Seattle RnR Training Week #6

This week was pathetic and I was tempted to not even post this training recap, because there's hardly ANYTHING to say besides what you already know.  I got a big fat F- on my cross-training this week.  I did complete my training runs and it was a cut-back week, so I guess if my goal was to rest I totally dominated that, but that wasn't exactly my goal...

I won't totally blame myself, I have some excuses.  Are you surprised?!

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Monday - After a 4:00am wake-up call (for the second day in a row!) and a day FULL of flying, I was exhausted.  I also found out my hotel didn't have a gym.  Holiday Inn Express FAIL.  I did walk a LOT at both the Chicago and the Philly airports - those airports are huge.  So that's some cross-training?

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Tuesday - An amazing 10.5 mile sight-seeing run through Philly.  This became my accidental long run for the week.

Wednesday - Fail again.  I technically could have gotten up early to work out but 7:00am is still 4:00am Pacific time remember?  So I slept.  And then I rode a plane all day long again.  Except I didn't have to walk very much to get to my gate in Chicago.  And the Seattle airport's not that big.  So I really pretty much did nothing.  I did get peed on by a pigeon though.

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Thursday - 2.4 miles at Girls On The Run practice, then came home and did 2.6 more miles at home.  Not very exciting or energetic either.

Friday - Okay now here's when the ENTIRE blame lies on me.  I have NO good excuse except that it's been go-go-go nonstop business for 3+ weeks and when my long busy day was FINALLY over the only thing I could think about involved my couch, some trashy tv (Revenge anyone?!), and this:

Beer Win (Pyramid Apricot Ale rocks) but Cross-Training Fail

Saturday - 7.35 hilly tempo miles in 1:01 even (Average Pace: 8:18).  My mantra was Go Hard & Go Hills.
Later - 9 holes of golf.

Elevation Gain of 354 feet.  Not bad not bad!

You can see where the hills are in the splits: 8:40, 8:36, 7:46, 8:24, 8:06, 8:33, 8:26, 7:12 (.35)

Sunday - 9 holes of golf (but I didn't carry a bag and rode some of the time, so not as much of a workout)
50 minutes of tennis (I won 6-1, 6-0, thanks for asking!)

Total running miles: 22.85

Okay, so I completely failed this week, although I guess I did have quite a variety of cross-training type activities on the weekend!  I don't like to plan out my exact workouts but maybe that's what I need to do to make it happen.  So let's try it this week and see if that helps:

Here's the tentative plan for next week:
Monday - Cycle Class
Tuesday - Track Tuesday - make it happen!  8 x 400's + Strength
Wednesday - Probably rest - Wednesdays are too busy
Thursday - 8 miles + Strength
Friday - Swim
Saturday - 20 miles - ugh, I'm already dreading it
Sunday - Yoga

That seems unlikely I'm actually going to do all that.  But that's the dream.  Let's do this Ricole.

How were your workouts this week?  WIN or FAIL like me?  Do you have any tricks to make myself cross-train and strength-train?  I seem to have no problem whatsoever getting my runs in, shocker.  

Exercising in Canada

Remember how I went to Canada for work this past weekend and gave you the best virtual tour ever?  Well the #1 best thing about Canada seems to be how outdoorsy it is.  It reminds me of Bend, Oregon and Couer D'Alene, Idaho in that way (both places I think I would love living), except without the benefits of the drier climate.  Truly beautiful with breathtaking mountain, river, ocean, forest, etc. views, they also boast seriously AMAZING parks that I was extremely jealous of.  People are running and biking everywhere (causing a common ailment of mine: exercise envy).

Amazing, right?  I was told the blue sky is quite uncommon though (just like Seattle!).

Not one to succumb to exercise envy, I found a few different ways to exercise while in Canada.

1.  First up is obvious - running.  There are trails and parks everywhere.  Saturday morning I got up early and headed out for a run, and check out some of my views.  

 Seriously - how gorgeous is this?  It was my view on my run. 

This is the lovely trail I ran on.

And here's me celebrating my 6 miles next to an anchor statue.  Totally normal.

2.  The second way to exercise in Canada is by traversing their many suspension bridges / treewalks.

Here I am at the Capilano Suspension Bridge park.  At $30 for an entry fee it was a little on the expensive side but it was extremely well done.  Plus my parents paid.  Thanks Mom & Dad!  I may be nearly 30 but I'm not sure I'll ever be one to turn down free food and park entry fees.  :-)  Since I've never stopped going to school I will always be able to claim the "poor college student" line...!

This is the "cliff walk".

And this is the famous suspension bridge.  It's been around since 1889 if you can believe that and was quite wobbly (notice me hanging on for dear life.  My Dad is braver than I.)  It's 450 feet long and 230 feet high, hanging above the Capilano River.

From their website.

The park has a series of tree walks and mini treehouses as well. 

3.  And finally, the third way to exercise in Canada is pretty much the same as the first two - hiking in the many amazing parks!

 

And here we are on yet ANOTHER suspension bridge.  Look at those views.

 

More gorgeous trails and river views.  I learned those mini waterfalls are called 'cataracts'.  Now you know too.  You're welcome!

There's also dams, harbours, and oceanviews.  Pretty much we were having a photo shoot the entire day.  I didn't even have to initiate any of the pictures for once!  And my Dad makes fun of me for taking pictures of food....

And there you have it!  3 ways to exercise in Canada that I'm sure you wouldn't have figured out on your own.  I would seriously move there JUST to have access to those parks with the running trails.  But then I remembered it's even colder and rainier and darker than Seattle.  So that probably won't be happening.

Do you have great parks and trails by where you live?  It was interesting that these places all felt much safer than around here as well - I was more worried about being killed by wildlife than by people.  Where's your ideal place to live and why?

I'm the Worst

In working out news, I am "Siriusly" sucking so far this week.  I had an extremely horrible run on Thursday that I'm not ready to talk about yet.  I've totally fallen off the cross-training wagon.  Basically I'm the worst.

But people who AREN'T the worst include my best bud Rachael, who has joined the blogging world!  Rachael is super crafty, an excellent chef and baker (I hope to assist her in her own bakery one day!), a fabulous runner, and is expecting her first adorable child in July!  Go give her a nice warm WELCOME and say Hi!

Rachael and I rocking the Coeur d'Alene Half Marathon.  Have you noticed that I like to wear that tank top in every race?

In other news, I'm "Siriusly" so sorry to do this to you, but I just couldn't help myself.  Someone found my blog by searching "harry potter valentine's people will think we're up to something" and I was like what?  What's that?  So I searched for it.  And when I found these, it was love at first sight.

  

  

  

  

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In other, other news, did I tell you I'm going to be a GIRLS ON THE RUN coach?!  I am so excited.  So I'm off at the orientation / training all day.  Anyone have any experience with this organization?  I think it's FABULOUS so far.

Did you go tell Rachael hi?!  Do you have a 3 day weekend like me?  What are you up to this weekend?  Who has experience with Girls on the Run?   Been a GOTR coach?  HAPPY WEEKEND!

Pinterest: Making People Want Cupcakes Since 2011

In workout news, on Tuesday I swam a mile (1,800 yards) and elliptical-led for 30 minutes.  Boring boring boring, I'm not a good swimmer blah blah nothing interesting to report about either of those things.  I'm here today to talk about a much more interesting topic:

So I dragged my feet for forever in joining Pinterest even though several people (but especially Leandrea) were highly advocating for it and saying how amazing it is.  Since joining I've noticed a serious trend going on in what I've been "pinning":

     

  

   

Does anyone notice a theme?  But while all these above things look absolutely delicious there are two items I've seen that I cannot stop thinking about.  Is it weird to daydream about dessert?  If being obsessed with dessert is wrong, I don't want to be right!


1) Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes.  Cadbury Creme Eggs are perhaps one of my most favorite candies EVER (yes I know they're quite controversial, people either love them or hate them).  Cadbury Mini Eggs rock too, by the way.  This leads me to believe I may need to do an "Ode to Candy" post (yes Almond Joys, I'm talking about you, you too Sour Patch Kids / Reese's Peanut Butter Cups / Swedish Fish / Caramel Apple Suckers / Peachie-O's).  Sorry, I got carried away.  These cupcakes have a full Cadbury egg cooked inside of them.  Must. Eat. Now. 

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2) Next up on the Must Eat List: A Double Stuff Oreo cooked inside a chocolate chip cookie.  Has anything ever looked so delicious ever before?  Is it weird I can't stop thinking about these?  Don't answer that.

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It's apparently such a common problem that they even made a rule about it: 

So the big question is - who is going to make these things for me?

  

And now I'm going to go eat some cupcakes.  I'm out.

Do you use Pinterest?  What do you "pin"?  What's so great about it?  Has it increased your intake of cupcakes?  

31 vs. 95: A January Recap Story

Last night I rode on the bike trainer for 60 sweaty, uneventful minutes.  I was supposed to go to Centergy to get my yoga and pilates fusion on, but I stayed too late at work and missed it (everything kind of hit the fan yesterday).  In fact, I shouldn't even be typing this right now because I have So. Much. Crap. To. Do!

See, proof that I was sweaty.  And proof that I finally learned to use the iPhone's front-facing camera. I'm smart.  And proof that I'm not superstitious because I still wear that race t-shirt even though the race resulted in a broken fibula.

Let's recap January, shall we?  First of all, I ran 95 wonderful, blissful miles.  Okay, not all of them were so lovely, but at least a few of them were awesome!  Last January I was coming off of a severe ITB (illotibial band, for those of you lucky enough not to know) injury stemming from Sub-4ing the Portland Marathon on 10-10-10 (worth it!), and I only ran a sad 31 miles.  This year I am feeling good (knock on wood!), running more consistently, and running only 3 days a week (kind of following the Run Less, Run Faster plan).  So the 95 miles were across only 14 running days, an average of 6.8 miles per running time!  Pretty good doncha think?

Proof that I ran 95 miles this month!  What do those little colorful arrows mean?  Anyone?

I also swam a lot and cycled some, but that's boring.  So let's look at some of my other 2012 goals:

1. The Year of the Marathon: Well that's not happening until June, so let's just ignore that one for now.  
2. Volunteer at a Race: Nope, not yet. 
3. Finish My Degree: That's part of everything that hit the fan today!  So although it's stressful, things ARE FINALLY HAPPENING!  And that is the most exciting thing ever.  But things didn't start happening until February 1, so I guess that's another fail for January.  Man this is a depressing recap so far, eh?  
4. Travel to at Least 8 New Places: Although I didn't technically travel anywhere new (yet), I did travel somewhere I love, Sunriver, Oregon, where we celebrated the New Year, and I had two new experiences: cosmic tubing and cross-country skiing!  So I think that counts as a WIN!
5. Read 26 Books: This month I read 6 books, so right on track to reaching 26+.  These books included a few running books: Once a Runner, Racing Weight, and Relentless Forward Progress, a book club book The Story of Beautiful Girl, plus The Maze Runner and A Good Dog. 
6. Run 1,015 Miles & 12 Races: I'm right on track with my 95 miles to exceed 1,015 and would be extremely happy to keep up with the consistency.  I haven't run a race yet but I have 5 I'm signed up for (3 half marathons, 1 full marathon, and 1 relay) in February, March, May, June, and July, respectively, plus plans to sign up for a sprint triathlon, beg someone for a spot on their Hood to Coast team, and am in the NYC Marathon lottery (woot!).  So I don't think I need to be too worried about my lack of success here just yet!

Okay, so when I wrote it all out it was way less impressive than when it was in my brain where I was only comparing 31 January 2011 miles to 95 January 2012 miles.  The fact that I have accomplished pretty much nothing EXCEPT running well in 1 month out of 12 would look way cooler if I had just talked about the running!  But what's done is done.  

In other news, if you looked up loyalty in the dictionary, you would see this: 

Here's to February and summer hurrying up and getting here!

How'd you all do on your January goals?  I sure hope you did better than I!  How many miles did you run this month?  Are you looking forward to summer as much as I am?

I Needed That

Another fail Sunday morning: met up with Jordanne and Lisa at Soos Creek Trail and the trail was still super icy and sloppy, and after about a .1 jaunt (and one peeing in the woods, of course, stupid bathrooms being locked!), we quickly determined that at least without the snow trax, it was too icy and dangerous for running.  I really wanted it to work out but they both seemed to want to go home, so we sadly parted ways all too quickly! I headed to the gym and busted out 3 quick miles on the indoor track (hate that thing) in 25:30 (pretty good, but it was on a pancake flat track and I was trying to go hard, and this was pretty much my maximum possible time allowed to still making it to my class on time!).  Then I headed to an hour of Centergy (it's a pilates yoga fusion that's usually quite a good workout and exactly what I need: lots of abs and hip opening).

Lots of Abs  

Lots of Hip Opening

Afterwards, I followed it up with another dump run with JMan to remove the tree debris, a big lunch, and a quick nap, but since my daylight hours were quickly waning I headed out to try to get in a "real" run.  As I mentioned before, this week was much too much "sometimes" running and I was in desperate need of a really good run.  WIN!  A great run.  I was able to get 7 miles in before it was dark (the last mile was a little too dark for my taste but I really wanted to get to 10 for the day, yes I know this doesn't count as a long run but I'll pretend like it does!).  There was some obstacle-coursing with the ice and downed trees / branches, but overall I felt great!

First Run: 3 miles, 25:30, AP: 8:30
Second Run: 7 miles, 1:02, AP: 8:56
Second Run Splits: 9:16, 9:14, 8:48, 8:48, 8:59, 8:33, 8:52

What did you do this weekend?  How far did you run?

Too Much "Sometimes"

1. I'm really working on the "sometimes" part of Ricole Runs this week and I don't like it! With the new plan I only get to run 3 days a week anyway, but with a really terrible (and ridiculously short!) treadmill run on Wednesday, Monday is my only good run this week. This morning I looked outside and the streets and sidewalks are so disgustingly sloppy with slush that I decided to take my chances it will be gone by tomorrow. I need a good run this weekend!

2. In other workout news, yesterday I swam 50 laps (2,500 yards, or about 1.35 miles), a new distance record for me! I may not be getting faster or killing any fewer of my precious few brain cells, but I do feel like I'm getting a bit stronger at it. I could have kept going. The real reason for going to the community center though = they had power! We lost power all day yesterday (sure makes you thankful for electricity) thanks to all the falling trees (like the one in my backyard).

3. In other other workout news, today I rode the bike trainer for 45 minutes. It was super boring and unimpressive, but I wanted to do something, and it was the least of the evils (and the most convenient).

4. My dad is coming today to help us chainsaw the tree without killing ourselves or causing more damage! Isn't he the best? I think so. So check back in later to make sure we still have all of our appendages.

What are you up to on this lovely Saturday? How far are you running this weekend?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Does Swimming Kill Brain Cells?

In an effort to keep my majorly injury-prone body injury-free in 2012 (with the hopeful outcome of a completed marathon AND a marathon PR!), I've semi-adopted the Run Less, Run Faster approach.  This new plan involves only 3 runs per week (but focusing on quality runs over quantity, each run has a purpose and involves working hard, which isn't my favorite thing to do!) and adding in more cross-training on the other days.  The authors of the plan don't really like the elliptical (my go-to cross-training exercise!) as a cross-training activity (nor pool running for that matter, which I found odd) since it too closely mimics running and using those muscles.  So extremely long story short, I've recently taken up swimming since swimming and cycling are the "endorsed" activities.  This is unfortunate because not only do I not really like swimming all that much, but swimwear is far from my favorite apparel.

Let's get one thing straight up-front.  I am NOT a good swimmer.  I cannot adequately perform any strokes besides the doggie paddle and the crawl.

Cooper is a much better swimmer than I. 

Although in typical Al Bundy "glory days" behavior I might claim to fame that I went to state in swimming my senior year of high school, the truth is I went to a small school with 3 good swimmers and the next decent swimmer was a 7th Day Adventist who couldn't swim on Saturdays.  Enter the mediocre me, who was therefore needed for the 400m relay (Districts was on a Saturday).  Despite this minor bit of glory (though it's far from glorious to be the worst on the relay team by far!), I still don't really know how to swim.  

                      That's not me.  I don't even know how to attempt to do the butterfly.  source

So the last few weeks I've been swimming 1-2 times per week.  On Tuesday I built up to swimming a whole half mile without stopping (18 laps!) and was pretty proud of myself.  On Friday I only made it 15 laps without stopping, but completed a full mile (36 laps!), which took me about 40 minutes. 

But here's my dilemma.  Although at first it was my shoulders that killed me when swimming (because I'm a weak little baby), the problem remaining is my breathing gasping.  The reason I have to stop (after 18 laps or 15 laps or whatever) is what I believe to be MY BRAIN CELLS DYING.  You see, my heart rate is high and I am a little short of breath, but the main issue stopping me is the massive headache that always, without fail, ensues.  My theory about this massive headache (which goes away quickly upon resting a minute or two) is that it is caused by a shortage of oxygen, which in turns KILLS MY PRECIOUS FEW BRAIN CELLS!

    This is a picture of a brain cell.  You're welcome.      source

So what should I do?  Keep swimming and risk my precious brain cells?  Do you swim?  How long did it take you to be good at it?  Does it kill your brain cells?