downward spiral

I'm serious, when this race is over I may just up and join SBP for a year. I can't tell if this is my normal restlessness or whether there's something more here this time.

Sticking to the HIM plan I found at amateurendurance.com. Back to my normal Wednesday two-a-day of Masters AM + track PM. This morning I could follow the sprint workout (300-200-100 warmup, then 50's on-and-off, for varying intervals, all on the 1:15s or so) and my lane mates! It was nice to follow in someone's bubbles/lead the pack for almost the entire workout. Granted, we are the slowest slow lane, but whatever.

I packed 2 workouts worth of gear and three meals with me this AM in preparation for this long day. Not that I was ever known for being the impetuous one, but I already miss being somewhat spontaneous.

A few friends kindly pointed out to me recently that I should be prepping for stair climbing for part of the run course for Musselman. Bleacher intervals, here we come! :) 

Though of course I just realized I left my watch and HR monitor at home. I was so looking forward to nerding out over HR spikes.

I spent a nice week or so in Miami for a conference, with enough down time to keep me mostly on track. I learned alot about a specialty I don't always work with, so it was nice to gain some perspective on the field in general. I'm not sure I really liked Miami, but for a place where I can run along the water at sunrise, it's not half bad. I also liked that their outdoor city pools were only $3 entry fee.

It was so nice at first, out for a run early, surrounded by lots of other healthy, active types. I could fit in here. Then as the day went on, the heels got higher, the skirts got shorter,  and I started getting comments from random strangers like 'Enjoying your time in Miami? You certainly dressed for it!' (enter sarcasm here). Excuse me, but I had no room left in my suitcase after 4 days of business wear and 2 sports worth of gear!

As soon as I got back, I got right back on the bike. I met up with some old and new friends for hill loops at Prince William Forest. I'm guessing we racked up 25-30 mi (of course my equipment issues continue as my cadence meter stopped recording after the first loop). And of course food after!

So after this hill-intensive workout, I had some new sharp/tight pain on the back of both knees. I rode the bike on the trainer all winter without any hint of this. So I'm guessing it's NOT the fit (though I think I need one anyway, especially to start transitioning to aero) but my tight hamstrings finally catching up with me.

We're starting to look into houses for Musselman! It's starting to feel real now.

But I continue to let go of parts of my social life kicking and screaming. I'll get used to it soon.

currently reading: The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht

if i hadn't blown the whole thing years ago, i might be here with you

Found myself living in the past the last few days. I hate when I let that happen. You're allowed to dwell on the past just long enough to learn from it and move forward.

I wanted to do Musselman so I can prove that I can pick something I enjoy and stick with it. I can't hold a relationship longer than 6 months; every 5 years or so I get restless and want to pick up everything and move. I NEED to stick with this plan to prove to myself that I can. Even when it's not 'fun' anymore, or rather, when I have to choose training over 'more fun' things I could be doing. This was also the point of this whole exercise- to figure out what in my life is important enough to keep around even through a training plan. No regrets from last season's endeavor, so I don't know what the hold-up is this year.

this song works as a nice 'kick in the rear'



I ran 20-25 mins with Karen this weekend as part of her couch-to-5k plan. So proud of her! I also didn't know there was a 1 mi gravel loop at a park about 3 mi from my parent's house. Good to know for next time. (I used the 20 mins as a 'form check'- went slow, with good form, and no foot or ankle pain! Hooray! Time to keep swimming because that seems to loosen everything up in that area.)

I finally got a long-overdue haircut today and I now have what could be construed as bangs. I like them so far, but I haven't tried to do a long bike or a sweaty yoga class yet!

Speaking of sweaty yoga, I went to my first bikram yoga class last week (thanks, livingsocial!) and LOVED it. Not sure if it was the 105 deg temps (and not passing out or leaving the room) or the total of ZERO down dogs, but I felt super strong and empowered. Just watch out for the really bad dehydration headache afterward. Be sure to keep drinking water even long after the class is over!

Jagoffs.

One of these a$$holes is killing me right now. Why is my ankle swollen and throbbing?? Argh.



I do love me some anatomy mnemonics though.

a tale of two ideologies- CB10miler vs. CrossFit

So it took me a really (no, I mean REALLY) long time to recover from RnR. More mentally than physically. So I saw Cherry Blossom to be a good chance for a good Z2 long run. (not that I know yet what my Z2 pace is, since I haven't been back to the track with AJ yet to finish the run clinic. But I'm guessing its about 11:00/mi since I can easily carry on a conversation at that pace). Jen and I started out about 11:15s or so, but as soon as the initial crowd thinned, we pushed it to 10:30s, sometimes 10:00s as the crowd allowed. And Jen hung with me the whole way! So proud of her!

We don't have official results yet, but I'm estimating we cut about 5min off our time from two years ago. (I really need to remember to start and stop my watch at more appropriate moments. Or else why have it??)

If I haven't mentioned it before, I LOVE this race. Love it. Every year.

Beautiful pic from volunteer extraordinaire Melissa! Thanks for coming out!

As much as I was basing today's workout on HR zones, everything got flipped upside down this afternoon. In conjunction with PeasantMan, a Crossfit 'box' in VA offered a free clinic. I don't understand everything about CrossFit yet, but I do know that I got a really good workout in just 12 minutes of circuit training. And, out of ring rows, wall balls, and sprints, after running 10mi this morning, the 200m sprints were the hardest part. I kind of like the idea of muscle confusion instead of repetition to get you to the same goal. I don't know if I'll 'drink the kool-aid' anytime soon, but if a groupon for Crossfit comes up I probably won't turn it down.

Haha, here is a short video the organizers put together. I'm the one with the blue shirt and long braid sitting with my back to the camera, and later on, doing wall balls on the short wall directly across from the camera. I don't look too out of my element :)