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By kilax, January 31, 2018 5:41 am

What a long month! January seems to be lasting forever (apparently I’m not the only one who feels that way). That’s not a bad thing though. It’s been a fun month, and I am 100% a-okay with time not flying by! But of course, I’m thinking ahead!

Here’s a few things I am looking forward to in February:

• A running date with Rachel!
• Teaching three fitness boxing classes, and one indoor cycling class.
• Valentine’s Day treats for fitness boxing class (yes, I favor them, ha).
• My parents maybe visiting to help with a house project, and take my classes!
• A massage!
• Anne and Terry visiting!
• Continuing my every day blogging streak?! Maybe?! (This post about what makes me blog more often is still true.)
• More bowling dates with Steven! We’ve been bowling more and I enjoy it. I wish we could find a league to participate in… that wasn’t a zillion weeks long. And was every other week. Ha.
• My work detail ending. That’s completely the opposite of what I’ve been saying, but after some things happened, I am ready for it to be done.
• Having another vegan donut?!

Notice what’s NOT on the list?! The Frosty Footrace! I’ll likely be there, but I just still feel so meh about it all. (Yes, I hold long grudges. Working on that. Maybe having a good race there will help!?!)

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By kilax, January 30, 2018 6:30 am

The 2018 RAGBRAI route was announced Saturday night!

I’m glad the route is not going through the far south side of the state. My family lives north of Highway 20 and going far south gets logistically tricky with finding a place to stay, getting to the start, getting all the cars to the finish, and getting to Guttenberg (for vacation!!!) when we’re done.

Not to say it’s NOT going to be logistically tricky to figure out! It still will be. I’ve been trying to think about it, but haven’t wrapped my head around it yet. It’s logistically similar to what we did in 2016, so I wonder if we’ll have to repeat that. Things to think about. Anyway.

The plan is to do Day 7, on Saturday July 28th, from Iowa City to Davenport. I know that Dad and (bestie) Gina are in, and Gina said (her husband) Steve is interested too. Yay! Will (BiL) Andrew be back this year? How about (BiL) Will?! I will make sure to harass them and find out. Ha.

Something exciting about the course this year is that it goes through my college town, Ames. I would LOVE to figure out a way to ride the Wednesday route that leaves out of there. Then ride Saturday as well. I am sure I could convince Dad to do that. And maybe even Andrew (since he is an ISU alum as well)!

Time to plan!

Past RAGBRAI posts:

• 2017, Day 7 Waukon to Lansing
• 2016, Day 7 Washington to Muscatine
• 2015, Day 4 Cedar Falls to Eldora, Day 5 Cedar Falls to Hiawatha
• 2014, Day 7 Independence to Guttenberg

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By kilax, January 29, 2018 6:27 am

I’d been looking forward to this weekend for a long time – I had no social plans and wasn’t teaching! Laziness, here I come!!!

Okay, that’s sort of a lie. I had ONE plan, to get my nails done with my friend Kim Friday night. It was time to get the gel nails removed that I had put on in KC, and I decided to get new ones put on. They’re doing a good job protecting my nails, and it’s nice not to have them chip (too much, anyway… the left hand started to chip 1.5 weeks in). I wonder how long I’ll keep this maintenance up! So fance. Much self care. Very pamper.

Color is OPI “We Seafood and Eat It.” I love OPI! Background is Data. 

On Saturday, I ran, did errands (at an earlier time that I usually do, which was great because there were less people out), then assisted Steven with installing the antenna in the attic (this is the second antenna we’ve tried, with a stronger signal). My job was very important – I handed Steven tools, and sat on the couch and pressed buttons to see what the signal strength was and let him know, while he messed around with mounting it in the attic.

YOU GUYS. I made a major realization this week – now that we have an antenna we can watch things like awards show (the Oscars!), and sports games (the Superbowl), and Saturday Night Live (if I EVER stay up that late). EXCITING!!! We only got an antenna so I could watch the Olympics, so all of that seems like a bonus!

(Note: we can’t get cable on our street, and we didn’t get an antenna before because it wasn’t important and we doubted it would work with being too far from signals in Chicago and Milwaukee. But this super strength antenna seems to be working! Yay!)

On Saturday night, we had a “date night” in Milwaukee, and tried Beerline Cafe, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. The food was delicious! It’s a treat to go to a restaurant where I can order almost anything off the menu!

Yay, I satisfied my nachos craving!

But the restaurant was in a super quiet residential area and I couldn’t come up with anything to do after! I suck at finding things to do OTHER than food, in any town. We don’t drink much, so going to bars and breweries is often out. I was looking for shows, and movies, etc., but it was too last minute. I need to work on that!

Sunday was another quiet day. More exercising, a few chores, knitting, short napping (Saturday too!), and relaxing. Yay! My next quiet weekend isn’t until March (if I get one!) so I am glad I had this one!

Comments (6)

By kilax, January 28, 2018 1:12 pm

Highlight of the Week: Actually doing a tempo run!

Monday | January 22, 2018: 10 m ride + 6.5 m run (incl. 10 hill repeats) + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 40:28, Pace: 14.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, sore butt from wearing tri shorts!
Loc: hood, Temp: 46°/50°, Time: 1:03:37, Pace: 9:47 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good physically, LIVID about work
Strength: body bars, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, definitely a shoulder workout!
Tuesday | January 23, 2018: 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 29°/29°, Time: 39:38, Pace: 9:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, annoyed with racing cars
Wednesday | January 24, 2018: rest
Thursday | January 25, 2018: 15 m ride + 7 m run (incl. 5×800, 8×1:00)
Indoor Ride Time: 58:37, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 36°/34°, Time: 1:04:54, Pace: 9:16, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: mostly great
Friday | January 26, 2018: teaching strength class + 1,302 yd swim + 14 m run
Strength: body bars, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 28:06, Pace: 2:10 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: glad to have “company”!
Loc: Lake Andrea/Outlet Mall loop, Temp: 51°/49°, Time: 2:24:57, Pace: 10:21, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, held back by the wind
Saturday | January 27, 2018: 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 38°/37°, Time: 41:46, Pace: 10:26 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, legs a bit tired to start
Sunday | January 28, 2018: 10 m run (incl. 2 m tempo) + 13 m ride
Loc: VP Woods loop, Temp: 29°/34°, Time: 1:39:01, Pace: 9:54 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, tempo med/hard, Felt: great
Indoor Ride Time: 50:59, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great

Notes:

• My weekday rides this week happened because I woke up naturally at 5:00 am, which is too early to start work, and too dark to run. Might as well ride!
• On Tuesday, three cars decided to race next to each other, on the road I was running on. Sigh. At first they drove down the road, normally. Then after I turned, I could see them all lined up next to each other in the distance. Idiots.
• When I looked at my calendar Thursday am and saw my speedwork assignment (that I gave myself), I thought “what the hell?!?!?” Ha! But it went well. Yay! Although my stomach was really messed up for a few hours after. Which happens to me after speedwork, but stinks when you’re trying to get things done or eat dinner, and have to pause to bend over in pain, or lay on the floor. (Nothing is wrong with me, intense speedwork has done this to my stomach for years.)
• My fellow Efit instructor, Kim, joined me at the pool Friday. Even though we’re swimming in separate lanes, it somehow makes swimming more fun!
• I felt great for my Friday long run, but there was a constant 20 mph wind from the SSW that was really slowing me down. Several curse words were said. Ha. It could have been SO much worse!
• I actually did my tempo this week, on Sunday! Yay! Go me!

Link to Training Week 431

Comments (22)

By kilax, January 27, 2018 2:54 pm

My serious, most important goal for 2018 was to eat a vegan donut. Which I have completed, but am conflicted about. Sigh. This post is not about that, though.

It’s about my secondary goal for 2018, which is to see how close I can get to my 5K PR of 21:45! That PR was set at the Frosty Footrace in 2016 and will be two years old this February, eek!

Old photo from my 5K PR (I’m #79)

When I ran 21:45, I was lighter (in weight) and had been for some time, had been running faster in general (because of being lighter), was hitting race pace or slightly faster speeds in interval training, and was running about 45-50 miles a week. I was doing kind of nutso training for this 5K – things like doing 18 mile runs with six one-mile long hill repeats in them. I enjoyed it, that’s for sure. (Also, yay, record keeping – I knew I’d need all this info someday, ha!)

So, because I know that worked, I am working to get back to that weight, and that level of miles per week. The thing is though, I can’t hit the paces now, because I am heavier. As I mentioned in the 5K training plan I created, I have to see how I speed up, as I get lighter.

So I say I’d like to see if I can PR at the 5K I’m signed up for on April 7, but I really have to see where my training is at! The weight won’t do it all – I need to train at those paces, too.

However, part of me knows that racing on a flat course will help. My PR is on a hilly course on a quite windy day. The race I’m targeting in April is flat, flat, flat, with a few turns. And hopefully no wind. Ha. Also, I’ve run a 21:48 (3.5 months before my PR), without being light in weight for very long, on a flat course. So… who knows. Maybe I can just gut it out?!

Just kidding, I know I need to do speedwork at those paces!!! And despite the dread and fear of speedwork, I love how accomplished it makes me feel, when I am doing it, and especially when it’s over. I love training, and won’t be upset if I don’t hit my goal (<— not coping out, just mentioning I am aware it’s JUST running).

So, yeah, that’s goal #2! I feel like I do need to reach some resolution with goal #1 though. The way it was accomplished is putting me in such a funky head space, I am not sure I can devote the energy I need to, to goal #2. Sigh.

Ha ha ha.

And there’s one more thing motivating me for the race in April – it’s in my hometown and I’d love to get a PR that my parents get to see! I don’t think that part of wanting my parents to be proud of me will ever go away.

Comments (8)

By kilax, January 26, 2018 8:38 am

I always have at least one new-to-me FAVORITE song that I am listening to on repeat. And I’d like to share those! <— hence the optimistic “1” in the title indicating this may be a repeating series.

Right now, it’s Erin Bowman’s “Good Time Good Life,”

and Rita Ora’s “Anywhere.”

It’s funny I am sharing music videos, because hearing new music for the first by seeing its video usually makes me not care for it (at first). It gives it a different context than had I just heard it. I usually search for new music by listening to it only, on iTunes. Or I watch a dance clip on instagram or Facebook, and look up the song from the clip (that is how I found “Good Time Good Life” – on the Fitness Marshall’s page).

But blogs are visual and I don’t want to just list titles and make you have to look them up, ha!

So give them a listen! And maybe close your eyes, if you have the same issue as me, ha. (Although the first one is just a lyrics video!)

And let me know what YOU are listening to on repeat!

Comments (10)

By kilax, January 25, 2018 5:33 am

• I got more information yesterday about what’s going on at work. I’m still disappointed, but I understand it better now. I’ll share more when it’s all done (in a few months).
• The RAGBRAI route announcement party is this Saturday! We streamed it last year and it was horribly painful to watch – way too drawn out. This year, I’ll just look up the course before I go to bed. My guess is that it will go through the far south of Iowa.
• Shutterfly had an offer for a “free” (you pay for shipping) custom notebook. I love this photo of me and Steven, so I used it. It doesn’t really go with the message I put on the cover though. Ha!

• For those of you who saw the film It, what did you think of it? I was expecting it to be better, and scarier (note: I haven’t read the book or seen the mini-series). I typically don’t like movies with kids as the main characters, so that didn’t help. Eh. At least I could sleep after watching it! (Except for my usual wake up to use the bathroom then feeling wide awake happening.)
• Ha, we got this flier for the Frosty Footrace in the mail yesterday. The caption on the front page cracks me up (especially the typo). A lot of us must have complained when they changed the format last year. I’m glad they’ve changed it back! (Brief history – I’ve been doing this 5K since 2009 as a goal 5K and they changed it (after I registered) to a “2 miler” last year and the race sucked.)

• Snow has been coming in some nights to spend the night inside. He LOVES the bed. And is SOOOOO cuddly.

• It looks like I am going to be blogging for another two years – I just renewed my hosting until March 2020. I hate that I have to negotiate the rates each year. Blah.
• And now for the COMPLETELY random. I’ve been talking about nachos a lot lately. I should probably make some soon, so I shut up about them. Nachos… droooooool…

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 164

Comments (10)

By kilax, January 24, 2018 6:23 am

Not about the government shutdown. Although I am a federal employee.

Has something ever upset you so much that to deal with it level headedly, you had to step back and give yourself time to calm the eff down?

I know, dumb question. How the hell else do you handle things?

It’s just that I’ve had several moments like that over the last year, so I’m thinking about it. Moments where I was so upset, I really couldn’t think or do anything about the situation. I had to give myself time to calm down. Let my heart rate come down. Let that “I may throw up” feeling stop. I had to wait to deal with it until I wasn’t filled with firey rage just thinking about it.

Okay, that last part may be a bit of an exaggeration. Ha.

But I have to shut down on the situation, until I calm down. It’s not uncommon for me to say “I need time to calm down” or “I can’t talk about it right now,” and it’s not that I’m avoiding it. I just need to be less angry. Then approach it with less emotion involved.

This happened to me Monday, with something work related. I was so shocked I didn’t know whether to cry or throw up. Ugh. I felt horrible.

But I am proud of how I handled it. I didn’t take it out on anyone. I talked to Steven, my snis, and friends for support. I went on a run. I wrote an angry inappropriate blog post and waited until today to publish this (and not the other one). I didn’t binge eat (<—- that’s a big one).

I feel like such an adult.

An angry, screwed over one (who feels slightly better today).

Unrelated photo of our snow dump from Monday night! I was so proud of myself for doing all the snow blowing, even though it looked horrible because the ground was so soft under the snow and dirt flew everywhere.

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By kilax, January 23, 2018 6:23 am

Because if I saved this all for Random Thoughts Thursday, that post would be WAY too long.

• On Friday I came back in a great mood from my run… until I was undressing and realized my driver’s license was not in the pocket I put it in during my run. I was 99% certain it fell out somewhere in the car (not on my run), and was stressed out and annoyed until I found it. Ugh. I did find it though. When I unzipped the pocket it was in to take out my phone in the car, it fell in to that horrible crevice between the seat and the center console (you know, the one that the peanuts and popcorn and chapstick and dry cleaning stubs live in). I tried every different way of adjusting the seats to find it. Then, when I did, I had to use a pair of long tweezers to grab it, cause the slot it was in was so small. Fun times, for sure. I definitely learned my lesson to always keep track of my ID, though! And a huge thanks to Steven for spending time trying to find it, as well.

Photo from that run

• On Saturday we hung up the mirror Christina and Will gave us! I love how it looks! Every time we hang something, or decorate, or do a project, or a deep clean, or I walk down the stairs in to the living room, I get this feeling of “Man, I just love this house.”

P.S. That Cinnamon Caramel Swirl candle in the photo? Definitely a new favorite of mine!!!

• On Saturday, Bobbi and her husband came over for dinner and games, and we laughed so hard playing the 5 Second Rule game (not an affiliate link). The gist of the game is that you have to name three things from one topic in five seconds. For example, three breeds of dogs, three tv dads, three national parks, three books, etc. If you can’t name three items in your turn, it goes to the next person, but they can’t list any of the things you did! It gets silly and I was laughing so hard I almost cried. I love that feeling!
• On Sunday, I started working on some wash cloths my mom asked me to knit for her sister-in-law. I was ashamed when I went through my knitting stash and found MANY unfinished projects, and so many skeins of beautiful yarn I’ve been gifted and haven’t used. Ugh. But working on the first cloth, and having it go so easily and all come back to me, and enjoying it SO MUCH gives me hope I will get to those other projects and beautiful skeins! It feels great to MAKE something.

Totally posed knitting by the fireplace photo.

• Sunday was the first weekend day all year that I’ve had a free day with no plans and it was GLORIOUS!!! I got a lot done but was lazy too. My only regret is not taking a nap!

Comments (16)

By kilax, January 22, 2018 5:46 am

… is a good thing… right?!

I’m a confident person. There are only a few things in life that make me feel self doubt:

1. Running
2. Work (being forced to do things I don’t know how to do, or WANT to know how to do)
3. Certain relationships

Don’t worry, we’re only going to talk about running!

Photo from the last race I attempted to run fast at… on April 1, 2017

It blows my mind, that even though I’ve been running for over ten years, I still have feelings of “am I going to finish this run?” before each one. And “is this run going to be hard? AHHHH!” if I am doing speedwork.

It’s only before the run and goes away when I start running. It’s not debilitating. It’s not stress or anxiety, it’s just a feeling (and I don’t get stressed before races, except goal 5Ks). That little bit of self doubt. That little bit of fear. It’s crazy to me! I know I can do it based on past experience, or even my run the day before!

This isn’t something that worries me, it’s just something I wanted to share, because I bet other people can relate. And I do believe that a little bit of that self doubt is not a bad thing. You don’t want to be too cocky. You don’t want to be too sure of yourself.

Kind of related: one of the lessons in a favorite training book of mine (How Bad Do You Want It?) is about “bracing yourself” – always expecting your next race to be your hardest, as opposed to thinking that you’re so well trained it will be an easy effort. Expecting some pain when you’re pushing yourself in competition makes you more mentally prepared to handle it when it comes. Makes sense, right?

Not that I’m really a competitive runner, ha. But I like reading about these things, and imagining if I were!

So, that feeling of “will this run be hard?” needs to be turned in to expecting it to be hard, and being fine with it! (I am talking about speedwork only, ha! I LOVE running easy most of the time!)