Toughen up buttercup

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Thank you for all your advice and input yesterday! Y’all definitely helped me look at it in a different way than I was thinking about it. All my brain could think was that I never run the day before a long run, not that a 3 mile run shouldn’t be enough to destroy my long run. With that being said, I took the “suck it up buttercup” route and ran an easy 3 miles this afternoon. I should note that Barry did not think I should have run today, so if my long run is a disaster tomorrow I will have no sympathy from him.

I’m still feeling tired (the sleepy kind of tired) but hopefully another night’s rest will help with that. I took it easy this morning and then I just couldn’t skip a run this afternoon with it being 53 degrees outside! That means shorts and a t-shirt!! I ran an easy 10:27/mile pace on the trail in town.

The traditional blogger-runner picture.

During mile 2 of my run I got chased by a black pomeranian-type dog. It was a small dog, probably not more than 10 pounds at the most. However, it was barking and growling like crazy and chased me down the trail. Small dogs bite, too, so I kicked gravel at it. This made it stop for a second, as I think I startled it, and then it chased me some more. So for about 2 tenths of a mile I picked it up to 8 minute pace. Shortly after this I got super dizzy, but I didn’t feel like I was too hot or anything. It was very strange, but it went away within the next half mile.

He looked like this but all black.

After my run I stopped by Magic Mart (similar to a K Mart) to pick up a few things, including these delicious things:

Sorry I failed to take a picture before opening the bag. I was hungry and they were good, and the picture was an afterthought.
 
I think it’s really pretty in town right now. All of the snow has melted around town but there’s still snow on the mountains, which looks really neat. I tried to capture it in this picture while I was stopped at the caution light.
 
See the snow on the mountains?
Speaking of traffic lights, I have been a yellow light magnet lately. It’s starting to get really ridiculous. Basically what happens is as I am approaching a green light it turns yellow right as I’m just far enough away to still have to stop. There are three stop lights that I go through in town to get to the trail, and I get stopped at each one. This same phenomenon happens to other people when they are driving and I am in the car. I guess I’m bad luck when it comes to red lights or something?

Since it’s so pretty outside today I spent some time in the backyard playing fetch with Hank and Scout. They had a blast.

“We are having so much fun!”

Hank loves to pose for pictures:

Scout enjoys chasing and “kicking” the soccer ball as well as the tennis balls and practice soft balls that we play with:

And after about 10 minutes of playing they were both tuckered out. Hank keeps his eye on the ball, though:

And then Scout decided she was thirsty and proceeded to eat what little snow was left by the camper:

Speaking of dogs, have you seen this Iams commercial? I think there’s a newer Iams commercial now, but this one is so cute. Especially right at the very end! Irish Wolfhounds are sooo big! 
 
 

If that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.

Is it looking like spring, yet, where you live?

Do you like sourdough pretzels?
They’re my favorite kind of pretzel!

What are your weekend plans? Doing anything special for Easter?

Runner vs. Jogger

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So I didn’t end up getting to run yesterday. I was already in a little bit of a bind because when I got to the hotel I found out the gym didn’t open until 6 AM. That didn’t exactly mesh with my plans to run 5 miles and the fact that I needed to leave the hotel by 7:15 AM. But I was willing to shorten my run to 3-4 miles to deal with the time constraint. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if I were a faster runner, but I digress.

 
So I get down to the hotel gym at 5:57 AM and lo and behold there’s some guy already running along on the only treadmill. I was not happy, but hey he has as much right as I do. I just felt like I followed the hotel’s rules, but got gypped because someone else didn’t. The gym also had an elliptical and a stationary bike in it. I had ridden the elevator down with a gentleman who was also headed to the gym. We had had a brief conversation on the elevator about what each of us planned to do, and he had already said he was planning to use the elliptical. When we got to the gym door and saw someone was already on the treadmill I just told him “Oh well, enjoy your workout” and headed back upstairs. I did check the gym again at 6:15 and the guy was still on the treadmill. Running outside wasn’t an option, as it was still dark, I don’t think I was in an area that you should go running by yourself in, and I only had shorts and a t-shirt (it was 38 degrees outside).

Needless to say, I was a little grumpy about the whole situation and not being able to get my run on as planned. I had also had a bad nights sleep, as my hotel room was right across from the elevators (which made a loud “DING” every time they opened) and the ice machine (which I’m pretty sure made ice all night long, dropping one cube at a time). Not exactly good sleeping conditions for the girl who’s used to complete silence at night.

My meeting for work went well, though, and we got to tour the USNS Comfort in the afternoon. It’s one of two hospital ships that the U.S. has. That was really neat, and I took a bunch of pictures. I’m planning to do a full post about that sometime this weekend. Our tour wrapped up at 4:30 PM and I hit the road to make the 6 hour trek back home. Yesterday was a 14.5 hour workday for me.

 
I was really sleepy all day today from all of the driving, but I definitely wanted to get a run in after work since I couldn’t run yesterday. I had a Luna bar for a pre-run snack and then I ran 6 easy miles on the trail in town, at 10:09 pace. It’s a really nice day outside today (45 degrees and a little cloudy) and there were actually a number of people out on the trail today.

At one point I passed a family (mom, dad, 4 young kids) and the one little girl said “look, a runner!” as I went by. Then I heard the mom say “no honey, that’s a jogger”. Ouch. I guess I should wear an old race bib during my training runs to distinguish myself. 🙂

Towards the end of my run I also had a lady yell out of her car “stop running!”. When I glanced back she yelled “sorry!” and then laughed. It was very random and very bizarre.

I need your help/guidance/opinions on something. I’m not quite sure what to do for my weekly mileage this week. The plan was to run 4 Tuesday, 5 Wednesday, 4 Thursday, and 13 on Saturday. This week was supposed to be my “peak week” before the Blue Ridge Half. I did 6 miles today, in the hopes of doing a shorter 3 mile run tomorrow (instead of doing 5 today, 4 tomorrow). However, usually if I run the day before a long run, especially my longest long run in training, I feel bad during my long run. I’m torn whether to just do 3 miles nice and easy tomorrow morning and rest the remainder of the day (I’m off work tomorrow), or to just rest before my Saturday long run. If I choose the latter, I would have the option of running 3 miles on Sunday if I felt up to it. I’m pretty sure missing one 3 mile run is not going to ruin my training for the half marathon, but it bugs me that I may not get in the miles on what’s meant to be my highest mileage in training. Decisions, decisions…..

Do you sleep well in hotels?

Ever been on/toured a Navy ship?


Do you eat Luna Bars? What’s your favorite flavor?
I like the Lemon Zest and Oatmeal Raisin flavors. There’s also one called Blueberry Bliss that’s really good, but I can’t ever find it at the store.

How do you define runner vs. jogger?

I’m with Dr. George Sheehan… the difference between a runner and a jogger is a race entry blank. I don’t care how fast or slow you are, if you run races you are a runner.

What do you think I should do about my weekly mileage for this week?
 
 

A (mostly) progressive run

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I was able to get my run done early this afternoon at 1PM before traveling for a meeting. Normally I’m out and about all day during work and unable to be home at lunch time, but more on that in a second.

I did a 4 mile progressive run with Barry on the roads around our house. This was a tough run. Usually I do my progressive runs on the trail in town, which is not near as hilly as it is by our house. I think it was hillier on the way back for today’s out and back, which made dropping my pace more difficult.

Mile 1- 10:16

Mile 2- 9:50
Mile 3- 9:25
Mile 4- 9:29 (oops, ran out of gas at the end)

The overall average pace of the run was 9:45/mile. The last progressive run I did was 2 weeks ago and was a 4 mile run. It was on the trail in town and my average pace was 9:33/mile with the last mile being 8:53. Either I wimped out today or running here at the house was more challenging. I’m going with the latter 🙂

So the reason I could run during lunch time was that I have to travel to the coast this afternoon for a meeting tomorrow. It’s a 6 hour trek over to Norfolk, so I was actually home at lunch time to get my stuff for overnight.

That means I’ll be treadmilling it on the hotel treadmill in the morning. I’m going to get my run done in the morning since I’ll be driving home tomorrow evening after the meeting, and I probably won’t get home until after 9.

Do you ever do progressive runs? What do you think of them?

How do you get your run/workout in when you have to travel?

This and that

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Today’s post is all over the place. I blame my lack of decent sleep the past few nights (fingers crossed for tonight!).

Saturday night we went out to dinner at a local place called Verona’s. I had this awesome chef salad with bleu cheese. I didn’t think it looked that big when they brought it out, but I ended up taking home about half of it.

I can’t remember ever getting a chef salad that came with banana peppers. Maybe I’ve always just gotten lame chef salads or something, but I was really surprised they were on there. I love banana peppers… I can eat them right out of the jar.

Sunday I took a rest day and we were pretty much just around the house all day. It started snowing/sleeting in the morning and that carried on through out the day. I was more than happy to stay inside and out of the weather.

It was snowing so hard you can’t even really see the mountains

I finished book 3 of the Joe Pickett series (by C.J. Box) so now it’s on to book 4, called Trophy Hunt. Lucky I thought ahead and picked it up from the library on Saturday after my long run.

This morning I did a level 1 workout from the 30 day shred. I wanted to see how it felt to go back to level 1 after having completed the 30 day shred program last week. Some of the exercises were easy (most of the ab and cardio stuff), but most of the strength stuff was still challenging, due to being able to use heavier weights, do more reps during push ups, etc.

It has been blustery and snowy all day today and I’m glad it wasn’t a running day. Tomorrow I have a 4 mile progressive run planned, and it will get done regardless of the weather/wind. For now I will leave the outside shenanigans to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (also known as Hank and Scout), who seem to really enjoy this snow, as evidenced by the thousand paw prints in our backyard.

What’s your favorite kind of salad?
I love the Mediterranean Chicken Salad with Tzatziki dressing from Quiznos. But the closest Quiznos is about 45 minutes away, so I hardly ever go.

Have you read any good books lately? What’s your favorite book/book series?

If you have any pets, do they like being out in the snow and cold?



A hair cut and we have some visitors!

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Fly by post today since my husband’s parents are visiting for the weekend!

Yesterday was my first complete rest day in 35 days. In lieu of exercise I spent the afternoon/evening giving Hank and Scout baths, cleaning the floors, dusting, and doing laundry. At the end of the day I still felt like I had done a decent amount of work (my back said so, anyway). Before all that happened, I went and got my hair cut after work. It felt great to get some of the length off of it. Here is the before picture:

And here is the after picture:

And here’s how it looks when I haven’t had it blow dried/straightened by my hairdresser:

Works for me!

This morning I met up with my running buddy, Kim, for a long run at the trail in town. Barry came, too, but he did his own long run at a faster pace (nearly 12 miles at 8:04 pace!). I thought it was nearly 40 degrees, so I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt, but it turns out it was closer to 32 degrees at the start. It did warm up to 40 degrees by the end of the run, though. I was a bit cold at the start, but I warmed up. Kim and I did 8 miles together, and then I headed back out for 2 more for a total of 10 miles.

As I headed out for my last 2 miles a freight train was coming through town. He was going really slow since there was an Easter egg hunt going on in the park right next to the train tracks. I tried to race him, but it turns out even a slow freight train is still pretty fast. I held my own for about 100 feet and then he passed me. Next time, freight train, next time…

We ran a few errands in town and came home and grabbed quick showers. Then we headed up to Radford with my in-laws for some lunch. After lunch we got some fro-yo. It had been entirely too long! (I think since Christmas)

I put vanilla flavored frozen yogurt topped with strawberries and pineapple and then another layer of vanilla yogurt with gummie worms, reese’s pieces, and nerds. Just as we sat we down to eat the movie “Flicka” came on TV. I tried to eat my fro-yo really slow so we could stay and watch the whole thing, but that didn’t work out.

Once we finished gallivanting around Radford, we took the scenic route home and showed my in-laws the farm my husband works at, which is down the road from our house. These are some dairy cows out in the field. I made it big so it’d be easier to see.

They also raise beef cattle. Do you see the new babies laying on the hill? They look like ants in this picture.

Do you get excited to get your hair cut? How often do you get it cut?
I get mine cut every 4-6 months. I think you’re supposed to go more frequently than that, though.

What is your long run/workout this weekend?

Have you ever seen the movie Flicka with Tim McGraw?

"I've opted for fun in this lifetime." -Jerry Garcia