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 :)

         

I'm gonna train for a WHAT?!

So, I decided today that I'm going to train for a 1/2 marathon. YIKES! Well, I'm going to train for a 5K first, get a little running under my belt and if my knee holds up, then I'll go ahead with the 1/2 marathon plans! FUN! There is a race September 28th in East Lansing, the Capital City RiverRun, or something like that. Needless to say, I started training today and running for 20 minutes is a LOT harder than it sounds!! I pretty much thought it would be easy and it was pretty tough! Anyway, Day 1 is in the books! Tomorrow, gotta run/walk two miles (after a 12 hour day at lab and Bagels!) Should be...interesting!

night!

Boxer Fiesta!

This weekend was great! No call, beautiful weather...can't ask for much more!

Friday night was fairly uneventful. It was a long week at work so I just wanted to chill. I sat down to read my new book and was asleep soon after!

Saturday I worked the morning shift at Bagels Forever, so I was done by 12:3o. It was Kile's birthday, so I went over there to take him out for Birthday Breakfast at Clevelands, but it was closed for remodeling! :( Bummer. So off to Mickey's Dairy Barn we went...remembering after it took over 10 min to find a parking spot that the Badger Red vs. White game was going on. Eventually we found a spot and had breakfast at Mickeys. Mickey's has never impressed me too much, but the food that morning was pretty good...I think I was just extra hungry! Then my roommate, Jenna, and I went out to the county compost pile and got some compost for the backyard. It's pretty much her project, but I said I'd give her a hand. She got some grass seed as well and planted that in the back. We'll see if we can get anything to grow... Later in the afternoon I went over and helped the Birthday Boy with switching the hard top on his Jeep for the soft top. Not too difficult and other than the soft top not being in prime condition, the switch went smoothly. Andy had some people over for a cookout, so I went over there with Lambeau had some good food then went out downtown with Kile for his Bday. Started at Blue Velvet for a couple drinks and a Jagerbomb, then met up with Jenna outside Brothers, went to Johnny O's, had more beer and another Jagerbomb, saw Gino and chatted with her! I haven't seen her in a LONG time. Seems she's rooming with my least favorite person of all time next year...guess Gino will join in and start hating me as well... So, the night ended at the Nitty Gritty with free beer for Kile and a $3 Bicardi mixer for me, then it was bartime and the night was over... I hope Kile had a good time!

Sunday was a lazy day in the morning...I caught up on my sleep, went to Bagels Forever with Kile for a breakfast bagel (YUM!) Then the rest of the day was just waiting to go to the dog park at 1pm. Today was a Boxer Fiesta at the dog park. The people with boxers I know met up with the new people with boxers I met through Craigslist and we went to the big dog park in Verona. There were 4 boxers plus Popeye for the first round, then Chili, Popeye and Lola left and Chopper and Trina showed up for a bit more. I got some great pics and the weather could not have been better! I thought Popeye wasn't going to make it, but he was a trooper and pulled through. Everyone that was there was great and their boxers are great too. I'm so sad to finally meet these Boxer people just to move away in July! :( Hopefully there are some equally cool Boxer people in East Lansing! Didn't get home from the park til 3:45! Played a little catch with Kile later in the evening, felt good. Softball starts NEXT WEEK already! FUN! :)

Now I'm exhausted and so is Lambeau. Gotta get conditioned for this nice weather so I can enjoy it! Oh! And I drove with the top down today! 2nd time this year! Lambeau does fine in the back seat with the top down, very cool!

7 months

Lambeau is just over 7 months old and just under 50 pounds! :) He's growing so fast!! He had a good time at my mom and dad's house for Easter. I now have my apartment and roommate for the fall at MSU! I've got to sign the lease when I get it, but it's in the books!! My new roomie is Casey, and her Great Dane pup, Hudson. Lambeau and Hudson are going to be good buddies! We've got a house that we're renting with a HUGE fenced in yard for them to run around in!

Work is getting to be pretty lame. Brian, our new PhD quit and left at the beginning of March, so that took us back to every-other-week call and now Ashwanth, our HPLC guy, is leaving mid-April. I can't bitch that much because I'm headed out come the beginning of July, but it's gonna suck having to pick up all the slack right before I leave. I wasn't going to be done til mid-late July, but with everybody bailing, I want to follow suit. It's no fun getting stuck on a sinking ship! Luis is also super stressed out about tenure aparently, so that isn't helping matters either.

New workout regimine with Heather begins today, I wanted to go to the Shell and do ellipticals, but she suggested a long walk outside because it's so nice. I concur that it's nice, so I opted for a long walk, but what this girl needs is some hard core sweating in the gym! I've packed on quite a few pounds this winter and want to be looking good when I head to MI this summer. Moving to a new city/state gives you a chance to reinvent yourself a little. Change the things that have been bothering you about yourself. I plan on taking full advantage of that opportunity!

Back to work!

kk