14 miles

I did it! I ran the longest distance I have ever run. I ran it turtle-slow, as usual, and finished it in 3:01:27 (yikes). I think that will probably put me in finishing the marathon around 5:30:xx. I ran by heart rate for as long as I could stand it (nine miles or so) and then just ran by feel. Rob did 14 miles as well, but we ran in opposite directions around our loop because he runs too fast for me (he did his in 2:50:xx and probably ran more than 14 miles). It was fun seeing him every four or five miles though--we high-fived every time we passed each other :) My hips were hurting quite a bit last night, but all seems to be fine now, thank goodness! So my total mileage for the week was 24 miles, plus a spin class on Thursday. Next week's long run is 16 miles, which is the minimum you need to run in order to complete a marathon, or so the experts say. I hope I can do it!

Personal notes:

• We got this cutie pie on Sunday: 

Her name is Atlas, she's an English Mastiff (or so the sketchy guy selling her in the parking lot told us). She had three types of worms, as we discovered Monday, but we're working on clearing those out.

• Rob's parents are in town for the long weekend. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science yesterday, which had one of the coolest dinosaur exhibits I have ever seen. Highly recommended if you ever visit Houston! After we came to check on the puppies, we then headed to the Astros game.
• I had an interview for a teaching position on Friday (the only interview I got!) so keep your fingers crossed for me. I really liked the women who interviewed me, so hopefully they liked me enough to give me a shot?

Longest solo long run

There is a teaching job fair tomorrow morning for the school district just north of where Rob and I live, so I did my long run this morning. I ran 12 miles, which is the farthest I have ever run without a medal waiting for me at the end of the run. It was 93% humidity when I walked out of the door at 6:30 this morning, and already 75 degrees. In case you weren't aware, Texas is HOT. And humid. I was dripping within minutes, mostly due to the moisture that had accumulated on my skin.

I tried to run again by heart rate, and I did pretty well until mile 8, but then I once again could have only kept it that low if I just started walking. I may not be a "runner" per se, but I am most certainly not a walker. If you have ever paced yourself based on your heart rate and think I might be doing something wrong here, please speak up!

Similar to last week, when I got the the point where I just couldn't keep my heart rate that low, I started to ignore the annoying noises my watch made every 15 seconds or so and just tried to keep my pace around 12:30, which is what many calculators have told me that my LSD runs should be. All in all, I had a 12:34 average for the whole run, and I can honestly say that I felt I would have been able to talk consistently throughout the whole thing (another sign that your long slow distance runs are paced well.) I didn't talk--only because it might have made some people uncomfortable-- but I was tempted to give lengthy greetings to anyone I saw just to show them that I knew I was running slow but that I was also not winded, dang it.

On Wednesday this week I did 5 miles at a 10:35 pace. Tuesday I swam for 40 minutes (freestyle/backstroke) and and Monday I ran 4 miles with a 10:00 average. Next week the miles really start picking up and I will be doing my longest run ever. Period. And the same thing will be true of the next long run and the long run after that. Here is where I start getting nervous! But, I bought my ticket to Seattle on Tuesday, so there really is no backing out now--I've got well over $500 invested in this thing, and so does Robert. I can only stretch, foam roll, stretch, foam roll. Maybe this week I'll also dive into some ice baths. Sounds awful, but...might be good for my old bod.

Personal notes:

• One of my very best friends from high school just moved to Houston for the summer. He is coming over for dinner tonight and then we might go see the Great Gatsby. 
• I fully intend on finishing A Storm of Swords this weekend (if not today) and I already have the fourth book of the series ordered. I am a big nerd, I know, but if you know what I'm talking about then you are a big nerd too and have no right to judge. 
• On Sunday I have a follow up interview of sorts for a nannying position for an adorable girl who is about 4 months old...they want to pay me as well as I was paid at Quality Petroleum for less than 40 hours a week! And, I mean, come on; I get to play with a baby all day long. Who could complain about that? Plus, the dad went to UF for med school, so...Go Gata.
• I think we have decided to join the church we've been going to for the last month or so, and then I plan to get involved with the children's ministry there. 

I think that about all I have for now. Thanks for reading, as always!

Catch up!

It's high time I wrote in this thing. The last time I wrote, I was still Reade Winner, still lived in Alabama, and still hadn't seen the Great Pyramids yet. All that has since changed, and in the whirlwind of throwing a party (wedding), packing for Texas, buying a house, selling a house, going on our honeymoon and actually moving to Texas I not only neglected this blog, but I also neglected my running.

By all accounts, I think the amount of life-stuff Rob and I took on in such a short time is about a good excuse as any to fall off a training schedule. I didn't completely blow it though; the weekend before the wedding I got in a 9 miler, and I got a couple of 3-4 mile runs in the week before the wedding. The Monday after we got married, I ran 7.5 miles, but that was my last "long run" until we got back to the states...a month later.

And that's how I found myself 9 weeks from the marathon and panicked. Rob and I did a quick Google search, and found that other people had gone from zero to marathon in the same period of time (or even less!) so we set a schedule for ourselves. Basically, we're following a 16 week marathon plan and only doing weeks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16. Doing that will put us at 18 miles for our longest long run, which is slightly less than the standard (20) but I think we will be able to complete the marathon. We won't do well, but we will finish.

Today I did 9 miles. I had been doing some research on different types of runs, because I have noticed that I really only have one pace. Earlier this week I did my first "Threshold" run, where I ran at a comfortably hard pace (9:00-9:30ish) for 4 minutes, and then did a 90 second recovery (10:30-11:00) and did that 3 times, plus 3 extra miles at my usual pace (5 miles total). I really enjoyed that one! All of my research concerning how fast my long runs should be indicated that I have been running my long runs way too fast. I decided today to try to run by heart rate instead of monitoring my current pace. There are a lot of heart rate formulas out there, if you just Google something like "heart rate training." I determined that for long runs, during which I am really supposed to be able to hold conversations without having to pause every few words to catch my breath, my heart rate should be between 142 and 157 bpm. That seemed incredibly low to me, but I was determined to try it out, and I am pretty happy with that decision.

My fancy Garmin actually has a function in it which allows me to set how many miles I want to run and what range my heart rate is allowed to be in. If I went out of that zone (above or below) the watch made a fairly annoying noise. Once I slowed my heart rate back down (I never went below the range) it made a pleasant "beep!" The last 2 miles I just could not keep my heart rate that low without outright walking, so I just ignored the annoying sound and still ended up with a 12:29 average for the run. I know that doesn't sound all that great, but considering how good I felt throughout the whole run, I will take it! I need to keep reminding myself that I just want to finish this marathon--I'm not out for any awards.

I am liking Texas so far. We're working on getting plugged into a church and we have found one that we like pretty well. The only problem we have with it is the size, but we have spent some time with a small group for newlyweds which has been a good way to feel connected. Rob seems to like his job, and I am searching for my own job. For now I am just working on getting the house together!

I really will try to be more committed to this blog from now until the marathon. REALLY.

Texas! Crossfit in Action.

Hi hi.

I've had a gap week...sorry about that! There has been a lot going on. Rob has accepted a position as an engineer in Sugar Land, TX, just outside of Houston. He will be starting on April 22 (basically as soon as we get back from our honeymoon.) So, between the end of last month and today, we have had to put in our resignations from our jobs, get the house ready to sell and put it on the market. We listed our house on Saturday, and two couples came to look at it that same day. Both made offers on the house and we sold it yesterday! That process was so much less painful than I had been expecting! I can only say that it was an answered prayer for both of us. 

My "last" day of work will be the 22nd, but I'm using my two vacation days on Thursday and Friday, so my last day will really be the 20th. That will give me two days to do any last minute wedding things, and I will be able to spend that whole week after our wedding packing up the house. Rob and I are going to visit Sugar Land the weekend following our wedding to look at houses and I'm going to interview for a nannying position.

So, a really quick recap of the last week or so:

Last Saturday I ran 7 miles in the snow. I'm not going to lie: I felt pretty hardcore. The snow wasn't sticking, but it was windy and stingy and surprisingly kind of fun. Maybe I'm just a masochist. 

Monday's CrossFit session was intense. It was a hero WOD called "Murph", which consisted of a 1 mile run, followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, and 300 squats, parsed however you pleased. I did 10 rounds of 10-20-30. I used the biggest resistance band to help me with the pull-ups, and I did 190 of the push-ups on my knees. The workout concluded with another 1 mile run. It hurt.

Tuesday I rested, and Wednesday was a weight-lifting day. Not surprisingly, my performance was quite pathetic. I lifted the lowest weight of anyone in the class in every single exercise... even lower than the pregnant lady! I guess you have to start somewhere though. 

Thursday I got up early and did a 3-mile run on the treadmill. Some guy next to me said, "you were a sprinter when you were younger, weren't you?" I laughed at him and told him "no, but thanks for the mistake." Then he told me how "awesome" (and I quote) I was anyway. I almost asked if I could hire him to just follow me around on my future runs and tell me how great I am :p

Friday was a CrossFit WOD called "Fran". Everyone had warned me that Fran is particularly awful. She was pretty bad, but I think I was more sore from "Murph." I probably should have used a thinner resistance band for the pull-ups, since I'm not all that heavy to begin with so I don't REALLY need 100 lbs of resistance. 

Saturday was an easy 5 mile run. I ran with a 9:45 average, which for me is excellent. This weekend is supposed to be a 9 mile run-- that has me nervous. I know I've run it before, but it just seems like I'm hardly running at all anymore...so the distance is a little more daunting.

Today we did the workout in the video below (I'm the one in the orange). It was a partner workout, and I really enjoyed it! We had to move all of the plates outside, then back in. While one partner was running the plate, the other is hanging from the bar. I have pretty serious blisters from hanging, which was a lot harder than you might think.

Thanks for reading/watching, everyone!

First WOD; Some judgement of fellow runners

Remember that time I did 30 dead lifts with a 35 pound bar and I was desperately sore for the next two days? Yeah, 3 weeks ago? This morning I did 65 dead lifts with a 75 pound bar. So...I'm thinking tomorrow is going to be misery. It was disheartening to see that the prescribed workout had women dead lifting 135 pounds, and I was the only person there lifting in the double digits (including a portly gentleman in his late 60's). Still, I survived my first WOD, which also included 5 rounds of 400 meter runs, and 5 rounds of GHD sit ups (I think that's what they were called. You sat on the edge of a MASSIVE tire, hooked your feet inside the middle of the tire and leaned all the way back so that you were bending your backbone toward the ground and then did a sit up. Everyone else had to do 30). I'm confident I'll get there eventually, but my goodness...it was a rough morning.

Now, let me go back to Saturday: my 6 mile run. Robert was out of town, so I did it by myself again. I ran at a park right next to a high school. I like to run there because there is a dirt trail that I can run on, but I can also run on pavement to switch it up. Normally I can also mix in the high school track, but they had some event going on at the time and they wouldn't let me in. Due to all the rain we've had here lately, the trail was even more of an adventure than usual; there was a new stream that cut through the path, about 3 feet wide. Someone before me had placed a rock strategically in the middle, so that path frequenters could get to the other side with relatively dry feet. It was much better than last week's run. Including the time I spent traversing the new river, I ran a 10:10 average, and I felt good the whole time.

Even on a cloudy, chilly Saturday morning, there were a good number of runners out with me. Here is my observation with runners, in general: they all take themselves WAY too seriously. One of my favorite things about hiking/backpacking is the camaraderie that automatically exists between those of us out on the trail. It is rare to pass a hiker that won't give you a head-nod, at the very least. More often, you'll get a cheerful "Hello!" and "How are you??" or "Beautiful day for a hike, isn't it?" and so on. All I want from a fellow runner is some sign of recognition that we are all out there voluntarily doing the same stupid thing for hours at a time. I feel this is especially necessary if you see the same runner more than one time during the same run, which often happens when you're both running in circles and moving in opposite directions (I mean, come on). Only one runner deigned to give me a head-nod, and that poor fellow looked like this was maybe his first run...ever. I'm sure he will soon learn to be smug and superior and will no longer return my smiles, head-nods or, when I get really over zealous, waves. And that, my friends, will be a sad sad day for me. I live in ALABAMA for goodness sake...what has the world come to if down-home southern folk won't say hello to a neighbor?

This particular [non]social experience got even better toward the end of my run, when I saw a man jogging in a Phillies shirt. I said (okay, really I yelled), "Nice shirt!" as we passed each other...nothing. I got NOTHING in return. Not even a smile. Not even eye contact. It's really not possible that he didn't hear me...we were inches from one another, and I, um... shouted at him. I then wanted to say (yell) all kinds of things that I would likely regret instantly, so I refrained (with some difficulty).

Another note about strange runners: I also saw a girl who was jogging in full make up. We're talking fake eyelashes, heavy eyeliner, blush, the whole bit. Even if it's cool enough that you won't sweat off your make-up, you look ridiculous.

Speak of looking ridiculous: Wedding dress fitting #4 was on Saturday, and it finally fits. Thank. Goodness.

Barking

Hello!

It's Wednesday, so [like every other day of the week] I have been done with my work since 8:30. I have been reading my book (Game of Thrones. Yes I am an ultra-nerd.) under my desk for the past hour, but I'm starting to get nervous that my boss or manager will come in, and it's a lot harder to hide a book than a blog post. Can you believe they pay me for this?

Tomorrow is my last day of CrossFit Foundations, which means that next week I jump right into the WODs...I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous about it. They want me to do it FIVE DAYS A WEEK, and Sean is kind of a scary guy. He's always berating me for laughing at myself ("giggling" as he says) when I do something ridiculously wrong. I'm kind of dreading the moment when I tell him that what I'd like to do is what I'm doing now: three days of CrossFit, two days of running (one short interval session and one long run.) Or at the very least four days of CrossFit and a long run on the weekends. But hey, it's my money so I can do whatever I want, right? Right??

On Monday we learned the push-press-jerk, which involves a lot of movements, and my lack of coordination and tendency to overthink things made it pretty challenging for me just to do it with a PVC pipe. Below is a lovely video that shows you all three versions of the shoulder press.

I got the push-press-jerk eventually though, and I think and I lifted more weight than I probably should have. I am so sore that it hurt to sleep. Seriously. Not that I would have been sleeping anyway, because my neighbor's charming dog has found it necessary to bark and bark and bark. All. Night. Long. Rob called the police on Sunday night, but they said there was nothing they could do about it. I think in the past three nights I have gotten five hours of sleep per night, give or take. I keep telling myself in a fit of rage in the middle of the night that I'm going to go give the owner a piece of my mind the following day, but then I always wimp out when the time comes.

Rob and I did our long runs separately last Saturday because he wanted to play Frisbee in the morning and I had another dress fitting at noon. My five miles wasn't particularly enjoyable, but I finished it in 49:33 which has got to be a personal best. Rob did his later in 49:45, and that was the longest distance he has run thus far. I am so proud of him!

Our wedding is coming up fast. My dress doesn't fit yet, and I had my first bridal moment last weekend when I cried after trying it on again. I felt stupid, but it LOOKED stupid. So...we're going to give it another try this weekend. This time I'm going to make a friend of mine go with me so she can tell me that it doesn't look that bad :)

Week 3

Happy Valentine's Day [this really is a stupid holiday]! Rob went wild this year and got me TWO bouquets of flowers-- 2-dozen roses and some pretty purple tulips for my office. He said this was the last time he'd have to make an effort for Valentine's Day, because by next year I'll really be stuck with him :) Gosh, I'm such a lucky lady! Tonight I'm going to make him some lobster ravioli and some brownie-strawberry-cupcake things.

Back to the exercise routine: Rob and I ran our 4 miles on Saturday, which happened to be the ONLY non-dreary day of the week. We ran somewhere I hadn't been to yet and really enjoyed. If you live in Birmingham, you probably know about the Lakeshore Parkway trail, but if you haven't run it yet I would definitely recommend it. The memo seemed to have gotten out though, as runners were crowding in from every side.

During that run I was noticeably faster without putting in noticeably more effort. We ran a 9:33 average and only the first mile was over 10 minutes, which I think was because we had a hard time finding the trail. I'm not entirely sure why I did so well. Probably a combination of running with a buddy (two buddies, actually--our friend Drew joined us as well, and he used to run an sub-20 minute 5k.), running less, and doing interval training on Tuesdays.

My third week of CrossFit foundations was pretty tough. We learned to do push-presses on Monday and I could barely get my 3 rounds of 10 reps done with a 35 pound bar. The trainer had to help me with the last 15 or so! My shoulders have been killing me ever since, so I don't think I wasn't pushing myself hard enough...I'm just a delicate little thing. Yesterday we learned the back squat, front squat and kettlebell swing, and this morning we learned to do dumbbell snatches. We did sumo squats as a part of our mini work-out and my butt is already hurting...so I can only imagine what it will feel like tomorrow.

This weekend Rob and I will be doing 5 miles, but we may or may not do it together. He wants to go play Ultimate Frisbee on Saturday morning (not really my thing) and I have a feeling he won't want to run after that...but I know that I will want to run since I'm taking a rest day tomorrow. I will report back next week!