Running + Training

By kilax, November 27, 2016 8:36 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running a 5K with Steven and friends / people telling me how much they love fitness boxing class.

Monday | November 21, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: Plyo box and one dumbbell, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, relieved my headache went away
Tuesday | November 22, 2016: 7 m run
Loc: VP Woods loop, Temp: 25°/26°, Time: 1:13:24, Pace: 10:29 avg, Difficulty: easy enough, Felt: good, but a bit tired and HUNGRY!
Wednesday | November 23, 2016: 5 m run (incl. 5 hill repeats) + 15 m ride
Loc: hood, Temp: 43°/43°, Time: 52:06, Pace: 10:25 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, annoyed with all the rocks in my shoes
Indoor Ride Time: 56:01, Pace: 16.1 mph avg, Difficulty: easy until the end, Felt: good, just a sore butt!
Thursday | November 24, 2016: Jon Callaghan Memorial Turkey Trot 5K (W/Steven, Eric & Abbie)
Loc: Gurnee, Temp: 36°/39°, Time: 36:13, Pace: 11:28 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | November 25, 2016: teaching strength class + 1,008 yd swim
Strength: plyo box & one dumbbell, Difficulty: medium, Felt: so so, a bit barfy
Loc: FitNation, Time: 23:40, Pace: 2:21 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | November 26, 2016: 11.9 m run
Loc: DPRT, Temp: 38°/42°, Time: 2:10:04, Pace: 10:56 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, just slow for me
Sunday | November 27, 2016: teaching fitness boxing
Strength: cardio, boxing mitts and pads, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good

Notes:

• I’ve had a headache on Monday the last two weeks, and consequently, haven’t run that day. Blah. I think last week’s was from being on the go all weekend with the baby shower, and this week’s was because our upstairs furnace kicked on in the morning and had a burning smell to it (which bothered my head). I hope next week starts out better!
• Blah, I would think I’d learned this by now, but no – I HAVE to wear gaiters around here when it’s raining or after it’s rained. I do so much running on the shoulder that LOTS of rocks get in my shoes and socks if I don’t have gaiters on. Which is what happened on my Wednesday speed/hill session.
• Eek, I did NOT manage my time well this week. I really need to get workouts in in the morning if I want to get them in – our days are too busy with chores and errands, and now, preppy for guests for the holidays. I hope I do better this week!
• Gosh, I felt so good after teaching fitness boxing on Sunday. Quite a few people came up to me after to say how much they like the class – how nice of them! You can’t really go wrong with getting to punch (and sometimes kick!) other people, but I like to think the touches I add to class make it fun, too. Ha ha.

Link to Training Week 370

House

By kilax, November 26, 2016 8:47 am

Just kidding.

It’s so big we had to call in reinforcements – we couldn’t get it aligned by ourselves! Thanks for your help, Bobbi!

We’re letting the branches settle, and we’re hoping to decorate it this weekend!

Running + Training

By kilax, November 25, 2016 4:28 pm

Who else did a race on Thanksgiving?

Our friends that we (almost always!) spend Thanksgiving with – Eric and Abbie – emailed us in mid October asking if we wanted to do a 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I was surprised when Steven said yes!

We picked the Jon Callaghan Memorial Turkey Trot (a 5K) in Gurnee, IL. From their website:

Jon Callaghan was a student at O’Plaine School in Gurnee, who passed away in 1997 after a courageous battle with Neuroblastoma cancer. Per the Callaghan family, the funds raised have been used to help University of Chicago Neuroblastoma Cancer Research, School District 56 Program for Learning Disabled, and many others.

The race was casual and perfect for our crew (who just wanted to exercise on Thanksgiving morning) – it was non-timed and there were no bibs. There were mile markers each half mile and a few timers on course, and we received a comfortable cotton long-sleeved t-shirt (which I have already worn for a nap, and to keep me warm on the car ride home from the pool).

Steven invited some of his Fake Meats employees to join us, and one of them (and her boyfriend) was able to!

Eric, Abbie, Mark (Hanna’s boyfriend), Hannah (Fake Meats employee), Steven & Me

The course started on a quiet old downtown street, then went in to a crushed stone park, back to the street, through a neighborhood, and back to the street to finish. It seemed a bit crowded a times, but none of us cared!

It was in the high 30s with a slight wind – perfect running conditions. I ran in shorts, a t-shirt and arm warmers. Everyone else in my group was much more bundled up, but I run hot!

Steven, Eric, Abbie and I all started and finished (and mostly ran it) together! Hannah and her boyfriend finished behind us. We ran it in 36:13, averaging about 11:30 minute miles.

I am really proud of Steven – he thought he’d have to take more walk breaks, but he only took one, for two minutes at mile 2.5! He was enjoying talking to Eric and didn’t need the walk breaks.

I’d love for this to become a regular tradition for our Thanksgiving crew! Especially the after part – I went home and took a nap before we drove to our friends’ home for Thanksgiving dinner, hee hee.

House, Life

By kilax, November 21, 2016 6:23 am

Gosh, if he is going this nuts for the garland now, how is he gonna to react when we get a REAL tree on Saturday?!

I’m sure he’ll behave himself… right?! Ha ha.

It was fun to pick out garland for our stairs and (not up yet!) our mailbox. And it was easy to set it up. Now I just have to see how long it stays up, since Data already managed to undo the end of it once! What a stinker.

This is all we have up for decorations so far! I plan to do more this upcoming weekend!

Running + Training

By kilax, November 20, 2016 10:07 pm

Highlight of the Week: Seeing Rachel after SIX (gasp!) months apart!

Monday | November 14, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: medicine balls, cardio & core, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly good (was so tired during the day!)
Tuesday | November 15, 2016: 12 m run + 798 yd swim
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne loop, Temp: 50°/49°, Time: 2:06:10, Pace: 10:31 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 19:53, Pace: 2:29 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: pissy about my goggles
Wednesday | November 16, 2016: rest
Thursday | November 17, 2016: 4 m run + 10 m ride
Loc: hood, Temp: 61°/65°, Time: 41:00, Pace: 10:14 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: oddly tired, dead legs
Indoor Ride Time: 37:50, Pace: 15.9 mph, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, but so hungry!
Friday | November 18, 2016: teaching strength class + 2 m run (w/Anne) + 1,302 yd swim + 8 m run
Strength: plyo box and dumbbells, Difficulty: medium, Felt: hot
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 61°/60°, Time: 24:49, Pace: 12:23, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: FitNation, Time: 30:42, Pace: 2:17 min/100 yd, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, tired shoulders from class
Loc: hood, Temp: 61°/62°, Time: 1:21:10, Pace: 10:10 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great, after I warmed up!
Saturday | November 19, 2016: teaching strength class + 4 m run (incl. 5×400)
Strength: kettlebells and boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 37°/36°, Time: 39:39, Pace: 9:55 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: pushed around by the wind
Sunday | November 20, 2016: 10 m run (w/Rachel)
Loc: White River State Trail (WI), Temp: 23°/27°, Time: 1:38:28, Pace: 9:51 avg, Difficulty: easy (stomach off from cold), Felt: great after bathroom break

Notes:

• One of the nice things about buying a pool pass is that I don’t feel as bad if I go and don’t work out for that long – like this Tuesday, when I got so pissy about my foggy goggles that I just said “forget it” and left (I ordered new goggles for Friday’s swim – swimming is my zen time – I save pissy for running). Before I’d feel obliged to stay longer since I was paying per visit. Now I can go as much as I want during “open swim” times each month.
• BLAH I need to quit putting off speedwork until the end of the week – it just makes me dread it, especially because I “have” to do it at that point to fit it in before the week is over. I don’t get to be choosy about the weather when I do that either. When I did my speedwork this week, there were 21 mph constant winds with 34 mph gusts! Eek!
• My last two weekend long runs have been with people (my dad last week and Rachel this week) and WOW they really fly by and feel easier with another person! What wonderful treats those runs were!
• Related to fitness – I thought this article (pdf here) detailing how a chess grandmaster uses physical fitness to keep his mental endurance up was interesting!

Link to Training Week 369

Life

By kilax, November 19, 2016 8:42 am

We received our first thank you present from the outdoor cats! Here’s the nongraphic version:

I’m hoping we’ll have many more gifts like this in the future! (I’m also telling myself it’s a present, and that the mouse simply didn’t freeze overnight…)

House, Life

By kilax, November 18, 2016 6:35 pm

It’s been a year since last year’s first snow… which was seventeen inches…

This year? I haven’t really even worn a proper coat yet. Weird.

I am looking forward to seeing the house look like this:

(only it will look even better this year, because we power washed the brick a few weekends ago and the stains are gone!)

And it may snow tomorrow! Yay! Hopefully, not in that* high of an amount, ha.

*Only because I’d like to still run on the trails a few times this year! I don’t mind being “snowed-in.”

Knitting, Life

By kilax, November 17, 2016 6:23 am

• Baby William’s blanket looks great in his nursery!

• Khaleesi and Snow are really starting to trust us! We still haven’t gotten them to the vet though. We tried awhile ago (to get them in their carriers) and that was a no go.

• We used moving as a reason to stop going to our old dentist and find a new one. We loved the hygienist at the old dentist office, but the actual dentist was an a-hole and the office completely messed up our billing every time (and tried to charge us WAY more than they said something would cost, and then there was that time they numbed my mouth for work then came in to tell me there wasn’t a dentist in my network in that day… and did I want to go home with a numbed mouth or pay out of network for the work?). Anyway. I finally made an appointment to try out a new place today! I hope they’re nice and can figure out the billing.
• For some reason, I have quite a bit of work travel coming up in late November and early December. Pair that with my/our travel and guests visiting… I don’t see much free time until January! Blah!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 116

Life

By kilax, November 15, 2016 6:10 pm

Christina’s baby shower went by so fast! I wish I would have taken more photos! And had more of a chance to talk to people. And a way to slow down time, ha.

We held the shower at a “new to our family” location – the Waterloo Boat House. It was a sunny day and we had neat views of the river!

The inside of the space is pretty on its own – it has a wood wainscot and lots of windows. We didn’t have to do much for decorations (but we did have banners, balloons, and table settings that I managed to not get a picture of, sad face).

The shower theme (if you want to call it that) was “Brunch for Baby.” We thought it would be fun to do something different, so we held it from 11am-1pm and served “brunch” foods – hashbrowns, “roll-ups” (what my family calls french pancakes, aka crepes), sausage (meat and vegan – there was actually another vegan and a vegetarian at the party!), egg casseroles, and fruit. Oh, and of course, mimosas!

I cannot take credit for the fruit duck – I saw it on Shelley’s blog and Christina’s sister-in-law recreated it. Thank you for posting that on Friday, Shelley – perfect timing!

My mom, Christina’s mother-in-law (Gale), and I hosted. Did I get a picture of the three of us? No. Sigh. But here is a cute picture of Gale, Will and Christina!

My mom and I spent most of Saturday prepping for the party. And had a great time doing it – lots and lots of shopping, and a bit of food and decoration prep as well. I am very grateful we had so much help preparing and setting up for the party! The two of us could NOT have done it alone. My dad, sister-in-laws, mom’s mom, Gale, Gale’s friend, and Christina’s sister and brother-in-laws were HUGE helps with set up (and tear down – we had more of the spouses there to help with that, too)!

Amber (younger brother’s wife), me, Christina, Alyssa (older brother’s wife) and Mom

And with my mom’s mom

Gale was in charge of games and came up with cute ones! First people did “late night diapers” – writing messages on diapers for Christina to see when she is doing changes. Christina read them all out loud and picked her favorite three. The second game was “price is right,” where we had to guess how much baby stuff cost. I was WAY off (no surprise there). And the final game was “present bingo” – people filled out their own items on a bingo card and crossed them off as Christina opened them.

Present opening took almost an hour! Baby William is well loved! I felt special when everyone oohed and ahhed over the blanket I made.

I had a grand plan to have hot cinnamon rolls for dessert since it was a brunch theme but… the place didn’t have a stove! Oops! So cake it was – half white with raspberry filling and chocolate with boston creme filling (and there was a vegan cheesecake, not pictured).

And you know I ordered cookies from Maria’s Oven as handouts!

Along with games, Gale also was in charge of game prizes and she brought (separate from the prizes) these adorable handouts – the lollipop, pretzel and chocolate coins are ALL customized for Baby William!

We had a big crowd – almost thirty adults and six kids (not all pictured below, some had to leave early).

And it was a big success – people kept saying how nice everything was. Phew! I was stressed about it and wanted it to be perfect for my snis, and wanted the guests to have fun (and for there to be enough food, ha – that is always my worry for parties – that we’ll run out of food).

It was such a pleasure to see everyone showing love for Christina and baby William, and to meet some of her friends and family that I haven’t met before, and to reconnect with the people I know. I really do wish I had more time to chat with everyone – it’s hard when you’re hosting.

Not sponsored, but people kept asking where my dress was from – it’s Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s. I didn’t realize it came in other colors too! I may need the blue one…

And now… we continue to wait for Baby William to arrive at the end of January! I’m so excited to meet him!

Running + Training

By kilax, November 14, 2016 6:48 am

Highlight of the Week: Running with Dad (in Iowa) and going to Lake Andrea (in Wisconsin) with Steven (I ran while he walked).

Monday | November 7, 2016: 6 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 61°/63°, Time: 58:13, Pace: 9:42 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: medicine balls, core and cardio, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | November 8, 2016: 10 m ride + 4.5 m run + 1 m walk (w/Steven)
Indoor Ride Time: 37:57, Pace: 15.8 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good (sore butt!)
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 55°/55°, Time: 40:51, Pace: 9:04 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Wednesday | November 9, 2016: 1,407 yd swim + 5.5 m run + 5 m run (incl. 5 hill repeats)
Loc: FitNation, Time: 34:43, Pace:2:22 min/100 yd avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent, but slower
Loc: Gurnee, Temp: 39°/38°, Time: 55:32, Pace: 10:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, dressed just right!
Loc: hood, Temp: 51°/54°, Time:49:53, Pace: 9:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | November 10, 2016: rest
Friday | November 11, 2016: teaching strength class + 2.5 m run (w/Anne) + 4.5 m run
Strength: medicine balls, core and cardio, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 46°, Time: 31:52, Pace: 12:45, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 50°/50°, Time: 44:33, Pace: 9:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | November 12, 2016: 10.2 m run (w/Dad on bike)
Loc: Cedar Falls loop, Temp: 25°/38°, Time: 1:48:09, Pace: 10:36 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | November 13, 2016: 2.8 m run (incl. 6×1:00)
Loc: xx, Temp: 36°/36°, Time: 28:30, Pace: 10:11 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• I meant to post this in my last training post and forgot! I liked this opinion piece on shape.com “I’ll Never Run a Marathon—And That Doesn’t Make Me Less of a Runner” (pdf here). Basically, the author gets crap from some rando about “only” training for a half marathon. Sigh. I don’t get the distance shame. This is an old story, but when I was still in a running club, some members were giving me crap about training for a 5K. “That’s it?” “Yeah, that’s it. I am running 30+ miles a week training for a 5K PR. What’s it to you?” I see it all the time – people pressuring others to do what they are doing (marathons, whatever else), but that will never be me. You do you. And let me do me.
• I’ve decided I need hill repeats back in my life! It’s not as hilly where we live now (as it was by our townhome and even rental home), but I can make some of these inclines work for repeats… if I run them during non-rush hour.
• Everyone my dad and I encountered on the trails on Saturday was super friendly! Besides saying hello, they’d also say “good work!” or “looking good!” The runners in Iowa are either really nice… or we really looked liked we needed encouragement. Ha ha!
• Saturday was the first really cold morning this fall, where my family lives in Iowa, and I didn’t even check the forecast before I packed! I usually do, but didn’t this time. I definitely layered up for my run (and felt fine… my poor dad though! He was too cold on his bike).

Link to Training Week 368