MIA

So I haven't blogged in a while.

I have been in a slump.

I went to Vegas for work for a week in June. I did the miles while I was away even though it meant getting out of bed before 5 am every day.

Since I have been back, it has been hard to stick to my eating plan. I was hungry all the time, Chad's birthday (July 3)was a good excuse to eat, and I have put on a few pounds.

I had my first real 'accident' while running. I actually blacked out after having some kind of 'sugar rush' the day after Chad's birthday. We had a great dinner with dessert and wine the night before. Had champagne and cake to top off the evening. The next morning (July 4) I had cake for breakfast because it was too yummy to resist.

After eating only sweets and champagne for the 15 hours before the run, we set out to do a 6 mile loop from Chad's house. Of course it downpoured on us about 10 minutes into the run and continued until about 2.5 miles out. We were soaked when we stopped at the 3 mile point to sip water. Other than being totally drenched, I was feeling great until I stopped running.

All of a sudden I felt dizzy and lightheaded. I went to brace myself and wrapped my arms around Chad's shoulders and mumbled something about 'sugar rush'. I was out. I collapsed to the ground. I don't remember any of it, but Chad said that my eyes were open and I kind of twitched. He also said that I made a sound like something was stuck in my throat. I was completely blacked out and don't remember anything except hearing his voice calling me as I was waking up.

I was laying in the middle of the road...hit my head pretty hard, and Chad flagged down a car for help. We used the driver's cell phone to call his mom and Jim to come get us. Very scary!

Since then, things have been fine. I had a couple of times where I was afraid to overexert myself for fear of fainting again. I really do think my fall was due to some kind of blood sugar and dehydration issue.

I am feeling ready to start blogging again....sorry it took a while!

The Date is Set!

Chad and I have set the date for our wedding!
March 15, 2008

Lunch with Diana

Today I met my good friend Diana (and her 18 mo. old daughter, Brynna) for lunch. Last week, pre-proposal, we had lunch at Magnolia Cafe and talked about how a ring would be a great reason to do lunch again soon.

Jason's Deli was the place...we enjoyed talking details and being entertained by Brynna. Brynna is so cute with her little vocabulary and her observations of everything that is going on. She is one smart little cookie!

Recovery Week - Fun Monday

Last night marked the first run of our first recovery week. Instead of our normal 9-10 mile run, we only had to do 7. Since in my mind 7 miles is still pretty long for a weekday run, my mind played stalling games with my body all afternoon. I stalled until I absolutely could not wait any longer.

I got to the trail at 6:35 and started running the I35 loop counter clockwise from MoPac. I was trying to run as easy as possible until I could find my groove. It really wasn't as hot or humid as I was expecting, so after I took water at the 0 mile marker, I felt pretty good.

Lucky for me, I ran into Melissa running the opposite direction on Riverside drive. I was about 3 miles in, so I turned around and ran back towards MoPac with her. She was nice enough to let me talk (mostly blabbing) about the start of wedding planning for a good 20 minutes during the run.

As a big surprise, Melissa and I ran in to Dan! I was so excited to see him! (Dan has been so good all year asking when Chad was going to propose. We have really been predicting and guessing dates for over 6 months now, so it was fun to finally have a ring to show!) Dan reacted terrifically, giving both Melissa and I big hugs and admiring my finger. He seemed really genuine in his joy for Chad and I and it was so nice to see him out there.

In all, it was a great run. After a couple of miles I forgot about how I was dreading the run and just enjoyed the company and conversation.

Flucie and Muscat

After the internet debut of my ring with Ben and Miko, Chad thought it would be good to get pics with the other kitties as well. The first photo is of Chad's cat, Felicia (Flucie). She is gorgeous.

The orange kitty belongs to Chad's mom and Jim. His name is Muscat (perfect name for winemaker, huh?).

Engaged!!!

Chad proposed! We are engaged!

Last night was the 2 year anniversary of the day we met. We tend to celebrate events well, so we had planned to go out to dinner and skip our Thursday night workout. Chad made reservations at Cafe Josie, which was my favorite restaurant before he introduced me to Wink.

The dinner was delicious. From the menu, this is what we ordered...

We shared:

CRISPY GULF OYSTERS With Lime Cilantro Aioli and Honey Chipotle Sauce - YUM!!

bottle of Bottega Pinot Grigio

Bread served with butter, olive oil, roasted minced garlic, and probably some chili spice

we both ordered:

BABY SPINACH SALAD With Cajeta Glazed Walnuts, Manchego Cheese, and Passion Fruit Vinaigrette

made the wine taste so good!

Main courses -

I ordered PEPITA REDFISH WITH MANGO HABANERO BUTTER Pepita and Spice Crusted and served on Poblano Rice and Cotija Black Beans with Tomatillo Chile, Ancho Chile, Spicy Pepitas, and fresh Vegetables

Chad ordered MESQUITE GRILLED MAHI MAHI Mesquite Grilled with Mango Salsa, and served on Poblano Rice and Cotija Black Beans with Sunsplash, Ginger Tamarind, and fresh Vegetables

For dessert we shared a blackberry ginger crisp with ice cream. Delicious!

After dinner we had not already planned to do anything else, so we joked about walking over to the Treaty Oak and polishing off our bottle of wine. After we decided that public consumption was probably not a good idea, we though maybe just go home. I suggested as we were driving that we could go to Mt. Bonnell. Conveniently, Chad managed to position himself to not be able to change into the left lane at the turn off to South Mopac, so we had to continue straight on Lake Austin Blvd towards Scenic and Mt. Bonnell.

When we climbed the long staircase at the park, I had convinced myself that he was not going to propose. He did not have a plan for the rest of the evening and we just kind of walked around at the top of the mountain. We went over to the left side to get a view of the city and it didn't happen. When we wanted to head down, I was more convinced than ever that he wasn't going to propose.

I'll keep the rest of the details off of the internet, but Chad proposed at the top. I was surprised and excited.

What? You want to see the ring? It is beautiful! If you have ever taken a picture of your hand, you know that it just looks weird unless you are a professional photographer. I think the best shots of the ring and my hand are with me petting the cats, so here they are, proud accessories to the new engagement ring:

Weigh-in 6/6

As promised, I am weighing in each week to track my nutrition/weight goals.I intend to add to the list of dates every week at least.

Please feel free to comment.

Progress:
April: 150-152
5/14: 145
5/21: 147
5/29: 148
6/6: 145

Comments: Well, it is back in the right direction. I really feel like I am doing better. I think getting more sleep helps me control my diet, too. I have been focusing on sleep and hydration and it seems to be working.

Weekend Report

same ol' stuff...Went running, ate out, rented some movies, all in all a good weekend.

The highlights: We ordered 'Stranger than Fiction' with Will Farrell on Friday night from the ONDemand movies in the cable box. It was okay. We rented Babel on Saturday night from the $1 HEB rental kiosk. It was better. I thought there would be more to it, though.

Running: I did my 10 miles on Saturday no problem except that mother nature always decides that June is supposed to be filled with 100% humidity mornings. Our four miles at marathon pace felt kind of grueling. No matter. I did the 10 miles in overall an 8:39 pace. Very cool.

Chad raced The Maze 30k trail race today. I worked the water stop. He ran really well, especially for having a tendon issue in his shin. He said he just wanted to keep his time on each of the 3 loops even. There were a bunch of folks out there looking very hot and tired. I helped a gal out who was going through some obvious heat trauma and desperately needed electrolytes and some ice.

Month's end

Now that May 31 has come and gone I can reflect on how the running and other things in life have been going. I ran 180.21 miles this month, capped off by 3 really tough days here at the end. I am proud of myself for doing all of the miles in the program so far. I missed a few of the gym workouts that I originally intended to do, so next month my goal will be to be more consistent with the crosstraining and weights.

I have had stretches of doing well with my nutrition plan, and recently have had some trouble. I really need to focus on that goal. For whatever reason putting in the miles and pushing through the discomforts of running is much easier for me than dealing with the discomforts of eating habit changes. I will do some internal reflection on that and try to get at why I am sabotaging my nutrition goals.

Chad and I have had a good month, too. I think we were struggling a little with things being kind of 'boring' in terms of our weekends. Some of that, I'm sure, has to do with the increase in training and the fatigue that goes along with it. Some of it may just be that we (I) were not cherishing some of the smaller things that we do together. I'm glad that we talked about it. Maybe I also need to get used to the fact that we are not really 'dating' every weekend, but rather we are starting to live a different life together. Next week marks 2 years since I met him, and what a great 2 years it has been.

So, my reflection this month is a little longer. It has been a big month and it has flown by.

Way to go, me. Bring on June!

Dodging Snails

This morning it was thunderstorming when I wanted to do my run. I am still trying to fit in the missing 9 miles from Monday, and this morning was to be my last 3-4.

So, when I went out at 10:00, the sidewalks were wet and covered in snails. I was hesitant to put my feet down at times for fear that I would crush them. It was like a weird Sci-Fi movie.

Wahoo!

For a while now, Chad and I have been going to a restaurant in town called 'Wahoo's Fish Tacos'. It is a franchise out of California serving awesome affordable tacos, burritos, and 'bowls'. It is not just fish, but that is what we get most often.

I drafted a letter to them last night:

Wahoo’s Fish Taco
509-A Rio Grande Street
Austin, TX 78701

To the wonderful staff at Wahoo’s:

I wanted to take a moment and thank you for making my dining experiences at your restaurant so great. You are always so courteous and pleasant and all seem to really enjoy working there.

On a personal note, I want to thank you for helping accommodate my special orders. I often come in needing some kind of modification from your menu based on the recommendation of my nutritionist. I love your bowls so much, but I am not able to enjoy the rice and beans as part of my diet for the time being. I have been ordering sides of your grilled vegetables topped with a side of fish. The goal of the order is to create a Wahoo bowl with a bunch of grilled veggies filling the bottom instead of the rice and beans. This has proven to be challenging at times to order, but thanks to Gary for helping me figure out what to say at the register to order what I want. The first couple of times it did not come out as I expected, but you cheerfully corrected the order to provide more vegetables.

I am writing today because of my experience this evening with Jesse as my order taker. At the register, I explained the order that Gary had told me and what it was supposed to look like. Jesse went out of his way to listen to the previous issues with the order and made note with the cooks about exactly how it should turn out. He even came to the table before it was ready to confirm the size bowl that I thought it would come in. The result? The order was perfect and delicious! The cooks also did a great job of preparing and presenting the bowl. Jesse’s level of service was outstanding, which resulted in a great tasting meal that fit my nutrition plan.

Thank you again for providing the highest level of service and great food. You have become part of our weekly routine!

With warmest regards,
Sadie Barrs

The Warhurst (Warhurts!)

Our group workout last night was called the Warhurst, named after Ron Warhurst, the track coach at the University of Michigan. It involved running a mile at tempo pace followed immediately by an 800 on the track at 10k pace...repeat 3 times.

This workout is hard because not only are the paces and distances challenging, but our mile repeat involved running up the hill at Veterans Drive. We were supposed to use Ruth's splits for us during this workout. The problem with that is her idea of my tempo mile was 8:16...16 seconds slower than what I consider my marathon pace. I have been determined this summer to not do any workout pace over 8 minute miles.

I went into the miles trying to do 8:00 each time. My splits were 8:00, 8:11, and 8:09, but I honestly thought the effort was much harder than that. After each mile we jogged into the track area and did our 800 at 10k pace. My splits were 3:41, 3:39, 3:35. I was happy with those, and they actually felt much easier than the mile.


I had resigned myself to the fact that maybe the heat zapped some of my mile energy last night or that maybe the hill on Veterans affected me a little more than I wanted to admit. UNTIL>>I found out from folks wearing Garmins that the mile was a little long. I verified this morning on the Gmap pedometer that it was actually 1.04 miles. It doesn't seem like a lot, but when I proportionately modify my times I get 7:41, 7:52, 7:50 for my mile splits.

Yay!!! I knew I felt like I was pushing harder than 8 minutes on those miles.

Way to go me!

Weigh-in 5/29

As promised, I am weighing in each week to track my nutrition/weight goals.

I intend to add to the list of dates every week at least.
Please feel free to comment.

Progress:
April: 150-152
5/14: 145
5/21: 147
5/29: 148

My comments: I am lucky my number this week is not higher. I did not follow my eating plan this weekend other than breakfast a couple of days and my dinners at Wahoo. We ate out many times this weekend, had wine and other unusual snacks, and I capped it off with monster dessert eating. We had huge desserts Friday evening, I had a lot of chocolate on sat, sun, & mon, Chips Ahoy cookies at our booth on Sunday (what was I thinking?!), and a chocolate malt last night (which was delicious and I don't feel guilty about).


Goal: 140 by June 23rd (the day I leave for Vegas)
Goal: 130 by August 15 (6 weeks before race)

Busy Weekend

It has been a while since my last post. After last Wednesday, these were the runs that I got in:

Thursday - off
Friday - easy 7
Saturday - 12 miles 'The Roguette'
Sunday - easy 4
Monday - missed my 9 mile run - will explain below.
This morning - easy 3

So, since it was Memorial Day weekend, I was helping out Chad's family at the wine festival. His mom and step-dad own Alamosa Wine Cellars. We worked the festival for 3 days...Saturday 2-9, Sunday 1-9 (we got there around 2:30), and Monday 1-6(we got there at 12:30). In all, it was a fun time, but it was a lot of time spent on the feet. We were pretty exhausted at the end of each day.

At the end of Monday's festival, we needed to run our 9 miles. You might ask 'Why didn't they just do it that morning?' We tried, but after going to sleep around midnight and waking up at 7:00 to thunderstorms, we figured we were allowed to sleep another hour or so to wait for the lightning to pass. As it turns out, the storms did not clear in time for us to be on time to the festival, so we opted to try run in the evening.

Needless to say, after a long weekend we were in no mood to cap it off with a 9 mile run.

My plan to get in the miles is as follows:

Tuesday - add an easy 3 in the morning...regular group workout in the evening
Wednesday -add 2 miles to the 20 minute run in the morning (total 4 miles)...6 miles in evening as scheduled.
Thursday - add an easy 4 in the morning...regular group fartlek run 7 miles in evening
Friday - take rest day as scheduled

Rollers

I thought I was slow on hills. I thought.

Last night we did a workout called Rollers, which by the name of it means that we would be going through rolling hills. I was both dreading and looking forward to it.

After a 2 mile warm-up from the Lake Austin store to Pecos, we began the hard part of the workout. We did 1 min hard/1 min easy for about 2 miles until we got to 35th and Exposition. I thought the first few intervals were kind of fun, but after we got to the uphill climb past the park and turned on Northwood, my legs began to feel like bricks.

I had been put in a group with Myles, Julia, Nedra, Kirsten Bruce, and Scott. I am pretty much Scott's partner on all of these workouts and he is proving to be a good push for me. Scott and I stayed to the back of this group because they are all faster than us.

By the time we got to Burger King at Jefferson and 35th, Myles, Bruce, and Nedra had caught Javier and Charles from the group ahead. Julia, Kirsten, Scott and I left the water stop for a steady state 15k pace run back to RunTex. We had about 2.5 miles to go.

I thought I was tired after the hills, but apparently my legs are stronger than I think. I kept Kirsten in view the whole way, and she looked way more tired at the stoplights and at the finish than I did. Scott sandbagged at first and then caught me on the home stretch. I was glad to finish with the two of them.

You know what is weird, though? The total distance of this run was 7.1 miles and I finished in 1:00:20. That is an overall 8:30 pace!! I must have been hauling on the rollers and the steady state to make up for the warmup and the easy stretch between Exposition and Jefferson. There is no way I was close to that on the easy stretches.

Way to go me!

Keeping me honest - Weigh in

So, there are weight loss programs out there that make you weigh in weekly. Since I am choosing to handle my weight loss on my own with the guidance of Meredith as nutritionist, I need some way to keep me honest. I don't really care to log everything that I eat. It is tedious and makes me way to obsessive. Instead, I think it will be beneficial to me to begin publishing my weight loss progress for all to see.

This way, I will be exposed when I have a bad week (like last week), but will also be rewarded for moving closer to my goal. I intend to add to the list of dates every week at least. Please feel free to comment.

Progress:

April: 150-152
Last week: 145
This morning (5/21): 147

Goal: 140 by June 23rd (the day I leave for Vegas)
Goal: 130 by August 15 (6 weeks before race)

Short Leg Issues

So I was told several months ago by my chiropractor that I have a short right leg. I have rotation in my hip to compensate for this and it has caused my left hip to be about 8 mm higher than my right. After many visits for adjustments and body work, he recommended that I get a heel lift or possibly orthotics. I was very resistant to this because I had been told by an orthotist that I specifically did not need orthotics.

Well, I went to get a massage with Ron on Friday and while he was discovering all of the muscle soreness that appears to be imbalanced, we talked about my hip. He independently suggested that I get a thin piece to put in my shoe to help with the imbalance.

I gave in. I bought the heel lift on Saturday from Karavel shoes. I have put in the lowest layer in the right shoe of my running shoe and I have done one run. So far so good. My feet did not hurt. I hope that it works to help my hip/glute issues.

10 miles with 2 at MGP

Saturday we ran 10 miles on the Pecos Route. We were sent out in waves again from the annex and I settled in with Ardith, Rob, and Kirsten for the run. We began by chatting about movies and such. The night before, Chad and I had rented The Last King of Scotland and Ardith and Rob had both seen it. It wasn't as horrific or gory as we had thought it would be based on other people's accounts. It thought it was really interesting and well acted.

We ran well through the hills and at one point Ardith mentioned how she had forgotten about 'my persistence'. I am known for just chugging along at a pace and being pretty persistent about keeping the movement onward through our running routes.

My plan was to begin MGP on Exposition at the start of mile 4 of the Enfield 4 route. We would run 2 miles at goal pace and end just past the 3 mile marker on the trail. Our first mile was a little fast. We trucked up the small uphill part on Exposition and used the momentum to carry us downhill and flat to Veterans drive. Our first split was 7:30...way too fast for MGP, but a great comfortable pace. The mile on the trail was 7:45.

Overall, this run was the highlight of the week. Our overall pace was 8:51.

Way to go us!

On a bit of a downer note, I found out that one of our runner friends was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I am not really supposed to talk about it because our friend has not really told very many people. I only know second hand. I wish her the best and look forward to when the news is more out in the open. If she fights the lymphoma as hard as she trains, she should be able to beat it.

Tempo Fun

Last night our group did a 20/20/20 tempo run, and I was expecting to do pretty well. I typically enjoy tempo runs as it gives me a chance to settle into a good pace and hold it there...much easier than some of the track workouts.

I did our route on Google maps. Click the route if you are interested. Here are the notes that I put in my Nikerunning log:

Group workout - Tempo 20/20/20
Warmup to Zilker Elementary - Rundell Street. (2.38 miles) time: 21:35 (9:04 pace)

20 minute pace run - 7:46, 7:37, 4:33 distance: 2.5441 miles Overall Pace (7:48)

Cooldown back to RunTex. (2.7458 miles) time: 24:42 (8:59 pace)

Overall a great workout! Total distance: 7.67 miles Total time and pace: 1:06:13 (8:38 pace)

Mother's Day Feast - TMI

Runners talk about poo all the time. It is not a big deal, though sometimes there is a huge TMI factor. And I know what you are thinking...I should be honoring my Mom instead of talking about poo. Sorry Mom, for ruining the one post that should be dedicated to you. We really did have a great night! Please be warned that if you do not like poo talk, steer clear of this post.

Chad and I took my mom and his mom and stepdad to Uchi for Mother's Day dinner. We had so much fun ordering, or rather I had a great time ordering the majority of the meal. We got:
Uchiviche
Hot Rock
brie tempura
grilled baby octopus
pumpkin, asparagus, and eel tempura pieces
cooked saltwater eel sushi pieces
California roll
salmon/asparagus roll
applewood smoked yellowfin special
lobsterettesspecial
Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio

The yellowfin was divine and probably the best thing on the menu. The lobsterettes were the most expensive item at $36 dollars, and was a bit of a let down. It was one of the smallest items delivered to the table and very difficult to share. Breaking up the lobsterette and eating risotto with chopsticks was definitely a challenge. In all it was a fantastic meal!

The most entertaining part of the menu was the delivery of the baby octopus. There were 5 deep red baby octopus that were about 2-3 inches long. At first they were kind of hard to recognize because they were individually skewered through the head vertically down through the center of each animal. When we all realized that we were delivered the entire octopus to eat, we could not help but laugh. I got my mom to try one arm/tentacle of the octopus, and I managed to eat almost 2 whole octopuses. Eek!

The crazy thing about the meal is that all I was thinking about for the next 24 hours was what those 2 little octopuses were going to look like coming out the other end. Were they going to be like corn kernals and come out whole? Yikes! I was kind of dreading going to the bathroom.

Thankfully, I really didn't have time to process (no pun intended) what was going to happen because it actually became a bathroom emergency on my Monday 8 mile run. I had to go after 4 miles and in a panic I raced to the tennis court bathrooms near the Mopac bridge. It was such an emergency that I didn't realize that the octopuses would have gone through my system and be in the poo in the toilet right then. I turned around with horrible dread waiting to see 2 little creatures staring back at me...

It was all good. I would have had to puke or scream or somehow react in the most disgusting way had there been little tentacles in the poo. I am pleased to say that the human body does process octopus as a protein and not like corn kernals. You will not have evidence of little creatures the day after.