A post run treat that's NOT food

In my usual fashion of terrible decision making, I signed up for CPR training. Sure, sounds like a good idea right? It's possible it was, but as soon as I forked over my money I realized it was 3 hours after work the day after the SuperBowl. Mondays are already horrible, as we all know, and for me it's the only day of the work week that I don't have class or my second job in the evening.  Major fail.

The practice dummy had no pity for me.

Before we proceed, I want to reiterate that I'm not trying to be all "look at how busy and important I am!". I'm lamenting because I'm lazy and the only thing I want to do after work is "couch" and I don't like doing all these other things.

So this week has been pretty busy, to the point where one day I just entered my distance into DailyMile with no commentary whatsoever, not even my time. Yeah. It was that serious.

The good news is that it was a stepback week in my training plan. The bad news is that the stepback week still adds up to 47 miles. So here's where we are with that so far.

Shockingly good picture from my recent half marathon PR (2 years in the making means heck yes I'm still mentioning it).

Monday: rest day (again, it was the day after the SuperBowl, so obviously no running was happening)
Tuesday: easy 6 miles - I was still a little sore from Sunday's trail run. 
Wednesday: 10 miles that I can only describe as "sleep running". I wanted to lay down on the side of the road and take a nap, sub freezing temperatures and all.
Thursday: The schedule called for another 10k at 10k pace. The last time I did that, it basically broke me. I conferred with my friend Matt (training plan creator) about modifying it. If I reacted the way I did last time, there's no way I could go to work. I'd like to think I'm dedicated to my training, but taking a sick day for speed work is a little ludicrous. He gave me a pass to only do a fast 5k instead, and said having a job and not being an elite runner that can devote my life to training was an acceptable excuse. I'm really hoping that they expand the definition of elite runner significantly in the near future so this won't be a problem going forward.

That was a really long build up to share that I did 3.1 miles at a 7:50 pace and then 3.1 at about a 9:15 pace.   I'm able to blog now instead of cry so it seems the modification was successful.

I really sometimes feel like I'm in that movie The Truman Show because once again, things were just that perfect. Not one, but two packages can in the mail for me today. 

I couldn't be bothered to get up for the picture so the background is my robe and fluffy blanket.

One was a giveaway that I won from Kasha at Not Insane....Promise - a bunch of cool beauty samples!

And the second was something I had been eagerly awaiting - the new Aspaeris Pivot shorts! Kari is such a good friend that she sent me a gift on her birthday!

I am obsessed with my pivot shorts and they are just as essential to marathon training as ice cream is. They magically heal sore muscles without having to do all that time consuming stuff like foam rolling and stretching and resting. Back in the summer I was a tester for the new line, which was pretty awesome, so I knew this was going to be good. Other than that time I ran 19 miles in the rain and came home to find out my dad had mailed me a cheesecake sampler platter, new compression shorts after speedwork is probably the best post run treat ever. 

The new shorts are super soft and feel wonderful on my thighs and whooty. Even better, they match my compression socks. I needed to take a picture so I felt this was the perfect time to show off my Christmas gift from Eric, a customized medal holder. He even put it up and arranged it by race type for me.

Go ahead, just try not to laugh at my shirt.

Side note - the cheesecake sampler post is from two years ago? I've been blogging for longer than I thought!

Who was your favorite Saved by the Bell character? I always liked AC, and then I married a guy who was captain of the football and wrestling team in high school, so I guess that worked out pretty well for me.

My six month upward spiral

The love of my life, my nephew Harrison (if I ever refer to my husband like that on the internet just stop reading my blog and defriend me) had his sixth month birthday yesterday! I know that I have done a complete 180 in exactly six months because his birth is what sent me into an upward spiral of baby adoration and great choices all around. Alyssa from six months ago would not have even recognized the person laying on the couch in a robe typing this post right now, and this past weekend proved it once again.

The weekend started out with some pretty standard stuff. My BFF Carolyn hosted game night, and I baked peanut butter cake using a recipe recommended by my sister.

Even though she sung its praises, I had to add chocolate chips. It was filled with the good stuff, butter, sugar, white flour, etc, it wasn't some protein powder pumpkin #fitfluential crap or anything, but I have a strict rule that if it doesn't contain chocolate, it's not dessert. 

Eric got me Dirty Minds for Christmas, and this was our first time playing it. It has clues that sound dirty (you spread your legs under me, I always blow to get your privates at attention) that refer to innocent things (folding chair, bugle horn). For someone that lives to find That's What She Said jokes in every possible situation, this was pretty challenging.

Intense focus from the blue team

If you look really closely you can see a Powerade next to me - that's right, electrolytes over booze on a Friday night. That's how focused I am on this training plan. 

Saturday was perfect by the numbers because I needed to run 18 (10 at race pace) miles and it was 18 degrees out. I met my friends Lily and Jen and we started cranking out the race pace miles right away. I was feeling good until I realized that it was mile 2 and my hydration pack hose was completely frozen. The other girls managed to unclog the ice from their packs but mine was frozen solid. We were on a paved trail through  the woods so I couldn't even beg for water at Starbucks or pretend I was a guest at a hotel to get some of that fancy water with fruit cut up in it. 

The trail has a heated bathroom at mile 7 so we stopped there to see what we could do. After about ten minutes, we ended up with Lily holding the pack above my head, pumping it, Jen working on twisting the hose to break up the clumps, and me beneath frantically trying to drink while they yelled "suck, suck!" like some sort of deranged beer bong for runners. And it worked.

We finished the run at a 9:05 average pace. I didn't look at my watch so only six miles were at race pace, but the run was still about a minute per mile faster than most of my long runs and the trail was icy so I'll take it.

After the run was the first sign that I was not the person I used to be. Jen's husband brought her baby to meet us at the end. 6 months ago, I would have tried to be polite while secretly being super annoyed that I had to freeze my ass off after I was exhausted after a long run trying to pretend I cared about some boring baby that couldn't even talk or do anything remotely interesting. 

Now? I had to force myself instead to be polite to Jen's husband for a half second before ignoring both of them to stare and coo at their baby until they got my subtle hints and let me hold him, and I was in baby cuteness heaven. 

I have serious problems with the cold, and my fingers turn colors and get really numb and throb, so I suffered after but it was worth it.

It's hard to tell, but the bottom of my fingers are what a normal human hand
should look like.

Sunday I was supposed to finish out my week with an easy ten miles. I found out there was an $6 eight mile trail race two miles from our apartment, and it seemed perfect.

It wasn't.

First of all the address on the website wasn't exactly where the race began, so I got totally confused and ended up running four miles and sprinting to the race start as the race began (and I still had to register!). 

Second of all, apparently I block things out of my memory. Like the fact that these trails have crazy hills. And the fact that snow + trail running isn't exactly a recipe for "recovery". 

There was a sign at the top of this that said "halfway there", and the
hill just kept going.

Carolyn and I stopped to take this picture when a volunteer told us we were in last place, but don't worry we picked it up and only ended up finishing like 4th last out of the 30 or 40 runners.

Carolyn was kind enough to give me a lift home, and we spent the day preparing for the moment we (I) had been waiting for: SUPERBOWL!

I totally made a photoboth. So crafty!

All weekend I'd been looking forward to fried turkey and football, which created this weird twilight zone situation. Me looking forward to those things was strange for me to believe, yet, it was taking place inside my own head, so I knew it was true. 

I didn't even talk to these girls during the game!

To really give you some context, before the wonderful invention of smart phones, I've actually brought books to SuperBowl parties, and only stopped reading for the commercials and halftime show. 

Even if you don't enjoy football, SuperBowl food is worth showing up to a party with a book. Our little party had: veggies with artichoke asiago dip, chips with homemade salsa and guacamole, buffalo chicken dip, pizza dip, crab dip, bacon wrapped Ritz crackers, fried turkey, leftover peanut butter cake, red velvet cupcakes, and salted caramel brownie cookies. Please, be jealous.

Not all of it is pictured, but all of it WAS incredibly delicious.

Obviously, the game was incredible, the Ravens won, and the city of Baltimore went insane and people rioted in the streets until like 3am. I did my version of that which was finally drinking some wine, now that my runs for the weekend were done, cleaning up from the party, and watching post game coverage until midnight. The Ravens have made the playoffs for the past five years, and I haven't cared. This year, I started caring, and they won the SuperBowl. I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just pointing out that obviously it was my support that made the difference. It's just a mathematical certainly, that's all.

Last week's mileage total: 60! I have one more high week coming up and then I can taper for the marathon.

SuperBowl: Did you watch? Thoughts? Favorite Super Bowl foods (this applies whether or not you watched)?

Ideal speed work conditions

Thursday morning is going down as one of the hardest runs that I can remember, which isn't saying much, because just a few weeks ago after a run which began in the 4am hour, I found myself standing in the shower, with no idea if I'd washed my body, even though it either did or did not happen literally seconds ago. (Obviously I doubled down, just to be safe). The point is, my memory sucks, but I swear this run was hard.

I got home from a meeting for my running store job around 9:30pm Wednesday night, so clearly I was already off to a great start for this week's speedwork, scheduled at 5:30am Thursday morning. I'm not sure that speedwork early in the morning on insufficient sleep (at least for me, a self-diagnosed sleep addict) would have been enough of a challenge. Luckily, the weather once again hooked me up with pouring rain and a wind advisory.

.

I'm not here to be a Debbie Downer though, there were some positives. Everyone I talked to at work said they couldn't sleep all night due to the storm, but I slept like a baby. Second, I left the meeting hooked up with this sweet new Brooks jacket. 

I'm getting too good at selfies, which means I need something else in
 my life to take pictures of.

It's one of those super thin ones that's waterproof and windproof, but not hot, so you can wear it in warmer weather. Plus, it's super reflective, as you can see.

I've never owned anything with those little thumbhole thingies, and when I tried on the jacket before I went to bed I discovered them and freaked out and demanded Eric stop what he was doing to admire them. It's the little things in life.

This jacket could not have been a more perfect addition to my running wardrobe because Thursday morning was in the 50s, so too warm for my normal jacket, but insanely windy. I'm not exactly sure how this post turned into a product review because I'm sure as hell not getting paid.

Anyway, Thursday's run was 10 miles with 6 X 800s. I ran 3 miles to "warm up" and then hit the track, running a hard 800 (half mile) followed by an easy 800 to recover. Running into the wind felt like I was trying to push my way through a brick wall. My times were pathetic. Too pathetic to post. Out of the six, only one was faster than my average pace from Sunday's half marathon (and that was only by 3 seconds!). For non runners, who probably aren't even still reading, that means that I was running half mile intervals slower than the speed I ran for an entire 13.1 mile race. But, whatever, I PR'd in the half 4 days before, so that counts as speed work too, right? And the effort was there, even if the times didn't reflect it.

Not every run is a winner but I honestly considered just calling it quits and going home at least a dozen times on the track. When it was finally time to go home, I had to hold my hands over my face during gusts because random debris was blowing into it and I wasn't taking a chance with all the broken glass on the ground.

This is one of the two toughest training weeks on the schedule, and now 2 out of 3 of the killer runs are done! Next up: 18 miles with 10 at race pace Saturday. Yikes. 

What's your idea of the worst possible running (if applicable, if not, in general) weather? I'm probably incredibly jaded after this morning so I'll say wind, but really it's probably humidity.

My million dollar idea (don't steal it)

The trouble with using a shorter race as a part of a training cycle (in my case, a half marathon while training for a full) is that after a hard effort, you can't just take it easy and dust your shoulders off, you actually have to just keep training.

This week is one of the real killers in my training plan with some super high weekday mileage. Monday I had a huge conundrum. Schools were closed for students, so after a morning meeting I was free to do my report cards on my own time, which meant that I could have knocked out one of the long runs during daylight hours. I wasn't exactly sore, but my legs definitely felt that tight "time for a rest day" feeling. And THAT meant waking up at ungodly times the rest of the week. It's amazing the tough decisions I have to make.

In the end, Mother Nature took over again and slapped us with freezing rain. I was slipping and sliding walking to my car at noon, so a rest day it was. 

As I suspected, working from home was the BEST THING EVER. Just check out this sweet setup. I was so relaxed that I knocked out my report cards in record time.

You can't see it, but of course this included pjs, a cozy blanket, and the heat cranked.

Now my life goal is to work from home, and I'm really upset that I love my job and it's not really conducive to working from home. It remedied the two things that I really, really hate about work.

1. Temperature - in the winter my fingers are constantly blue, and there's no AC, so just imagine that on those 90 degree Baltimore days.
2. Dressing professionally - I think we can all agree that this is just the worst.

Over spring break I plan on working to invent and open a school where teachers sit on couches in pajamas, covered in blankets, and the kids all sit around you while you teach. Basically what you see above, but with children. I'll even sacrifice Bella and Edward and save that for my free time. The kids can wear pajamas too. 

On Tuesday, it was back to reality and I jumped right in with a 15 mile run. Yes, 15 miles, and no that wasn't my long run for the week. My second grad class started that afternoon, so I had to be up at 4 and running at 4:30. I was pretty tired (shocker, I know) but luckily Lily joined me for 7 miles somewhere in the middle and that really pepped me up. The main motivator was the weather - 40 degrees at the start! I even wore capris.

I was worried about falling asleep in class, but the strangest thing happened - class was actually interesting, and seemed completely relevant to my career. I'd heard of this wonderful phenomenon, but it was my first time experiencing it.

That 4:30 am wakeup is such a bitch though - she'll always get me in the end. I was supposed to do 10 today, but I felt like I'd been hit by a truck when my alarm went off and decided to save that for Sunday and do an easy 5 today. It felt anything but easy and I was glad I wasn't wearing my Garmin, because I'm sure my pace was like 12 minute miles. 

Basically I'm getting all the runs on my plan in, but none of them will be on the day they were supposed to be. 

Everyone loves working from home right? Asking who likes that would be like asking who likes sleep or dessert or oxygen, right?

Do you try to follow your training plan day by day or mix everything up to fit in your life, like I do?

Cloud Snapple Half Marathon Recap #3

I've now come head to head with the Cloud Snapple Half Marathon three times, and I've finally defeated it.

In 2011, the course (a towpath along the C&O canal) was covered with about six inches of snow and melting ice. I ran something like 11 minute miles and still fell.

The fallen trees slowed me down a bit too.

In 2012, the weather was fine, but the course was short (it was about 12 miles). I was having the type of race where they could have put the finish line at the one mile mark for all I cared.

My first race with a dog.

Similarly, I've been having a battle for nearly three years with my half marathon time. I ran my second ever half marathon in May 2010, when I was still new to distance running. I aimed to run it in under two hours and ended up with 1:50. Amazing, right? If only every race could be like that. But, my PR has remained at 1:50 ever since. I managed to chop a few seconds off the following April, but I was stuck with pretty much the same time, and it still hadn't improved almost two years later. It was getting to the point where I was pretty sure that I was cursed in the 13.1 distance.

Finally, today, the stars aligned and I beat the Cloud Snapple AND broke my half marathon curse in one fell swoop. According to my Garmin, I ran the race in 1:48:27.

Splits, for anyone who cares (probably just future me).

To do this, I had to bust out two secret weapons.

#1 - Hiding my time from myself.

So far, all my best races have been when I don't look at my Garmin. Conveniently for me, Victoria just posted a fantastic explanation of why this is. However, I wasn't sure if I could resist the temptation, so I just eliminated it as an option.

#2 My Brooks PureFlows

It's not just because they are pretty colors, the PureFlows weigh 7.1 ounces, and my normal shoe, the Adrenalines weigh 9.4 ounces. It doesn't sound like a big difference, but I swear they feel so much lighter and make me faster.

I was dragging a little in the second mile, still warming up, when secret weapon #3, which I didn't even know I had, hit me.

I challenge anyone out there to listen to Blow and not run faster. Especially during a race.

To be honest, I was really anxious about this race. All day Saturday it was on my mind. Going for a PR is hard, and while not looking at my time helps me mentally, it's not easy to keep a pace when you can't even check to see what your pace is! You would think that was why I never mentioned I had a race coming up on the blog, but actually I just completely forgot.

I got lost on my way to the race and ended up in Virginia. I'm pretty sure this is the same thing that happened last year, but it worked out great because I channeled all my stress into that, instead of the race itself, and I still got there in time.

I ran into a few friends at the start, and even then I was hesitant to admit I wanted to break 1:50, because, you know, then I would actually have to do it. And it was going to hurt.

The race started right on time, at 9am. The towpath was covered with a layer of snow, but other than a few spots wasn't too slippery. Plus, this is the same towpath that 27 miles of the JFK 50 took place on, so when the going got tough, I just enjoyed reminding myself "remember that time you started running on this thing and you had 35 MILES to go? Thank God that's not the case today".

I love just being able to zone out and run, so this race was perfect - 6.55 flat miles out, turn around a cone, and 6.55 flat miles back. I ran by feel and just made sure that I was out of breath and my legs were burning a tad, but that it was sustainable and I wasn't dying. The last mile was killer, as always, and it was a little nerve-racking, since I had no idea what my time was, so all this could have just ended up as a huge disappointment. 

I turned off the towpath to the finish and someone yelled out "125!" and for a second I was like "WOW I really killed that old 1:50 PR" but then I realized it was my bib number. Still, I saw 1:48 on the clock and was thrilled.

I kept going right after the finish line straight to the car to change clothes in the wonderful heated bathroom provided. 

When I finish a race and it's below freezing out, I have an extremely small window of opportunity to get out of my soaking clothes and into a minimum of two jackets before I end up shaking uncontrollably for hours. I wish I were exaggerating.

The race shirt was exactly the same as the past two years, but they upped the ante and gave me this sweet running beanie. I wore it all day and love it so much.

I drove home and showered, and then it was time for what is apparently our new Sunday tradition - football and meat. There were no NFL games on today (although, if I've learned one thing in my marriage, it's that there is always a football game of some sort on, somewhere) so instead of watching, we played.

That's my "I'm going to pretend I am serious about throwing this ball" face.

Eric and I joined a touch football team that starts in March. One of his friends texted that he was getting a game together today, and since I don't think I've "played" football since high school gym class, it seemed like a good idea. We played from 3-5 pm, and it was fun, but FREEZING. Long after we left, I had three jackets on and was still shivering.

As soon as I proclaimed myself a carnivore on Facebook, people started telling me I needed to go to Abbey Burger Bistro.

There are about a million toppings and you can create your own burger. They had crazy stuff like kangaroo meat and a peanut butter burger, but since I'm still new, I stuck to somewhat more traditional stuff - beef, brie, mushrooms, avocado, tomato, pickle and mustard on a pretzel roll.

You can barely see the burger, but it was delicious.

I felt like Dorothy when suddenly she sees Oz in color - I didn't know I was missing out, but eating a veggie patty is just not nearly as satisfying as the real deal.

What's your secret weapon in a race?

New treadmill PDR

Today's surprise bonus post is being brought to you by: SNOW!

iPhone photo through the window is the best I can do - no way I'm going out there before I have to.

You know how, every single morning, the alarm goes off and you feel like you would be willing to cut off a limb for 5 more minutes of sleep? I know that's not just me. This morning I woke up, saw a little snow, crossed my fingers like crazy, checked Facebook, saw like five statuses saying we had a delay, then because I'm a psycho went and checked the TV, confirmed, and experienced the unmitigated joy of knowing I could go back to sleep for two whole hours. Other than a full snow day, there is no better way to wake up.

We finally got a two hour delay today, which coincided perfectly with my rest day. This is our first time missing school due to snow in TWO YEARS. This may not sound like a lot, but Maryland teachers count on snow breaks. One of the best reasons to live here is that they won't hesitate to delay or close schools over less than an inch.

Eric saved this post by taking pictures when he left for work!

Soooo much dangerous snow

Right now Mother Nature and I are BFF, but yesterday that wasn't exactly the case. Wednesday my training plan called for 9 miles with 6 X 400 intervals (aka I needed to run fast for a few portions). After my freezing 5 mile  run Tuesday night, I did the only logical thing and spent the rest of the evening agonizing over whether to attempt the great outdoors again, this time for nearly twice the distance, or to face my nemesis, the treadmill, for my longest indoor run yet (previous was 8 miles as part of an icy 14 mile long run while trying to train for a marathon on a weekend in Rochester).

Tuesday night I was frantically looking up treadmills on Sears.com trying to figure out if they provided overnight delivery.

The treadmill sounds like the obvious choice, but it wasn't as easy as it sounds. I go to the YMCA, which is across the street, which meant that to use the treadmill I'd still have to face the single digit temperatures, and one could argue that would defeat the whole point of avoiding them. Then there's the crushing boredom of running in place for over an hour to consider. The YMCA doesn't have wireless, which meant I wouldn't even be able to watch Netflix on my phone and my only option would be auditory entertainment. 

I knew my idol Jillian Michaels would encourage me to push past all these obstacles, and so I did. I got to the Y at 5:30, and entertained myself with podcasts for an hour and 19 minutes (8:48 pace), and did my 6X400 intervals at 7.8, I don't know what pace that is. Also, FYI, in the interest of honestly, I don't put the 1% incline that's recommended on when I run on the treadmill. I use it like twice a year, so if the belt makes it easier to run those two times and my pace isn't accurate, well, so be it. 

If you aren't already jealous of my career, yesterday I got to jump rope (the really long kind where two people hold it and you have to jump in while they are already swinging it) in front of about 250 people, including my boss. I hadn't jumped rope in about 20+ years, and I was wearing knee high boots and a sweater, but I still earned this.

Pretty sure it was just for participation, but I'll take it.

What's your temperature minimum and maximum for running outside? Minimum - I can do single digits, but any sort of ice gets me indoors, which was another problem Tuesday night. Maximum - I can usually handle the heat until it gets above 90.

If you don't run, when is the last time you jumped rope? That type required really high jumps and it was much harder than I remembered!

Last question does everyone always put an incline on the treadmill?

I don't wanna wait

I've enjoyed writing this little blog for awhile now, but of course I'm not in any way a professional, trained, or talented writer. Sometimes it's really hard for me to put things into words. I was randomly texting with my college roommate over the weekend, and I was finally able to nail down how I feel about my nephew, despite spending an entire post on the topic after he was born. I had to take a little stroll down memory lane to get there.

Except minus the romantic thing, obviously.

I should be embarrassed how long I spent browsing Dawnson's Creek images on Pinterest for this.

Clearly we were major Dawson's Creek fans in college. I figured that comparison would resonate with her because she (and I) met her husband during the series finale of the show. If I remember correctly, he wandered into our dorm suite from downstairs, and we were like "Hey there, random guy, why don't you sit down and shut the hell up because we're trying to watch here". Back then (this may shock my younger readers), we didn't have luxuries like "DVR" or "Hulu", and if you considered yourself a fan of a show, you had to actually commit to watching every episode in real time or you were completely screwed. Both your dating and social life had to take a backseat (although in college no social event begins until well after prime time television).

I'm forced to discuss amazing 90s TV because running and I are fighting this week. First of all, this happened. These pictures were taken of my back (where the waistband of my tights hit) Monday night. 

Usually chafing is a one and done for me - I suffer through one horrible shower and then it's all good. I don't know why this is still all red and, as Eric said, looks like someone slashed me with a knife.

The next problem is hardly worth whining about, since a good chunk of the country is dealing with the same or worse, but I'll go ahead and do it anyway. This weather is a joke.

Monday, I had ZERO motivation to run, but I forced myself to do 7 miles. Why? Because based on the forecast, it would be the only time all week that I'd be running in double digit temperatures.



Tuesday, I woke up to this.

I swear, it was the same 2.5 hours earlier when the alarm went off to run and I was like "oh hell no". I planned ahead and everything and had pretty much every piece of winter running gear I own set out, but I hadn't anticipated how warm and wonderful my bed would feel.

It was actually almost exactly the same when I finally ran at almost 6pm. I only had to do 5 miles, and even that was a mental challenge, even with tons of gear.

I had to break out the face mask for the first time, which in my head I call my Baklava, because it makes me laugh think of delicious pastry and gets my mind off the fact that I'm about to stupidly run when it's practically Antarctica instead. (It's really called a balaclava.) These are the types of pathetic head games Mother Nature is forcing me to play.

There's no point in bitching about the cold anymore, so what 90s show were you committed to enough to watch in real time? Believe it or not, I've never seen Beverly Hills 90210. Eric nearly left me when I revealed that.