Comments (44)

By kilax, February 28, 2010 6:34 pm

Today Erin and I ran the Frosty Footrace 5K in Round Lake. I am so happy Erin ran it! I don’t think I would have gotten the time I did if she wasn’t there, but I’ll get into that below.

Notice that we are matching?! We didn’t even coordinate. This happened at our last race too!

The Frosty Footrace is a very local race for me, and the proceeds benefit the community fitness center. I actually ran it last year too, and I thought it was fun to run it again. Are there races you like to run each year? I think I will definitely keep doing this one. It feels like a kick-off to race season to me!

We had great race conditions – no snow, no rain, almost 40°F, and no snow on the trails (phew). About 275 people ran it, and we were able to start near the front and didn’t have to struggle much with crowding.

Can you find me in this crowd, Dad?

Erin had plans to finish in 26:23, and I wanted to finish in 27:00. We didn’t really plan on running together. She wanted to hit 8:30s, and I wanted to do 8:41, 8:31, 8:21.

I took off a bit fast though! First mile? 8:02. Oops! I just felt so good when I was running that I didn’t want to slow down, even though I kept telling myself I should.

And of course, I did. I would say fatigue hit in around the 2 mile mark (done in 8:12). The course had some small hills, and right after we passed Steven (and he took the photo below) we had to go up this mini hill and I thought “I might not be able to keep this up!”

But you know what (or who, I should say) kept me going? Erin did! Early in the race, I told myself I would at least try to keep her in my sight (which I hope didn’t annoy her). Our goals were so close together, I figured it made sense.

And it worked! I stuck behind her for the last mile (8:28, oops) and found my inner sprinter to finish the race out with a time of 25:51 (only one minute slower than my PR!)!!! Update: Official time was 25:55.3 – slower and shorter than what the Garmin told me.

I was pooped. Look at this finish photo:

And… I accidentally peed myself in the last quarter mile (I had brought a spare outfit and changed). Ha ha.

Erin met her time too! I am not going to give it away though. You will have to make sure you watch her blog for her recap. Update: here is Erin’s recap!

And guess what? We both placed second in our age groups! Boo-yah! It’s a good thing Erin and I are in separate age groups – our times were really close!

After the race and awards ceremony, we went back to our place to eat chili, cornbread, and Steven’s newest masterpiece:

NOM! What a fun day. It was so nice of Erin to trek across the suburbs to run with me, and it was so nice of Steven to be our official race photographer, and make us lunch while we cleaned up.

Here’s to the beginning of my race season! And to a few days of recovery runs!

Distance: 3.15 | Time: 25:51 | 1: 8:02 | 2: 8:12 | 3: 8:29 | 4: 1:07

Comments (16)

By kilax, February 28, 2010 6:09 am

Day 127 | February 22, 2010: 5 m interval run + strength

On Sunday night we got 4 inches of that thick “perfect for snowmen-making” snow. As I was cleaning my car off in the morning, I thought twice (okay, more than twice) about going back inside, putting my YakTtrax on, and running in the snow. I was telling Erin during our Saturday run that I don’t know why I was so devoted to the treadmill last winter – running in the snow can be a lot of fun! And I don’t really mind the cold.

I did go into the office gym though, and did my first interval run! I followed Lacey‘s recommendation and warmed up, did some 400s with 200 recoveries, then cooled down. I did 10 of these… so would they be called 10 x 400s? Sometimes I don’t understand running lingo.

I listened to the new Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone podcast, and let me tell you, this workout FLEW by (a combination of changing speeds, trying to listen to something and calculate mileage at the same time). And uh… it was exhausting! But I loved how it made me feel.

I did my strength routine during lunch, and made it through it twice! It only took me about 35 minutes, surprisingly (I think because the gym was sort of empty).

Distance: 5.0 | Time: 46:50 | 800 warm-up @ 5.8 mph, 10 x 400s @ 7.0 mph w/ 200 recoveries @ 6.0 mph, 1200 cool-down @5.8 mph

Step Ups w/Dumbbells: 20 ea. leg @ 10 lbs (ea. hand)
Smith Squats: 15 @ 40 lbs, explode up
Isolated Lunge with Hammer Curls: 30 sec ea. leg @ 5 lbs, fast paced
Crunch Fly (on exercise ball): 20 @ 5 lbs
Bosu Lunge n’ Jump: 20 ea. leg
Bosu Push Ups: 15
Bosu 1,2s: 30 sec
Rotator Cuffs (lie on back): 20 @ 3 lbs (ea. hand)
Calf Raises w/Triceps: 25 @ 20 lbs
Shin Developer: 20 @ 10 lbs

Day 128 | February 23, 2010: cross

On Tuesday, my lunch time bike workout was definitely my escape from a CRAZY morning. Of course, it was only a physical escape – as much as I tried to zone out and read a magazine, I could not escape from my crazy day mentally. Do you ever struggle to escape stress when you are working out?

Bike Time: 40:00 | Distance: 7.12 (Set on “Ozark Trails”)

Day 129 | February 24, 2010: 5 m tempo run + cross

Well, I don’t know too much about tempo runs… but know that I am supposed to be doing them! I had to do a bit of research before this run, to try and figure out what a temp run actually is, and how fast I should be going. I found a good article on Runner’s World about why we should do tempo runs, but actually found the explanation and advice here to be the most helpful:

A tempo run consists of a 10-15 minute easy warm-up jog, followed by a 3-6 mile run at about your 10k pace. At the very least, make sure that you are working hard during these workouts; you should not be able to carry on a conversation with someone next to you. After the tempo run, make sure to include a 10-15 minute jog to cool down your muscles. If you are just starting to run tempos, make sure that you don’t exceed 20 minutes of hard running or you’ll be beating up your body too much.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I exactly followed the advice on that site. I have no idea what my 10K pace is since I haven’t been competitively running lately. I ran my last 5K in November with a time of 28:40, so I punched that into the McMillan Running Calculator, and it told me I should do my tempos between 9:42 and 10:07. That seemed a bit slow, so I decided to run them at 9:14 (6.5 mph on the treadmill).

The tempo run went well! I did a one mile warm-up, three miles at 9:14, and a one mile cool-down. I didn’t feel like the run was too hard, but I was happy when it was cool-down time!

I should have done strength during lunch, but I was feeling a bit meh and told myself I would do it the next day… and rode the bike instead.

Distance: 5.0 | Time: 47:52 | 1: 10:05 | 2: 9:14 | 3: 9:14 | 4: 9:14 | 5: 10:05

Bike Time: 45:00 | Distance: 7.71 (Set on “Ozark Trails”)

Day 130 | February 25, 2010: strength

Um… I was being a bit lazy with the strength workout. It seems to have lost its excitement. Any tips on making doing strength exercises more exciting?

Step Ups w/Dumbbells: 20 ea. leg @ 10 lbs (ea. hand)  x2
Smith Squats: 15 @ 40 lbs, explode up
Isolated Lunge with Hammer Curls: 30 sec ea. leg @ 5 lbs, fast paced
Crunch Fly (on exercise ball): 20 @ 5 lbs
Bosu Lunge n’ Jump: 20 ea. leg
Bosu Push Ups: 15
Bosu 1,2s: 30 sec
Rotator Cuffs (lie on back): 20 @ 3 lbs (ea. hand)
Calf Raises w/Triceps: 25 @ 20 lbs u
Shin Developer: 20 @ 10 lbs x2

Day 131 | February 26, 2010: 9 m run (1 + 8) + stretch

Somehow, I came up with the brilliant idea to go run in the snow in the park. I figured it would slow me down and that it would be a nice and easy run.

Ha. Ha ha.

This don’t do much good…

… when the path looks like this!

In the first 10 seconds I felt strangely out of breath. Then my lower legs started to ache like crazy. I lasted a mile. That mile took me 12.5 minutes!

I’ll have to wait until the snow is more packed down. It must have been 8 inches deep, at least!

But it was beautiful!

I went back to my neighborhood and ran 8 miles. My legs still felt tired, so at least I worked at slowing myself down! It was a pretty cold, miserable run though. It was 30° but windy. And I was kind of sick of running in my neighborhood. I keep thinking I would have more fun if I was running with Erin like last week’s long run (or it would be nice to run with Steven… once the weather gets warm enough for him!).

Boring… but less taxing on my body!

I did the 10-minute YogaWorks AM Wake-Up Segment when I got back to the house. Then rushed into the shower to warm up!

Distance: 9.0 | Time: 1:38:04 | 1: 12:29 | 2: 11:05 | 3: 11:05 | 4: 10:50 | 5: 10:52 | 6: 10:45 | 7: 10:50 | 8: 10:14 | 9: 9:50

Day 132 | February 27, 2010: yoga

I did the Core Yoga Flow segment of the YogaWorks Fit Abs DVD… and it was much harder than it should have been. I need to work harder at fitting yoga into my schedule.

Day 133 | February 28, 2010: Frosty Footrace 5K

Erin and I are running a 5K in Round Lake today at 11:00! I found out during packet pick-up that the course is not all on roads like I thought… there might be some YakTrax transitioning. We’ll see. Wish us luck! I’ll post a full recap later!

Week Summary: 22.15 miles

I was excited to try an interval and tempo run this week… as well as fit in four days of running! This is the first time I have done four days of running a week in a long time. It would be great to do four days every week, but I want to make sure I have a day of rest after each run, since I am worried about injuring myself.

Links to share:

This was a great article in the March issue of Runner’s World: The 10 Laws of Injury Prevention and they are sharing it online now!

Comments (27)

By kilax, February 27, 2010 5:47 am

There was a surprisingly* good article in the February issue of Fitness about interconnected injuries. You know…

• If you’ve got weak hips, it could lead to knee pain.
• If you’ve got shin splits, it could lead to stress fractures.
• If you’ve got sore abs, it could lead to lower back pain.
• If you’ve got plantar fasciitis, it could lead to achilles tendinitis.
• If you’ve got rotator cuff pain, it could lead to tennis elbow.

This happens because injuries force surrounding muscles to work in ways they aren’t designed for – resulting in further injury.

Of course, you don’t have to have one injury to lead to the other! The article was just pointing out how often doctors see clients with both issues. I wish I could find the article online to share with you – there were great tips on injury prevention for each area I mentioned above.

What I found even more helpful was advice on how to workout if you do have slight pain, or what you think might be an injury. The article explained four stages of an overuse** injury and how to react to them:

1. Stage 1: You feel pain within an hour of your workout and it goes away an hour or two later but returns each day after you exercise. Adjust your exercise by scaling back what you do by 10 percent that week.
2. Stage 2: The pain appears sooner and sooner after each workout until it is present near the end of activity and afterward, but doesn’t affect performance. Adjust your exercise by scaling back what you do that week by 25 percent.
3. Stage 3: The pain comes on during activity and affects performance. Running gets worse or you feel fatigued in the middle of working out when you used to feel fine. Adjust your exercise by scaling back what you do that week by 50-75 percent.
4. Stage 4: The pain is debilitating. It’s there as soon as your start and during daily activities (for example, limping when you walk). Adjust your exercise by suspending it until you see a doctor to see if you have a stress fracture or equivalent.

They didn’t say how to go between stages – but I assume  you follow the advice to cut your exercise back for each stage (for example, going from stage 3 to 1) until you feel no pain.

Have you experienced any of the interconnected injuries? Do you think the stages of an overuse injury and how to react to them are helpful?

Where was this article last year when I was running on my sore shin? I didn’t cut back at first, when I should have, and did end up with what the doctor thought was a stress fracture (couldn’t afford the MRI) and wasted a lot of time not being able to workout at all. It did start out at Stage 1 and definitely ended in Stage 4. I was limping so bad, it took me almost twice as long to walk six blocks to work.

I know that this may be boring to some of you, but I felt like I found a little treasure when I stumbled upon this article, so I thought I would share. I am going to follow the signs of the four stages if I am unlucky enough to experience what I think might be an injury.

*I have subscribed on and off to Fitness for years. After reading Women’s Health and SELF, I felt like the Fitness articles were just fluff in comparison so I didn’t renew my subscription. But they sent me a great deal ($5 for a year) and I like to have stuff to read on the bike, so I re-subscribed. I was pleasantly surprised with the first issue I received.
**Too much too soon or too much intensity, too soon.

Comments (59)

By kilax, February 26, 2010 5:17 am

Do you have blogger friends who have turned into “in-real life” friends? If yes, do you consider these friendships any different than those that developed more conventionally? What do you tell people when they ask how you developed the friendship? If no, what are you waiting for have you ever thought about what it would be like to meet a fellow blogger in real life?

As I mentioned on Monday, most of our Chicago friends are bloggers!  So, yes – they have turned into “in real life” friends!

And I don’t consider them any different than friends we have met more conventionally. In fact, I dare say that bloggers are easier to keep in touch with – they’re more likely to respond to email, and of course, you communicate through your blogs.

I’m not saying it’s a replacement for meeting friends more conventionally (maybe this is a conventional method, who knows), but that for me, it turns into a more sustainable friendship. The question is, does the friendship remain when one person quits blogging? Hmm…

I’ve told everyone about my blog, except coworkers, so I am pretty open about sharing how I’ve met people (except with coworkers). You can really tell when people “don’t get it” though! It’s the same people who ask “why would you want to write a blog?” and look at you with blank stares.

Comments (37)

By kilax, February 25, 2010 5:54 am

Wow, everyone – I felt so much better yesterday knowing how many of you could relate to my frustration with things being out of my control. There were some great tips:

• Take deep breaths and remember that one frustrating day means nothing in the grand scheme of things – from Anna
• Take me time – even if it’s just 15 minutes of peace and quiet – from Karin
• Schedule time to get things done – defer emails, phone calls and questions so that you can focus – from Nilsa
• Take a break and count to 10 – from Scale Warfare
• Control the only thing you can – your reaction – from Christina
• Put the situation into perspective – from Lacey
• Keep long term goals in mind – from RunningLaur
• Take a break from your routine (to keep things fresh) – from Kate
• Give yourself an entire day with nothing planned – from Diane

I figured since many of you could relate to my frustration with things being out of my control, that you might also relate to my problems with being impatient. I think those two issues go hand in hand – you create an elaborate schedule for yourself, and are very impatient if things don’t go accordingly. Sadly, I am almost always in a rush, or cutting my time short – cramming as much into my day as I can. It goes haywire when I expect other people to be on the same path as me, and they just aren’t (good for them!). I get impatient when someone isn’t on time, when someone takes longer than I think they should, when I have to wait for an answer, when the train is late, when I am behind a slow driver (last night!), when I am waiting to get into my seat on a plane, when I am stuck in a slow-moving line… you get the idea!

Valerie Frankel wrote a great article for the March issue of SELF, humorously discussing her lack of patience and how she went about changing it. She cites a few studies done about impatience, and shares the suggestions she received on dealing with it.

Here is what really spoke to me from the article:

Impatience can also be a by-product of living in a chaotic world. Generally, it arises when we don’t feel in control.

Waiting with patience means actively accepting the current circumstances and giving up the illusion that you can control the world.

Agreed! But, wait… how do I do that?!

Frankel received tips (from a Buddhist monk) on how to be more patient:

• Distraction: when you are waiting in line, read a book.
• Meditation: say a mantra of your own as you breathe in and out.
• Manage expectations: instead of thinking “this line should move faster,” try “it would be nice if this line moved faster.”
• Accept circumstances: accept the things you cannot change
• Have a sense of humor: this Frankel’s tip – if all else fails, find something to laugh at!

Notice how similar some of these tips are to the tips you gave me yesterday?

Are you impatient? Do you think this tips would work for you? What are your tips on being more patient?

I think they might work for me, but that I would really have to do a lot of self-talk to calm myself down. I am going to try them though!

Yesterday in the comments, Erin mentioned that she used to create all of these plans, but never share them… then she felt upset when people weren’t following her plans. She realized this didn’t make sense – how would they know what she wanted to do if she didn’t tell them – so she started sharing her plans.

I used to do that too. I still do, a bit. I create these elaborate schedules and do not share them with Steven, then wonder why we are so frustrated with each other on the weekends. Now we plan out our weekends, and when I wake up in the morning, I usually ask him what he wants to get done during the day.

So, that is my tip – VOCALIZE YOUR SCHEDULE – it decreases the chances that it will be interrupted, or, lets you plan for interruptions.

If you’re interested, I’ve included a few other interesting tidbits from the article below:

Continue reading 'How to be more patient'»

Comments (2)

By kilax, February 25, 2010 4:54 am

Do you feel like yoga complements running?

Do you want to hear my take on it? Head on over to gemfit’s Staying on Course and read my guest post about how I have finally (!!!) embraced yoga and how I feel it helps me as a runner.

Let gemfit know your history with yoga, and if you were resistant toward it at first, like me!

Comments (38)

By kilax, February 24, 2010 5:19 am

Generally, I thrive on:

• schedule
• routine
• day-to-day consistency
• making my own to-do list and following it

I don’t handle very well:

• major interruptions
• crises (whether real or exaggerated)
• people dumping their stress on me
• THINGS BEING OUT OF MY CONTROL

I am just being honest here. I struggle with a fear of the unknown. Not the unknown of what is going to happen in my life, but the unknown of “how far off schedule am I going to get today?”

I live in this imaginary place in my mind, where I get to actually control my own schedule, make a to-do list, and follow it. Sure, I enjoy the occasional interruption, or unplanned event. I am not that stiff and rigid.

But I HATE IT when I feel like I have no control over my day. More and more lately I feel like my entire day is being flushed down the drain because there are so many interruptions/too much drama to deal with. I actually found myself thinking earlier this week “I hope no one bothers me today.”

Whoa – I think it might be time to reassess my situation. Hoping that no one bothers me says something about me – I am worn out and stressed to the point that I am not doing a very good job with human interaction.

Any tips on helping me be more flexible and “go with the flow”? Do you ever struggle with fear of the unknown/things being out of your control?

Comments (51)

By kilax, February 23, 2010 4:35 am

Last Tuesday, the 16th, and yesterday, the 22nd, nearly all comments I left on wordpress blogs went directly to spam. I had to email bloggers and tell them to “un-spam” me. Has this happened to anyone else? Akismet has not been much help AT ALL.

Twice in the past month, Steven and I have been ambitious enough to make two homemade (everything but the sauce) pizzas. Once because we are little oinklets and wanted to have a really thick one and a really thin one, and once because we were having actual guests.

Why is this ambitious? Because of our pizza stone situation. We have one good-quality pizza stone that is well-seasoned and takes heat really well (we heat them up prior to putting the pizza on) and one that… is a piece of crap. Something on this second pizza stone makes the oven fill with smoke when it heats up. Lovely!

So, we have the nasty smoke smell in the house, and the smoke detectors go off. This has happened both times we have tried to make two pizzas. It starts with the smoke detector downstairs then all three of them go off upstairs.

Steven and I think this is extremely annoying.

But Data?

Poor Data. He is so scared when these go off. He goes to the furthest corner away from them all and cowers. He is startled the rest of the night. He doesn’t even want to eat (this is HIGHLY UNUSUAL for him). He has big eyes, and looks so sad.

The first time this happened, I waited a bit to take the battery out and unplug (because they are wired in) each smoke detector, thinking they would stop going off. The second time (Sunday), I unplugged them right away.

Data was still freaked. And when we plug them back in, the go off for a few seconds, freaking Data out even more.

On Sunday, I was cruel enough to take pictures of him in his “safe spot” (on top of the dryer, next to his food) – after/while I was consoling him, of course!

Data is thinking, what is around the corner?

Of course, Data was all sweet and slept next to me all night. Aww.

Solution? Buy a better pizza stone. Or unplug these stupid things before we make two pizzas. But, they still go off when you plug them back in!

What scares your pets? What do you do to console them?

Data is also afraid of plastic bags, and apparently, balloons. My mom gave us the one in the picture below for Valentine’s Day, and uh… yeah, Data pretty much ran when he saw it and crouches really low to run by it now.

Comments (44)

By kilax, February 22, 2010 8:19 am

For saying things like (without wasting a whole blog post):

It snowed 4 inches last night. The roads are complete slush. I don’t care how rich you are. Get your Murcielago off the road. That car does not deserve to be treated this way.

Wait, is that too many characters?!

I ended up calling the only person I knew who would appreciate seeing a Lamborghini in February – and be up at 6:30 am – my father. It’s funny, just this weekend I was thinking about how odd it is to see exotic cars in Chicago in the winter – and there one was. I recognized the motor sound and thought, “you’ve got be to kidding me!” I don’t think I would ever treat one that way!

So, I could use twitter or facebook to microblog stuff like this, but I don’t. In fact, I have actively stayed away from twitter and am trying to distance myself from facebook. It’s just TOO MUCH. I am too overloaded with social media. I am not against it, I just think for now, the blog is enough for me.

I was off the computer all weekend, except for drafting up some posts and uploading a shit-ton of rock climbing photos. I was out most of the day Saturday, from 8:30-6:30, rock climbing, eating lunch, running and hanging a bit with friends. I had a blast. I told Steven on the way home, “This is the first time I have been out with friends and not been super anxious to get home.”

How sad, but true! When I go out, I have a good time, but often can’t wait to get back to the comfort of my own home. But I had such a good time on Saturday, the only reason I left our friends’ company is because I stank and needed a shower.

And that, is the joy of real life. Sometimes I get too caught up in all of this on-line world stuff. I love to blog, and read blogs, and meet new people (almost all of my Chicago friends are bloggers), and I am not stopping. But I am also not starting – with twitter, and facebook microblogging. So, you’ll have these in-between posts from time to time.

Do you twitter or update your facebook status? And blog? Do you find it time-consuming, or just a quick way to have fun? Do you ever feel like your on-line life interfers with your real life?

Two posts in one day is pretty annoying, so don’t feel compelled to respond! Just throwing some questions out there.

And, since I did mention I was off the computer all weekend, be prepared to see me play catch-up on all of your posts in the next few days!

Comments (21)

By kilax, February 22, 2010 4:35 am

In life, we sometimes tend to base our actions on how we think others will react, right? If Steven was annoyed the last time I sloppily hung the towels in the bathroom, I am definitely not going to do that again (or I might, to annoy him).

We mentally log how people react when we say/don’t say and do/or don’t do things. Unless we are trying to aggravate someone, we tend to act in a way that is agreeable to them (as long as it is agreeable to us).

But what about the people who have COMPLETELY inconsistent personalities?! That thing you did last week, and they loved? Oh gosh, how they hate it now! Remember when they told you to do xyz? Well, you’re getting yelled at the next time xyz happens.

They’re up one minute, down the next. One day you’re their best friend, the next day, everything you do is wrong.

So, how do you deal with these people?! You have NO WAY to judge how they are going to react to something. You are walking on eggshells around them. Even when you reassure yourself it is “all their issue” that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cause you stress!

I try not to waste time trying to figure out what causes someone to be so up and down, back and forth, day and night… but I am curious. Don’t people realize how incredibly inconsistent they are? How, dare I say, hypocritical?

Don’t they realize their inconsistency makes it very hard for us to make them happy?

Have you ever had to interact with someone like this?

Thank you for all of your entries in the Love to Run Pendant Giveaway! Isn’t the Tarma Designs website awesome?! There are so many pieces on there I would love to have (let me know if you want a list, Steven!).

On to the winner! Data inspected the names before Steven drew…

Stef‘s name! Congrats, Stef!

Stef liked the Cast Lotus Pendant. I have a feeling she will love this one too! Stef, please email me your address and I will send the Love to Run Pendant your way!

Again, thank you to all who entered. I have another giveaway coming up (just waiting on the mail) so stay tuned!