Favorite Quote of The Day

Slight Panic

No, I haven’t stopped running, worse. I’ve gained about 5 lbs in two days. The worst part is that I have zero clue why. I have been as diligent almost militant at times about avoiding excess fat and calories. I have even upped my water intake and for what?!? 5 lbs! This is how the running plan is paying me back. So far the whole cross training thing is not working. I would rather hobble about than have excess weight creeping back.

Out with the old and in with the new

I was having some, shall we say excessive issues with being tired and sore. So I chose either to A: hobble about like an arthritic ridden hobbit or B: change my training plan. Change my plan? No! I kicked, I screamed, I hollered, and yet in the end, I found this. I figure that the good people at Runner’s World probably know more about training than I do. My only objection is that at times the training seems wonky. I mean one week you have an incredibly long run and the next week you have three 9 mile runs. Go figure, I’m hoping that the other days of cross training will relieve my soreness and help shed some more lbs. If you care to peruse the link, you’ll find handing converters at the bottom of the page. Very excellent training page in my limited experience.

Time

“Speed is the result of busting ass.” Anonymous
I wanted to see how fast I could knock out 1.5 miles. Just for fun. I was hoping to put it down in less than 13 minutes. So with that thought in mind my partner in crime Mike and I laced up our running shoes and sprinted out the door. We finished in 11:37. It was better than I could have hoped for. This simple test made me feel like skipping. Okay well I would if I didn’t feel like vomiting, but once that passed skipping was in order!

Conversations In My Head

The alarm goes off at precisely 4:10 every morning, without fail. And every morning without fail I press the snooze numerous times. I can’t help it, there’s something distinctly and intrinsically wrong with getting up at 4:10 in the morning. To be honest, this morning I wasn’t going to get up at all. (That’s right I said at all!) My gym partner is in West Va., my husband was warm and snugly and it was fore casted to be 80 degrees by 7:30. Please Xena, give me a reason to get out of bed.

Alarm clock 4:10: Buzz, “Wake up”
Me: Noooo (groan), not today, I can’t do it today.
Promptly hit my BFF in the morning, SNOOZE.
Xena:”Get up, your never going to get better if you don’t develop discipline.”
It is ironically noted that Xena sounds like my mother this early.
Me: “Seriously…go away..need sleep.”
Xena:”Get up you’ll feel guilty later, you know you will.”
Me: “Can someone shut her up?”
Alarm clock 4:20: Buzz “Get the hell up.”
Rescue me Snooze!
Xena: “Fine sleep, but you will feel worse than dirt later.” Xena exits disgusted with me……I apparently am not worthy of even a conscience cameo at this point.
Arrrr, how the heck did I get a conscience all of a sudden about working out? Furthermore, why on earth am I not sleeping right now? Instead, I’m listing pros and cons in my head.
Alarm Clock 4:30: Buzz!!!
Somehow I have managed to quell Xena and yet, I cannot manage to figure out where the off button is on the alarm clock. Oye!
“Fine Xena! You win, I’ll go running today.” Grumble grumble……

So What’s the Buzz?

I have a small confession to make. I have a small addiction that I can’t hide anymore. There are some days when I run purely for the yummy goodness that only a cup of coffee can give. Mocha, white, hazelnut, and just regular Joe; I have loved each flavor in its own way. Sometimes in the bleary third mile it is my genuine motivation to move faster and run harder. However, as I was rounding the corner for my fourth mile this morning I wondered if a cup before my morning workout could improve my time. Here’s what I found

The University of Florida did a study and found that people who ingested 3-4 cups 60 minutes before a workout could have a positive effect. Especially in those people who work at 75% of their maximum heart rate and for periods of longer than 30 minutes.

Here’s why: “The most popular theory as to why caffeine helps endurance goes like this. During moderate exercise, about half of our energy comes from carbohydrates, which are stored as glycogen in our muscles and liver. The other half comes from fat. As the exercise intensity increases the balance shifts, and we rely more and more on glycogen and less on fat. Unfortunately, our glycogen stores are quite limited. And once we run out of this fuel, we become exhausted and can go no further. Caffeine apparently moves the balance back, increasing our reliance on our plentiful fat stores and decreasing our dependence on glycogen. The result of this so called “glycogen sparing” is that we can run longer and harder.”

Makes sense to me… However, I have several problems with this idea. #1 To ingest 3-4 cups an hour before I run would mean that I get up at 3:45. Okay, that is not going to happen at all. ever! (I think I need one more exclamation point) !! (Okay I lied, two) Secondly, by the time I got to my fourth cup I would be as high as a chipmunk on crack and completely unable to drive myself to the gym. And thirdly, I would try this before a race but I would be the lucky runner who gets a whopping case of the runs (no pun intended) at the starting line or better yet, 15 minutes into the race when there was no potty to be found. My stomach simply could not handle the acidity. Ack, what can you do? I guess for now I’ll stick with my one cup after a long run.

If you care to read the article you can find it here.

Pooped

So I beat the blahs and sometime around Tuesday made my way to the streets for an easy 4 miler. For inspiration I brought along my new hydration belt (which turned out to be a good idea since it was 91 degrees outside). Wednesday another 4 and then this morning as I was running with bleary eyes, yesterdays makeup, and crazy hair, Xena found me and I cranked out 5 miles in 49 minutes and the 6Th was a slower cool down. I’m back!

One thing that I did find in my several days off was a book called The elements of effort: Reflections on the Art and Science of Running by John Jerome. It’s like a blog in a book. It’s full of quick bits of this and that. I have slowly been savoring it over the last couple of days. In the section entitled pooped he describes the following:

“You know the feeling: you’ve done something gloriously exhausting, spent a demanding day; you lie down and sleep and for the first five minutes you hurt all over…….I love that feeling. It is available to people who explore the shores of exhaustion regularly…Regular running makes you one of those people.”

That is me after a long run. My body aches in a way that only I can explain. It hurts but in the pain is reassuring that I have done my job and worked as hard as body and health would allow.

Ack

That’s right, Ack! I have been “off” for about 5 days with traveling back and forth. I have zero desire to run tomorrow. I feel fat and bloated and not at all like Xena the Warrior runner that I try to channel every morning. 5 days of travel, countless cups of coffee, and three bags of Doritos can do that to a girl. Someone should have told me to step away from the artificial flavoring and coloring that were my best travel buddies. Oh how I love thee Doritos. Okay enough self pity! I spit in the face of self pity! Okay wait, today I might be spitting in my own face so tomorrow I will spit in the face of self pity! Xena, warrior runner come to me!!!

Long runs and lonely roads

Oh Michigan, I could wax poetically. It is truly a rustic and beautiful area. We are in Niles for the majority of this trip. If there was more time I would plan runs that were through corn fields and off the beaten path. So I settled for A 3 miler along an old county road. I honestly wish they had roads like this is Virginia. Well, I’m sure they do, just not where we live. Overall I would highly recommend Michigan as a place to do some roadside runs that will take your breath away.

Sad news

We just recieved news that my cousin passsed away. I will be headed to Michigan for a funeral. I’ll try to fit in a long run, but I highly doubt that……