I finally got some examples of our invitations up on my scattered showers blog. If anyone is looking for help planning a shower - or a party let me know - and check out my blog...
http://scatteredshowersonline.blogspot.com/
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Bad Idea Bears
Steve and I often joke about the "bad idea bears" they're the little guys that tell you to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep rather than going to the gym - or the ones that say on a tuesday night - don't eat that grilled chicken - go to bw3's and get some wings and some beer. I'm sure you all know those guys. Well I must say i am very proud of myself this week - because i defeated the bad ideas several times - which is hard for me to do on a normal basis - let alone a week like last one where i got my schedule all out of whack.
Monday - rest day - dropped bike off for tuneup - ordered new running shoes and bought a wetsuit.
Tuesday - awful first open water swim - was upset - didn't do track workout afterwards
Wednesday - headed up to the local track (not a very nice track considering there were broken bottles and grass growing through cracks on the track -but hey it works.) I've never done a track workout by myself - b/c well they are hard and usually i don't push myself that hard by myself - i usually need the motivation of others - I got up there and did the same workout e speed had us do a couple of weeks ago -
1 mile warm up
800 meters strides
1 x 1600 6:59
2 x 800 3:28 and 3:27
2 x 400 1:38 and 1:39
with 1/2 distance recovery in between and 1600 cool down
oh and swam 1200 meters at lunch
Thursday - really wanted to just go for a run at lunch - stuck to the training plan of 2 easy 2 short tempo speed and 2 easy so...
i did
2 (17:00)
2 (7:12 and 7:03)
2 (17:00)
everything was a little faster than what it was suppose to be - but i'm just getting a hang of this pacing thing.
Swam 1200 meters at night - finally started to link a few more laps together - my endurances still stinks!
Friday - rest
Saturday - "easy" 3 mile run - had to work really hard a running a 9 minute pace - and not going too fast.
Sunday - was not free to run until around 3:00 when it started thundering and lightening - then had to go to dinner with the father in law - got back still raining. so the bad idea bears told me that my training doesn't technically start til today that i should not go out in the rain - that i should sit and relax - then i decided to go to the grocery store. Finally around nine o'clock - i said to myself - this is ridiculous - get out there and at least do something! So a little after nine - i headed out in to the rain to get a run in. I was suppose to do 11 miles at a 9:05 pace. I decided just to run and see what happened - it felt great! I was able to get 10 miles in at a 8:40 pace - too fast i know - but it was a great run. I cut it a mile short - b/c it was almost 10:30 - and i was starving and sleepy! but i got it in. I know it wasn't necessary to get it in - but i was proud of myself for at least sticking to my 3 key workout days this week! Also - really proud of pushing myself on my runs - this is the first time i am following a training plan that is more specific than "run 5 miles" I've never followed something that says "run 5 miles at mid-tempo pace" So - this is new for me - and hard - but i'm discovering that i am capable of a lot more thant i thought.... sixteen weeks and counting til towpath!!!
Hopefully this week will be a little better for getting all of my workouts in swimming, biking and running - but it will be tough - it's a rough week at work - so wish me luck!
Monday - rest day - dropped bike off for tuneup - ordered new running shoes and bought a wetsuit.
Tuesday - awful first open water swim - was upset - didn't do track workout afterwards
Wednesday - headed up to the local track (not a very nice track considering there were broken bottles and grass growing through cracks on the track -but hey it works.) I've never done a track workout by myself - b/c well they are hard and usually i don't push myself that hard by myself - i usually need the motivation of others - I got up there and did the same workout e speed had us do a couple of weeks ago -
1 mile warm up
800 meters strides
1 x 1600 6:59
2 x 800 3:28 and 3:27
2 x 400 1:38 and 1:39
with 1/2 distance recovery in between and 1600 cool down
oh and swam 1200 meters at lunch
Thursday - really wanted to just go for a run at lunch - stuck to the training plan of 2 easy 2 short tempo speed and 2 easy so...
i did
2 (17:00)
2 (7:12 and 7:03)
2 (17:00)
everything was a little faster than what it was suppose to be - but i'm just getting a hang of this pacing thing.
Swam 1200 meters at night - finally started to link a few more laps together - my endurances still stinks!
Friday - rest
Saturday - "easy" 3 mile run - had to work really hard a running a 9 minute pace - and not going too fast.
Sunday - was not free to run until around 3:00 when it started thundering and lightening - then had to go to dinner with the father in law - got back still raining. so the bad idea bears told me that my training doesn't technically start til today that i should not go out in the rain - that i should sit and relax - then i decided to go to the grocery store. Finally around nine o'clock - i said to myself - this is ridiculous - get out there and at least do something! So a little after nine - i headed out in to the rain to get a run in. I was suppose to do 11 miles at a 9:05 pace. I decided just to run and see what happened - it felt great! I was able to get 10 miles in at a 8:40 pace - too fast i know - but it was a great run. I cut it a mile short - b/c it was almost 10:30 - and i was starving and sleepy! but i got it in. I know it wasn't necessary to get it in - but i was proud of myself for at least sticking to my 3 key workout days this week! Also - really proud of pushing myself on my runs - this is the first time i am following a training plan that is more specific than "run 5 miles" I've never followed something that says "run 5 miles at mid-tempo pace" So - this is new for me - and hard - but i'm discovering that i am capable of a lot more thant i thought.... sixteen weeks and counting til towpath!!!
Hopefully this week will be a little better for getting all of my workouts in swimming, biking and running - but it will be tough - it's a rough week at work - so wish me luck!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Motiviation
I'm not sure if any of you read the lastest edition of runners world or not - but there is an article about two women who train to do the nike women's marathon. As a source of motivation the one woman gives herself a dollar for every mile she runs. I thought that was a really cool idea until I realized that if i stuck with my schedule that could add up to $40 or more a week - which is $120 a month - and that as motivating as it would be - is not going to happen - not unless someone would like to donate that to me. So I decided that maybe $.25 a mile would be more appropriate - well then i decided to have a little contest with steve. It started Sunday June 8th - and ends the day after the greater cleveland half ironman. Well we needed to make it fair so we've decided to count biking and swimming too.
Here's the deal - if a half ironman is approximately 1.2 miles swim, 13.1 miles run and 56 mile bike - we decided that if each running mile was worth 1 quarter and 56bike=1.2swim=13.1 run - then for every 4 miles bike you get a quarter and about every 200m swimming you get a quarter. I think the 200m is a little low. But that's ok. Steve is currently up but quite a bit - guess that's what happens when he can swim almost twice as fast as me!
We're not sure what the winner gets besides bragging rights - but i'll keep you posted!
oh - we got our wetsuits- if the weather holds - tonight will be my first ow swim and wetsuit swim!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Vegas
Ok - so last week was officialy 18 weeks til the towpath marathon - aka my first attempt at a bq. which means - i have a ton of work to do in the next 18 - scratch that 17 weeks. I know i can do it - if i put the time and work into it - which means going above and beyond just getting enough long runs in to just complete a marathon. So i followed amie's lead and decided to go with a modified version of the FIRST program for "those who have completed their first marathon but want to finish faster" Keep in mind i'm also still toying with the idea of greater cleveland half im - as long as training for that doesn't take away from running. So far it's been ok - and i've been able to squeeze both in.
So last week - was week 18 - official first week of training. Also the week that I was going to Vegas for four days. I should have just waited for today to start. But oh well - between monday and wednesday I was able to get in a couple of runs, two swims and a shortened awful bike ride. Why awful you ask?
Well here was my idea - fleet feet was having a wetsuit demo day out in westlake - so I thought - i'll have steve meet me down near edgewater - we'll ride out to westlake - it's about 13 miles - try on the wetsuits and head back. Good idea in theory - bad idea when played out. First of all Lake road near downtown is in pretty bad shape - which is a problem for two reasons - i don't know about you - but i'm not riding at 18 mph over potholes, manhole covers, potholes and more potholes - so you end up going really slow - in certain stretches which makes the ride take a really long time. Number 2 - you end up riding further into the street to avoid the really rough part - which you know makes cars angry - which in turn makes me quite upset and nervous - and then you add on to it my fear of my new clip shoes still - and it was not a very pleasant experience thus far. Well bad idea number 2 - don't go for a ride if you don't know how to get to the place you are going to. I thought we had gone too far - and we ended up spending a half an hour or so turning around and then turning around the other way. Well we finally stopped to ask directions again and I popped out my left foot and decided to lean to the right instead so i fell flat over on to someone's lawn in bay village. I layed there for awhile - I was upset and the grass was very soft. As steve said - i picked a great place for my first clip related crash!
Well eventually we find our way to the five seasons. Jody tries to give me a small wet suit to try on - and after my last experience i opted for the medium. This went much better than the last time - and it was awesome having that on in the pool - i can't wait to get my suit and try it out in the lake. So Jody says that suit is big on you - you have too much room in it still. So i say fine - i'll try on the small. I think it probably took jody and heather a half an hour to get this suit on me - and quite awhile to get it off - i couldn't even get my hands out of it - let alone my big old feet - so i guess i need a small and a half. which isn't going to happen. Meanwhile while i was wrestling with the wetsuits - steve had tried his on - and was calling his mom to come pick us up. It took us so long to get there and to try on the suits that we didn't have enough day light to get back. So... my mother in law dropped us off at our cars and we went home - it was 10:30 by the time we got home! So we finished packing for vegas and had a couple of beers to celebrate being on vacation. I'll leave my vegas stories for another post - but we were able to get out for one run while we were there - we ran from our hotel to the las vegas sign which was about four miles - we added another mile to that and called it a day - because by that time in the morning it was already pushing 100 degrees -- which is just too hot!!
So where does that leave me? I guess today is my official first week of training (which is good since i'm actually falling a 16 week plan!)
Monday, June 02, 2008
A week's worth of thoughts...
Training Recap:
Swimming and running doing well. Ran my first track workout in forever on tuesday - and my first trail run ever on wednesday. Currently running about 3 days a week with a 8-10 miler on the weekends. Going to keep doing that for a little while here - I think I am 18 weeks out from the Towpath marathon - so i need to decide what program to follow. i've done some research on the phitzinger, first, and hal higdon. Not sure what to follow - phitzinger (however you spell it) seems a bit intense, first seems not quite intense enough - any thoughts and what you guys think has worked best for you? Swimming is getting there - getting in the water 2-3 days a week - yardage is not quite what it should be yet - but i am getting better - i'm anxious to get in the open water - but am having some wetsuit issues...
A thought on wet suits
Per the sizing chart on the wet suits at 128lbs 5'6.5" I should be a medium - or maybe even a small. Well let me tell you - that is not that case - b/c apparently wet suits were not made for bodies shaped like mine! Went to bike authority to try on some of the sales rack wetsuits. I made steve come into the dressing room with me - b/c i knew i was going to need help. didn't really think the small would fit - but for 30% off - who knows it's worth a try. At the point where steve was grabbing the wetsuit to try and pull it up over my butt - but was only succeeding on picking me and the wet suit up off the ground i figured we better get the small off before i got stuck. well - onto the medium - went on much easier - steve zipped me up - and i said i'm choking - and he said no you're alright - well i turned around to look at him - and he was like oh my god - you are choking and unzipped it. I don't know what was wrong with me or the suit - but it was litterally choking me! so we got that off and tried on a large with no sleeves - which wasn't what i really wanted - and seemed like it might be a bit big. So i left the store - a bit defeated - really hot and kind of worn out. I think i can actually say that i've found something worse than trying on bathing suits... wet suits!!!
Race recaps:
I ran the eagle 5 mile race on May 24th and the Aetna Race for the kids 5k on this past sunday. I've had run the eagle run a few years ago - and the course is now in a different place - same sort of course though - winds through some pretty neighborhoods and is flat. They also do a nice job of giving you a wicking hat and long sleve tech tees. Well i knew going into the race that if i ran a decent race (sub 40 - which i've only done once before) I had a good shot at an age group award. And as age group awards are still very new to me - i get very excited at the prospect of winning one. I ran the race with my garmin for once so that i could keep track of my pace a little better - i needed to make sure that i kept my pace under 8:00 at all times. Tried to take it easy on the first two miles. mile one 7:30, mile 2 15:01 - perfect. Mile 3 23: something Mile 4 - don't remember - but i knew it was under 32 - pushed it in for a fnal time of 38:05. I almost threw up in the shute and the guy from hermes was like are you alright? i said oh i'm fine - just have a banana that wants to get out - and said oh ok - can you tear off your own number then? ha! I said it's not a good race unless you almost puke at the end! Got to the end of the shute - and they handed me 2nd place in my age group!!! yeah! It was a star shapped paper weight - one can never have too many of those! I looked up my time from the last time i ran this race - it was a 48:00 - so 10 minutes better!! woo hoo -- oh and I ran back out on the course to go get steve - he had said his legs were hurting and he was hoping to break 50.... well i came around the corner and there he was finishing in 43:59!!! that's his best time ever! So all in all it was a great day.
ok this is the longest post ever -- i'll tell you about sunday's race a day or so... i know i know - you are all very exctied - but contain yourself - you'll be ok...
Swimming and running doing well. Ran my first track workout in forever on tuesday - and my first trail run ever on wednesday. Currently running about 3 days a week with a 8-10 miler on the weekends. Going to keep doing that for a little while here - I think I am 18 weeks out from the Towpath marathon - so i need to decide what program to follow. i've done some research on the phitzinger, first, and hal higdon. Not sure what to follow - phitzinger (however you spell it) seems a bit intense, first seems not quite intense enough - any thoughts and what you guys think has worked best for you? Swimming is getting there - getting in the water 2-3 days a week - yardage is not quite what it should be yet - but i am getting better - i'm anxious to get in the open water - but am having some wetsuit issues...
A thought on wet suits
Per the sizing chart on the wet suits at 128lbs 5'6.5" I should be a medium - or maybe even a small. Well let me tell you - that is not that case - b/c apparently wet suits were not made for bodies shaped like mine! Went to bike authority to try on some of the sales rack wetsuits. I made steve come into the dressing room with me - b/c i knew i was going to need help. didn't really think the small would fit - but for 30% off - who knows it's worth a try. At the point where steve was grabbing the wetsuit to try and pull it up over my butt - but was only succeeding on picking me and the wet suit up off the ground i figured we better get the small off before i got stuck. well - onto the medium - went on much easier - steve zipped me up - and i said i'm choking - and he said no you're alright - well i turned around to look at him - and he was like oh my god - you are choking and unzipped it. I don't know what was wrong with me or the suit - but it was litterally choking me! so we got that off and tried on a large with no sleeves - which wasn't what i really wanted - and seemed like it might be a bit big. So i left the store - a bit defeated - really hot and kind of worn out. I think i can actually say that i've found something worse than trying on bathing suits... wet suits!!!
Race recaps:
I ran the eagle 5 mile race on May 24th and the Aetna Race for the kids 5k on this past sunday. I've had run the eagle run a few years ago - and the course is now in a different place - same sort of course though - winds through some pretty neighborhoods and is flat. They also do a nice job of giving you a wicking hat and long sleve tech tees. Well i knew going into the race that if i ran a decent race (sub 40 - which i've only done once before) I had a good shot at an age group award. And as age group awards are still very new to me - i get very excited at the prospect of winning one. I ran the race with my garmin for once so that i could keep track of my pace a little better - i needed to make sure that i kept my pace under 8:00 at all times. Tried to take it easy on the first two miles. mile one 7:30, mile 2 15:01 - perfect. Mile 3 23: something Mile 4 - don't remember - but i knew it was under 32 - pushed it in for a fnal time of 38:05. I almost threw up in the shute and the guy from hermes was like are you alright? i said oh i'm fine - just have a banana that wants to get out - and said oh ok - can you tear off your own number then? ha! I said it's not a good race unless you almost puke at the end! Got to the end of the shute - and they handed me 2nd place in my age group!!! yeah! It was a star shapped paper weight - one can never have too many of those! I looked up my time from the last time i ran this race - it was a 48:00 - so 10 minutes better!! woo hoo -- oh and I ran back out on the course to go get steve - he had said his legs were hurting and he was hoping to break 50.... well i came around the corner and there he was finishing in 43:59!!! that's his best time ever! So all in all it was a great day.
ok this is the longest post ever -- i'll tell you about sunday's race a day or so... i know i know - you are all very exctied - but contain yourself - you'll be ok...
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