Bad table karaoke-ing and lessons from the long run.

I didn't blog yesterday because my work day turned into 11.5 hours, and all I wanted to do afterwards was embarrass the hubbs with some table karaoke at Applebees because they were playing 80's music.  I couldn't help karaoke-ing; this is the soundtrack to my childhood they were playing, after all.

Just pointing out to the hubbs that everyone wants to rule the
world.

I did work out yesterday, doing Cathe's Cardio Slam from her Strong and Sweaty Series.

This workout consists of three main parts - a floor cardio section where you just do really hard bouncy and jumpy things on the floor; a mat section where you do various kind of hard bouncy and jumpy things on and around a mat; and finally a step platform section where you again do bouncy and jumpy things on and around it.  Almost every exercise is repeated which, if you're a fan of pain, will be good for you.  Below is my quick review of each section of the workout:

• Floor cardio: Boy, this gets the heart rate up.  Even with the low-impact exercises thrown in for little breaks.
• Mat cardio: Starts off OK, but GAWD I hate football runs.  A lot.
• Step platform cardio:  BUH.

It's a solid workout, but I was kind of bored during the step platform section and was just waiting for the workout to be over.  It's a good thing there's a premix that cuts that section out for me; Cathe always comes through with the right premix.

And my training plan always comes through with a long run on the weekends.  On the plan today was a 20-miler, but considering the fact that I was still getting over this sickness of mine, I decided to play it by ear and see how far I could make it. Below is how it ended up:

I stopped at the house after mile 17 to refill my water bottles, fully intending to carry on to mile 20.  However, my lungs voiced their opinion on the matter by inducing a coughing fit that had me doubled over for a good minute.  This seemed like a pretty strong opinion to me, so I listened and shut down the run at that point.  Since I didn't run long at all last weekend, I think 17 is a good distance for a recovering sicko to accomplish.

What else is good about the run is the lessons that it taught me.  All runs teach you something, and this run gave me 3 hours of lessons.  Since I'm a former teacher, let's get ready for class, shall we?


Lesson #1: It was good to run with large dog for the first 6 miles because it saved my baseboards from being molested.

Mom. Take me running or the baseboards get it.

Lesson #2: Long runs are made better with tie-dye shoes.  Those suckers are Brooks Launch 5s, and while I can tell they are a bit heavier and have a bit more forefoot cushioning than the 4s, they still felt good for the entire run.

Lesson #3: I was reminded how nice it was not to have to wear winter gear.  Female cat agrees, and pre-approved my outfit.

Hyooman. You look less ridiculous than usual.
Now get out of my house.

Lesson #4: I can do more than I think I can do.  While the temperature was freaking awesome for a Saturday in January here in almost-Wisconsin, I wanted to quit every time I was running straight into the strong winds we had today. But I kept telling myself to just get to the next mile and then whaddya know I was at 17 and my lungs were leading a mutiny of the rest of the run.

Lesson #5: Running outside after running on the treadmill for weeks makes your calves really, really sore.  Or it makes mine sore, anyway.  Right now they're telling me that I'll be lucky to walk tomorrow.

Lesson #6: Apparently I have a problem with body parts talking to me (re: calves and lungs).

Lesson #7: I also apparently haven't learned my lesson with this whole "running really long distances hurts" thing and still have the energy to take stupid pictures afterwards while I slowly start to freeze to death in my wet clothes.

Bonus learnings!

• That mesh running jacket was the perfect jacket for a "windy one way so you need the jacket but not windy the other way and you might spontaneously combust you're so warm" kind of run like today.
• I was so sick of that freaking wind I was giving every car that passed me dirty looks for making me run on the shoulder instead of the road.  Sorry, innocent drivers.
• Not gonna lie - doing that Cathe workout the day before this long run was a bad idea.  My quads were tired by mile 6.
• At least my quads weren't yakking away at me about how tired they were during the run like my calves were.  That's one body part that can keep quiet.

Tomorrow's workout:  Upper body weights..if my calves will let me move at all, that is.