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By kilax, January 24, 2016 6:53 pm

Highlight of the Week: A kick arse tempo run / teaching two full weekend classes at the studio.

Monday | January 18, 2016: 8 m run (incl. 7×4 laps (457m)) + 7 m ride (w/Steven) + teaching strength class
Loc: Lindenhurst Park District Indoor Track, Time: 1:07:49, Pace: 8:29 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good
Indoor Ride Time: 26:18, Pace: 16.0 mpg avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, tired legs
Strength: medicine balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Tuesday | January 19, 2016: rest
Wednesday | January 20, 2016: 10 m run (hills)
Loc: hood, Temp: 14°/14°, Time: 1:33:54, Pace: 9:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, careful on the fresh snow
Thursday | January 21, 2016: 10 m ride + 20 mins strength + 7 m run (5 m progressive tempo)
Indoor Ride Time: 39:38, Pace: 15.1 mph avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Loc: around Gages Lake, Temp: 26°/23°, Time: 8:17, Pace: 58:03 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: fantastic!
Friday | January 22, 2016: teaching strength class + 8.2 m run
Strength: Two Dumbbells and some cardio burst, Difficulty:medium/hard, Felt: good but a bit spent
Loc: hood, Temp: 23°/23°, Time: 1:14:45, Pace: 9:07, Difficulty: medium, Felt: SPENT
Saturday | January 23, 2016: 3.3 m run + teaching cycling class + teaching fitness boxing
Loc: hood, Temp: 24°/25°, Time: 29:29, Pace: 8:56 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, needed to shake out the legs
Indoor Cycling Time: 55:06, Pace: 17.4 mph avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, pumped
Strength: boxing and body weight movements, Difficulty: medium, Felt: great
Sunday | January 24, 2016: 14 m run + 8.7 m ride (w/Steven)
Loc: around town, Temp: 26°/27°, Time: 2:08:48, Pace: 9:12 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good but tired
Indoor Bike Time: 34:50, Pace: 15.0 mph avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: happy Steven was biking

Notes:

• 5K course PR training this week:
  • Monday: 7×4 laps on the indoor track
  • Wednesday: hills
  • Thursday: I was going to do an even split tempo on Friday, but I needed a stress relief sesh on Thursday and I ended up with a nice 5 mile progressive (negative) split tempo that felt fantastic. I’ll take it!
  • I liked having my focused runs done early in the week so I could do some junk miles (my fave, ha) for my last few runs of the week.
  • I’ll have a limited schedule next week so I am not sure if I’ll get in these three workouts each week, but I’ll definitely do my speedwork.
• My Friday strength class this week was challenging! It was a simple two dumbbell workout but I put combos together that were challenging – heavy weights then cardio to jack up your heart rate, and core stuff too. FUN! I was so spent on the run after class though – the entire thing felt like the last few miles of a marathon, ha! (and I had to roll out of bed the next morning)
• When I was putting together my playlist for fitness boxing, I looked at an old Destiny’s Child album and was reminded how much I LOVED this song back in the day (and still do love!):

• I was on such a high after teaching cycling and fitness boxing on Saturday! I had full classes, and everyone was working hard and pushing themselves – it was such a great vibe! My next weekend class isn’t until February 14th – I reserved the next two weekends off for our potential house move. When I find out when we close, I may have to add a class on the weekend we aren’t moving – I’ll miss not teaching for that long!
• One of the reasons I love teaching fitness boxing is because it’s fun for me to develop new punching/kicking combos for the students to do. However, I think I need to be more diligent about keeping a majority of the basic, simpler moves in each class so they’re easy to follow and people can focus on their strength rather than trying to remember a combo.
• My brother-in-law gave me a Kohl’s gift card for Christmas and I used it to get this schweet Star Wars workout top! I first saw it in the store, with BB-8 on the front, which I loved, but that one was the wrong size. When I ordered this top, it didn’t show BB-8 in the pictures at all, so I am happy he made it to the back!

Link to Training Week 326

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By kilax, December 31, 2015 6:27 am

• We had a nice Christmas with Steven’s dad and brother. I am grateful that they enjoy traveling out here for the holiday, and especially that they were up for it this year, with us living in a small rental house (with no cable!!!!!! <— insert cat making home alone face emoji).

Me and my boys! Even Data cooperates for the family photo!

• Ugh, but this Christmas, the amount I hate to cook was intensified by the kitchen in the rental house. GRRRRRR. Sigh. I am grateful to have a home at all. And to be renting a home that could host guests, yes. But GAWD, it would be nice to have hot water at the kitchen sink, a dishwasher that is attached to the counter top, some counter space, and cupboard space. Wah wah wah. Whatever, the food turned out good. And you guys know that Steven does 95% of the cooking, anyway (so then it must have been really bad for me to complain, muah ha ha!).

From L to R: breakfast, dinner, X-wing and Death Star ice cubes (!!!) and chocolate pudding pie. Ha ha ha, that pie. I decided to make the crust with the Aldi-brand oreo peppermint cookies (SO GOOD)… 28 of them. So we’re eating the pie and Steven’s like, “how many oreos are in this?” “28!” “No… how many are in ONE slice?” “UM… DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT! It’s Christmas!” Yeah… the leftovers for that went in the trash on Monday.

• When I was doing my long runs during marathon training, I’d just listen to my entire music collection on shuffle, instead of making a playlist. Toward the end of some long runs, as I got low on energy, I’d skip songs a lot more, feeling annoyed with what I was listening to, looking for something more upbeat. Skipping songs was obviously a sign that I needed something to pump me back up. So I put together an upbeat playlist with all my favorite songs on it for the marathon, and it worked! I don’t recall skipping any songs, and this song (below) made me feel so good, I played it once more on repeat after it came on!

I keep expecting Mad Max to show up in the video, ha.

• Each year, in the end of December, WordPress sends me an email “Your [insert year here] year in blogging” with some stats they’ve pulled about most popular posts, the longest posting streak (in days), posts with most comments, etc. It’s interesting to me that the posts on my site that get the most hits are ones I wrote 5-7 years ago. Ha! And especially interesting to me that all my top commenters (most comments left) last year were people I know in real life. This year, they are all people I’ve never met. I understand these stats mean my blog is not growing in popularity (fine by me) and that people I know in real life comment less, and may read less (also, fine by me). I write this blog for me, and appreciate any comments, ever (thank you!)! It’s not too surprising that the top commenters are new people. Blogs seems to be cyclical, and I am sure there are only so many times you can comment on the shiz I write without feeling like you’ve read it, and written that comment, before, and feel like moving on. Ha!
• I am surprised how many people seemed astonished when I told them (after they inquired) how much time I got off for the holidays at my federal job. Guys. I work for the federal government. We get federal holidays off – that’s it. I thought it was cool that Obama signed an executive order so we could have a half day on December 24! Don’t worry about me… I am very satisfied with the perks at my job.
• Noooooo, Running Times is no longer going to be published! It was my favorite magazine! I’m very sad that the issue I got this week is apparently the last (and that it oddly doesn’t mention it anywhere, that I’ve seen, in the issue, update: after I wrote this, I got a mailer telling me about it, and that my Runner’s World subscription will be extended). I had even saved a subscription card out of the issue to gift it to someone. Bummer. I guess it was a huge sign last year when they reduced the amount of issues from 10 to 6. Sigh. I don’t want to read that content online. I loved getting the magazine in the mail. Bummer, bummer, bummer.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 79

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By kilax, May 18, 2015 6:29 am

If I was one of the youngest people at the last concert I went to… I think I was one of the oldest at this one! But look at me – two concerts in one year! Woot!

Steven and I saw Milky Chance at the Turner Hall Ballroom on Thursday night in Milwaukee. Soon after I realized I love their sound last September, I stumbled across a Facebook post that they were touring in the US this year, so I grabbed tickets to their Milwaukee show.

This was my first time attending a “standing room only” show. And my first time seeing a certain drug (that is legalized in other states but not Wisconsin) in person. Ha. You could say there was a very eclectic crowd of mostly young people there. Seriously, I heard one girl say her mom told her to come home “immediately after the show.” Giggle. I am not sure why I was surprised to see people smoking there – I always told Steven I thought Milky Chance was that kind of music.

But back to it being standing room only. It was neat to be so close to the stage! Cozy, but neat! I never imagined I would be that close to the artists.

I also never imagined how frustrated I would feel by the people taking photos and videos the whole time, texting others, uploading to Facebook, snap-chatting, etc. Sure, take a photo or two to document that you were there – I took three photos of the band, no shame! But the whole. damn. time?! Put your freaking phones down! My view of the stage had several glowing phones in it, most of the time (hence why I know what they were doing on them).

Yes, I see the irony of me using my phone to take this photo, and why you might think it makes me a hypocrite. Ha. 

In fact, it was so bad that the lead singer said “take a journey with me, put your phones in your pockets, use your eyes and ears.” Sigh. Just be IN the moment, people. Did that stop them? Nope.

Then at the movies this weekend, I saw someone recording parts of Pitch Perfect 2 on their cell phone. Really? REALLY?! Grrrr.

But other than that, I really enjoyed the show. A band I’d never heard of, FMLYBND, opened for them, and I am looking forward to checking out some of their songs on iTunes.  And Milky Chance sounded almost JUST like they do on their album. Minus the bass being turned up WAY too much and an added harmonica player (eh, I could do without). I really liked the stage set up and lighting during the show.

Steven isn’t as familiar with their music as I am, so he listened to the songs the week leading up to the concert so he’d know what he was listening to. Cause we know that people get more pleasure from songs they are familiar with! I certainly do, and he was happy he had listened to them in advance. They did play two songs that aren’t on their album though, and I liked them! I wonder when they will be available on iTunes!

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By kilax, March 21, 2015 4:07 pm

Foreigner and Styx were touring together last year and I thought about getting tickets, and didn’t. I don’t regret many decisions I make in life, but I DEFINITELY regretted that one. I really like Foreigner and wondered if I’d ever have a chance to see them again…

Then I ran across an article last November saying Foreigner was coming to Waukegan, Illinois, in March! YESSSSSSS!!! Here was my chance to see them!

I sent the article to the person I know loves 80s (and late 70s?) music like I do, Rachel, and she did not hesitate in saying “count me in!”

I don’t think we could have been any more pumped for the concert! Every time I heard (or played) a Foreigner song, I got so excited! We decided to do some 80s inspired glamming up for the show, and figured other people would too…

Nope. Just us. Ha! And I think we may have been the youngest people there! I was surprised! Where were all the other young 30s Foreigner fans? Ha ha.

The concert was last night at the Genesee theater. Not everyone I told about the concert thought it sounded like an idea of fun (one person even asked if I was getting paid to go, jokingly!), but everyone told me the Genesee is beautiful, and it is!

I thought it might feel funny to be watching a rock concert in a place that feels like it’s set up for an opera or orchestral concert, but once the show started, I completely forgot about it! The space had great acoustics and Foreigner sounded AMAZING. Gah, it was so fun to hear all their popular songs being sung, live (here’s the set list)!!! I really can’t decide which song was my favorite, but I particularly enjoyed “Dirty White Boy,” “Say You Will,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “Urgent,” and “Juke Box Hero.” Ha. I just listed half the set – I might as well list them all!

The entire band was fun to watch, but the current lead singer (Kelly Hansen) was especially amusing – just dancing all over, going in to the crowd, touching people’s hands in the crowd, calling them old (ha), making fun of them for sitting, shaking his booty during “Dirty White Boy,” and so on. So high energy! I was smiling the whole time!

And I thought this was really cool – a local high school choir got to come on stage and sing the refrain with the band during “I Want to Know What Love Is.” What a neat opportunity!

I’m so grateful I got a chance to go, and that Rachel came with me! I wonder what awesome 80s band we will see next?! Ha!

Tell me your favorite Foreigner song!

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By kilax, December 19, 2014 12:00 pm

I read an article this morning that confirmed (with research!) everything I’ve ever instinctually (<— not a word?) thought about music:

• “If a song was playing during any big first — a kiss, a college party — that song will later cause certain brain regions, including the medial prefrontal cortex, which is integral for retrieval of long-term memories, to light up, essentially transporting you back to that moment.” The title of the article was actually “We May Never Stop Loving That Mariah Carey Christmas Song, According to Science.” Hee hee. Certain songs (especially some holiday songs) may make our brains “high on nostalgia.”
• We may also like music based on experiences we can’t even remember. People tend to like music that was popular when they came to age, but also, during their parent’s prime – so, maybe things you were listening to, but too young to remember. I have very specific memories of Van Halen’s “Jump,” and other rock music that has heavily influenced me. Um… why else would I be going to see Foreigner in March?!
• We associate with certain songs depending on how happy or energized they make us feel. It’s not so much the musical content we are associating with, but the reaction it starts in our brains. 
• And once you are connected to a song, hearing it only intensifies your love for it, by “increasing connectivity between sound-processing regions and the hippocampus, which is involved in memory and social emotion.”
• And lastly, we got more pleasure from songs we know (especially all of the words to); songs with which we are familiar. (I have definitely noticed that, and talked about it before!) Hearing familiar songs actually sparks activity in certain areas of the brain, whether you like the song or not!

Have you noticed any of these before?

I actually drafted this little music survey two months ago and haven’t posted it yet! Fill out your answers in the comments (or on your blog), if you’d like!

1. What song are you listening to on repeat now?
2. What song do you always listen to all the way through?
3. What is the last full album you downloaded?
4. What is the last soundtrack you downloaded?
5. Are you able to listen to music and read?
6. What is the last concert you attended?

When I wrote this, I was listening to Sam Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One” on repeat, and singing along (see point above about knowing all the words). Now it’s Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk.”

I skip music a lot but always listen all the way through to P!nk ft Nate Ruess “Just Give Me a Reason,” Britney Spears “Criminal,” AC/DC “Thunderstruck,” and CeeLo Green “Bright Lights Bigger City.”

Last full album downloaded was Milky Chance Sadnecessary.

Last soundtrack downloaded was either for Black Swan or Tron. 

I absolutely cannot listen to music and read. Or do much else. Just workout. And drive. 

Last concert attended (not counting classical music) was Van Halen in 2004. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Comments (26)

By kilax, November 6, 2014 6:18 am

• I love it when I am trying to learn more about a program at work by reading a brochure about it, and find my name listed under contacts, as an expert on the program. Um…
• It feels like Steven and I haven’t seen as many movies in the theater this year as we have in the past – only ten so far! On Tuesday we saw Interstellar on the IMAX. I enjoyed the story (minus one hokey bit) and liked the acting and the music (when it wasn’t too loud <— old lady alert). And it was a MILLION times better than the last thing I saw in the IMAX – Gravity. Uhhh. Shudder. Ha ha. I hope Interstellar is an Oscar nominee, so we have a head start on seeing the movies on that list. Ha ha. 

• I’m going strong with re-learning Spanish – I am on a 53 day streak on the Duolingo app! I finally hit a snag, though, when it came to re-learning verbs in past tense. The app started me off with all of the irregular verbs and I was having a hard time remembering how to conjugate the normal ones! Luckily, I bought this book that xaarlin recommended, and it’s helping me! A few people have recommended I use a Spanish tutor (for conversation) as well. Hmm… maybe if I keep it up! Right now, it is really rewarding to work on it a little bit each day!
• The hardest part about getting a tattoo (for me) was not soaking it under water – luckily that ended a week and a half ago! I LOVE taking way too hot baths and it was hard to go without one for two weeks (ha ha, I still showered!). (And okay, okay, not scratching it was hard, too – it got pretty itchy!)

• After running with music made me feel so energized last week, I decided to make a playlist for the 5K I am doing this Friday night! I mostly chose electronic songs – those seem to get me going the most!

• All the pictures in this post blow, so here is a fun one! Can you believe I didn’t buy that sweater?! Did I ever tell you guys about the person who contacted me last year after I posted this, asking me to sell that sweater to them? They told me they contacted every Target and they are all sold out, so I should sell them mine, cause they really need it. Um, what?! No one needs a cat sweater. Not even me!
  

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 67

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By kilax, October 29, 2014 5:36 am

Have you ever liked the sound of an artist or band so much that you pre-ordered their album without hearing it all?

In the beginning of September I was perusing the top downloaded alternative songs list on iTunes and ran in to the band Milky Chance. One of their songs (“Down By the River”) sounded so familiar, like I’d hear it in a commercial or a movie, but I couldn’t pinpoint where.  I listened to the few other songs they had available off of their album Sadnecessary, and found myself downloading all of them! So I went ahead and pre-ordered the entire album – the first time I’d ever done that!

In fact, it’s hard to recall any entire album I’ve downloaded over the past few years. I think the only other, since I went digital, was Lady Gaga’s most recent.

So I have been pleasantly looking forward to the Milky Chance songs as they become released. I was really excited to hear one being played on an alternative radio station in the beginning of October and, gasp!!! – last Thursday, one of the Chicago pop stations (which tend to play the same 10 songs over and over) actually played one of their songs! I was shocked!

When we heard the song play I told Steven that I like their music so much I’d love to see them perform if I ever had the chance (hint hint, ha ha). I haven’t been to a (non-symphony) concert since I saw Van Halen with my parents! (Hmm, was that fall ’05, Dad?)

I follow the band on Facebook and saw they are touring the states next year! So I bought two tickets for me and Steven. It’s a long way off but I’m really looking forward to it and hoping we can make it in to a fun little date night or getaway for us!

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By kilax, July 13, 2014 8:21 am

Highlight of the Week: Doing a super fun and challenging trail race with Rachel in Kansas!

Monday | July 7, 2014: teaching strength class
Strength: Kettlebells and plyo box w/boxing, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Tuesday | July 8, 2014: 3 m run (w/Anne)
Loc: Independence Grove, Temp: 79°/77°, Time: 38:57, Pace: 13:00 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great! only 48% humidity, yay!
Wednesday | July 9, 2014: rest
Thursday | July 10, 2014: 15 m ride + Softball Game #7
Loc: Round Lake, Temp: 76°/75°, Time: 1:07:22, Pace: 13.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: kind of pissy, but the ride helped a bit
Friday | July 11, 2014: teaching strength class + 5 m run (w/Bobbi)
Strength: Kettlebells and plyo box w/boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 57°/60°, Time: 51:54, Pace: 10:23, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay (tired – <4 hours sleep, ha ha)
Saturday | July 12, 2014: Psycho Psummer Trail Run (w/Rachel)
Loc: Wyandotte County Park , Temp: 84°/89°, Time: 2:58:23, Pace: 18:29 avg, Difficulty: hard, Felt: great! happy!
Sunday | July 13, 2014: rest

Notes:

• My calves (and usually the right, more than the left) have been getting sore on and off since June. I thought it was from riding my bike – that I over power with my calves and need to be re-fitted – but then I was doing a strength move this Friday and really felt it, so maybe that’s it! I still think I will get fitted for my bike again. I wonder if I can fit it in before RAGBRAI? Hee hee. 
• It was so nice to have a “cool” run with Anne on Tuesday night! It was still in the high 70s but the humidity was so low, I felt great! I hope we have a few more days like that this summer. Wishful thinking! We did our run at a local (to me) forest preserve that had a free concert that night, and the concert ended up being a Beatles cover band! I really enjoyed it! What is your favorite Beatles song?
• Gosh. This trail race Rachel in I did on Saturday was so much freaking fun. And so freaking challenging, too. It’s definitely the most technical trail I’ve ever done!!! Running it really made me want to hit up more trails !!! (but then I think about how much longer it takes me to run them and wonder where I’ll ever find the time, ha ha!)

Link to Training Week 246

Comments (16)

By kilax, April 7, 2014 11:47 am

Ha ha. Um, figuratively. Not literally!

Have you ever noticed that you don’t like a song the first time you hear it, but the more you hear it, and the more familiar it becomes… you may start to like it? Then you can’t get it out of your head, and you have to download it and listen to it on repeat over and over and over… and do a little dance with your cat to the song and take a picture and send it to your friends?

This happens to everyone, right? Well, at least the first part of that paragraph? Maybe not so much the acting like a fool and documenting it and sending it out…

I am actually not thinking about music I hear on the radio, but rather, the music I browse through online when searching for tunes for the strength class I teach. I get emails from runhundred, as well as look on fitness websites and browse iTunes top download lists.  I must have been clicking on songs to sample that I had previously heard and didn’t want to download, because something was so familiar about them… I was like, “Oh! Do I like this song? Should I download it?!” Then, “No! You played that before and didn’t like it! It’s just familiar!” Ha ha. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up downloading those songs down the road. Sometimes, it just takes awhile for things to grow on you.

Which made me think. It was only that I couldn’t remember the name of the song I disliked that I was clicking on it and inadvertently giving it a second chance. And then it tricked me by sounding familiar. Ha ha. 

But I wonder if I am the type of person to try something more than once, if I don’t like it. To give it the opportunity to grow on me. For example… I tried a Spartan Race and found out it wasn’t my thing. Same thing with Ragnar. I doubt I will do those again (you never know, though!). 

Yet, some things, I have tried to get used to doing. Like, going to the shooting range. Shooting a gun doesn’t come naturally to me. And I don’t naturally enjoy it. But I am trying to learn how to do it, and trying to find a way to have fun with it. 

So… maybe I am “one and done” for somethings and not others? Hey, at least I try new stuff!

Do you let things “grow on you” and purposefully give them a second chance? Or do you tend to make a decision after one experience?

Comments (35)

By kilax, February 28, 2014 7:11 am

Do you have a “power” song?

You know, one you play to get pumped up!

I thought about this on Monday, because Jen2 shared this cello rendition of my power song on Facebook. It made me laugh (well, the video is funny, too!) because I had just played my power song the day before, at the Frosty Footrace. I have a 100% record of placing when I play my power song before a race (note: it’s only been my power song since this summer, and I only play it before 5Ks and 10Ks when I am trying to run “fast”).

My current power song is ACDC’s “Thunderstruck”! 

Previous power songs have been Van Halen’s “Panama,” Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Ni**as in Paris,” ZZ Top’s “Got Me Under Pressure,” and The Black Eyed Peas “Pump It.”

I actually don’t listen to music when I run and don’t carry headphones around. I mostly play my music in the car and for class. But back in the day I would play my “power songs” over and over during tough parts of runs or on the way to work (to wake the heck up!).