Comments (36)

By kilax, July 14, 2010 4:48 am

Reading Runner’s World has been totally psyching me out lately. I see all of these awesome training plans in there – for half marathons, full marathons, speed work, intervals… but I cannot follow them because of the whole “too much too soon” rule. Stupid rule.

Normally, I am ridiculously optimistic about my running. I say things to myself like “You can run this marathon! What’s a month or two off from running?”

Apparently, a month or two off from running for me is a weight gain and a huge loss of lung capacity.

I am just a teensy bit worried about running this marathon.

I realize there is no reason to have a goal time to finish the race in now. The goal is just to FINISH, at all*.

So, for now, I am going to focus on the long run portion of training. I’ve read that is the part of training for a marathon that you should definitely NOT skimp on. I’ll have to get my weekly mileage back up when I can.

Below is a chart of the “pre-injury” long run plan (FIRST) that I wanted to follow, and my post-injury plan, which I came up with in a few minutes… and could really use some input on!

(I am signed up for a half marathon on Sept 12, and the full on Oct 10)

I have no idea how to get my mileage back up… obviously. Do any of you experienced marathoners have advice for me?

I know it may seem ridiculous to some people that I still want to run the Chicago Marathon after having to take so much time off from injuries, but I am stubborn. And registration was expensive!

*With minimal shuffling.

Comments (34)

By kilax, July 13, 2010 4:51 am

Does this crap work on anyone?

Our garden not only provides us with delicious produce, it also seems to be a huge feeding ground for mosquitoes. We tried to visit the garden on Saturday afternoon, just to see how things were doing, but were immediately greeted by a swarm of mosquitoes and had to head home.

We went back on Sunday just before 10:00 am, and sprayed OFF! on before going out to the garden. I also put sunscreen on (maybe that was the mistake?).

And just how many mosquito bites did I get?

Over 100

• 50+ on my butt and hips
• 15+ on each shoulder
• 10+ on each arm and leg
• A few stragglers on my face

I itch so bad.

And the ones on my butt? Visible lumps though my work pants. Awesome.

Believe me, I tried to take a picture of the damage to show you how awful it is, but the only ones that show up well are on my ass. And yeah. It’s gross without the bites, so I’ll leave that picture on the camera.

I told my mom about this and she suggested I wear a loose long-sleeved top instead of a tank top. Yeah, that would work for the few I got on my shoulders, but what explains the 50+ on my butt and hips? Okay, okay, I do understand that is the largest area and therefore, probably the easiest to feed from, but… it was obviously covered when I was working in the garden, and that did me no good!

Mosquitoes have always been really attracted to me, but this is just ridiculous.

Do mosquitoes like you? What do you do avoid them?

I was reading up on mosquitoes and learned some interesting facts:

• Mosquitoes go through four life stages – egg, larva, pupa, and adult (imago). The first three stages are aquatic and last 5-14 days. The adult life can span 1 week to 2 months. Males typically live a week and females live about 2 weeks in nature, reproducing as much as possible.
• Adult females lay their eggs in water – which can be salt-marsh, a lake, a puddle, in a plant, or even in a bucket of sitting water.
• Male mosquitoes typically feed on nectar and plant juices, but the females need to obtain nutrients from a blood meal to produce eggs.
• Mosquitoes prefer some people over others becuase their sweat has the preferred mix of carbon dioxide, octenol and other compounds.
• Mosquito bites become visible and irritable because of the body’s immune reaction to the binding antibodies to antigens in the mosquito saliva (whatever THAT means!).
• Mosquitoes carry diseases and parasites that cause millions of deaths each year. So if you don’t hear from me tomorrow, you’ll know why! Just kidding – most of these deaths are in other countries (Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and a lot of Asia).
• Dragonfly Nymphs will eat mosquitoes at all stages of development, and are quite effective in controlling populations. Bats will eat mosquitoes too, but less than 1% of their diet consists of them.

Comments (28)

By kilax, July 12, 2010 5:31 am

New rule: go to the garden before buying groceries.

When we visited the garden on Sunday (after buying groceries on Saturday) we had quite a few things to pick: (from left to right above) cucumbers, green beans (!!!), zucchini, onions and lettuce (and basil, not shown). We had already bought lettuce and zucchini at the store. Oops.

We did a bit of weeding and watering on Sunday, along with the veggie picking. You can tell from the photo above that the ground is super dry. It is cracking in big clumps, making pulling weeds a bit of a pain. I wore the new gloves my mom gave me to pick weeds,

but soon discovered that sweat + gloves + weeding tool = ouchy blister in my hand. Duh.

(And unfortunately, I have to post things like this so I remember not to do them again. Okay okay, and I like to share the pain! Side note – notice the blood on my hand – yeah – I killed about 39139874 mosquitoes while I was there, and have 3980808 bites from them.)

Some things are doing better than others in the garden:

Doing well:

1. Cucumbers
2. Zucchini
3. Lettuce
4. Basil

Looking like crap:

1. Green Beans (this may be the only time we get to eat them, sad face)
2. Broccoli
3. Peppers

Questionable/too early to tell:

1. Sweet Potatoes
2. Carrots
3. Tomatoes
4. Onions

Only time will tell what happens!

For now, I am excited that we were able to eat something from our garden! We took our produce home and made a yummy salad with the lettuce and cucumbers, and steamed the green beans.

The cucumbers and green beans were especially good! The lettuce took forever to wash and was a bit bitter, but was good with all of the toppings on it.

I feel so happy that we are actually able to eat the stuff we are growing. Not sure why I was worried about it… guess I was just doubting myself!

Do you have any fun basil or zucchini recipes to share with me? We love zucchini on pizza, and sauteed with pasta… but I like to try new recipes too!

I’ve included some more photos of our garden in an extended post below.

Continue reading 'The Garden Project: It’s Edible!'»

Comments (8)

By kilax, July 11, 2010 1:39 pm

I am currently getting back in to running so I can run the Chicago Half Marathon and Chicago Marathon.

Day 260 | July 5, 2010: rest

Day 261 | July 6, 2010: rest

Day 262 | July 7, 2010: 3 m run

I think taking three days of rest really made my legs feel great! We took off at the beginning of our 3 mile run, completing our first mile in 10:00. That doesn’t seem very fast, but for someone who hasn’t run in a month, it is. And the new inserts weren’t bothering me at all!

Unfortunately, it was hot (80s) and humid outside. And we seemed to be running through mosquito country. So we slowed down for the last two miles (and walked a bit in the beginning of the second one).

My legs felt great, except for the epic scratch I have on my left leg. My left knee ached a bit after I was done running, but I couldn’t tell if it was from it being swollen, or because of the stress fracture I had there. I’ll keep an eye on it.

Distance: 3.0 | Time: 31:52 | 1: 10:01 | 2: 11:23 | 3: 10:24

Day 263 | July 8, 2010: rest

Day 264 | July 9, 2010: rest

We were supposed to run on Friday, but my left knee started hurting pretty bad on Thursday… enough to make me limp a bit! So I took two days off. And felt extremely frustrated and worried.

Day 265 | July 10, 2010: 3.5 mile run

Well, that’s the second dumbest thing I’ve done this week (can you guess the first?) – run at 11:30 AM in the bright sun, at this temp:

Don’t be deceived – I was melting. I basically whined my way through this whole “run.” I shuffled along, and spent most of my time staring at the back of Steven as he ran in front of me (until the last mile when he stopped and said “That shuffling does not sound good – you are only going to hurt yourself.” So I tried to speed it up!).

I hoped for shade, but it was few and far between (we were on a pretty open loop at the Grant Woods Forest Preserve). And when I got to it, the mosquitoes just ate me up.

I was so happy to be done. I drank about 16 ounces of water (along with the water I brought along on the run).

And I made sure to look extra pathetic for our post run photo.

I hate this part about getting back in to running. Hate it. My breathing is awful. I feel like I have lost all of my fitness.

And the sun sure doesn’t help! We are not running in the hot sun like that again!

At least my knee felt okay though! And I am not really upset about how crappy this run was. What do I expect, going out in the middle of the day, in the open sun (and after eating a ton of crap they day before)? Things can only get better… right?!

Distance: 3.5 | Time: 39:50 | 1: 11:09 | 2: 11:27 | 3: 12:02 | 4: 5:12

Day 266 | July 11, 2010: 4 m run

I made it to the Millennium Trail by 7:30 am… a little better than the day before! It was still extremely sunny, but only 75°, and there was even a bit of a breeze.

The run went better, but I still felt slooooooooow. And I had to stop at the 2-mile mark and literally give myself a “you can do this” pep talk.

There are a few hills on this trail, and while they weren’t that bad going up, they hurt my knee going down. I think I need to avoid hills for awhile.

I started to feel pretty good toward the end of the run. Not “I could keep going forever” good, but “this feels natural” good. And I was excited to make it to four miles!

After I ran, Steven and I went and worked in the garden (weeding, watering, picking) for a couple of hours. I will do a post about it tomorrow, but here is a sneak peak:

GREEN BEANS!!!

Distance: 4.0 | Time: 44:53 | 1: 10:47 | 2: 11:16 | 3: 11:27 | 4: 11:19

Week Summary: 10.5 miles

I had an awesome run at the beginning of the week… and the last two were kind of poo. I don’t expect things to be easy right now, especially in the HOT sun. I just feel discouraged I have to re-build my endurance all over again. And I worry that running at a slower than normal (for me) pace is not good for my form. I hope things get better soon. There is nothing for me to do but keep at it.

So, what about strength/yoga/cross this week? Yeah, I am slacking. Honestly, I didn’t even feel like running this week, I was exhausted. And I know this upcoming week is going to be difficult because I will be in training for three days at work, and not be able to workout during lunch. Maybe I will get up early and work out at home… we’ll see!

Maybe I should go back to planning out my workouts (loosely) at the beginning of the week – do you ever plan your workouts in advance? I think most runners have an idea of what they will run in the upcoming week, but do you plan your support workouts as well?

Comments (34)

By kilax, July 9, 2010 5:43 pm

What is your astrological zodiac sign? Do you think your personal characteristics match that of your astrological zodiac sign?

Image from here

Do those questions even make sense? I hope so.

I have met a lot of people who are in to astrological signs, but have never known much about it myself. All I know is that I am a Leo. Which, according to the chart below (from here), means I am:

• Generous and warmhearted
• Creative and enthusiastic
• Broad-minded and expansive
• Faithful and loving
• Pompous and patronizing
• Bossy and interfering
• Dogmatic and intolerant

I bolded the ones I agree with! For fun, you should too! Go this site and copy the text version of the chart (scroll down) and paste it in the comments below me and tell me which characteristics are totally you… and which aren’t!*

Update – Steven pointed out that he is usually a Capricorn but this chart says he is a Sagittarius (his birthday is Dec 22). I do think he seems more like a Capricorn… anyway, I am not sure of the validity of this chart! Just posting for fun!

*See? Bossy.

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By kilax, July 8, 2010 6:32 am

I love summer vacation food – hot dogs, chips, cookies, cake, pasta salad, potato salad, bean salad, fruit*, waffles, pancakes… and what else did I eat last weekend?

Oh yes. Onion rings.

My mom has been on the quest for the perfect onion ring mix for awhile now**. I saw a new mix at a store near our house, so of course, I brought a few boxes.

The onion rings turned out okay, but do you know what is even better fried? Cauliflower! My sister was craving some fried cauliflower, so she drove in to town just to buy some, and boy, was it good. So good, we ate it too fast to take a picture. And my mom made a brilliant mix to dip our fried goodies in – BBQ sauce and vegenaise (mayo). YUM!

So what else could we cover in batter and fry? Am I the only one who comes back from nearly every vacation feeling like I need to go on a detox diet?

Seriously, one year, I ate so much carnival food (parts of funnel cake, deep fried twinkie and snickers bars… maybe some other stuff?) and pizza that I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I was going to barf. That didn’t happen this year, but I think we all felt a bit greasy the day after our fried food extravaganza.

I almost always overdo it with food when I am on vacation. I’m no good with the whole “moderation” thing. I don’t really beat myself up about it, but does anyone have any good tips on not going crazy with food while on vacation?

I think I should note, we brought some lettuce from our garden with all intentions to eat it. Oops. How could we have forgotten about it?

*Had to put something healthy on there!
**Hey mom, notice I didn’t mention how you went all apeshit a few years ago when the fryer wouldn’t work?!

Comments (35)

By kilax, July 6, 2010 8:17 pm

I am beginning to think I may be a bit of a klutz.

I really thought I would make it through the entire Fourth of July vacation without hurting myself. Guess not! I had a little incident right before we headed home today.

Don’t worry though, it didn’t involve a man-made water slide. It involved me walking along the shore in front of my aunt and grandma’s cabins (below) and slipping on some cement covered in moss (also below) and landing on it and a log, on my left side (the side of my most-injured (ha ha) leg).

Ouch.

Luckily, my grandparents helped me clean up after it happened, and it didn’t stop me from going on one last boat ride.

Sigh. Maybe next year will be injury free!

Other than this morning’s accident, I had a great time! I would give you the full recap, but isn’t that kind of boring? Instead, I’ll just share a few pictures (and my dad wanted me to give him credit for them ALL being from his camera).

As you can see, we had some crappy weather toward the end. We didn’t let that stop us from having fun though!

Now I have the “back from vacation blues.” How do you deal with the “back from vacation blues”?

I deal with them in three ways:

1. By planning more vacations! We will be back in Guttenberg at the end of the month, and we are going with Erin and Jason to Champaign in two weeks!
2. By sharing photos from vacation! After I post this, I am going to email some and post some on facebook.
3. By talking with family and friends about the trip.

Oh! And bonus way – arriving home to goodies! Tori watched Data this weekend and left me a birthday gift (my birthday is at the end of the month but she’ll be out of town). What a sweetie!

Comments (13)

By kilax, July 4, 2010 5:49 pm

I am currently getting back in to running so I can run the Chicago Half Marathon and Chicago Marathon.

Day 253 | June 28, 2010: cross

I’ll be honest – I have NOT been excited about exercising lately. My heart just isn’t in it. I have only been doing it because I feel like I should. Not because I want to. I miss wanting to. I miss running.

I used the bike during lunch. I probably should have done a strength workout, but, see above.

Recumbent Bike Time: 30:00 | Distance: 4.99 (Set on “Forest Ride”)

Day 254 | June 29, 2010: 1.5 m run

Whoa, what was with the emo part abut Monday? Yikes.

As you saw, Tuesday was my return to running. I had to make sure to get some miles in in June.

The weather was awesome – around 68°! It has not been that cool in a long time.

Steven and I went to the Nippersink Forest Preserve for the inaugural run. We walked, the stretched, then ran a mile. I felt good, except the inserts pushed my foot into the top of my shoe and made me land on the outside of my foot. After our first mile, we walked a bit, then ran another half mile, then stretched. How exciting, right?

The only bad thing is that I was a bit out of breath. I think you would expect that after not running for a month though!

Distance: 1.5 | Time: 16:08 | 1: 10:43 | 2: 5:25

Day 255 | June 30, 2010: rest

I did a little bit of foam rolling.

Day 256 | July 1, 2010: 2 m run

A two mile run should not feel so hard.

My lung capacity has definitely diminished! I am optimistic it will come back soon. Until then… I’ll keep making pouty faces!

My legs felt pretty good during the run. I removed the Adrenaline inserts and put the new ones in, rather than having both of them in my shoes. That helped, except one kept bunching up. I will kept trying them for awhile, until I decide to stick with them or not.

Distance: 2.0 | Time: 20:51 | 1: 10:28 | 2: 10:21

Day 257 | July 2, 2010: rest

Day 258 | July 3, 2010: 2 m run

Steven and I went for a short 2 mile run in the morning before a day of hanging out at the beach (in Guttenberg, IA). It was hot and it took us both awhile to warm up (well, our muscles, it was in the 80s). I would be worried, but it was taking me a long time to warm up before, and we are kind of jumping right back in to running!

The road mostly looks like this…

but every once in awhile, you catch a glimpse of the water!

Distance: 2.0 | Time: 21:27 | 1: 10:48 | 2: 10:36

Day 259 | July 4, 2010: rest

Week Summary: 5.5 miles

Yeah, this week was all about the cardio… oops. You’ll have weeks like that! I’m just excited to be running* again!

*Okay, jogging.

Comments (24)

By kilax, July 2, 2010 5:56 am

What are your holiday weekend plans?

Yay! Holiday weekend! Yeah, this is an easy question. I like hearing what everyone is doing!

Steven and I are headed to Guttenberg, IA to hang out with these peeps:

Anyone else think my sister’s boyfriend looks a bit like Zach Galifianakis?

and go here:

and do this:

and this:

and this:

but will probably avoid doing this again:

even though it was fun… I don’t want to end up like this:

(Although, I could just be more careful on the slide this year!).

My parents, grandparents and aunt all have cabins/homes in Guttenberg. It’s a great place to go and relax. All there is to do is eat (and drink), play in the sun/water, and sleep! Sounds like it’s just what I need. I have been extremely worn out and busy lately. I need more silly time.

Comments (20)

By kilax, July 1, 2010 4:55 pm

I just like to be obnoxious.

Update: Steven emailed me and asked why I didn’t post this picture:

Well, there you go. If he’s going to encourage it…

Grown (older) women in my office were going gaga about the Eclipse movie yesterday and today. They actually went to the midnight showing. I would make fun of them, but my memory is not so bad that I have forgotten leaving high school as freshman to wait in line for Star Wars Episode I, having my dad call me and my sister out of school (when I was a senior) for Episode II, or going to the midnight showing of Episode III.

Me and Christina, going to see Episode II:

My sister posted a picture on facebook of her wearing an Eclipse shirt and going to the movie yesterday. It’s fun to be excited about the movies!

What do you geek out about?