Cold Weather Running for Idiots

Living in Arizona, cold weather running isn't really a thought. All those articles that come out in the winter Runner's World magazine and posted throughout the internet during the holidays...they don't really apply.

So you can see my dilemna when I packed my tiny weekend bag to head up to the cabin. I packed some sweats, long sleeves, my cyclying shorts, a pair of running shorts and long sleeve running shirt.

Then this happened on Saturday.

I welcomed this sight....it was beautiful and finally got me into the Holiday mood! I knew a run was not in the books, so I hoped on my trusty bike/trainer combo and spun myself into 45 minutes of sweat induced bliss, all while in the comfort of the indoors. Sunday I woke up to sunshine and melted snow so I talked myself into running a nice easy 5 miles at the local high school track. 35 degrees?

I don't know which was worse...my outfit or the fact that I froze my ass off.

I did my 5 miles and hurried my butt home for a hot bath and a cup of chai tea.

Lesson learned? Oh yes, pack warmer shit.

Hills = Make You or Break You

Hello from the Mountains!

Yesterday was spent soaking up the weather....I actually wore sweats and long sleeves!

 I had 11 miles on my schedule for this weekend's long run and naturally I hydrated with 3 beers yesterday and a tasty chicken burger.

A vision of running and health right there.

When I run up North I typically run the same route each time, out of comfort and because the roads are very confusing and winding up here.  Knowing me I would get lost. But running down the Highway is boring, so I decided to take a different road for part of my usual run. I knew what I was getting into this morning and I was actually excited.

Hills will make you or break you. 

Today, they made me. I walked a few, but that's OK. I felt good, strong and confident. And it was fun...I actually said "WEEEEEEEEEEE" while running down a really big one. (ya know, because I ran UP it on the way out)

I think my right arm is sore from all the waving I did to the passing cars. I got a lot of honks, waves and thumb ups. People are super nice here. Or they just think I'm weird - not a lot of runners up here. 

Change of scenery. Solid idea.

I came back and took myself through a decent all-over weight circuit and know we are off to Oktoberfest, that should be interesting!

Monday Things

Monday is officially over once I shut down this computer to enjoy my evening with the Wadester.

I haven't been blogging too much lately - lack of inspiration possibly? I dunno. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather so I took a trip to my Doctor for some assurance. A few vials of blood and some pokes to the stomach later, I still didn't know, but he thinks it's nothing serious so I'm not too worried.

A bland diet and no alcohol. Rude.

My running has suffered because of this. But that's OK, I have a good base and technically I'm tapering, right? Normally my short 3 mile jaunt this am would have left my panties in a wad, but I'm content with it after my Monday morning session with Naydine. Ouch.

Wade and I spent last weekend up North. It was a perfect weekend. Beautiful weather, a long shitty run (yup it happens), pizza, a superb bottle of wine (such a fancy word) and a couple of great movies with my dude on the couch.

Lowell working on his yoga practice, so Zen.

Vanity Portrait.

We stopped at a creek side picnic on the way home on Sunday and saw this little sign:

Pretty cool, eh?

I had to run a few errands today and swung by Petsmart to grab some dog food for my furry beebs and upon making a wrong turn down the aisle, I ran into this:

Is it weird that I'm 30 and found myself wanting a teeny tiny hamster? Yes, I think so.

I also made a pit stop at my favorite store ever, Marshall's, and picked up a few vacation "essentials". I have found that shopping after your husband spends a larger than normal amount of money on himself (damn road biking habit) is the best time to do this. "Ya sure babe, get whatever, I don't want you lookin like a scrub on vacation". I almost fainted in the aisles of Petsmart while reading that text. For reals.

Don't worry, I won't post any vain self portraits from the dressing room.

But of course, some were taken. 

Happy Monday.

Fall Racing & A Weekly Update

Is it bad that it's only July and I'm already planning my races for the Fall and Winter? Monsoon season has hit AZ and it has me yearning for cooler morning temps and sunny afternoons.

I'm dreaming off cold start lines and running with gloves. Planning my runs around the weather sucks...if I'm not up at 5:00 am, I'm pretty much stuck with running on the treadmill or late at night. Which I don't do well, because that gives me crazy legs.

I have already registered for a couple of races, which makes me super excited to keep plugging away at the miles!

I'm also very excited that Wade signed up for his first Triathlon! He has been talking about it for months and finally took the plunge and registered for an Olympic Distance race here in Tempe. I'm looking forward to be his support crew and #1 cheerleader.

Here is what I have as a "definite" so far:

August 19th, 2012

America's Finest City Half Marathon

San Diego, California

 

October 7th, 2012

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose (yup, I'm a sucker)

San Jose, California

November 4th, 2012

Women's Half Marathon

Scottsdale, Arizona

February 17th, 2013

IMS Arizona Marathon

Glendale, Arizona 

I'm looking to find something (possibly a half) between August and November to keep me motivated and in shape. There is no shortage of races in December, so I just need to pick what I want to do.

I'm really happy with my past week of training...today is the 1st day I have taken off running since last Friday....8 days in a row so I am grateful for a day of nothing! It should work out that I have 6 days on and 1 day off each week, but some juggling of last week's days forced me to switch my rest day which I used as an active rest day and took a Flow/Vinyasa at the gym.

This past week was the first week I accomplished 6 days/week of running, which I have never done before. I was a little worried that I might not be able to hang or that my body might be angry with me, but I actually feel great and stronger than ever! My only struggle continues to be working on speed because I am still experiencing a lot of soreness throughout the week from my workouts with Naydine. This week was the first time I incorporated speed work into my training in weeks...it was really tough trying to amp up my pace with intervals on really sore legs and arms. I'm thinking my pace might be less than desired at my next half  (AFC) but that's OK because I feel good. My new Mizuno's (more on that later) have been amazing and I don't want to jinx myself, but I think I have found another "go-to" pair of distance shoes.

Recap:

Monday: Legs/Abs w/ Naydine + 5 miles easy (treadmill)
Tuesday: 6 miles (outside, hot @ 90 degree temps)
Wednesday: Upper body w/ Naydine + 5 miles easy (treadmill)
Thursday: 5 mile intervals -1 mile w/u,  5 800's at 8:15 with 400 jogs + cool (treadmill)
Friday: 5 miles (outside, humid & hot)
Saturday: 11 mile long run @ cabin + driveway plyo. Hilly, slow and humid + high altitude
Sunday: REST

Total Miles: 37 (yay!)

My Saturday reward was a mini DQ blizzard (yum) and a couple of these:

 (no need to dress up at the cabin, don't judge me)

Next weeks goal is to maintain training schedule with 4 days of weights and increase speed. Wish me luck.

Did anyone else have a successful week training/running/lifting/yoga-ing?

Up North

My weekend was jam packed and fun! We headed up to the cabin for the weekend and this was one of my favorites trips so far...I packed lots of action AND relaxation into a short amount of time....

Highlights:

1. Ice Cream on Friday & Saturday. 'Nuf said.
2. 14 miles in the Pines. (5 mile run Fri + 9 mile run Sat) followed by coffee and smoothies.

3. Meals. Stuffed Chicken, Salmon Salad, Steak. Yum.
4. Friday Afternoon Nap.
5. Brother Time (and his cutie pie girlfriend, Jenna).

6. A fancy new washer/dryer at the cabin.(Seriously, super excited)

Wade woke up with a MASSIVE hangover (can't hang, cough cough) so I deemed him worthless for the day....however, I enjoyed a big breakfast with my bro, an awesome drive home (2.5 hours driving Miss Daisy) and then a nice family dinner to celebrate Father's Day. I brought the Manchild home a "refreshing salad"...per his request.

Now, I'm relaxing on the couch preparing for a busy week.

A 5k & Fishin'

Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone enjoyed the Holiday Weekend....I only worked a teeny bit.

Sooooo...the 5k. Let's back up to my post about running a 5k and back up to Wednesday where I got the scoop on how this actual race works. I was at my board meeting for the Arizona Road Racers (we host the race) and during a conversation a few of the guys made it clear that this race was "not a race to PR". Apparently, the start is quite unique and quite odd. It's a wave start based on the previous years average age group pace...slowest group starting first and releasing age groups in waves every 30 seconds.

2 words. Cluster. Fuc*.

My age group (25-29) wasn't too far back, so I only spent 75% of the race stuck behind random 11 years olds (stop, start, stop, start) and 58 year old women (hi, we jog 4 people wide and don't move to let people through) so ya, I spent lots of time running around people, and being annoyed. But that's OK...after my warning on Wednesday night, I was fully prepared to not PR. Luckily I still did, but barely....and it wasn't a time I was really excited about. Unfortunately, one of our timing mats had an issue, so I'm not really sure what my time was. All good though. I have another in 2 weeks.

And no...I didn't take any pics...between getting there SUPER early to help with registration and making a mad dash to the bathrooms to start on time, I forgot. Bad blogger.

We made a mad dash home, showered and packed up the truck and our critters to head up North to the cabin for the rest of the weekend. The weather was finally perfect (warm and sunny and cold at night) and we spent the rest of the weekend cooking, lounging, painting, walking and fishing. It was perfect.

End of story. 

Another One Bites The Dust...

Another weekend flew by...why does it feel like it's ALWAYS Monday? Granted, with my job...they all tend to blend together, but a weekend at the cabin always makes it feel like a real weekend.

I won't bore you with Superbowl details because despite being invited to 3 different parties (we pay to have friends or they just feel bad for us) we choose to stay at home in our sweats and compression socks.

Rewind.

Weekend involved this...

All coolness and fashion goes straight out the door up North. And makeup. Wade's super lucky I shower and brush my teeth when up there. So hot. 

3 movies...Sideways (oldie but a goodie), Friends with Benefits (love me some JT and Mila), and Contagion (Holy Shit that's creepy).

We had a 10 miler planned for Saturday, but it was SO cold and we were SO unprepared so we decided to do it Sunday at home (in warm weather) and instead got our hearts pumping with a little sweat sesh on the front patio and long dirt (aka soft) driveway. It was fun and refreshing AND made me feel less guilty for eating a large sum of cookies over the weekend. On the plus side, we ate healthy home cookin the whole weekend...

We had a great time, just relaxing and being nature loving nerds. We stopped at "our spot" along the creek on the way home for a picnic lunch to break up the drive and enjoy the weather.

I was a little weary of this 10 mile run...after last weekend and a week of extremely tender IT band/leg issues. But I really wanted to try it out and promised myself to take it slow and cut it short if needed.

It was on the slow side. It was pretty warm. And I almost cut it short at mile 7 when I felt a twinge in my leg...but I pushed through and was really happy I did.

And remember that whole home cookin and healthy comment above...hmmm yeah. We ordered pizza and wings for Superbowl. And it was deeeelish!

NYE

I am officially old. Yup.

Initially we had planned to celebrate in Phoenix, with friends at a swanky bar....complete with a live band led by a friend of mine. I wanted to wear a sparkly dress, heels and dine out.

That all changed when the seed of snowboarding was planted in my head by my nature loving Hubby. Suddenly fresh snow, campfires and PJ's for NYE sounded a whole lot better.....and it was.

My dreams of being a Snow Bunny were brought to a screeching halt as soon as we arrived at the Mountain. It was a clusterf*ck of people, muddy parking lots, staff that didn't know anything, and yup...they ran out of boots at the rental shop. We were shuttled over to the other side of the Mountain where I received boots and the LAST snowboard and then shuttled back in time to catch the 2nd lesson of the day.

The lesson was a good attempt, the instructor (Ruben) was patient and sweet, but because of it being SO crowded, we didn't accomplish much more than starting and stopping every 5 feet to avoid a random body on the hill. I did however, accomplish falling 4,862,782 times and waking up sooooo sore the next day. Thank goodness (not really) I was a complete lazy ass and didn't exercise all weekend.

 We headed back to the cabin a little early to beat the crowds....cooked steaks, salad and bread.....I drank Champagne (OK, sparkling wine) and Wade had a few beers and we rang in 2012 with Ryan "Tiny" Seacrest. Annnnnnd I fell asleep at 12:05.

The rest of the weekend entailed dog walking, football watching, beer drinking, chili making, UNO playing goodness. 

It was low key, fun and perfect.

BUT....Lesson learned....don't try new things on Holiday Weekends!

Snow Bunny

I'm heading here in a few minutes...first time snowboarding.

credit

It could be ugly, wish me luck.

My Yearly Cold

I know the weekend has come and gone, but here it is anyway.

I rarely get sick, thank goodness....so when I do, I really hate it. I get bored easily. I hate laying around. I hate slowing down. As I mentioned a couple days ago, we were up at our cozy little cabin. We drove up Friday, early enough to give the place time to warm up so we didn't die in our sleep (joking, kind of).

The thermostat said 22 degrees when we arrived. Awesome. Even more awesome? Our pipes were frozen...so much for winterizing those damn pipes. We got the heat going and eventually it was toasty warm and we had working water...it was touch and go there for a while.

I felt good enough to "hit the town" Friday night to grab a bite to eat, it was fish and chips night after all at the local watering hole. I've mentioned it before, but small town folk still amaze me. So.much.weirdness. (sorry if I offend anyone, k, not really)

 The rest of the weekend was spent being a complete lazy waste of life. Good times.

And I miiiiight have eaten a whole batch of cookies....with very little help from Wade. Photo evidence has been burned.

Til next year Cold.

Tis The Season...

...to be sick!

I couldn't avoid the inevitable, the Husband passed along his germs to me and I've been laid up being a blob of lameness. All the hand washing, vitamin C popping, sanitizer spraying clearly didn't help me here... I really really hate being sick. I have a hard time just laying around feeling like crapola. I have things to do people!

Lookjn Sexy

Fortunately, we are up at the cabin, and the cold weather and lack of "typical life" has forced me to slow down and just be sick. I'll fill ya in on what my exciting weekend consisted of soon.

On another note...I'm thinking my 30k is out (not feeling it and have ran a total of 9 frickin miles this week), but that's OK. Maybe I'll bump down to the 5k and just go have fun and support my club.

A lovely Sunday

Occasionally, Sunday's can be dreaded in this household...back to work, and the end of a weekend...

But this Sunday was special. We stayed an extra night in the Mountains. Ah, one perk of self employment. The dogs were especially pleased with this decision.

We went to lunch, took a drive, did some projects around the Cabin, napped and enjoyed just "being".

I laced up my shoes around 5:30 and set out for my 7 miles. I smiled to myself as I skipped through the pine trees, my feet quietly pounding pine needles instead of the usual plain old pavement.

The sun went down MUCH faster than I anticapted, and I turned around a little earlier than I would have liked.

No streetlights, no glow of front porch lights. The moon didn't help me much, as it was tucked behind the trees...I got a little scared being so alone and I picked up my pace while still being careful of where I stepped to avoid hurting myself. I kept thinking and secretly hoping that Wade would be driving out to find me soon...

As I headed up the last hill, I saw headlights coming towards me.

He told me I looked like a fairy in his headlights, the reflectors on my clothes and shoes bouncing around. He asked if I wanted to hop in. With only a half mile or so to go, I told him I'd run back. He followed me for a minute or so, headlights lighting my way.

6.5 miles of freedom, no traffic, no exhaust blowing in my face, the hope and slight fear of running into a critter or two...one of the most liberating runs I have ever had.

We sat around the fire pit, listening to Gyspy Radio, sipping on a nice red. BBQ'd kabobs, salad and fresh bread rounded out our evening....oh, and one tasty piece of cheesecake. ;)

Simply lovely.

Weekend Fail

So my dreams of running a 12 miler and riding a 20 miler were shattered.

Shattered by pure laziness and wayyyyy too much beer. Ugh.

God I'm an idiot.

I woke up late on Saturday...fortunately we were up North so I thought a later run could be done. And then we got stuck waiting for Larry The Cable Guy. He was at our cabin for like 5 hours. Rude.

 And by then, I was super irriated because he was making me miss "Oktoberfect". Turns out, we didn't miss much. There were like 5 people there and half of the vendors had packed up to go home by the time we showed up.

So we cruised by the local bar to grab a beer and get out of the house for a while. Whoops. 675 pitchers of IPA later, we were both drunk as a skunk and needed to go to bed STAT.

Still Sober

Naturally, I woke up with a hangover and of course, no desire to do anything physical besides nap and BBQ myself a hotdog. Lunch of Champions right there people!

 

We drove our worthless asses back to the Valley just in time to hop on our road bikes. We busted out a 11-ish mile ride. I felt good, but I think I went so fast on the way home (all uphill) because it was dark and I was scared of getting creamed by a car in the dark on a pretty busy road.

End of sucky weekend.

I'm not even going to post my workouts for the week becasue it's 12 miles short of what it should have been. I have 4 1/2 weeks until Ragnar Las Vegas....oy.

Well Hello Fall

Being up North at out lovely little cabin/home away from home has really launched me into full on Autumn Mode....I woke up to 50 degree weather and even had to bust out my Uggs to enjoy my cup-o-joe this am.

 
 I even removed my MUCH loved bright pink summer polish and went for what I call "Pumpkin"...

This has me thinking about a list of Fall Items that I NEED  -  list of coveted items coming soon.

We are off to Octoberfest....small town style. I'll try to be a ninja and capture some nice little photos...

Classy.

Labor Day Weekend, Here and Gone

This weekend flew by, as they always do. We headed up to our "home away from home" Friday night, truck full of food, odds and ends and of course, our dogs and cat. (yup, I said cat)

Luna the Traveling Cat. She's a BIG fan of being smooshed into this thing for 2.5 hours straight.

Pissed Off

We got there late. Ate late. Went to bed late. Woke up kinda late.
----> insert shitass run here <----

But then the fun began. As I mentioned before, we had a few extra house guests this trip. It was the first group of our families to join us up North at our new little cabin. We were excited to spend time with them. To laugh, tell silly stories and pretty much act like the idiots that we are. And fortunately no one can really afford to be judgmental up here in the sticks....there are some interesting characters in these parts, hillbilly USA, yo.  Wade's sister is funny. Really funny. And his bro-in-law. Equally funny. So ya, we had a lot of laughs. We took them to lunch, and fishing at the lake.This was a "first time" experience for the girls, and we honored to be a part of it. Proud Aunt and Uncle moments here....

 We BBQ'd brats and toasted smores in front of a big and beautiful campfire. We made a big family style breakfast on Sunday and then they were off to make the trek down the mountain. A great time was had by all. I sure love those little Princesses.

Wade and I spent Sunday antique-ing and shopping, and painting exterior doors and mirrors. Out with the boring old white, and in with green!

 We always go on a cabin style "date night" and it's typically filled with a big fat marg and some tasty chicken and shrimp salads at the local Mexican Joint. We watched a movie and hit the sack. Pretty rocking night if you ask me. Check out Wade's VERY serious model pose face, sexy.

And today, we took out the bikes. It was a little scary, not gonna lie. It was windy and there was a fair amount of traffic headed out of "town" and back to the Valley. I probably looked stupid hanging out for dear life as I whipped down those hills at 20/mph...but then again, the spandex probably made me look more stupid.

12.5 miles done. Hopefully my ass doesn't hurt too bad tomorrow.

Happy Labor Day y'all!