Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

6 min video from Daughter's Haiti Trip.  Please turn on the sounds and listen to the music while you watch it and leave a comment afterwards.   P.S. That's her at the very end.

Monday, March 26, 2012

What are you training for?

I get asked this question a lot.  In years past, I've almost always had an answer.  But right now I don't.  It's kind of weird not knowing what I'm training for.

I have a few ideas of what I'm NOT training for.

  • I'm not training for a half-marathon.  Even though that is my favorite running distance, my knee seems to do okay up to about 7 miles, then it gets cranky.  I'll stick with 10Ks or shorter. 
  • I'm not training for Worlds Toughest 10K.  My last few hill training runs have confirmed that for me.
  • I'm apparently not training for a triathlon as I haven't been swimming in months (oddly, the only race I've actually signed up for so far this year happens to be a sprint).
  • I'm not training for a relay race.  Several folks from my running group are doing one up in Colorado. I've opted to pass on that.

There are also a few events over the next several months that I'm thinking about, but I haven't committed by registering for any of them.

  • Coyote Caldera Sprint Tri (late April)
  • Run for the Zoo 5K or 10K (early May)
  • Albuquerque Century Tour de Cure half or metric century (early June) 
What about you?  Is your training aimed at specific events or are you in limbo like me?

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Winter Excess

Over the winter, I was busy packing on some pounds.  You know, just in case we got snowed in or something and I needed to live off my own body weight for some extended period of time.

Now that I'm running again, it's time to shed the excess. Because let's be honest, nobody wants to carry around an extra 10lbs while running.  Especially when running hills.  It's simply too much work.

Boy howdy, it's so much easier to put it on than take it of!.  But I think I'm finally making some progress.  Over the winter I was routinely seeing numbers in the 130-135 range when I stepped on the scale. Lately, I've been consistently seeing numbers in the 125-130 range.  I'll be at my desired race weight when I find myself settling in the 125-130 range.

How about you?   Are you also trying to shed the winter excess?  

Monday, March 19, 2012

"Running" Hills

Since my friend is still trying to talk me into doing World's Toughest 10K with her, we decided to "run" some hills on Saturday.  I use the term "run" loosely as there was quite a bit of walking involved on my part on some of the long uphills.  This is the elevation profile for the route we choose:

The whole thing was somewhat challenging, but the section from mile 4 to mile 5 was super intense.  Since we essentially did an out and back, I should have seen it coming based on the downhill from mile 1 to mile 2, but I didn't realize just how much the elevation changed until it was time to head back up.

Given that Worlds Toughest is pretty much like mile 4-5 throughout the entire route,  this was probably a  good route for some training.  However, it certainly left me with a lot of doubts about my ability to do that other course.

We'll probably go back to this same spot next weekend.  I hope it gets easier.  If not, I might become her cheerleader on race day rather than a participant myself.

Happy Monday!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

You want me to do WHAT?!?

Last year I talked my running partner into doing the Live.Love.Tri with me.  At first she didn't want to do it because she wasn't really a swimmer, didn't have a road bike, etc.  But eventually she warmed up to the idea and did it.  We had a blast.

This year she's trying to talk *me* into something.  It's a race entitled "World's Toughest 10K."  Can't say for sure if it really is the world's toughest, but it promises to be tough; it starts at an elevation of 5100ft and ends at an elevation of 6500ft for a total elevation gain of 1400 ft elevation over 6.2 miles.  *gulp* The whole thing is uphill (with a shuttle taking you back down....or to the hospital...after you finish).

Oh, and did I mention that is is ONE MONTH FROM TODAY?!?!?  Aye Carumba!

We're meeting in about an hour to go run some hills.  There's a method to my madness.  I'm hoping that after we do that, one of two things will happen:

A) She'll remember that she doesn't like hills and get this crazy idea out of her head
-or -
B) I'll remember that I *do* like hills & it won't seem like such a crazy idea after all

Stay tuned!  This may become *very* interesting...

[Update post hill run:  The run we did this evening was 250ft elevation gain.  It about killed me.  Also, I learned that there is no convincing her not to do it; She already signed up!  It's just a matter of whether or not I join her which is still up in the air.]

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Daylight Savings Time

I'll admit that it felt a little bit like a train hit me Monday morning when the alarm went off to wake me for work.  At that particular moment, I wasn't a fan of Daylight Savings time.  I was, however, a bit fan of the snooze button.

Fast forward to this afternoon.  It was beautiful outside.  High of about 72 degrees, sunny, no wind.  Suddenly Daylight Savings time was my friend.  Thanks to the extra hour of daylight, I was able to run after work for the first time since October, and it was glorious!

So I guess I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Daylight Savings time.  How about you?

Sunday, March 11, 2012

While I was travelling this week

...I realized that my drivers license was about to expire.  It was a good catch, actually.  I probably wouldn't have noticed until being denied something due to it being long past renewal date.

...I ran three times on that trail that I posted about.  I don't normally run three times during the workweek (and then again on the weekend), but last week I did.  MAybe it was the extra oxygen.

...My daughter left for Haiti.  I was super bummed to be gone the entire week leading up to her departure, but seems everything went okay.  I pray she has a wonderful experience and that the whole group can really make a positive impact for some of the people of that impoverished country.  

...I struggled to get good shots for the 365 project that I'm working on.  Have I mentioned about this?  I'm part of a group that is taking and posting a photo a day for a year, something that I've learned is not so easy while away with a tight schedule while on work travel.  Kind of like running, some days are better than others. Oh, and now I'm lusting for a new camera.
  
...My husband spent a lot of time on his bike(s).  Came home to find his road bike on the trainer in our bedroom, which is a good thing.  What is interesting is that while he was having some problem with his front tire, he decided that it would be easier to temporarily replace the entire wheel with the one on my Giant rather than figure out why the tire was flatting.  Clever solution.

...I had a hard time trying to catch up on blogs.  The internet connection at the hotel was slow and poor and the work days were long.  I'll try to catch up this week.  I mean it.

...My wonderful husband decided to greet me at the airport with a bouquet of beautiful & colorful flowers.  It's great to be back home.  :-) 

  

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Running while on Work Travel

I'm happy to report that my running clothes are doing more than just taking up space in my luggage.  So far, I have managed to get out both on Monday and Tuesday in the early morning  before work for some running.  
This trail ends up going down by a lake.


On Monday, I went exploring in a few different directions.  Found a paved multi-use trail, a dirt trail, and a hill that would be suitable for repeats.  It was sort of a an ADD run, because I did a little bit of each. 

Tuesday morning, I met a colleague and we decided to take the trail.  It ended up going down by a lake, which was very pretty with the lights reflecting off of it in the early morning hours.  The dirt path eventually ends and merges back with the multi-use trail.

This morning we were actually going to meet again, but she's getting a sore throat and wanted to postpone for a day.  I thought briefly about going out on my own this morning, but decided to take a rest day instead; don't want to overdo it with my knee.

It's worth mentioning that I notice a huge difference in level of effort required while running at a lower altitude (remember, I live about a mile above sea level).  I didn't bring my garmin, so I'm not sure if the extra oxygen is materializing to faster running, but definitely makes it easier; I feel like superwoman, running up those hills without gasping for breath!  One of these days I really need to run a race down at lower altitude and see what I'm truly capable of pulling off.

One last note:  The internet in the hotel is slow and the work days have been long, so I'm having trouble catching up with your blogs this week.  Sorry about that!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Getting my Run on

Yesterday morning, the group was meeting across town.  Most of them are running much farther than I am at this point.  My running partner & I decided to just meet at the regular location and do our run separately from the rest of the group.  This also allowed us to run mostly on dirt.

Decided to go five miles.  Other than the fact that it was cold and a bit more breezy that either of us like, it was a good run in comparison to the run on Wednesday.  On Wednesday my knee decided to be a bit cranky for the last half mile or so.  But yesterday my knee was fine the whole way though.  I think the difference may very well be related to running surface.  Dirt is definitely my friend.

I'm traveling on business for the week.  Hoping to get a few days of running in during the week.  It looks like we're going to be putting in some long days and the only time to run will be in the early morning.  It was a pain trying to cram everything into my carry-on bag; if I don't end up using my running stuff, I will be frustrated!  Who knows, maybe that's just the motivation I need to make it happen...