NW cupcakes!

I decided to scope out the little run down strip mall that is near my
'hood at Spicewood Springs and 183. Rumor had it that there was a
little coffee place that was supposed to be pretty decent. Turns out
that the coffee place is also a 'cupcakery' called cupprimo. Here's a
shot of my red velvet treat. It made a lovely midmorning snack and is
bigger and tastier than most other cupcakes that I have had in
Austin. Yum. Coffee was just okay, but I'm sure to go back for
cupcakes or a frappé and support a local business.

The most comforting sound in the world...

My mom sent me this link about the sheriff in South Carolina who was involved in the Michael Phelps marijuana charges. She went to high school with him. The article and speech speak for themselves...I happen to agree that Michael Phelps should be treated the same as everyone else and that if you are going to smoke pot, you should be prepared for whatever legal and personal ramifications come your way.

Not everyone smokes it, even in college. It is not a rite of passage and it kills me that people think it is a cool drug to be involved with or that it shouldn't really count as an illegal drug because it is 'just pot'. (I'm not talking about the legalization of marijuana, I'm simply talking about how officials enforce the existing laws.)

Anyhow...back to the reason of the post. If you watch the video and listen to the accent...that is what you would be surrounded with if you were to visit my family in South Carolina. It is the specific drawl that I have been hearing my whole life when I talk to my family out there. It comforts me like you wouldn't imagine to hear it in somebody's voice. I love picking up some of the little inflections when I am around my family.

Please enjoy.

Popcorn and IZZE

This is really TMI, but I would like to share this snippet of my day. I had intended to meet Tara this morning at 5:15 to run together. We haven't run together in so long. However, my night's sleep wasn't so good and I bailed on the run (lame, I know, but I have a good excuse). After texting at 4:30 am to tell Tara I wasn't going to make it, I felt like I needed to send her an email to better explain why I missed. This is my excuse and explanation for a poor night's sleep...

I’m sorry that I bailed this morning. I hope you enjoy my reason for missing…If the email monitors at your company read this they’re sure to snicker about it.

I tried to go to bed at 9:30, got into a hard sleep, and then was woken up by Chad at 11:00 when he came to bed. As soon as I tried to go back to sleep, I farted really loud and (as part of my compulsive nature) yelled out ‘I farted!’, and Chad replied immediately ‘Oh, really?’ which sent us into uncontrollable laughter. Well, at that point I was really wide awake and realized I had gas, so I tried to calmly go back to bed. I just can’t stand to fart in front of anyone and I knew that every time I would start to relax, it would result in a really loud fart (which would wake me up, not Chad). No luck…I farted again at 11:20 and had to get out of bed.

To break the fart cycle, I went to sleep on the couch and half-slept until 2am. The couch cushion was digging into my hip and the blanket/pillow combination wasn’t working for me. At least I had stopped farting, though, so I went back to the bedroom to go to sleep at 2:00. I woke up at 3:30 and had to pee really badly, so that’s another trip up on my feet to fully wake me up. Then, I was up at 4, then 4:10, then 4:20, which is close to the time when I texted you.

Once I got back into bed I was able to sleep until 7:15, so I’m glad that I decided to bail. I still need I might need a nap today, though.

Don’t ever eat popcorn as an afternoon snack then wash it down with a carbonated beverage. You might not get the best night of sleep. Lesson learned.

TMI? I think so, but please learn from my mistake...no popcorn/IZZE combination snack unless you don't care about tooting in front of your partner.

Music Change - I'm Yours

I love this low key Jason Mraz. The version on the radio is good, but this one sends island vibes a la IZ (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole). Perfect for a recovery week. Enjoy.

Running by myself

I really love the group atmosphere at Rogue. Sometimes, however, I have to run by myself on a training run so that I can only focus on myself...my breath, my cadence, my form, my pace, without getting distracted by conversation or by following someone else's pace for the day.

Today I chose to start by myself and pick up my 'normal easy pace' to see where it left me in the group. It took a while to figure out my cadence and breathing, but after a pit stop near the baseball fields, I found my groove. I haven't plugged in the numbers, yet, but I think I averaged 8:30-8:40 min/mile for the 14 miles this morning.

My form was also pretty good, despite chafing. I hate this weather for chafing...

Men are sexy when...

they make their own honey-do lists. I saw this in Chad's truck today
and I had no part in its creation. That's hot!

Soulbuster I

This morning we did what is called a 'Soulbuster' workout, though most of the people who read this blog already know what that is and were there running with me this morning. For those uninitiated, it is essentially a long run with some 'added challenges' meant to test your soul and your fitness. Today's challenge involved 8 miles of 'downhill' followed by 8 miles of 'uphill' followed by 4 miles on the track at MGP (marathon goal pace). Well, there were some nice stretches of downhill throughout the early miles, but there were also some rollers. During the uphill section, there were some unnecessarily steep hills (both up and down) but overall was a good stressor for the legs.

When I say unnecessarily steep, I mean that the angle of the hill bordered on ridiculously steep to get the benefit of the training without injury. I'm not complaining because I'm wussy, I just question how beneficial some of the grades were to the overall training picture. Whatever...I walked up the worst sections so as not to aggravate my calves and pelvis.

On the track, my goal was to run my 'Nashville 'A' goal MGP'. I really think that I need to be training as close to 3:20 pace right now if I want to give myself a good chance to radically improve my fitness. Will I be able to run 3:20 at Nashville? Who knows? I've gotta give myself a chance, though, right? 3:20 marathon pace is 7:38 per mile, which was what 'tempo pace' was for me on Thursday. I was also unable to run a single mile under 7:45 at the marathon on Sunday, so I definitely have my work cut out for me this season.

Here's how it went...I took splits every 800, shooting for 3:49 every two laps.

mile 1 - 3:49.13+3:38.15
7:27.28 (3:15:28 marathon)

mile 2 - 3:45.60+3:47.22
7:32.82 (3:17:52 marathon)

mile 3 - 3:48.61+3:52.46
7:41.07 (3:21:27 marathon)

mile 4 - 3:54.35+3:50.15
7:44.50 (3:22:59 marathon)

The start was right on pace, but then quickly became too fast. I have no business going out at 7:27 or 7:32 pace when I intend to try 7:38. I'm not supposed to be placing limits on myself, right? Still, I was nervous about how that would feel later.

I got a little confused during miles 2 and 3 because I thought Steve was telling me to relax my pace. The 3:52, 3:54, and 3:50 800s at the end were due to my mind telling me to relax and due to the early pace that was too fast. What coach was really telling me was to push myself to the limit, and if I needed to relax a minute to come back and run fast, then that was what I should do (I think that's what he said at the end). I still pounded out some pretty good splits, and I'm stoked that the overall times were under 3:23:00 pace. By the way, the automatic entry time for the NYC marathon for women my age is 3:23:00, so hot damn I'm excited to have a workout that fast.

From Sunday to Saturday, I've only netted 80 miles (intended 90-100), but I'm glad to have some speed under my belt with fatigue in my legs.

5 miles, blogger friends, loose legs

This morning I had the pleasure of running with my Ft. Worth blogger friend Kevin, who is in town covering the TX legislature for the Ft. Worth Star Telegram. Kevin runs on Town Lake when he is here, and had some recent frustrations with trail directions (after all, it is very dark at 6am when you aren't in your home city). I offered to meet up with him this morning and show him the way and help him orient himself with the different bridges and mile markers.

We started at the rock (yes, I explained the multiple names that people call that meet-up place) and ran counter clockwise. I talked about how the trail goes to Barton Springs/Barton Creek Greenbelt if you don't cross the footbridge over Barton Creek. I pointed out where the 3 mile/Pfluger bridge was, Auditorium Shores, Stevie Ray, The Long Center and the Palmer Events center, the 1/4 mile and the zero mile markers and explained the direction of the trail. We saw the main trail map near the zero and got water at the coolers at Auditorium Shores. I explained the 4 mile loop and the 5 mile loop (and their correct distances), pointed out where to look for the bats in the summer, and just enjoyed showing off our trail to someone new. We also looked closely at the trail map near the rock and talked about where we had just run and where Kevin had run in the past.

The best spot on the trail has bloomed as well. Between the 2.75 and the 3.25 mile markers there is a little footbridge surrounded by blooming trees. It smells like grape soda when the flowers are in full bloom. I'm happy to report that the trees smell beautiful now, so if you have a chance to run by there, stop and smell the perfume :).

The legs felt loose this morning, which is a nice surprise after yesterday's tempo run and 200s. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Soulbuster workout.

Kevin, it was nice running with you. Hope you enjoy the trail more now that you've had the tour! Oh, and good luck at Cowtown next week. Run smart and get your time!

Tempo Time

Today's workout - Warmup - 4 mi Tempo (Enfield 4 course) - 4 x 200 @ 5k pace w/200 easy jog between - Cooldown

Tempo miles -
7:47 (warming up to pace and Veterans hill)
7:26
7:58 (hilly)
7:23
I took the hills conservatively so that I'd be able to do the whole workout. Besides, when we started running tempo, my legs felt like bricks until the last mile. I thought mile 2 was going to be so much slower than it was. Actually, looking at the times again, I'm pretty satisfied with them.

4 x 200
51, 53, 51, 50 (51 is a 6:48 mile or a 21:07 5K, which is definitely faster than my PR)

I don't really believe in the McMillan Pace Calculator to predict my performances because time and time again I have proven it wrong. If I put in 21:07 for 5k, it predicts 3:25:00 marathon. Well, I've only proved that I can hold 5k pace for a 200...whoopee.

I averaged only 7:38s for my 'tempo' section. If I'm trying to get down close to 3:20, that should be marathon pace. Looks like I have a way to go, but considering I'm 4-5 days off of a full marathon with a decent time, I'll take those paces and predictions for now. There is still a lot of training left in the season.

I'm not looking forward to the hills on Saturday's Soul Buster. Hills really put a hurt on my pelvis. Every time we run hills that are too steep, I have trouble recovering and tend to get injured. I'm gonna have to be very conservative until we hit the track on Saturday.

The part I hate...

I've got to refocus on my nutrition. Part of my 'experiment' of running on Team Rogue is to be the best I can be fitness-wise. It is not going to help me train if I have an extra 10 pounds on my body. The best 2 races of my life have been where my weight was at 137. I'm at 143-145 right now. That is not going to cut it, even though I know that I look and feel leaner than I did two months ago.

I've got my nutrition journal started this morning and it has already helped me with a couple of food decisions. I'll try to report back in a week or so about how it is all going. I'm afraid of bonking...the last time I lost weight, I was not diligent about fueling up before an 18 miler and I bonked really hard.

No worries about me doing this the 'right way'. I know what foods are good for me and are good for runners. It's just a matter of choosing them over foods that I like better and that are 'easy' foods.

Steve also requested that I start keeping track of my resting heart rate each morning. It tracks overall fitness and recovery...I should be able to tell when my body is fit and when I might be getting sick or having trouble recovering. I have always had a low resting heart rate, so it has not surprised me that the last 2 mornings have been 47 and 43 respectively. Hell, even right now sitting at the computer it is 48 and I have had a large cup of coffee this morning and ran 4.5 miles less than an hour ago.

The Aftermath

9 weeks 4 days until Nashville...that includes peak training weeks and any taper that we're gonna do. It is going to go by fast. So far, I've put in some decent work. I've proved to myself that I can set myself up for success and follow up with the results. I'm not chasing Boston. I'm chasing myself.

Coach told me something I didn't want to hear last night, then we talked around each other to get to a good place. I'm not out to prove anything to him, though after what he told me last night, I'm determined to run really well and make him think about me differently as a runner. For me it is about being 'worthy'. I want to be a good athlete...coachable, determined, a good listener, humble, confident. I'm here to run my ass off. I really don't think I'm in the same 'place' as my team members in terms of why I'm part of the team. I don't care about a specific time at Nashville as long as I run as well as I possibly can. This is all a big experiment for me right now.

I was the caboose today by myself for the whole first half or with Stephanie (who also ran the full marathon on Sunday). It didn't bother me to be at the back, though I do wonder when I'll get my legs back. My quads are still sore in spots, but much better than yesterday.

The aftermath...anxious, excited, confident, surely unsure, awkward.

The Veronicas

So, the song that helped me bump it up to the 7:45 pace at mile 17 in the marathon is playing. I know what you're thinking...cheezy, stupid, HS pop song. Whatever.

It was awesome to run to, and if you had seen me during that mile like a few people I knew did, you would say it did the trick. I felt like a rock star.

Enjoy.

Specifics - edited

Yesterday, when I posted this, I was really tired. I made a couple of errors that I felt like I needed to report, so I refreshed the picture with the correct data.

You can click on the image if you want to see the details. Here are the highlights - I negative split by 4:02 instead of 9 minutes like I first reported (first time ever). I was ahead of pace from the beginning, but I really did try to go slow. I walked through a few water stops, one of which was supposed to be during my 'steady state' time. I was choking. The hills at the end were brutal as expected, so I'm glad that I accidentally went faster at the beginning.

My mantras the last few miles were - 'They're all suffering way more than me'...'Just keep running'...'Run as fast as you can, even if it is slow'...'Look like you are feeling fresh to the crowd...just pretend if you have to'...'Don't worry about your time cushion until the last mile...keep running fast'. All of them kept me entertained.

3:39:33 (unofficial)

Umm...I had a good day. My workout plan worked out (so to speak) and I requalified for Boston today. Monkey off of my back for the next year. I can kill Nashville in April without fear of bonking hard. Hell yeah. Specific race details to follow...I'm hungry.

Music Change

Muse covers Radiohead first, then the original plays second. Sorry if it's a downer for you...this takes me right back to HS. If you can't stand the Muse version (it gets kind of raw and scary in the middle with the acoustic guitar), the controls are at the bottom of my blog and you can stop the music or advance to the regular Radiohead version.

Radiohead (as covered by Muse) - Creep

When you were here before, couldn't look you in the eye. You're just like an angel. Your skin makes me cry. You float like a feather in a beautiful world. I wish I was special. You're so very special, but I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here.

I don't care if it hurts, I wanna have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. I want you to notice when I'm not around. You're so very special. I wish I was special, but I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here, ohhhh, ohhhh

She's running out the door. She's running out. She run run run run...run... run...

Whatever makes you happy, whatever you want. You're so very special. I wish I was special, but I'm a creep. I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here. I don't belong here...

Pre-race goodness

Tagliarini Picchi Pacchiu from Carrabba's

More Felicia Cuteness

She fell asleep in the sunlight on the carpet. Love that furry belly!

iPhone fun on the toilet

This is all going to be TMI, but the picture is worth explaining.

So, Chad came home for lunch today and decided to use the restroom in the little half bath in the hallway. I went upstairs to work on the computer. To be silly, I call his iPhone to see if he will pick up while on the toilet. Yes, he was willing to talk to me on the phone while on the pot. Good to know.

To continue the iPhone toilet fun...Some of the doors in our house don't latch very well, so Felicia has figured out that she can get in to see Chad when he is on the toilet simply by pushing on the door to get it to unlatch. The sound of the fan in the bathroom is her cue to come to the door and push it open. I'm upstairs on the computer when the picture below comes through my email from Chad's iPhone in the bathroom.

Love it! Felicia' expression is priceless!

Ahhh! What have I gotten myself into!!

Marathon Plan

I'm running the Austin Marathon this weekend as a training run. I have a race plan that if all goes perfectly with no room for error, I should finish in 3:40:48. My plan is to start just in front of the 3:40 pace group so that I can let them pass me at the start, but also so that I see them the last mile of the race to have a rabbit to chase to the finish line.

I've plotted my projected paces and total cumulative time against what the pace groups should be doing, and here's what I should expect. (Note - The pace groups should be running perfectly even splits throughout the entire race if they are any good at what they are doing. After all, I have been an Austin marathon pacer twice before and am one of the reigning pacer queens from 2008 :) ) -

Start - Ahead of the 3:40 pace group, but I'm running a bit slower than them at the beginning. The 3:45 and 3:50 groups might also catch me in the first few miles, depending on how crowded the start actually is.

Miles 4-5 - I should catch back up to the 3:50 pace group and pass them.

Miles 10-12 - The 3:50 group will gain some ground on me, but should not catch me.

Miles 17-20 - I will catch the 3:45 pace group and pass them. I will be going 50 seconds per mile faster than the pace they are running, so I might get some strange looks.

Miles 25-26 - I should start to see the 3:40 pace group signs and use them as my motivation to catch them at the finish.

My finish time should be between 3:40:00 and 3:40:59 if all goes perfectly. I will not be disappointed in myself if I don't achieve this goal. The main focus of Sunday is to learn how to run different paces, to learn how to negative split and run fast at the end, and to stick to a plan as best I can. It will be a challenging day for me, so I hope I'm up for it. My main concern is having to pee or poop after 3-7 miles like I have been experiencing on almost every run in the past few months. I might have to wake up extra early and drink some tea/coffee just to be sure. And, no, I will not be taking Immodium like some of you guys do...it's just not for me.

Things I'm doing to get out of the funk...

• I took a 'bereavement day' today to help get my head on straight. My company allows five days, but I think I'll just start with one.
• Admitting to grieving and what exactly I'm grieving about since I wasn't close to my grandma...I've talked with a few people about my grief, and it is easier now that I have put it into words. If you are one of the people that I have told, thank you for opening your ears and heart to me.
• Spending time today getting de-cluttered...doing laundry, cleaning house, went to dry cleaners, got haircut, bought my special face cleanser, etc. Every task that gets completed is making me feel better.
• I took a hot bath this morning after workout. I forgot how much I love a good soak.
• This afternoon, I'm going to continue the above activities and possibly finish my book. I have about 20 pages left of Three Cups of Tea. It has been great.

In a funk

I don't think the funk that I am in is grieving. Many of the symptoms of my funk started a while back and I'm finding it hard to get in the swing of things. I feel like I need rescuing (granted these are all minor) -

• I am a slob. The house is a disaster. Apparently the only thing I'm capable of doing is the laundry, and even that has been iffy these days. I need help putting things in the right place.
• I am slacking on personal hygiene. Please remind me to brush my teeth and take a shower on the mornings I don't run. It is now 3pm and I have not done either of those items today.
• I haven't cooked real food for our family in a while. I don't want to. It creates dishes that need to be cleaned and takes too long.
• I am exhausted and need lots of sleep, but I feel guilty for sleeping when there is so much to do.
• I don't drink enough liquid during the day. Seriously, I probably only consume 24 ounces of water a day in liquid form.

I think it is running. It is making me tired and lazy. I love running, but I need a swift kick in the butt to continue living life as if I weren't running as much as I am.

Thunderstorm line

This is the craziest one I've ever seen.

Timing...

This weekend turned out to be a well-timed trip. I was able to see and visit with my paternal grandmother about 36 hours before she passed. She was coherent and recognized everyone in the room during our visit. Rather than expressing myself on this blog about her passing, I encourage you to call a family member you haven't seen in a while and tell them you are thinking about them.

Greeneway

There were several tunnels under roads. The sunlight was so pretty on Sunday morning.

Bailey the Boston

My little lucky charm was out with her owner both times that I ran. You know my superstition about seeing a Boston Terrier during a run.

Running Path

Gotta love those Carolina pines. Most of the path looked like this.

N. Augusta Greeneway

Pisgah Entrance

Running in North Augusta

I've spent the weekend in North Augusta, SC visiting my family on both my dad and mom's side. I emailed the local running club to see if there was a group doing a long run this weekend that I could join. I lucked out getting to join the Augusta Striders at the North Augusta Greeneway on Saturday morning. There were about 15 folks there, and I had company for 6 of my 14 miles. I went back to the Greeneway on Sunday to get in my 10 miles and took some pics. Please enjoy the next few posts.

iPod vending machine

In case you forget yours while traveling. As seen in the DFW airport.

AUS>DFW>ATL

Flying the friendly skies.

Fun with Juxtaposer app!

Beans goes to the Apple store.

Test #6

Chillin' on the couch, learning how to use my iPhone. (please let this
be the time that finally works!)

Back to the Motherland...(well sort of)

I'm leaving town on Friday to go back east to South Carolina. I was born there and many of my extended family live in SC, GA, or NC. My Dad and Rose are making the trip with Miss Lily by car on Thursday and Friday, but I have opted to fly to Atlanta and rent a car to get to North Augusta. I'll be back Monday night.

The reason for the trip is that my grandmother is in failing health, and it is important for me to make the visit to see her. Since my Dad is going this weekend, I thought it best to go the same weekend as him. The bonus is that I'll get to see some of my extended family that I have not seen in about 10 years (or even longer in some cases).

I will be getting in my runs while I am there. There are apparently some nice running paths and trails in Augusta, and I've already been in contact about a group that runs on Saturday mornings for long runs. I'll try to take some pictures of it all.

bloody shower

If you shave your legs, you likely have experienced what I experienced this morning. Chad had never seen the aftermath before. You know, you nick your leg in one tiny place (the knee, on the shin, behind your ankle) and blood comes pouring out of your skin, mixing with the shower water, looking redder and more abundant than it really is.

Well, this morning, I nicked two doozies about 3 mm away from each other on the back of my ankle. Actually, one of the marks was so deep, I felt the razor make the nick and instantly cringed and recoiled my hand. Oh man...the river of blood pouring from my leg was one of the ugliest looking wounds I've ever had. I called for Chad's help at the end of my shower because there was no way I would be able to exit the shower without getting blood all over the floor and/or our new towels.

There was a ton of blood...it poured down my ankle down through my heel in a band of blood about an inch and a half wide. It was dark red flowing blood. Yikes! We tried applying pressure with a tissue and applying a band-aid. No luck. I bled through the bandage before I had a chance to notice that I was already dripping blood onto the bathmat and onto our tile. With Chad's help running to our medicine cabinet, we have contained the blood with a thick gauze, doubled, and secured completely with medical tape to seal the gauze to my leg.

Within a minute or so, I could see that the blood soaked through part of the gauze, but I'm not taking off the bandage until I'm sure it has completely stopped bleeding underneath.

I think it somewhat startled Chad to see the aftermath of a leg nick. I figure that it doesn't help me to have good arteries and veins feeding down through my legs as a result of running. It also didn't help that I was showering right after a run and already had the blood flowing.

Gush, gush, gush....

flip-in' out!

We are proud new owners of a Flip Ultra video recorder. It was the Woot product of the day last Thursday...$80 or so (regularly $120-150). I've seen people with them and was curious about them due to their small size (about the size of a pack of slim cigarettes) and ease of use (plugs in directly to the usb port on the front of my computer.)

I received my package at 12:35, got my first videos recorded by 12:42, plugged the Flip in the computer, upgraded the software, edited my videos, created two movies, downloaded them directly to You Tube, and am now able to post about it. Very fast and easy. Good thing it is my self-imposed lunch hour. (YouTube was currently processing these at the time I posted them. If they aren't loaded up, yet, give it a few seconds.)

**note - on my computer, the videos look much better in terms of picture and sound quality. I think YouTube must somehow influence how you see the video.

Our F-ing Scale

That's how I feel about it. It is the worst scale known to man. It is electronic and supposed to measure your body mass and such. We've had it since last May or so.

The f-ing scale has been giving erratic measurements...so much so that I've scared myself with the amount of weight gained/lost during runs. I've been blogging about the 'swelling' that has been going on in my body. Well, some of the swelling is not in my head, but it is likely not as much as I think it is because of our f-ing scale.

Case in point - Last Monday morning my weight was 143. Last night my weight was 150. Thirty minutes ago my weight was 141. I call bullshit on our f-ing scale. We're going to get one with an actual needle. Grrr....

February Goals

Running Related Goals

• Continue high mileage plan
• Listen to my body as we start picking up the pace on runs
• Incorporate more ab work
• Revisit nutrition plan and moderate salt intake
• Sleep more

Personal Goals

• Keep the house cleaner
• Cook at home more often
• Work on unpacking the 'box room'
• Read more