Yea climate change is a lie

Neighbor's yard, 3 inches of snow, 10/29

Welcome Fall!

It might be 90 degrees out, but that doesn't mean I can't dream of fall...
and get a couple of new things!

For about $75 total, I picked up a new pair of boots (woot for finally finding boots I can wear with jeans without cutting off my calves), a cheap pair of jeans for said boots (since none of my bootcuts go in them without saggy knees!), a cardigan, and 4 lightweight long sleeved tees for layering.

training, week 2

Plan: 5 easy, 2x1 mi, 4 easy, 8 long. And a week's worth of Insanity (which is 5 days this week) and two days of lifting.

Monday: 2x1 mile, sort of. I think my warm up was too fast, and perhaps I have mental issues on the treadmill? I did it inside due to the heat and humidity, but it turned out to be 3x800 + 2x400 with 30 second stops for the mid-mile points and a 4 min walk break between miles (roughly half the time I was running). Total, 3.31 miles in 31:56 without counting stoppage.

Tuesday:  25 min of lifting. snatches, single leg deadlift, bent over row, wide squats with dumbbells, incline bench. 3x6 of each. I was supersetting and probably going too fast, but I had to get back to work.

Wednesday: 4 miles easy. It was 92. "feels like 96". I wanted to puke after mile 2 and walk-runned the rest of it. I also stopped 5 or 6 times. My core temp must have been through the roof, plus I was wearing a black tee & didn't have a hat or sunglasses. When will I learn? 39:16 without stoppage. Thumbs down in general.

Thursday: 25 min of lifting. bent row with lift, wide grip lat pulldown, single leg squat (this is a joke for me given my flexibility), back extension, shoulder raises. 3x6.

Friday: nothing, except a mile walk home from the train. You'll note I haven't done Insanity all week. This is directly related to our lack of AC. The house hasn't been under 82 all week, even at the crack of dawn, and is hotter midday. Thanks insulation for working in the summer only. I only have the mental energy to convince myself to do one insane thing a week, and running outside when it is 90+ won.

Saturday: interval workout. Overall, 5.4 miles in 57 minutes.

Sunday: 8 mile long run. This basically sucked ass. I started out with the plan of doing 4/1 run walk intervals (it was 86 already, plus I haven't done much over 4-5 miles in a long time), with stops on the even miles. Lets just say a stopped more. I ran 82 minutes and was gone about an hour and 45. That's kind of embarrassing. But on the upside, I don't have heat stroke since the stops helped keep my core temp down :-) 

Total for the week: 20.8 miles, a few tenths short of the plan.

So here's a question for the week:
How the heck do my running shoes get so dirty?? I  don't take them anyplace, well, dirty until they're already old!

Left pair: owned 2 weeks, 15 miles. Right Pair, owned 4 months, 300ish miles.

holy moly it is hot

Today was supposed to be my long run (8 miles this week). I slept through my alarm, and didn't get up until 9. Whoops. It was already 86, so I decided to nix that and do my interval workout instead. Whether or not this is a logical swap, I am not sure, but the benefit of walk breaks built into the run makes sense to me!!

As of when I returned, per weather.com (and still rising, its only 11:15 right now and supposed to hit 96 with a heat index as high as 108. Have I mentioned this is Philadelphia (metro) not Houston!!?)

Partly Cloudy

Temperature:

91°F

Feels Like: 97°

It was actually a pretty good run though, and somewhat better than the same one last Thursday. This might be in part to the fact I aimed to run the intervals on the downhills (hey, I walked up them!!), in part to the fact I had the foresight to carry water (more on that later), and in part due to the fact I haven't done any plyos all week thanks to our AC issue (I'll explain that more another day when I feel like whining).

Per Mr. Garmin:

The workout was a warm up, 200/400/600 with 1/2/3 minute walks for rest between, and a cool down. I also stopped (and stopped my watch) to stretch and just cool off after the warm up and each 600. The last 600 left me a little nauseous, so it was more like 200/400/200/400 in that last interval (but recorded as 600 since I stopped my watch, cheaterhead I am).

Warmup: 1.55mi, 15:08 (9:46/mi)

Intervals: 0:53/2:01/3:03, 1:02/2:05/3:16, 0:59/2:00/3:10. Pretty consistently just around and a bit over the 8:00/mi pace, and since that's my dream 5k pace to my actual 5k pace, I think I did well (downhill balances out heat, right?). The first 200 was a 6:53 pace (!!) which is my best ever and I'm proud of. I might do more of those next week seeing as rugby is starting soon.

Cooldown: 0.57 mi, 5:38 (9.51/mi)

Overall, a 10:30 pace (counting walk breaks but not stoppages), exactly on target for the Easy run my program listed which I replaced. Score!

Now about the water...this is probably the best choice I've made this week, and its what saved this run from being totally shitty. I was able to drink during every walk break & stoppage, and finished the water literally a block from home.

Thanks Camelback!

my model has an external fill spout, which is great, but not an extra pocket (so I just stick my phone in with the bladder!)

The only downside is it requires being worn high on the waist (to prevent bounce) so its sort of channeling the 80's...but I'm not exactly looking amazing running anyway :)

repeat

Last night I went for another run.

It went a lot like Monday's (except it was sunny & dry when I got home, so it was preceded with a trip to the dog park).
The plan was to warm up with a jog to the post office to drop off the Netflix then swing into the flat neighborhood to do 3 rounds of 200/400/600, and then head home for a total of 4 miles.

Around the 1/2 mile mark, it started to rain. This is around where the post office is, so I decided to skip the speedwork and make it an easy run. This was a good decision, since it started pouring pretty much immediately. Completely soaked, I figured it would pass (no thunder, etc, so ok).  And it did. 20 minutes later or so.  In the interim, I had to duck under the canopies of two stores to get out of the driving rain, the kind you can't really keep your eyes open in. The last two miles was ok, just drizzly and with a heavy teeshirt and shorts that wouldn't stay put thanks to being completely plastered to by body.

Lessons learned this Tuesday night:
1) If it looks like it might rain, bring a damned hat.
2) And wear spandex. The one pair of shorts that fits well only fits well dry.

time to get moving

Today is Friday, 7/9.

I have 10 weeks until fuel time for my fall half marathon.
and 7 until fuel time for our first rugby game of the season.

I really need to get my butt in gear.
Due to the heat (104? in Philly? WTF?) this week, I haven't run a bit, but I did do Insanity videos 4 days, so that is something!  Monday starts my half plan, and I'm starting stage 3 of my lifting program as well. This time I plan to do it 2-3 days/week...seeing as its taken me about 12 weeks to do 8 weeks of the program so far. Oops!

I am also, not kidding this time, going to get moving to drop the excess mass. I'm 5'6" and 172 today. My goal is 150, just under "overweight" on silly BMI. I am extremely self conscious admitting this "publicly" - well, admitting that I want/need to lose weight; I'll tell anyone what I actually weigh! - so perhaps this is good motivation to not be a doof and keep telling myself I can start over tomorrow?? :)

Readers, what motivates you to eat well and be fit? I think I need inspiration outside the packaged answers.

YakTrak

In light of the forecast for this week, and my dog's need for daily walks, I bought some YakTrak last weekend.

Thursday morning, work was cancelled and the roads were plowed with about an inch of packed snow left. And it was 32 and sunny. SCORE.

5 miles, probably the best run in a while. Pace about 10:10, which I think is ok for an unstable surface and a few climbs in and out of corner plow-piles.  Too bad we'll have a lot of melt today and probably too much exposed concrete to use them again tomorrow. It almost makes me want a dusting!

An Open Letter

Dear Father Winter:

The snow is pretty, and the pup likes it (see below) but this is a little ridiculous.

We've broken the all time annual snow record by several inches in only three snowfalls!  Its only early February! And right now the snow is blowing sideways, we have shoveled three times today, it hasn't stopped yet, and the windchill is only somewhat above zero.

If I wanted to live in MN, I would move there.

Thanks,
Mid-Atlantic Resident Who Really Wants To Live Someplace Warmer

weekend in pictures

Snow, snow...snow. We also bailed on the Super Bowl party since its kind of icy out now...

getting back on track

One of my goals for 2010 (I really should write these out in better form) is to run 1000 miles. I hesitate to "resolve" it or whatever, since it is dependent on other thing like...um...not breaking my foot again. But it is a goal, which requires running about 20 miles a week. Reasonable (I think. Ask me again in late April when my papers are due and it is the middle of spring season for the team I coach and the team I play for AND it is our busiest season at work. Why exactly am I registered for a May 2 half marathon? But I digress).

So this morning, I went out for a ten mile run. I am 70% on program for my Jan. half in Austin in two weeks (perk of this race - which I just hope to run well and know I can't aim to PR on, but my best time since the foot break will do - get to see one of my bridesmaids/only college friend I'm in regular contact with and give her baby gifts! They're due in Feb! woot!).  I missed a whole week of running over the holiday (at least I snowboarded a bunch, right?).  So this week, no excuses.

I left at 7:50 or so since we were having family over for a late Christmas celebration. About 5 minutes in, I passed a bus company with one of those time/temperature signs, and it said 12. That can't be right, right? I'm wearing full Under Armour tights and a light windbreaker, cotton gloves and a headband. It wasn't that bad out.

Fast forward 30 minutes.
Why are my legs going numb?

Pass sign again.
14.

Hm. So I stop at home for water and to warm up. Weather.com says 17, "feels like" 7.
Hm. Ok then. Glad I didn't look before leaving.
Then I did another 5 miles, for a total of 10.1.

Crazy. Seriously.

December snow!

This is Pennsylvania. Southeastern Pennsylvania. Snow is not THAT normal in December, and snow over a foot is downright rare. We average about 20 inches a year, and are dang close to that at this point from the snowstorm last weekend, plus the mid-month dusting!

Princess Charming likes to shovel (or at least doesn't avoid it like I do), so we only had a couple of inches to deal with in the morning. I was very busy making cookies whenever this was going on last Saturday:
Look at that! This is Philadelphia not Pittsburgh! One of the news stations said this is the biggest December storm on record, and second largest all time (following the 96 blizzard).
That's a 15! And the wind was blowing to the other side of the street - our neighbors had twice the snow we did in the morning (they shoveled out the same time as us Saturday night).

It was pretty though! Even the three inches that made it into our screened porch (apparently it was quite windy!)

snow!

We're having a big storm this weekend, really early for our area too. So our excursion to NYC was canceled - a two hour drive or train ride sounds like a poor choice with 14-18 inches predicted - and I'm home working on my paper browsing the internet for deals and baking.

Princess Charming just took Bailey across the street to play in our neighbor's fenced yard with his dogs. Snow + two dogs! What more could our little guy (who spent most of the morning curled up on a pile of couch pillows, spoiled little dude) want?

I can see the three of them running around in my neighbors yard from my seat on our couch, and am filled with joy. Amusement. Something like that. Regardless, it reminds me how much I want a baby. Is that weird?

new plans

My plans for this week/weekend are completely in disarray.

First, I was having some pain this week, so I skipped my 8 and 4.5 milers Wed/Thurs, thinking I'd be walking 60 miles and needed to treat my body well.

Then, the 3-day walk was changed to a 1-day due to the ongoing poor weather in the area. My teammates definitely trained better than I did, and are considering walking San Diego instead. While we can still walk Sunday's 15 miles, we are missing out on the whole experience (which my blogger teammate greatly summarized).

I am a bit torn about what to do tomorrow. Friday I ended up working from home and doing the 4.5 mile run, and today I went to rugby practice and shopped and am currently sitting on the couch watching tv. Do I do my 8 mile run tomorrow in lieu of walking 15? Its supposed to be 42 and an 95% chance of rain. It rained about half of today, including a steady downpour for practice, and frankly, while moving keeps you warm if you're properly dressed, it does not keep you dry. And wet feet are cold feet. So perhaps then you're not actually warm...And while I KNOW cold does not MAKE you sick, I have some reservations about doing that given my life-commitments and how I sincerely cannot afford to get sick!

I wish the weather had cooperated and not given me these crummy options. I feel like a disappointment to all of my generous donors if I don't walk. Then again, the 3-day site is pretty adamant about the goal of the event being fund-raising...and that we did!

Dear Fall

Hi Fall,

I want to start this by saying I love you a lot. I like the heat, but the humidity, not as much. And I don't like rain. So generally speaking, you're my best friend season. You're also the time of football and marching band and back to school and new clothes and watching the leaves turn on Garret Mountain during practices that are chilly enough to wear sweats. Ok, maybe that last part is over ten years ago, but once a band geek, always a band geek.

(Think I'm kidding? My band-geek-ness was immortalized in a tee-shirt around 2006)

But, fall, I have to tell ya, I wasn't super excited about the 48 degrees this morning. That means its only 16 more to freezing, and me and winter aren't on the best of terms. Can you keep it between, lets say, 50 and 75 till at least the end of October? Mid-November would be even better because rugby practice gets a bit awkward in sweatsuits (I don't need else anything slowing me down!).

Thanks,

Cinderella

How do you know you're an adult?

I have found two clear lines:

1) Cool summer weather is not disappointing, but a blessing (especially when it falls on moving day). Doesn't matter to me if its 60 degrees out at night and the pool water is getting chilly. I haven't even been in a pool (well, a non-hotel pool) all summer. Or last summer. And weather in the 70s? OK!

2) You need movers. There is a point in everyone's life when its just not practical anymore to scrounge up friends/acquaintances/anyone you know who likes beer and pizza enough to haul boxes and furniture out of one apartment and into another. This point is clearly demarkated when said friends would hate you forever after spending their entire day on said move (especially when it involves two flights of steep, narrow stairs and a pretty substantial amount of furniture that has never seen a dorm room).

Hello late-20s.

insanity in the snow

I thought I was a little ridiculous this morning since, rather than waiting for the weather to pass, I left my apartment at 7:40 this morning to make it to the gym more or less in time for work (under the assumption that everyone would be a little late anyway). Then I saw a guy out running.

It was still sleeting a bit.
There's 3 inches of snow covered with a layer of ice on the ground.
Philadelphia appearently doesn't believe in snowplows.
I fell (and am admitting it) walking to campus wearing my snowboots.

How the HELL was he running?

I thought the people who've been out running the last couple of weeks were a little crazy. I admire their dedication -- and cold tolerance -- but I'll stay partial to the treadmill when conditions call for any gear commonly associated with snowsports. This guy though, running on ice with winddriven sleet pelting your face...that's not dedication, that's insanity...

brrrrrrr

It is incredibly cold.

Its currently 11 degrees here, with a windchill of 10 below. The high -- 19 degrees, with a wind chill of 3. Granted, I shouldn't be complaining. It was in the 50s until, oh, 3 week ago. And I could be in Madison or Ann Arbor, where the wind chill is another 10 degrees lower......and that's not going to happen.

So Mom, I think you'll be happy -- I've officially deleted the job/HR sites of Michigan and Wisconsin from my favorite places and will no longer be considering jobs in the upper-middle portion of the country, as appearently I am a huge pussy about the cold. (Also, side note, thank goodness for treadmills, or I wouldn't be getting any cardio exercise for quite some time, seeing as we're not forecast to break freezing until at least Friday).

Lets blame it on the 5 years I spent in Texas. Wind chills in the 40s don't even make the map!

(Also, side note #2: I just noticed the wind chill in central IL is 20 below. Moments like this I thank the heavens that I left my plant job -- I don't even want to think about spending the day working around the stills or --eek-- loadout (which was right on the river) in this kind of cold.)

brrrr

Ok, so its really not THAT cold outside.

But in comparision to the "winter" we've been having....we might as well be in Alaska. While I HATE the cold for the most part, I'm excited for two reasons (as my office has been hearing me discuss pretty much all month):
1) I would like to go snowboarding sometime this winter. And since I'm a poor graduate student, it needs to be on the east coast. Hence, we need the cold to allow for snow (or snow making).

(Now for the more exciting point)
2) I shut my window last night for the first time since that bizarrely cold day in December, before it hit 65 around Christmas. While I do like having fresh air and all, I don't like being forced to have it because the heat in my building is set at approximately 90. Seriously, with the window closed I can sit around in my skivvies when its 40 degrees out. Such a waste. I'd complain, but technically the place is a condo, so even if the heating costs drop, only my landlord might reap the benefits.

Also:
Stinks to live in the ice-covered parts...especially when you're in the south and a freeze is news, much less actual ice...
Really though, the most disturbing part about this article for me is that the strawberry crop may be damaged...sigh...

Almost the holidays

But alas, sure doesn't feel like it.

a) I'm sick. Its been coming and going for the past 4 or 5 days, and I think has firmly settled itself in my head. And neck. Basically I feel like my sinus cavities are going to explode. It's not too bad when I'm up and about, but when I go to bed (and I'm extra tired!) I can't breathe and it makes sleeping awkward. Major, major dry mouth. Yuck.

b) Its rather warm out. Like Christmas-in-Texas kind of warm. And its supposed to rain on Saturday and be around 50 all through Christmas (which stretches, sans gifts because I've gotten to old for the relatives, from Sat till Monday)...Weather.com insists north jersey has a 38% chance of a white Christmas, but I only have one in my memory of 25 years, so I think they're full of crap (unless a random flurry or snow on the ground counts).

c) I'm not done for the semester yet. This school has finals/class-&-papers-for-grad-students through Dec. 20. WHO PLANNED THAT?!? And we go back on Jan. 8!!

d) I haven't done any baking really. I'm hoping to reinstate my old tradition of cookie-trays for holiday functions this year (which means 4 trays, so around 6 batches of cookies)...Thurs and Friday I'll be in the kitchen. In the meanwhile, I'm going to remind myself what an awesome job I did on my first ever double-crust apple pie at Thanksgiving...