Comments (7)

By kilax, January 1, 2017 4:44 pm

Highlight of the Week: Spending NYE morning with a group of students who love to work out!

Monday | December 26, 2016: 3 m run
Loc: Cedar Falls, Temp: 33°/32°, Time: 31:08, Pace: 10:22 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, cautious of the ice!
Tuesday | December 27, 2016: rest
Wednesday | December 28, 2016: 12 m ride
Indoor Trainer Time: 47:42, Pace: 15.1 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | December 29, 2016: 7 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: reverse VP Woods loop, Temp: 33°/32°, Time: 1:18:29, Pace: 11:13 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: miserable because of the wind
Strength: soft balls & cones, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | December 30, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,344 yd swim + 5 m run (incl. 10×1:00)
Strength: body bars, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 30:02, Pace: 2:11 min/100 yd, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay, out of breath!
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 30°/31°, Time: 49:12, Pace: 9:50 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | December 31, 2016: 3 m run + teaching fitness boxing
Loc: hood, Temp: 37°/37°, Time: 33:11, Pace: 11:01 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: wrecked, heavy
Strength: whole body and boxing gloves, Difficulty: easy, Felt: hyper
Sunday | January 1, 2017: 12 m run
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne loop, Temp: 36°/41°, Time: 2:14:43, Pace: 11:13 avg, Difficulty: easy then harder, Felt: good

Notes:

• I got a bloody nose during my run on Monday. That’s the first time that’s happened during a run! And since it was a short run, I didn’t have my handheld with tissues in it. So… that got a bit messy. And it happened again on Friday. And again I had no tissues. Sigh. At least blood is easy to wash off of things.
• I did a horrible job managing my time this week! I hope next week is quieter. And (partially) due to that, I did not get to 2000 miles run to the year – I got to 1978. I didn’t start the year planning to run 2000 miles, but when I realized I could, I thought I would go for it. Look where that got me! Ha! We’ll see what happens in 2017. I usually have a 40 mile per week goal but maybe I will cut that back to 30.
• I got my headphones to work in the water! Which means you guys don’t have to listen to me complain this week (about that)! (What worked was using a bit of vaseline and shoving them really far in to my ears… hope that’s safe…)
• My watch didn’t sync my Saturday run AGAIN this week, which AGAIN made me irrationally pissy. Sigh. I thought last week it didn’t sync because I had a new OS on my phone and hadn’t updated the app, but when it happened again this week, I wondered if it was because I put the watch on the charger right away when I got home, both weeks. Both runs were crappy anyway, so whatever.
• Gawd, I felt SO wrecked Saturday am. I taught two strength classes in a row (subbing the Thursday night class, then my usual Friday 5:00 am class) and did speed work, so I think that’s what was up. Hopefully.
• But my week ended on a good note with a fun fitness boxing class Saturday and a lovely long run Sunday. We had gorgeous weather – high 30s, sunny and not too windy. What a treat and great way to start the year! I felt tired toward the end, but attribute that to staying up late on NYE, not having enough water with me, and not running double digits much lately.

Link to Training Week 375

Comments (9)

By kilax, December 30, 2016 6:16 pm

It’s a bit early to say what the exact difference is, but I definitely ran more (times and miles) alone this year than last year. Last year I ran 688.6 of 2260 miles with people. This year, I ran 192.1 of 1975 (so far) miles with people.

71.60% solo runs last year versus 89.38% this year.

103 runs with people last year, versus 34 this year.

Eek.

The question is… in what direction do I want that percentage to change, if at all?

Just me, and some ice.

I’m actually a very happy solo runner. I do miss the one-on-one time with close runner friends, though!

Comments (4)

By kilax, December 27, 2016 6:19 am

Highlight of the Week: Running in warmer temps again!

Monday | December 19, 2016: 8 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: RecPlex, Time: 1:25:33, Pace: 10:41 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: bored, but decent
Strength: one dumbbell + UNO, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good (disappointed in the small class size, but we had a lot of fun!)
Tuesday | December 20, 2016: 5 m run + 10 m ride
Loc: hood, Temp: 24°/25°, Time: 53:40, Pace: 10:43 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: okay, frustrated w/the roads
Indoor Ride Time: 40:21, Pace: 14.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: sore butt – need to ride more!
Wednesday | December 21, 2016: 1,344 yd swim + 7 m run
Loc: FitNation, Time: 30:15, Pace: 2:07 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great – enjoyed using my new headphones!
Loc: downtown Zion, Temp: 29°/30°, Time: 1:13:16, Pace: 10:28 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but out of breath and hungry!
Thursday | December 22, 2016: 546 yd swim
Loc: FitNation, Time: 10:03, Pace: 1:50 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, super frustrated with the headphones
Friday | December 23, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,008 yd swim + 5 m run (incl. 6×400)
Strength: one dumbbell and UNO, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay
Loc: FitNation, Time: 20:48, Pace: 2:04 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: fine, frustrated with the headphones again
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 34°/35°, Time: 49:49, Pace: 9:58, avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, stiff in the beginning
Saturday | December 24, 2016: 3.9 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 34°/35°, Time: 43:11, Pace: 11:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but DEAD legs!
Strength: whole body and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | December 25, 2016: rest

Notes:

• It was -10°F Monday morning! Ha! I wanted to get a longer run in, so I paid to use the nice but expensive for out of staters track by my house. Lucky me – they gave me the in-state rate! Woot!
• Tuesday’s run was a bit of a mess. It was warmer, and the sun was out (yay!) but it was SO FREAKIN’ WINDY and the roads by me where not clear/safe for runners yet, so there was lots of slower running in the snow. And one time getting sprayed by a truck. And my shoe randomly falling apart. Blah.
• My brother-in-law got me water proof headphones (and a new cap and goggles) for the holiday! I had a great swim on Wednesday with the headphones… then couldn’t get sound to come out of one earbud on Thursday, grrr. Which instantly made me mad, which defeats the point of swimming for relaxation! I called the company to ask for help and they decided to send me new headphones (which will arrive this week). I tried again Friday am (with different buds on the headphones) and had a similar issue (only now the sound would come and go from each bud), and had to stop a few times to get water out of my ears to hear the music. I ended up taking the headphones off to finish my swim. I can’t have music going in and out while I swim – that’ll make me batty. And like I said, I swim to calm myself, so I don’t want to get all worked up at the pool. I did read the customer notes on their Facebook page and the company recommended putting a bit of vaseline at the end of the buds to keep water from getting in your ear, so I will try that next!
• My Saturday run never synced to Garmin Connect, which, like the headphone issue above, made me way more irritated than it should have. I think it was because I updated my phone operating system but didn’t update the app. It seemed to work after I updated the app.
• I woke up Sunday planning to run but feeling WRECKED from shoveling, two strength classes, and sleeping horribly, so I took a rest day. That 2,000 miles for the year goal may be a stretch but we’ll see how the week goes!

Link to Training Week 374

Comments (10)

By kilax, December 21, 2016 12:08 pm

Ha, today is officially the first day of winter*, but because of the brutal (weather-wise) end we had to fall, I am already conditioned to be excited about temperatures in the 20s and 30s. Today’s run felt amazing at 30°F!!!

And if last week was a preview of the winter we’re going to have, I need to change things up a bit. It’s not safe (because of road speeds) to run outside at dark in the winter where I live. It’s also not safe to run outside during the daylight if there’s a ton of snow in the shoulders. So, I see more driving to safe places to run, indoor track runs, and even (gasp!) treadmill runs this winter. Gotta do it for my sanity!

*Happy Winter Solstice! The guy at the front desk at the gym this am excitedly greeted me with “I have good news! As of 4:44 am this morning, the days are getting longer!” Ha.

Comments (6)

By kilax, December 18, 2016 7:38 am

Highlight of the Week: Exercising with family – a run with Steve (like a brother) on Monday and fitness boxing on Saturday with Andrew (brother-in-law)!

Monday | December 12, 2016: 8 m run (w/Steve)
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 36°/39°, Time: 1:17:11, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent, just like I was getting a cold
Tuesday | December 13, 2016: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 15°/13°, Time: 51:57, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, just slippery and slow in spots, Felt: good
Wednesday | December 14, 2016: rest
Thursday | December 15, 2016: 12 m ride + 2 m run
Indoor Trainer Time: 47:07, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, enjoyed being indoors!
Loc: treadmill, Time: 20:46, Pace: 10:23 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: better in my second mile
Friday | December 16, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,218 yd swim + 5 m run
Strength: one dumbbell and UNO core workout, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 30:24, Pace: 2:30 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good after I warmed up
Loc: hood, Temp: 19°/19°, Time: 52:37, Pace: 10:31, Difficulty: easy enough, Felt: good, happy to get a run in
Saturday | December 17, 2016: teaching fitness boxing
Strength: body weight, pads and gloves, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Sunday | December 18, 2016: rest

Notes:

• I am happy I got to start my week out with an eight mile run because I didn’t make much time for running any other day this week (ALL THE HOLIDAY PREP AND CELEBRATIONS!!!)! And of course, it was a treat to run with Steve, in Texas!
• On Monday, Gina, Steven and I went to see Meb speak! Meb told some of the same stories from the first time I met him, but he also talked about the Rio Olympics and how he’d still like to run marathons recreationally after his retirement next year. Meb’s such a great guy. If you ever have the chance to hear him speak, GO!
• On Thursday I ran on the treadmill for the first time in almost two years! I still stink at it, because, duh, I never use it. It’s a nice option to have though, at 9:30 pm when it’s single digits out!
• Our very cold days were followed by snowy days (then by very cold days again). For one of my runs, I ended up just running up and down my street (for safety reasons) – thankfully it’s just over a half mile long. I liked that better than the treadmill, ha.
• Andrew came to my fitness boxing class on Saturday! I can’t wait to hear how sore he is when he wakes up today. Ha! He says it was his annual “Kim is trying to kill me” workout, ha! I wish I lived close to Andrew so we could work out together more often!
• I also got a good workout from shoveling on Saturday! But that will probably not happen too often anymore now that we have a snowblower!

Link to Training Week 373

Comments (21)

By kilax, December 14, 2016 5:43 am

The big graphic below is a bit of overkill with how little I participated in races this year. My racing year is better summed up with these two comparison charts/graphs:

Click to see larger

I participated in a lot less events this year – only five, compared to twenty last year.

Amount is in dollars

I spent a lot less on racing this year – the least I ever have. The next least amount was in 2008, when I also did five races. The amount I’ve spent is already higher for next year since I didn’t have (on purpose) a free entry for the half I signed up for!

Both of these trends (less races and money spent on races) are because we bought a house in 2016 that requires time and money, and racing took a step down on the priority list. It likely will in 2017 too. That’s alright with me! I actually still exercised the same amount this year, but I definitely was not in racing shape. The infographic might have a few more races on it had I been!

And now, on to the infographic! (You can see 2012 here, 2013 here, 2014 here and 2015 here. You can always find my race stats here.)

Also, if you would like to fill out your own 2016 Racing Statistics in the comments or on your own blog, I created a google doc here for you to copy and fill out/edit!

Comments (16)

By kilax, December 13, 2016 2:57 pm

I finally took the time to call the park district to ask what was up with the switcharoo with the Frosty Footrace race distance today.  And… they had no idea what I was talking about (but were very nice!).

“Hi, I was wondering why the Frosty Footrace was changed to a two mile race?”

“In the catalog, it’s listed as three miles.”

“When you go directly to the event page, it’s listed as two.”

“Ahh, I see that now, let me talk to my director and get back to you.”

Okay, then.

They called me right back – “It’s a typo, it’s a three mile race.”

OMFG.

I don’t get the catalog at my house anymore, but found it online to see what it was listed as there, and yeah, it does show it as a three miler. And, there is a note from executive director saying they changed it:

Am I up for it? Probably not! Ha! I run on rocks, ice and very uneven terrain most times I run from my house in the winter. I don’t really want to pay and drive to do it! And it’s definitely not safe to try to run a fast pace on a course like that. We’ll see what happens. The race benefits the center’s senior programs, so they may just get my $25 donation without me showing up.

I really wonder how they are going to handle this – their catalog says three miles, but they mailed out brochures that say two miles. Are they going to do another mailer to all those homes? Or let people be surprised by the extra mile on race day?

And now it’s time to use my favorite emoji:

Comments (3)

By kilax, December 11, 2016 6:19 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running with Gina and her favorite training partner in Texas!

Monday | December 5, 2016: 5 m run + 8 m ride + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 32°/33°, Time: 51:26, Pace: 10:17 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, ready for a rest day
Indoor Ride Time: 30:21, Pace: 15.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, just tired legs
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | December 7, 2016: 840 yd swim
Loc: FitNation, Time: 19:58, Pace: 2:17 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | December 8, 2016: 7 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 28°/30°, Time: 1:11:47, Pace: 10:15 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, especially in the sun
Thursday | December 9, 2016: 4 m run (incl. 4×400)
Loc: xx, Temp: 24°/24°, Time: 38:14, Pace: 9:34 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: good, despite the cold!
Friday | December 10, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,260 yd swim + 10 m run
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 31:54, Pace: 2:32 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great – felt inspired to swim move having someone else there
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne Loop, Temp: 24°/25°, Time: 1:45:57, Pace: 10:35, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | December 11, 2016: rest
Sunday | December 12, 2016: 13.1 m run (w/Gina & Bob)
Loc: Wilson Creek Trail, Temp: 49°/51°, Time: 2:08:33, Pace: 9:49 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, warm!

Notes:

• It got cold in Chicagoland this week, and it’s going to be even colder next week! I actually wore tights for several runs, and even a long pair of thin capris under my tights once. Whoa! So running in warm Texas was a nice treat on Sunday.
• One of the other Efit trainers met me to swim Friday morning, and I felt encouraged to swim with better form (not that I know what that is) and longer, having someone I know there! And the quick Starbucks date after was fun!
• I really enjoyed running with Gina and her training partner, Bob, on Sunday. I love spending time with the family of friends they’ve developed in Texas.
• I think I am still on track to hit 2000 running miles for the year!

Link to Training Week 372

Comments (13)

By kilax, December 9, 2016 6:17 am

After class this morning, I was talking to the owner of the studio and he mentioned that he saw my picture on the Frosty Foot race brochure, and commented on how it is now a 2 mile race.

Um… what?

Rachel is on there too!

When I sent in my registration form for this race, it mentioned the race would be at a new area, but said it would be a 5K. This is my goal 5K each year, and I have already started training with it in mind and, so to hear it got changed to a 2 mile race made me feel upset. Which I realize is completely silly – it’s just a race.

So I guess now I have a few options:

1. Train for the two miler
2. Find a different 5K to train for and still do the two miler
3. Find a different 5K to train for an ask for a refund on the two miler
4. Ask for a refund on the two miler and train for nada! Ha!

Blah. It’s a crappy move on their end to switch up the distance after registration has been opened. I wish I had a copy of my original registration form! I can see online that they switched it to a three miler, before it became the two miler.

And now it’s listed as being an all-terrain course, so, yeah… meh. But there’s worse things in life so whatever! At least the people who work there are super nice – they actually called when they got my registration form to confirm my new address. Hopefully they’re as nice when I call this time just to see what’s up with the switcharoo.

Comments (4)

By kilax, December 4, 2016 5:28 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running in a new state!

Monday | November 28, 2016: 1,239 yd swim + 5 m run
Loc: FitNation, Time: 30:28, Pace: 2:28 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, enjoyed practicing flip turns
Loc: Gurnee, Temp: 41°/43°, Time: 50:00, Pace: 9:59 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, a bit hungry
Tuesday | November 29, 2016: 4 m run
Loc: Cinci/Newport/Convington, Temp: 51°/49°, Time: 43:02, Pace: 10:45 avg, Difficulty: easy (stopped a lot for pics), Felt: excited to run someplace new
Wednesday | November 30, 2016: rest
Thursday | December 1, 2016: 8 m run
Loc: VP Woods loop, Temp: 36°/37°, Time: 1:21:09, Pace: 10:08 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: great, just a bit hungry
Friday | December 2, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,008 yd swim + 5 m run (incl. 12×1:00)
Strength: resistance bands, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 25:20, Pace: 2:19 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: sloppy
Loc: Gurnee, Temp: 34°/35°, Time: 49:27, Pace: 9:53, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent, tired legs, happy it wasn’t windy!
Saturday | December 3, 2016: 9 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: VP Woods loop, Temp: 31°/32°, Time: 1:35:05, Pace: 10:34 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent, didn’t dress warm enough, oops!
Strength: plyo and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | December 4, 2016: 13 m run + 10 m ride
Loc: Around Lake Andrea and back, Temp: 32°/33°, Time: 2:16:49, Pace: 10:31 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good, just upset stomach at the end
Indoor Ride Time: 38:07, Pace: 15.7 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• My arms were SORE during my Monday morning swim. One of the students taking my fitness boxing class has a really strong punch (it’s fantastic!!!) and my soreness was the result of boxing with her. I love how strong my students are!
• All of my runs were in the morning this week, and it really helped my mood for the whole day. it would be great if I could keep this going! I have flexible work start time, so I might as well run in the am when it’s light out, and work until later in the day!
• I love cold weather running because I can wear vests and jackets with pockets to hold my stuff – instead of wearing something around my waist. However, I must not be in “cold weather” mode yet because I’ve dressed too cold a few times. On Saturday’s run, I saw it was in the low 30s and not windy and actually thought “that sounds warm enough for shorts!” No, Kim, no. And I wore a regular long sleeve tech shirt under my vest instead of Under Armour Cold Gear. Also, dumb. I was smarter Sunday – but still not smart enough to remember to put my phone in a glove – it got so cold it shut off!
• I ran in four states this week (IL, OH, KY and WI) – I wonder if that’s the most I’ve run in in a week?
• November recap! I ran 144 miles (25 runs), cycled 45 miles (4 indoor rides) and swam 8,190 yards (7 swims). My coldest run was 23°F and my warmest was 69°F. I taught 7 strength classes and 3 fitness boxing classes.

Link to Training Week 371