perspective

I'll preface this by saying I've never been an ATHLETE. Never serious, never super competitive. No one is calling me up for select sides, wishing I'd move to their city, hoping I run in their race. Et al.

But, for 10 years I played rugby semi-competitively, and for a lot of that time, I worked out with rugby in mind. I didn't lift heavy enough or often enough, but when I did it was thinking ahead towards the season, looking at it as training. Not my hobby. Rugby was my hobby. Running ridiculously long races was my hobby towards the end of that too.

Now?
Now I'm lifting for the hell of it. For fitness I guess. But, not with an end goal, not with purpose of being better at something else.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

sidebar: this is not the most worldly, introspective perspective post ever. first world issues for sure.

end of an era

I played my last rugby game ever this past Saturday (photo from two weeks ago, when it wasn't raining & we were playing in a questionable area of Baltimore).

For the record, my heart is in second row, even if I am a short-ish and thick-ish 4 better suited for 1. Too bad coach noticed this season and I got well acquainted prop.

10 years, 19 seasons (I missed Spring 2004), one dislocated thumb, one pulled back muscle & three stitches (a perk of being so-so and not particularly aggressive about contact

season over

So I only ran 10 miles this week. Nothing else. Oh well.

and rugby is over now. My team ended a long time ago, with the (sort of surprise, its a long story) trip to Nationals that could have/should have been (we were supposed to see bats & win, among other things).

and three weeks later, the collegiate D3 season ended. My kids finished second in the nation (of 47 teams, which is something really...there's only 25ish in the D1 senior league I play in), by a score of 0-3. To lose on a penalty kick hurts, especially when they had several opportunities at the end to make one themselves.  That said, I would have gone for the try and the win too. I'm proud of them (for 99% of their game choices!).


Its hard to have the season end. It takes up so much time and emotional energy.

I guess I could work on my dissertation now. Or, you know, work out?

so about that Thanksgiving 5k...

I'm still doing it, but my training has been naught.
I did 13.9 miles this week...most I've done in a week since September. I never broke 10 miles in October, and had two weeks at 0. Whoops. In my (sort of) defense, October is the peak of rugby season, and I had a really good season (my team had an...interesting one, where we made the national playoffs with a good seed despite our 2-4 league record...long story). Seriously, in ten years and 19 15s seasons, this is the first time I've felt, well, useful. Not an asset exactly, but a contributing player. I even made a tackle on a wing once...not in a wing-got-ball-by-accident-near-a-sideline-ruck tackle either. Open field, past the centers. I honestly cannot recall why I was out there to begin with, but she squeeked when I hit her. It was awesome.

I digress, but my party line in why training is screwed up THIS time (lets forget previous, shall we?) is rugby. Distance running IS bad for rugby, and I DID so (some) specific training this fall. We'll call it a wash at any rate, since I wouldn't trade this past season for a silly old 5K PR at all. (Seriously, I really enjoyed our bizarre season.)

So today I did 3.2 miles at a 9 min pace (averaged), my best in a while...except I stopped a number of times. Post office, three intersections, the top of 3 hills (and you can bet I stopped my watch). I'm running NYC (marathon) in the fall (more on that another day), and am planning on a spring half, so I have time to improve and get to where I once was at least (at Thanksgiving 2007, just after I ran NY in '07, I ran a 5 mile race at an 8:06 pace. Stellar and amazing for me!).  So for now, my Thanksgiving goal is 27 minutes. I've only ever run one 5k under that anyway, and it was 26 and change in 2008. I have about 10 days left to train, so I'm just going to focus at running 3 miles at a pop at an 8:40 pace, even if I have to stop. Surely I can push that out on race day.

That's a lot of chatter about a little 5k.

I think I can, I think I can...

Maplewood 5K Race

I enjoyed reading the July 4 race recaps of my blogroll, so I figured I'd do one too!! :)

For July 4th this year, we ran a 5k! My dad and I had done one on Thanksgiving, and I badgered talked him into another!  Princess Charming's mom was visiting from Missouri, so she joined us as well (and pretty much dragged my mom through the course...see shout out to them in the Maplewood paper!!)

Pre-Race!!

This was a pretty tiny race - a last minute replacement for the 5 miler we had planned further south (which was deemed too far away for various reasons) - but I am in love with the community. There was a kids bike parade and a petting zoo and what looked like it would be a fabulous day of festivities to the evening fireworks. Definitely a town we can aspire to afford to live in when we move to NJ :)

I did my first mile in about 8:24 - awesome, right on the pace I wanted (I dream of a 24 min 5k...but am still seeking a 26 minute one!) - but that turned out too fast. Part of me will blame it on the heat wave we've begun again - it was at least 80 by 9 am Sunday - but I also know I am just a little thick and not well trained right now! Anyway, just past the first mile was a water stop....in the middle of a big hill. I stop for water - and wasn't about to skip it in the heat! - so it kind of broke up my pace, but the hill didn't help! My second mile was around 9:30, counting a short walk at 1.5 mile - I just puttered out atop that hill.

The third mile was about half downhill, so I rode that just under a 9 min pace. As I approached the park, I lost mental steam and stopped on the corner, thinking I had about 1/4 mile left, wanting to walk 30 seconds then sprint it in. Andddd then I turned the corner to see the finish 100 yards away. Oops. So I lost a few there. I finished in 27:17, pretty well under a 9 min pace. OK I guess, and at my goal of under 9 minutes/mile, but I need to improve!

I finished 1st in my age group! Of two. I don't think that counts.

Then I walked out until I met my dad - I picked him up about 1/2 mile from the finish and jogged back with him. My Garmin says we did a 13:20 pace together, so he gets props for consistency - he finished in 41:45, a 13:26 pace!  That's also over 30 sec/mile faster than our Thanksgiving 5k, in 35 more degrees, so I think that's an awesome improvement! In fact, for a guy who had a triple bypass in March 2009 and hadn't exercised in 35 years prior to that, I think he's doing pretty awesome!!

just before the finishers chute!

I can't believe June is just about over...

What a quick month of weekends.

Our prom style photo from Greg & Jenny's wedding!

a quick trip to Santa Barbara, CA for me with the U23 All Stars

Staying 1/2 mile from the beach isn't too bad...

Then another wedding...

and another "prom" photo!

And this past weekend, I went to play some sevens...a second place finish, and a reminder that I.am.slow. But that I still want to play 15s this fall. A success, I suppose, if not for my time and wallet!

In other news, our house isn't sold (shocker) despite continual good feedback, and our listing agreement is up this month, but more on that in a different post.

getting back on track

I like this title.
I'll use it again in two weeks.

Two weeks until the semester is over.
And I run out of excuses to half train and totally not work towards losing that 15-30 lbs (depending on what my "goal" is) I've put on.

For now though, I am working on my paper watching the Biggest Loser with an oatmeal scotchie. Or three. Shh.

mixed feelings

So we're seriously considering selling our house, since Princess Charming has a wonderful job 90 miles away (and has been doing a terrible commute - and crashing at my parents' sometimes - for well over a year). This wasn't really the intention when we bought it two years ago, but no one can control small businesses (not ours!) going under and in that case no one (logical anyway) can turn down a position with a great company that is a great fit when facing impending unemployment, even if it is rather far from home.

I am so stressed out about this.

There's a lot of reasons for this, but a big one in New Jersey. HOWWWWW do I keep going back? There's benefits, don't get my wrong. My family (well, my parents...I have a tiny family) is there, I have a couple of friends I'm still in touch with there....but it is Jersey: the land of the strip malls, incredibly high real estate taxes (and housing costs to match), fake nails, bleach blondes, and really wretched traffic on "highways" that resemble access roads in TX without the attached freeways. And there's this vague sense of failure at moving "home," even though this time it has nothing to do with me personally and really is a great career move for Princess Charming.

Also, I clearly need a new job to make this work (shhhhh.....I'm not discussing this in my current job yet), and given NJ's current state budget, this is a problem since I work in higher ed and don't really want to commute to NYC from the area we plan to live in (likely 45 min via bus or train, then some subway time, for at least an hour total without accounting for delays and walking...yuck...that's worse than what I do now), so I have no idea if the schools are going to start hiring (not a lot of private schools- i.e. schools with cash - in NJ). Postings have been slow so far, and I don't want to just take A job. I want THE job. OK, maybe not THE job, but something on the right path for my career and in an appropriate pay range for my experience and education.  Easier said than done, especially when thinking about keeping our commutes reasonable.

And lastly, I am really sad to leave here. Not for logical reasons. I don't have a bunch of close friends here. I'm not attached to SEPTA. I'm a little sad to leave our house which we've made a good little home, but not super sad (its a 1950s split for heaven's sake!). I am, however, pretty bummed to leave my rugby team here and my college kids that we coach. I am really dreading telling both of them, and sad about it to the point I'm really tempted (well, lets put the job hunt IFs aside for this) to just figure out how to stay through the fall competitive season. I was more reasonable about this before our tournament this past weekend, and am now totally bummed. I spilled the beans to a teammate on the plane, and her reaction was "but, if you get a new job, this is it! you'll be gone after the spring!" Yes, I know that. But hearing it is weirdly heartbreaking. And my two top college players came on the trip (and were rock stars) and I already feel like we're abandoning them and totally letting them down by moving and I have no idea who we can find to replace us for their fall season. I am sad on their behalf sort of, and don't want to put that kind of pressure on their captain. This, logic says, is nice of me but a completely irrational reason to put our lives on hold. We do get paid for coaching, but it's not much, and probably works out to something like $5/hr (I don't want to do the math on it).

Sigh.

I know this is a good thing and good for us family and career wise, and I know things could be worse in a multitude of different ways and that we have it pretty damn good, but I'm still kind of bummed out today.

this picture

pretty much sums up my weekend.

and it was pretty good!

training week 5, done

Sorta. Well its done, just not great. My schedule looks weird because I totally deviated from what I was supposed to do.

Monday: planned day of rest
Tuesday: 2 easy with pup, rugby practice
Wednesday: 2 easy with pup, lifting (lower)
Thursday: rugby practice
Friday: 2 easy with pup, 2 easy, lifting (upper)
Saturday: unplanned day of rest
Sunday: 9 miles long

Instead of my speedwork, easy, tempo and long run totaling 20+ miles, I ended up with 4 easy 2 milers (3 with Bailey) and my long run, for 17 miles this week. Blah. At least I got the most important one in. I was just lazy about the speedwork early on this week, and I was worn out from lifting and practice later in the week and didn't get over the mental hump.
I did lift twice, which I'll count as what I planned on seeing as I switched from NROLFW for now to a modified (half!) version of the end-of-preseason plan our coach recommends for our elite athletes (which is why I'm doing half, hah). My legs were just *dead* the day after the legs day. I need to plan that better this week.

Up for week 6:
2x1600
3 easy
4 tempo
10 long

2x lifting
2 practice...I need to start planning a lot better and working through being tired now! Somehow a couple of years ago I trained for a full through rugby season, but at the time I wasn't taking classes on top of everything else.

Training Week 3/Countdown - 2/4/12

My Half is 10 weeks away. My goal for this 10 weeks is to not have any more fail weeks like last week and do all my runs! Its only 4 days a week and peaks at 22 miles! I can do this!!

This week:
two sets of 1x1200, 1x400 with 1 and 3 minute recoveries respectively
3 miles easy
4 miles tempo
7 miles, long

We're also 2 weeks to the beginning of rugby practice, 4 to our first game, and 12 to what will likely be my last game with this club. So, I am committing to adding some rugby-specific interval training to my workouts...starting now. This will also probably be really good for upping my fat loss (which has been a long time coming). I'll likely swap the easy and tempo runs for HIIT sessions. We'll see how this week goes.

And, noting fat loss above, I'm also committing to following Weight Watchers for 10 weeks. I need to lose 15-20 lbs to feel my best (the lower end of that is just below stupid BMIs overweight border, amusingly), and I think I can make the commitment with having a post-injury race PR in mind...

I started off this week right with a 3 miler with the pup this morning! Here's to Spring!

Training Week 2

Monday: Planned Day of Rest
Tuesday: un-Planned Day of Rest. Oops.
Wednesday: NROLFW 1A8. 3 miles with the pup, 33 min. I blame the narrow sidewalks and curb snow to climb ;)
Thursday: 2.2 miles on the treadmill with 1 mile warm up then 4x400 with 60 second walk breaks. 2 miles with the pup, 21 minutes (see above). This was supposed to be a 4 mi tempo run, but I left work too late to get it in before class so I did what I figured was most efficient.
Friday: NROLFW 1B8. Stage 1, done
Saturday & Sunday, Fail.

Dammit. I just lacked motivation this weekend. I need to start doing all my runs midweek I think. We did get our carpet ripped out and host a 200 person collegiate rugby clinic though!

(Last) Weekend in Pictures

Philly Half Marathon
College Rugby Championships

finger crossed

So today I did a 10 miler.
Sort of.
I did 2 miles with the pup in the morning, 3.75 miles midday while refereeing, and 4.25 when I got home. I feel ok. My legs are a little tired. I am entertaining doing all my taper week mileage together (11 miles) on Tuesday then doing cross training wed/thurs as final prep for my half on Sunday.

Last year I'd registered for this race a week before breaking my foot, so Princess Charming and I run/walked it in about 2:30. I REALLY wanted to make this my race "back," to break 2 hours...but all these issues...sigh. I'm thinking 2:15ish. Really though, I'll be happy with doing it unhurt, just as a training run for my Jan half that I WILL BE well trained for.

On the upside, the game today was pretty fun to ref. Two newly minted all-stars teams, the MARFU U20s who are headed to Florida for U20 NASCs, and the EPRU U23s who will head to the MARFU Round Robin next weekend. Nothing like young kids who don't know each other playing together...quite the study in melding teams and cultures and egos.

weekend in pictures

Fabulous Friday Night Dinner (Indian!)

Old Friend's Bridal Shower

Collegiate Playoffs!

EPRU Division IV Champs!

the packing problem

I have a packing problem. Regardless of where I go, I fill my bag to the brim. One day at the shore - two changes of clothes in the backpack. Vacation? Every inch of the bag is stuffed. I try to control this by only using a carry on for anything under a week. But I still tend to bring too much stuff. See this weekend:

Including what I wore coming up to Boston, I brought:
my rugby kit (shorts, socks (2), spandex (2), warm up tee, shoulder pads, cleats)
pj pants
sweats
Adidas snap pants
jeans
sweatshirt
3 pairs each socks and undies & 2 sports bras
2 long sleeve shirts
2 tees
1 tank top.
Oh, and my bathing suit.

BUT, though I'm probably a smidge overpacked, I figure its good to be prepared. Since its wet this weekend, I'm going through socks and my Adidas pants are sure to be wet post-game and not good to ride home in (and I don't ride home in jeans!).

And although I'll preface this by saying I appreciate a good shopping trip and hair salon as much as the next girl (probably not as much as the next girly girl though) - and am currently in the market for a nice sweater dress, a couple more sweaters and maybe a nice pair of camel or gray boots - there is something freeing about not even packing minimal makeup (aka mascara) or a round brush to blow dry with. There is enough of all of that during the week.

going for gold

We are at the National Championships this weekend. Today, we played Detroit. Much closer game than we were hoping for, and less subs than we hoped, so unfortunately, some of our roster of TWENTY EIGHT probably won't play this weekend.

But, amid cheering from our gaggle of traveling fans, we WON 10-5.

Onward to Atlanta! We went into this event seeded 3rd in our union, 6th overall, despite tying the ATL in league season points since we lost to them. Boo. But tomorrow, the opportunity for redemption!

Onward!

What a busy two weekends coming up...

19% to go to goal!! Click to donate!

And

2009 Women's Rugby Championships!















That's 2 nights of camping and 60ish miles of walking (in 50 degree highs and probably rain!) over three days...
Then a week later, a 6 hr drive, two BIG games, and hopefully planning for the finals!

weekend in pictures

Friday

Sad veggie buffalo wings because I got to the grocery store too late

SaturdayLots of riding in rented mom-mobiles

Sunday

Philadelphia Takes Boston

on travel

We travel quite a bit. Historically, more for rugby than for work or personal (not that rugby isn't personal but it's not vacation)...

When you travel for work, you expect decent hotels (even if they have weird features). For personal travel, its up to you. Generally, we go with cheapo places if we're only passing through - how much will you enjoy a hotel if you arrive at midnight and are leaving at 8 am? - and a nicer place on the rare actual vacation.

My last rugby trip was in March, to Nashville. We stayed at a Super 8. The sheets on my bed had a couple of holes, the kind of holes you get from wear-and-tear and excessive laundering. There was a bottle opener on the back of the bathroom door. But the hotel was clean and had a decent breakfast and I think even had a pool.

Then Princess Charming and I went on our belated honeymoon. On the way home, we spent a couple of days in Seattle and stayed at a lovely joint (free on my credit card points!). Remember my love of their bathrooms? All that sparkle and light. This was the sort of hotel with white linens, multiple pillows, and a separate seating area. And a closet with doors.

This past weekend, I traveled with my rugby team to Boston for a league match. After a few hours of searching - literally - I found a Travelodge about 25 miles west of the field, right on our way in, that had 10 available rooms for the low low price of $92.50/night. If we only had 1 or 2 people per room it would only have been $68/night. Why do 2 more people cost almost $25 more? Its not like they remove beds if less people are sleeping there...and we certainly didn't use $12.50 in electricity and water each, nor in free breakfast cereal. (Maybe next time I should fib when making reservations?) We didn't even use the back-of-bathroom door bottle openers.

I looked for perhaps the first time in my life with disdain upon the multi-color with no particular pattern bedspread. I briefly considered wearing sandals in the shower (I decided this was a level of paranoia I am not ready for). I complained at some length about our beds being made up with only bottom sheets, so that as I tossed and turned all night on the hard plank posing as a mattress, I eventually had skin to mattress contact (and probably woke up my roommates, causing their own noisy tossing about).

This hotel also had a Beary Sleepy Suite, which by amazing luck of the draw, became the coaches room. Why does this room even exist? Do people leave their kids in a first floor room of a motel with exterior doors and hope they'll be happy with the bear-themed curtains and bedspread, kid-sized chairs and cable? It wasn't even a connecting room!

I am also pretty sure that this hotel, nestled in the shadow of a Crown Plaza in the middle of a fairly nice suburban shopping district, is the locale of choice for locals soliciting ladies of the night. Why you ask? When I went to get a duplicate key, this is the conversation of the "gentleman" in front of me:

Man: Do you have any rooms for tonight? Blah blah blah, I'm paying in cash.
Desk Clerk: Sure Guy's Name. (He walked in right before me and had not presented ID).
Man: OK great. Sure is busy here tonight.
Desk Clerk: Blah Blah blah, I'll give you Room 115. I have a couple of customers who really like that room.

Hence my conclusion. If I'm wrong, then let's move to conclusion B...
He's a) having an affair (hence the cash payment) and b) is a cheap bastard. (If you're treating your spouse like crap, at least meet your mistress someplace nice.)


What I learned this weekend:
I am becoming a snob finding myself to be a more discerning consumer.