Three Things Thursday

1.  Volleyball is officially over!!  Yay!!  Hermit mode time.  At least we went out on top.  Back to back coed Champs.

 

2. 1,000 miles - Today at lunch I went on a 3 mile run and that put me at 1,000 miles for the year.  Yay!!


3. Texas weather - 74 today, high of 46 tomorrow.  Meaning it is time to head to Illinois.  If it is going to be cold here, might as well head up and see the family.

Fall Weather

Sorry for the rant - One of my biggest pet peeves is when people do not respect my time (or other people's time).  When you have plans with someone you should be on time.  And I understand that things happen, but if you are going to be late, let them know.

Saturday I was supposed to meet a friend to run.  I got up early to get in a few miles beforehand and then meet her at 10.  I only ran 1 mile before because the legs were feeling heavy, had breakfast, relaxed.  Got to the park we were meeting at around 9:55.  At 10:05 I sent her a text asking if she was there (maybe I just didn't see her), nothing.  At 10:15 another text saying I was going to start running short loops, but stay near the parking lot to see her.  Kept running back to the car to check the phone.  At 10:25 I get  text from her saying she lost track of time.  I told her at that point to not worry about coming.  A little after 10:30 she called and said she actually had an appointment in the morning, but was still on her way and was just going to run whether or not I was there.  I left at 11 and she still wasn't there.  How can you be an hour late and not think to tell the person you were meeting....What was I supposed to just sit in my car for an hour twiddling my thumbs?...

Needless to say Saturday's morning run didn't work out the way I planned.  I completed just under 4 miles.

Sunday went much better.  I met up with Lauren at River Legacy Park.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day and almost too hot. Such problems to have in November.  I again got there early to get in a few miles before.  Managed to get in 3.5 before my watch died (oyy!!).  Thankfully I knew one route that was 1.5 miles.  I managed to get in 5 miles before Lauren showed up (10 min early - thank you!!).  We just went on an easy 4 for a total of 9 for the day.

One thing in Texas is we don't get a long fall.  The leaves had just changed and some were falling and tons of people were out and about.  One of the prettiest runs I have been on in a long time.

 

 

Fort Worth 20 miler

The weather was perfect for a long race.  Low 50s at the start, running in shorts and t-shirt in mid-November.  There was some unexpected sprinkles in the morning, but that went away and it was cool and cloudy.

My main goals were to finish and to work on starting out slow.  Both were completed, but not necessarily the race I wanted.  It was an out and back on paved trail with very little crowd support, but the weather was perfect. The first 10 miles I was very cautious and tried to keep a 9 minute pace as much as possible.  I hit the turn around at 1:29:30 and headed back.  I was feeling pretty good and was running about 8:50ish.  Had to stop at a port-a-potty at Mile 13 and just couldn't get it together after that.  I just did what I could to finish and ended right at 3:05.  I was really hoping for 3:00-3:02, but I'll take it.  The last time I did 20 miles I was at 3:07:30ish.  So it was 2:30 faster, but not as fast as I wanted and I didn't feel as good as I wanted.  I had hoped keeping a 9 minute pace early would make the way back easier.  No such luck.

I have mixed feelings if this gives me more or less confidence for the marathon.  In some ways, I know I have gotten in more longs runs than when I trained for Chicago.  I have gotten in a 17 mile run, 2 18 mile runs and 2 20 mile runs.  And I still have this weekend for decent mileage.  On the other hand, I was hoping for better out of this run, so who knows.  Some days you have it and some days you don't. 

Let's just hope I have it December 8th.  Either way, I will finish it!

Friday

How is it Friday already?  Oh yeah, not working Mondays really makes the work week go by faster.

Workouts this week have been spot on, however eating has been way off.

~Monday: Body Pump

~Tuesday: Running, lifted arms

~Wednesday: Running, lifted legs, and volleyball

~Thursday: Running

~Friday: Running

Plan to take Saturday completely off and Sunday is a 20 miler out in Fort Worth.  I am extremely excited about this run.  My first major goal is to complete, I want to get another 20 miler in.  Second major goal is to pace myself in beginning of the race.  I would love under 3:05, but that’s not a big deal.  My first 20 miler was very good, so I know I have it in me that this is just getting 20 miles in for a confidence builder.  Secretly I would love to place in the age group.  Honestly, most people are running the half or the full.  Not a lot of people run the 20 miler, so I am thinking it is a possibility.  If last year’s times are any indication, I could place.  We shall see what this year brings.

The other big thing of the week was looking into hotels for Big Sur.  Megan was going to do it, but just hasn’t had the time.  Dang, they jack up the prices that weekend.  Big Sur marathon has host hotels and preferred hotels.  The host hotel is $250 per night, no thank you.  And most of the preferred hotels got booked way in advance and are still pretty expensive, so I was a little concerned we were either going to be far away or paying out the a$$.  The great thing this race has is a FREE reservation service.  They have rooms blocked off at certain hotels for pretty decent prices.  It is kind of like menu ordering.  They have the hotels listed, options (king bed, 2 fulls, etc), and even show distances to the nearest shuttles for race morning.  Check the boxes you want, how many nights.  It sends them an email and they get back to you within 24 hrs.  They only have a certain amount of rooms at each hotel, so I wasn’t sure if they would all be booked, thankfully they weren’t.  They called and confirmed what I wanted and now all I am waiting on is the confirmation email.  Relatively easy and the hotel I picked is only 0.5 miles from the host hotel.  Meaning 0.5 miles to the expo, shuttle services, etc.  We weren’t sure if we were going to rent a car, so I wanted to stay close to everything as possible.  It also has a restaurant and bar attached.  Prices are higher Friday and Saturday night, but cheap Sunday and Monday, so it averages under $160 a night.  Whoop Whoop!!

I’m really excited about this trip because I haven’t had a REAL vacation in a long time and I have never been to California.  We are staying an extra 2 days to see some sights.  I really want to relax, see the coast, the aquarium, and maybe a few other things.  I am not excited about the money.  Yikes!

Body Pump

Since I had today off, I decided to check out the lunchtime Body Pump class at my gym.  Considering I ran 18 miles yesterday doing a full body workout that includes tons of squats and lunges may not have been my best idea.

I used to go to this class on Tuesday evening and LOVED the instructor, however she is no longer there and volleyball conflicted so I haven't been in over a year.  In group classes, the instructor can make or break the class.  I talked to a couple of girls before class and heard good reviews on the instructor.  She was a encouraging, good energy instructor. 

Man did that class kick my BUTT!!  I knew I couldn't do my previous weights in that class, but geez-o-petes.  Several times I had to drop to just body weight on the squats and lunges.  Arms started off easy and a couple times I considered adding weight, but I am glad I didn't.  Felt OK right after the class, but now, 2 hours later, my booty hurts.  And I think the rest of my body is going to follow suit tomorrow.

I'm sure it is a combination of taking a year off and running 18 miles yesterday.  However, I think I will be putting myself through the same thing next Monday.  I love how STRONG Body Pump makes me feel.  I can't make this Monday class often because of work, but will try to as much as possible.  I am also going to test out the Tuesday night class again, even though I heard less than positive things about the instructor....Gotta go judge for myself.

Weekending

This was a pretty low key weekend.  I think I managed to get 8-10 hours of sleep each night.  Both Friday and Saturday night we had a fire on the patio, one night cooking hot dogs.

 

Sunday was the DRC half marathon.  I was using this race as part of a longer run, aiming for 18-20.  Secretly I was hoping for 20, but it just didn't happen.  Got up bright and early to get down there with time to get in 5 miles before the race.  I did those much faster than anticipated and I think that ended up killing me in the end.  5 miles in 44:27 (8:53 pace).  Started the half feeling pretty good and the first 7 miles were between 8:26 and 8:48.  Again, faster than I had planned.  The next 3 were all around 9 minute pace.  After that, the wheels fell off.  I did all I could to get in under 2 hours. 

 

18.26 miles in 2:43 (8:56 pace).  If I was feeling good, I was going to finish up the 20, but I wasn't, so I called it a day.  Headed home for Whataburger and compression socks.

 

 

 

Bubba apparently didn't care for the medal as he has been beating it up.

 

I have tomorrow off work, so I am going to see how I feel and maybe try and hit the noon Body Pump class at the gym.  Enjoying the couch the rest of the day.



October/November

October Recap –

Goals

·       Run - 110 miles – Check.  110 on the dot!

·       Gym – 10 times – Boo, only 7.  Kind of got lazy a few days and just skipped

·       Long run – 20 miles – Check!  Woo hoo

Overall I am pretty happy with October.  There were definitely sometimes that I got lazy and just decided to skip a run or the gym, but the important things are: I hit 110 miles for the month, I did a 20 miler that I am happy with, and Rock N Roll – St. Louis – I was pleasantly impressed with my time vs the effort level.

November –

Goals

·       Run 100 miles

·       Gym – 10 times

·       Long run – 18 miler and 20 miler

The first three weeks I am looking to get in good mileage and then it is TAPER TIME!

~Nov 3 - DRC half marathon.  I am hoping to do 5-7 miles before/after in order to get to 18-20 miles

~Nov 10 - Ft Worth 20 miler

~Nov 16 – 17 – I am hoping to do back to back double digit runs.

Random Odds and Ends –

~Last night was Halloween – I had over 180 Trick or Treat peeps within an hour and a half

~If I scheduled it right, I will not be working a full week the rest of the year

~I am taking a lot of Mondays off and my gym offers a Body Pump class at noon, maybe I will test that one out.

~We got our department’s annual meeting agenda.  Check out where we are staying…

http://www.southseas.com/

~Volleyball is coming to an end.  THANK GOD!  I am so tired of it and am taking a break before indoor.  I am definitely skipping the first session and maybe indoor all together.  I didn’t get to go into hermit mode last winter because I played ball, now it is hermit mode time!!!!