Don't Try This At Home

I went on a run with "Hottie Tri Friend" Ryan tonight (I have a new rule. I only run with hotties...so Ryan needed a nickname upgrade). The run was fantastic. It was about 30 degrees but I had layered perfectly so I was the perfect temperature. We did six miles - I have no idea what pace we ran because Carmen the Garmin? DIED. Faaak.

But.

It was a great run, so it doesn't matter how fast we went.

We grabbed Chipotle after the run to negate all of the good we'd done, and sitting in the restaurant with sweaty clothes? COLD.

Then we walked back to my place in sweaty clothes. COLD.

So I needed something steamy to warm me up. Some hot cocoa, perhaps.

Hot cocoa? Hot cocoa? Bueller? Bueller?

Nothing. No cocoa in the apartment.

But.

I did find a chocolate protein shake. So I popped it in the microwave and heated it up.

Dude, don't try this. It is just as horrible as you imagine it would be.

Bleh.

Breaking The Rules

So speaking of J...

(Crap. Wasn't I going to stop posting about men??)

I totally forgot to mention that he went running with me on Saturday. There was an "all club run" and I invited him to join the group of 60ish Lifetime runners that was doing the long run.

Let me back this up a bit. J is a runner (obviously) and is training for the TC Marathon. He is much, much, much faster than me (his marathon PR is well over an hour faster than mine) so when I extended the invitation to join us at run club, I figured he could run with one of the faster groups.

Because I have a rule. I Do Not Run With Men. It's not strictly enforced...if I am in a group and there is a man running with us, it's not a big deal. It generally applies to running with men that are faster than me. I feel like I'm holding them back...that I'm not worthy...that they won't have an enjoyable run if they have to run slower so I can keep up.

But J did not run with one of the faster groups. He ran with my group. At my pace. With me. Willingly. And without complaint. Because he is So. Freaking. Sweet.

Anyway. We started off slow to get warmed up, and about a mile into the run, we went to the head of the pack (and by pack I mean we were a few steps ahead of Ruth, Kim and Val). We all stuck together as we did the first four miles and hit the first water stop.

At mile five, the Ruth, Kim and Val decided to stop to hit the ladies room, and J and I soldiered on. We were doing an out and back run, so we knew we'd see them again around the 9 mile mark.

You can imagine our surprise when we got to the water stop at mile 7...and they were already there! How did they beat us?? We went around a lake...and we went on one side...and they took the other side (which was about .25 miles shorter). Tricky!! But it was good to have them back. But the splits don't lie...J and I definitely went faster when it was just the two of us.

(cue music)

We kept on running...mile 10...mile 12...and we ended up breaking away from the ladies for real for the last 3.66 miles, where we went back to running sub-10s. Which, in my humble opinion, is kind of awesome, especially because it was at the end of the run. J pushed me to run faster...there's no way I would have been able to keep up such an awesome pace if I were running alone.

It was a great run. Running 15.66 speedy miles with a hottie? Worth it.

9/16/08
Mile 1: 11:07
Mile 2: 10:15
Mile 3: 10:04
Mile 4: 10:21
Mile 5: 10:09
Mile 6: 9:48
Mile 7: 9:51
Mile 8: 10:09
Mile 9: 10:09
Mile 10: 9:59
Mile 11: 10:18
Mile 12: 10:08
Mile 13: 9:47
Mile 14: 9:44
Mile 15: 9:38
Mile 15.66: 6:04 (9:10 pace)

Average pace: 10:03
Total time: 2:37:36

Limbo Drama

It was a blistering 93 degrees last night, but I wanted and needed to run. I ended up doing a "limbo" run (Nitmos - your royalty check is in the mail) – but to up the ante, I wanted each mile to be faster than the previous mile by at least 15 seconds. Dude. It was HOT but I still managed to make my last mile an 8:45. But there's a reason. Two, actually.

1) It takes me 2+ miles to warm up. My first mile was 10:03. Yeah, kind of slow for a "speed" workout.
2) Tell your secretary to hold your calls...the second reason is a little wordy:

I invited This Dude That I've Been Seeing ("J") to join me and some friends at a bar that shows movies on its roof - there is a lawn for lawn bowling on the top of the building and they have a movie projector so you can lay on the lawn and watch movies on Mondays in the summer. It's delightful and refreshing to lay on the lawn with a blanket and catch a flick with a beer.

Anyway.

J called on Monday afternoon to say that work was crazy and he had a "thing" at 7pm and was going to work after, so he couldn't make it.

I'll admit it. I was kind of bummed. But I understood. Work gets in the way of life sometimes.

So I got home from work and went out for my run on the path right in front of my building. Hot. Humid. Slow. I was finally getting into the groove after 2.5 miles, running a 9:00 pace. After a few minutes, I saw a familiar figure on the path. It was J. Running. With A Girl.

WHA?

We spotted each other and I waved and kept on running...I didn't want to be that Crazy Girl that gets all defensive, so I thought it best to not speak. :) He immediately shouted "HEY ALLISON!" and started running backwards while he asked what happened to the hill run (I'd told him I was going to run hills with the girls, but it got scratched due to the movie night) and I shouted back that I skipped it. And I kept on running.

Nothing like scorn and rejection to fuel the fire. I credit the decent pace for the last 2 miles to J. Thanks, A-hole! (I kid. He's not an A-hole)

To make a long story longer...Em and I were at the bar, sitting on the lawn and I noticed I had a missed call from J. He called to say that he was running with his friend (who I've heard a lot about) and that he just wanted to make sure it didn't freak me out that he went running with her. That? Was cute. I was glad he called. Because I was kind of freaking out. :)

So all is good in the hood.

End Faux Drama.

Annnnnd I think from here on out I'm going to take a page out of POM's book...and try to keep the dating off the blog. Starting.......Now.

Annnnnd I'm also going to try and keep the complaining to a minimum. Starting.......Soon. I just started reading A Complaint Free World and am intrigued. The premise: Your thoughts create your world and your words indicate your thoughts. When you eliminate complaining from your life you will enjoy happier relationships, better health and greater prosperity. The Complaint Free program helps you set a trap for your own negativity and redirect your mind towards a more positive and rewarding life.


Warmup: 5:22 (10:48 pace)
Mile 1: 10:03
Mile 2: 9:36
Mile 3: 9:01
Mile 4: 8:45
Cooldown: 5:01 (9:59 pace)

DNF

I had my first DNF yesterday.

No, no, no...not a race DNF...a blood donation DNF.

I went to donate platelets yesterday...and I was DENIED.

Turns out, you can't receive money or drugs in exchange for sex after 1977.

Kidding! Well, you can't receive money or drugs in exchange for sex and still be a blood donor...but that's not why I was denied. My hematocrit was too low. Guess it's a good thing I didn't sign up for the IronGirl Duathlon because I am obviously NOT an IronGirl!

The hematocrit cutoff is 38%. The average for women is 41%.

My count was 33%.

Word on the street is that iron levels are usually lower in runners. And because I am vegetarian, I don't get iron from meat...so I'm usually happy when my hematocrit is 38-39% (thanks to spinach).

I guess the low iron would explain why I've been tired lately. It's definitely not because I've been staying up late watching the Olympics. :)

Speaking of the Olympics, I think Megan said it best...

Is it me, or does watching the Olympics make you want to get off your dead ass and do something, like go to the pool? And I soooo would, but I am too busy watching the Olympics.

Amen, sista. No way am I getting farther than 10 feet from my couch when THIS is on:


RAWR!


Hello, lovers

I Saw The Sign

So last night I went to the Aquatennial celebration in downtown Minneapolis with a bunch of friends.

And I brought a friend with. A male friend. A male friend that is currently holding my romantic interest.

We had a great time. Good laughs, good people watching, good times.

My friends approved of Mr. Romantic Interest.

The night wound down, and we went to our respective homes.

So I was getting ready for bed. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. And managed to knock my hand mirror from the counter onto the floor.

It broke.

Is this a bad sign?? Am I destined to have seven years of bad dating luck??

Or maybe it's just a sign that I need to spend less time looking at the back of my head in the mirror...

Unbloggable

My life has been unbloggable lately. Well, one part boring, one part unbloggable.

BORING:

I've been running. And running and running.

July-a-thon is moving right along. I can't believe it's half over! I'm still waiting for it to sink in that my next marathon is 94 days away and I should maybe start doing some "real" workouts during the week (Hills? Hills? Bueller? Bueller?) but for now, I'm just going out every day to get the miles in.

I did get an amazing 10-miler in on Saturday. Beautiful day, perfect run. The planets were aligned and I was praising the Sweet Infant Jesus for making me a runner.

I've also resumed the 6am strength workouts this week. And each morning I curse the Sweet Infant Jesus for making me get out of bed. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel So Freaking Good after a good strength workout.

UNBLOGGABLE:

But I've also been dating. And dating and dating. Which, Hi Mom! I know you'd love to read the nitty gritty details about these dates, but it's Not Going To Happen.

TRIATHLON:

How did this category sneak in here??

I've decided to follow the advice in the comments and not fret about the swim. The more I think about it, .25 miles is sounding pretty manageable. But the 20 mile bike? That gives me more cause for concern.

To ease my worries, I've been NOT BIKING. Because GAH I Don't Have Enough Hours In The Day To Train For This Triathlon. I will continue to do spin classes weekly, but I know that it's no substitute for a ride on a real, actual bike. All of my swimming worries have officially been transferred to the bike and I'm hoping to get my ass on the bike PRONTO. Like...Monday. As in six days before the race. Yes, I'm going to start training less than a week before the race. Triathlon Taper? Never heard of it. Common sense? Nope, haven't heard of that either.

Can we all have a moment of silence to pray that my base from marathon training will pull me through this??

Tempo

I've been training for the marathon for six weeks. Most of my runs have just been "Get In The Miles" runs. For a few weeks I did Heart-Rate training runs, but I kind of fell off the wagon when the runs weren't meshing with the runs on my training schedule. So I'd do LSD...and last week I started doing hills...but that was it. No official "Steady" runs. No "Tempo" runs. No speed workouts. I'd just go out there and run at whatever pace I felt.

But I'm officially getting in the game. I've been watching my pace closely on my "Steady" days and last night I did an official "Tempo" run.

My goal pace was 9:30 for 4 miles. Looking back at my runs, I usually bust out the last mile in 9:15-9:45. I knew it was possible for my body to move at a 9:30 pace. I just hadn't tried running that pace from the start and sustaining it throughout the run.

And the run last night was great – my average pace was 9:26. I felt like I was pushing myself, but probably could have busted out one more mile (but only if someone was chasing me). My lungs hurt after I stopped running, so I was definitely breathing and working hard. More than anything this run made me appreciate my slow runs - sometimes it's nice to run without having to think. Also – I find it's harder to daydream when I'm running faster – I'm so focused on Not Dying that my mind doesn't wander to thoughts of a hot cabana boy (or a hot Bana boy). :)

4/1/08
Mile 1: 9:30
Mile 2: 9:31
Mile 3: 9:30
Mile 4: 9:12

Average pace: 9:26
Total time: 37:46
Average HR: 173

Three words to describe this run: Medium-hard, Quick, A-Ok