What happened to the last 6 months?

I can't really say what happened to the last 6 months, but I definitely wasn't blogging :)

The marathon training that I began, I finished and ran the Twin Cities Marathon in early October of this year. Pretty impressive stuff for not being a runner!! My time was not the focus - thankfully so, I barely squeaked by under 6 hours! - the focus was more about getting out and running and putting my mind to something and getting it done. Training was much tougher than I could have even imagined when I signed up for the race and my knee struggled through a lot of it. The saddest part of the story is that I haven't been running since the race. My foot was pretty sore right after, possible stress fracture?, so I kept off it, but have struggled to get back into a running routine. I mostly blame class and work on this, but in all reality it's my fault for being a lazy butt :)

It's the last week of classes and finals are right around the corner. My hope for the downtime I will have right after the semester ends is to unclutter my life. I am pretty good and keeping everything and throwing away nothing and my bedroom can attest to this. I'd really love to get rid of some clothes and things so that everything has a place and can be put away. I'd also like to get out and bird more, work on photography, hang out with my pup and read. So many things to do and so little time :)

Back to working on final semester projects...

End of Week 1 Training, including the workout from hell

Saturday – Mini Triathlon: Biking, I biked from my house to IM West. It took 30 minutes, but that included a sweet digger when I stopped at an intersection. I unclipped my left food, but for some reason lost my balance and leaned to the right. My right foot was still clipped and that = wipeout. Swimming, Went over TI drills from lesson 1 & 2 and then learned the new drills from lesson 3. Swam for about 45 minutes. I liked the new drills. I have to remember to not rely on kicking so much and use more of my hips and arms. Biking, Biked from IM West to Mark’s. 5 mile run, Most miserable run of my entire life. I was dead tired before the whole thing even got started. I’m chalking it up to not eating any carbs Friday night. I was tracking my nutrition on Gyminee and had already filled my carb quota for the day, however, I forgot to factor in that I was planning on doing a mini tri on Saturday. Needless to say, I had one gel during the run, about a quarter of the way though, and proceeded to actually need to stop running because I physically couldn’t make my legs move or breathe for that matter. I first stopped around mile 2 and stopped on and off til about mile 3 or 3.5. After that Mark suggested that we just run .25 mile segments, then rest and finish up the 5 miles that way. I was relieved at this suggestion since .25 miles was just a couple blocks, I would be able to do that much before needing to rest again. By the time we got to 4.5miles I was not feeling quite as miserable as I had, but I was still ridiculously tired and out of breath. In the end I did finish the 5 mile run and Mark was a trooper for running with me. I contemplated telling him to just go ahead and run on his own because I felt bad that he wasn’t really getting much of a workout jogging along with me while I was dying at an eleven minute pace, but I’m happy he stuck with me. His .25 mile suggestion was also a run-saver. So, lessons learned: 1) eat carbs before big workouts even if gyminee tells you that you’ve had enough. 2) I now know approximately what it feels like to ‘hit the wall’ and it isn’t enjoyable, but it is possible to get through it. I still felt crappy, but better at the end of the run, because the gel gave my muscles some easily accessible fuel, and/or my muscles had finally switched to using fat as a fuel source. 3) My gymbuddy rocks. FACT. More Biking, after the run I refueled with a PB&J sandwich and then Mark and I biked back to my house. Overall it was about 16 miles of biking. Pretty much the most tiring workout I’ve ever had.

Sunday – Since yesterday was so traumatic J I think I’m taking off for the bike ride today. I’ll take Lambeau for a walk later and cut the lawn. That’s enough of a workout for the day!

Week 1 (cont'd)

Friday – Swimming, 12:30pm IM West. Worked on the TI drills and played golf again. Was able to get down to 10-11 strokes and 22-24 seconds. Weights, got skipped tonight because Mark is lame, FACT. Maybe they'll get added in this weekend...The bike ride tomorrow may be cancelled due to the weather forcast - it's supposed to rain pretty much all day :(

Marathon Training - Week One!

Week One (June 14-20):

Monday – Swimming, outdoor pool, after work. Repeated first set of Total Immersion (TI) drills and learned second set. Swam some laps after focusing on really swimming from side to side. Want to count strokes next time. Want 20 strokes for 25m and ?? for 50 (check TI book)

Tuesday – 3 mile run, Magnolia running route. Legs were still sore from beginning the new lifting workout on Saturday. Finished with 9:34 pace. Pushed harder the last 0.7 miles. I had a substantial side stitch for probably a full mile in the middle.

Wednesday – 4 mile run, around Lake Lansing. 6:30am and pouring rain. Legs felt great for pretty much the whole run. Finished with 9:32 pace! Goal was 9:40 and it was even faster than the pace for the 3 mile run yesterday! Ate a ½ banana before the run and only had a hint of a side stitch for a brief amount of time. Might try doing that more often.

Thursday – 3 mile run, Magnolia route. 7:30am. Apparently started out the run pretty fast (8:20-8:45 pace) and Mark tried slowing us down. As good as my legs felt yesterday, they felt equally crappy today, heavy and slow! Ate a banana before the run and no side stitches at all! I seem to have found something that works. The last ½ mile was brutal. Tried sprinting the last 0.2 miles, but it was a pretty weak sprint. Ended up running at a 9:16 pace, goal was 9:20, and this was a better pace by 18 seconds than the same run on Tuesday!! Swimming, IM Circle, afternoon. Worked on TI drills then tried playing golf by counting strokes and timing laps. I averaged 11-12 strokes and 23-25 seconds for 25 yards.

I don't like swimming in lakes...

*I thought this post had been posted, but I guess I just saved it.  Better late then never I guess...*

I think I've sorely underestimated my fear of lake swimming.  Last week was...successful? in a very small and somewhat embarassing way.  I got into the lake and swam, with my head in the water, for a couple strokes.  This was after about 15 minutes of working up the courage after I put my head in for the first time and saw WEEDS! I kind of figured that as long as I got good at swimming in the pool, swimming in the lake wouldn't be a big deal...WRONG.  I'm really hoping Park Lake is much, much more squishy and gooey and weedy than the actual lake I have to swim in for the race though...otherwise, we might have a problem...

On the upside, I can now say that I've run 6 continuous miles :) Well on my way to 26.2 if you ask me!

I like rocks

I've decided that rock climbing is pretty badass. It's a great workout for the body and mind (not to mention what it does for your back. I think I creeped out a girl or two just staring at their ripped muscles, oops...). Climbing in the gym last night I actually followed some of the climbs that were labeled and when you try sticking to just the holds for that one route, it's a challenging little puzzle of where to put each hand or foot. I didn't make it to the top of any of the climbs (well, one, but I was cheating on that one, just using whatever holds I wanted), but I made some sweet, sweet progress.

This whole experience has been much more fun than when I tried climbing in Madison. I didn't particularly trust either of my friends when it came to belaying which resulted in no-so-much fun on the wall. In their defense, it was nothing against them, I just outweighed them and didn't trust the whole system! The gym in Ann Arbor is easily twice as tall as Boulders in Madison, yet I don't think I was worried about being too high at all yesterday. Though, more than once when I was resting mid-climb and looked down at Mark and Gab to get some advice I was surprised at how small they were :) Also, I think this tri training and yoga has been strengthening my knee quite a bit. I remember not feeling comfortable putting all my weight on my left leg while I was climbing the first time, but I can honestly say I didn't notice that once either at the Ledges or at Planet Rock. Or maybe it was just all in my head before and I'm finally over that. Either way, let's just say, Rocks Rock!

woooosh!

So, flash forward 10 months and life is good.  In the meantime I've nixed the med school idea, embraced the grad school idea, gotten into and have almost finished my first year of grad school, moved to a new town, met lots of cool people, did a sprint triathlon (!!!), chosen a lab, and most importantly, come out of my shell that I felt stuck in while in Madison.  Moving to a new place and leaving controling people behind can do wonders for the soul.  Lansing may not be the prettiest town or the most appealing place to live, but it's mine, and I like it for that :)