Comments (2)

By kilax, April 8, 2018 9:59 am

Highlight of the Week: Breathing on my left side while swimming / having fun subbing (class) / winning money at the 5K/ running with Dad!

Monday | April 2, 2018: 8 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: VP Woods loop, Temp: 34°/36°, Time: 1:17:42, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent, legs a bit tired
Strength: plyo box, kettlebells, and boxing, Felt: good
Tuesday | April 3, 2018: 1,302 yd swim + 2 m walk
Loc: FitNation, Time: 25:37, Pace: 1:58 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy enough, Felt: great
Wednesday | April 4, 2018: 3 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 33°/30°, Time: 24:55, Pace: 8:17 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good to run the stress off
Thursday | April 5, 2018: 4 m run (incl. 6×1:00) + massage + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 22°/22°, Time: 37:15, Pace: 9:18 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: body bars and resistance bands, Felt: great
Friday | April 6, 2018: 15 m ride + 3 m walk
Indoor Ride Time: 58:44, Pace: 15.3 mph, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | April 7, 2018: Fools 5K (+1.2 m WU & .7 m CD) + 30 min walk (w/Dad)
Loc: George Wyth State Park, Temp: 16°/20°, Time: 21:48, Pace: 7:01 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: like I was racing, ha
Sunday | April 8, 2018: 6 m run (w/Dad!)
Loc: Cedar Prairie Trail, Temp: 14°/22°, Time: 58:30, Pace: 9:45 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: a bit rough at first then fine

Notes:

• When I started my swim on Tuesday, I decided to try bilateral breathing to see if I could get back to that meditation, and it worked! And it somehow made me swim faster, overall (maybe since I was breathing every three strokes instead of two?!)!
• I slept unusually well at the beginning of the week. For three nights in a row, I didn’t get up to use the bathroom, and when I did wake up, I fell back asleep. The next night, I did get up to use the bathroom, but again, fell right back asleep. I wonder if the lighter training load has anything to do with that?! The good sleep only lasted three days, but I enjoyed it!
• The Thursday night instructor needed a sub so I taught her class and she taught my Friday am class which meant I got a bit more sleep the day before my race! Yay! And I had a lot of fun teaching her class.
• Ha, I was feeling like I didn’t push myself hard enough at the 5K because my stomach and coughing weren’t that bad, but it hit that night (stomach), and I definitely felt it (legs) during the beginning of my Sunday run (and the coughing after)!
• It was freaking cold on Sunday, but Dad still came out with me for a ride while I ran. Yay! I love our run/rides! We just chat the whole time, and I get to hear all these stories from my dad about his life, and what he’s up to now.

Link to Training Week 441

Comments (24)

By kilax, April 7, 2018 5:12 pm

Ugh, guys! I was so close! I finished the Fools 5K in 21:48 – four seconds over what would have been a PR!

Sigh.

Ha ha.

It was 16°F with 8mph winds from the WNW when the race started at 9:00 (not super windy, yay!). We headed in the west, and I was glad to get the wind “out of the way” to start. I started out too fast, with a 6:40 mile, but was planning on positive splitting. I actually thought I had a buffer!

The pain wasn’t horrible, but I was definitely slowing down. I kept pumping my arms, repeating my mantras, and trying to keep my speed up. I felt like I had no “go.” The second mile was 7:01.

I slowed down even more in the third mile (even though the wind was “at my back”). The 180 turns got to me (in mile 2 and 3), and I would try to speed up coming out of them. I started doing bad “race math” like “well, if I have a 400 left and it takes me 2:00 mins to run a 400 at 8:00 pace and my watch says 19:45, I’m fine!” Ha. I focused hard on running the tangents (the road is curved), but, I didn’t (so my math failed). I finished the third mile in 7:07, and the last .15 (dammit!) in 1:01 (6:43 pace). It was 20° with 12 mph winds from the NNW when I finished.

Ugh. So close! I thought I’d have it, by a margin. Darnit!

But oh well!

I ended up being second woman overall, which came with a cash prize! That was a surprise – I won $75!

And I was first in the Athena division, so that’s cool! And 25th overall, out of 381 (very small turnout this year).

AND… a lot of my family came to spectate, and Steven of course, which I loved! It was not a warm morning to watch someone run and wait a while for awards. I appreciate them being there!

I don’t plan to race another 5K in April, or even May. I need to drop some more weight (I lost about 45 pounds for this attempt, geesh, but need to lose a bit more) and work on my pick-up and go (I was well rested this week, so that’s not why I didn’t have any – I think I need to work on turnover) before another attempt. But if the weather remains this cold, maybe I can find a 5K in thirty degree weather in June. HA!

Joanna – you were the closest guess at 21:44 – please email me your choice of $20 gift card or donation!

Other notes:

• I did a 1.2 mile warm-up, and a short .7 cool-down.
• This race is fantastically organized, and fun. There was an 80s theme and a costume contest. They had a PR bell (that I didn’t get to ring, ha ha), immediate results you could print or see online, and photos and video of the finish provided. Do this race if you’re within travel distance to Waterloo, Iowa!
• I’m disappointed I was so close and didn’t make it, but it’s my fault for relying on my watch speed and not running the tangents that well. And for not pushing as hard as I could. That I don’t have a crazy upset stomach and a intense hacking cough after the race makes me think I didn’t push hard enough! Ha! It’s only a race though. On to the next thing!

Comments (18)

By kilax, April 5, 2018 5:53 am

• AHHHHH the Grease OPI line!!!! I’m definitely choosing my next nail color from there!

Christina had sent this pic of me listening to the Grease album a few days before I saw the new colors! Ha! 

• I saw those colors when I was at the salon getting at touch-up on my 5K nails. I hope it’s not an omen that one peeled so early!!! Eek! (At this rate, it seems I’ll have gloves on for the race anyway – my mom said it’s supposed to be really cold there.)
• I finished reading The French Girl, and started reading Immortal Life. Immortal Life is a sci-fi novel set in the future, about a 127 year old man who is transferring his consciousness to a younger host, because his original body is so decayed, and he wants to live forever. It’s interesting, but the writing style is difficult for me to read – long descriptions with lots of “fancy” (read: “I’m going to show off my vocabulary”) words. Eh. I will keep at it, and keep using my dictionary.com app.

• I confirmed at my local Starbucks Tuesday that they are phasing out the “You Are Here” mugs. But the “Been There” mugs sign says they will have a mug for all fifty states (and some destinations) so that’s cool – Iowa never had one before, and now it will! Woot!

• And now for some super random ish:
  • I like it when an e-commerce site uses Amazon Pay and I don’t have to re-enter all my info to order – I just log in to my Amazon account and the site grabs it from there. It’s especially convenient when I am ordering from my phone. This will probably bite me in the a$$, as I bet Amazon Pay gives those sites more info than they need. But man, it’s so convenient.
  • I’ve recently started adding raisins to my salads (ha, after Steven’s been suggesting it for a year) and WHOA does it make a world of difference! Yum! (A few people suggested cranberries, when I told them I like raisins. I tried them and didn’t care for them as much. Shrug.)
  • I bought this eucalyptus mint soap to try and the scent of it takes me and Steven back to when we first moved in to our home, two years ago. Neither of us remembers why we had this scent at the house before though (it’s not one of the usual scents we use), and it’s making me crazy that I can’t recall (since one of my jobs at home is sentiment/scent manager). But at the same time, each time I use it, I’m like “aww, we’ve lived here two years!”

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 173

Comments (45)

By kilax, April 4, 2018 5:37 am

To thank you all for reading my 5K training posts for months on end, I’d like to reward the person who guesses closest to my 5K finish time (over or under) with a gift card or donation of their choice!

Here’s what you need to know!

• I am shooting for a finish time of faster than 21:45 (6:59 minute miles or faster). If you guess slower than that I will NOT be offended – seriously – no worries!
• I weigh four pounds more than when I ran my 21:45 5K PR, and am two years older.
• The race is this Saturday, the 7th. The course is flat, with a few turns (including two 180s). You can check the weather here. (I won’t check until Friday, but I did get an email last night from the race saying they’re predicting high winds, yay.)
• I ran my last 5K in 23:08.
• You can see all my training here. Hint: click on the links for workouts that included speed or tempo to get a better idea of the paces I’ve been training at.
• There is obviously some strategy to how you guess, compared to what other people are guessing… I will leave that up to you.

The Prize:

A $20 gift card to either Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, or Starbucks, or a donation to the charity of your choice.

IF you guess the time exactly right, I will add $5 to the $20, for a total of $25!

IF no one guesses correctly, but two people are the same amount of seconds off (over and under), I will split the gift card between the two people (each will get $10).

Guess my 5K finish time GIVEAWAY RULES:

1. One OR two reader(s) will receive a prize (see above) for guessing the closest time to my 5K finish time, over OR under.
2. REQUIRED to enter the giveaway: leave a comment telling me what you think my 5K finish time will be. Read the comments above yours so you don’t guess the exact same time as someone else. One vote is allowed per person.
3. Updated to add: only guesses submitted on this post in the comments will be entered.
4. Guessing is open until 9:00 PM CST on Friday April 6. I will announce the winner(s) on either Saturday April 7 or Sunday April 8. GUESSING IS CLOSED.
5. This giveaway is open to all readers, in all locations.
6. This is not sponsored.

Comments (21)

By kilax, April 3, 2018 6:23 am

THE ONE* THING!!!

My snister text me and Mom these pics on Saturday, which say that Starbucks is getting rid of the “You Are Here” mug collection to introduce the new “Been There” series.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ha. I kind of collect the “You Are Here” Starbucks mugs. I like to buy one when I travel to a new city/state. The new mugs are the same size, so they’d “fit” with the ones I have, but the designs are a completely different style! Of course, change is hard, and I like the old ones better.

But… do I need any more mugs? No. Not. At. All. I had to clear mugs out from in front of my Starbucks ones to take the picture above, and I have lots of mugs in storage in the basement, AND a few “You Are Here” mugs that are still in the box, because they are from cities/states I haven’t visited yet (I don’t use them until I’ve been there). Then there’s the fact that I don’t drink coffee, and only use mugs for hot drinks in the cold season, which is ending soon…

So, this is a good thing.

But I am trying to decide if now is the time to buy the Illinois, Chicago, and Wisconsin “You Are Here” mugs before they are gone…

NO! NO MORE MUGS!!! Hee hee.

*Not counting the Star Wars Hallmark ornaments I used to collect much more seriously.
*Also not counting race bibs or medals.

Comments (18)

By kilax, April 2, 2018 6:23 am

Thanks for reading these long arse weekend recaps! I enjoy writing them and appreciate you reading them!

There was no reason for last week to feel as long as it did. I was glad when it was finally Friday night!

FRIDAY!

We kicked the weekend off by going out for MOD Pizza. MOD’s a build-your-own-pizza place (think Subway or Chipotle style) with unlimited toppings! And they have vegan cheese!

MOD’s one of the very few places I like to get pizza out. I prefer Steven’s homemade pizza, or no pizza at all – I’m actually not a much of a pizza fan! But MOD… drool.

We ran an errand after dinner and picked up Pitch Perfect 3 to watch. It was silly, but entertained us a lot more than other movies we’ve rented lately!

SATURDAY!

On Saturday I got my run in before the wicked winds hit (25 mph winds with 40 mph gusts, no thanks), did an indoor bike ride, then taught a fitness boxing class. The class had an egg hunt theme – I put the workouts on little slips of paper in the eggs, and the students “hunted” for them to find out what workout we’d do!

It was fun for me since I had no idea what order the workout would be in. It ended up being a high intensity class, and the students liked it, yay!

I handed out goodie bags too. I had goodie bags for twelve, but I had two cancellations an hour before class, and three no-shows. I typically have a cancellation (and sometimes a no show) for every single class I teach, but when it’s a big number like that, it makes me a bit frustrated/disappointed. Oh well. That meant I had leftover goodie bags for my boss’s kids!

I ran errands after teaching – Aldi and Walmart pickup. This pickup did not go as well as the last one. It  took a long time, and the employee seemed overworked and was rude to me (about being there “early,” when I had received a notification my order was ready…?!). Hopefully the next time I try it, it goes better. I did have a good reality check NOT to be too upset about this FREE service while I was there, when I saw another customer who’d been waiting since before I arrived, leave, in her car, without her pickup, with her window down, screaming at the employee. Eek.

After food prep for the week, and lunch, we ran MOAR errands – Target and Kohl. Why so many errands on Saturday? Because I’ve been burned before, leaving shopping for Sunday, only to have everything closed because it’s Easter.

I wonder if everyone else had the same idea, or it was just normal Saturday shopping, but GAH there were too many people out and it made me anxious and stabby. Sigh. I needed more of this on Saturday:

and less people.

Happily, Saturday night was quiet. We made tacos, watched The Beguiled, and I read a bit before bed.

SUNDAY!

When we saw on Holey Moley Doughnuts’s social media page that they were going to be open on Easter, we knew it was a sign we had to go. Three months after making it a goal to get there, we finally did!

It was overwhelming when I got there, and saw they had THIRTEEN (not an April Fool’s joke!!!) different vegan donuts I could try. AHHH!!!!!

We got seven flavors (including one we’d had before and knew we like). Clockwise from top left: chocolate cake with vanilla glaze, cinnamon sugar (have had before), banana bread, s’mores, raspberry, samoa, and apple fritter (under chocolate cake with vanilla glaze).

We didn’t try: blood orange, chai, maple pecan, passionfruit coconut, peanut butter, or grasshopper.

These are all cake donuts, and the flavors are phenomenal. We both liked samoa the best, and couldn’t get over how the banana bread donut tasted just like banana bread. Yum.

I like these a lot, but they sit a bit heavy (um, could that be because I ate about three of them…?! nah), which just reminds me yeast donuts are my favorite! Which is why they only have 3.5 drooling faces below.

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter

The rest of my Sunday was just as amazing as the morning. I took a nap when we got home (less than six hours of sleep both weekend nights had me yawning and rubbing my eyes all morning), we ate lunch and played with the cats with the toy the Easter Bunny left them,

Ha, I had to include this one first cause it makes us laugh so hard!

Data played a little, but mostly watched

then I did my donut fueled long run, and we made our Easter dinner!

Now, to recover from the weekend…

(I usually don’t mention what Steven is up to during the weekends when I am exercising and doing errands without him. This weekend he was working and installing a security camera at the house. He’s usually working a bit, and doing some sort of project!)

Comments (2)

By kilax, April 1, 2018 4:52 pm

Highlight of the Week: Tuesday’s awesome run/my students enjoying the fitness boxing workout!

Monday | March 26, 2018: 15 m ride + 6 m run (incl. 8 hill repeats) + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 58:21, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 42°/43°, Time: 55:04, Pace: 9:11 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: body bars & resistance bands, Felt: good
Tuesday | March 27, 2018: 12 m run
Loc: Lake Andrea/Outlet Mall Loop, Temp: 46°/46°, Time: 1:48:22, Pace: 9:02 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: really great
Wednesday | March 28, 2018: rest
Thursday | March 29, 2018: 7 m run (incl. 4×800, 4×400)
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 41°/40°, Time: 1:04:07, Pace: 9:09 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: angry
Friday | March 30, 2018: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + 10 m run
Strength: box, kettlebells, & boxing, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 26:05, Pace: 2:09 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: to VP Woods and back, Temp: 41°/37°, Time: 1:38:06, Pace: 9:48, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent, but tired legs
Saturday | March 31, 2018: 4 m run + 10 m ride + teaching fitness boxing
Loc: hood, Temp: 40°/40°, Time: 38:05, Pace: 9:31 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Indoor Ride Time: 39:12, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Strength: whole body moves, boxing with gloves, Felt: great!
Sunday | April 1, 2018: 11 m run
Loc: ML/VP Woods Loop, Temp: 32°/33°, Time: 1:48:08, Pace: 9:50 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• Whoa, Tuesday’s run. I don’t have my pace showing on my watch for most runs, just the split per mile. So I was surprised to notice my pace kept dropping with each mile, and I decided to go for negative splits! I started with a 9:44 pace for my first mile, and ended with a 7:56 pace, each mile being the same or faster than the one before. Wheeeee!!! My stomach felt that ALL night. Worth it though – it was fun.
• Thursday’s workout, on the other hand, was a bit of a disaster. It was my last “big” speed workout before my race and I thought it would go well. No. I got a bloody nose during my first interval (that lasted a few miles) and the wind really screwed up a few of my splits and made me angry. Sigh. Oh well.
• I’m glad my weather app let me know we were going to have crazy winds on Saturday, so I did a longer run on Friday instead of Saturday, to avoid being too miserable outside. I don’t want hot weather to get here any faster… but I am a bit sick of all the layers and of course… THE WIND!
• I did a fun Easter themed workout in fitness boxing on Saturday. It’s cheesy, but I love that crap.
• Sunday’s run was in the late afternoon, after sampling seven vegan donuts in the morning. I didn’t feel the donuts until the last three miles of the run – success! Ha!
• This is my last 50 mile week (the last five weeks have been 50.5, 52.4, 54.5, 51.2, and 50). Time for a short taper before the 5K on Saturday!
• Monthly recap time! In March I ran 230.6 miles (my highest mileage month since January 2016) (27 runs), cycled 145 miles (10 indoor rides) and swam 5,544 yards (5 swims). My coldest run was 17°F and my warmest was 51°F. I did 4 hill workouts, 4 speed workouts, and 4 tempo workouts. I taught 8 strength classes and 3 fitness boxing classes. I did 1 strength workout at home.

Link to Training Week 440