Day 3, Week 3: A quick injury and workout update.

And now for a quick injury update:  Still injured.  Yep.  Most certainly.

Left butt is not cooperating when running outside.  It was so sore after the run I blogged about on my last post that I couldn't even bike ride on Saturday and had to....*gasp*....TAKE THE DAY OFF FROM WORKING OUT.

Told you I was injured.  Plus I have one heckuva itchy eczema outbreak from all the muddy water I encountered from the mud run last Saturday, so I pretty much want to scratch all the skin off my legs and arms.  Good times, kids (not really).  I want to show you pictures of the big angry red patch of itchy goodness on the back of my left leg but the hubbs said I couldn't buy any more running shoes if I posted those here.  He's such a funkiller.

Anyway, when I have been working out, what have I been doing?  Well...

Because I'm injured and it was pretty much flooding from the heavens on Sunday, I ran 13 miles on the treadmill in the hopes that my left butt wouldn't scream too loudly (it didn't):

Always have your cat check your treadmill for safety before
running 13 miles on it.

And I ran all 13 with uneven shorts because huge nasty eczema lesion
on the back of my leg.

The next day I did a little indoor cycling because Mother Nature is just so rainy these days:

And then after that same cycling I did some lifting of heavy things and then putting them back down over and over again:

Again...uneven shorts.  Damn you, eczema.

And, of course, I did more running this morning on the 'mill in the form of a 4 mile tempo run.  Because masochism.

My internal attitude about this run oozing out.

Left butt whined a little bit more this morning, and my legs were feeling pretty heavy, which is odd for a  mile tempo at 9:18 pace.  My brain keeps whispering the word "overtraining" in the back of my mind...but I'm ignoring it for now because I have training to do, dammit.  Can't be listening to those voices in my head all day, now can I?

Tomorrow's workout: Indoor cycling...but only because my real bike is getting a tune-up.

Today's Tempo Tidbits

Tidbit #1: This is the first training run around my house at 5 AM-ish in 2018 that I was able to do in short sleeves.  Unfortunately, I did it in this pink and purple monstrosity.

This outfit says "I got dressed in the dark."

Tidbit #2: This morning's run was a tempo run that the Runner's World app said was between 5 and 6 miles but this must be the new math or something because, for me, it only came out to about 4.5 miles.

Tidbit #3: Large dog is the WORST at mid-run selfies.  Like really.  The worst.

Tidbit #4: We ran those middle 2 miles way too fast.  Keeping the streak alive.

Tidbit #5: No matter how well large dog and I run, there will always be a cat that is unimpressed.

The unimpressed-o-meter is at full tilt.

And now, for some learning tidbits:

• Again, I'm digging the workouts in the Runner's World app, but it seems there are some basic glitches that need to be fixed before that $60.00 I paid for the app is worth the money.
• How nice of a morning was it for a tempo run? SUPER NICE.
• I hate pink.  I especially hate pink race shirts.
• You know what I hate even more?  When a race has different colors for the men and women's finisher shirts and the women's shirts are pink...because 1950s.  Make them all pink then, dammit.
• Female cat has got crazy unimpressed skillz.  You can tell.

Tomorrow's workout: An easy 4-miler.  At 4 AM.

My Glass City Marathon history as told in bad race photos.

This morning the training schedule said I should go outside and do a 10 minute warm up and then run 3 miles at my marathon pace (9:20).  So I got on my winter running gear EVEN THOUGH IT IS MID-APRIL and gave it a well-deserved eye-roll...

... and I managed to get large dog into his running duds....

zomg zomg running zomg running zomg

...and then I went out and ran those three miles too fast.  SURPRISE

Large dog didn't seem to mind either the too-fast run or the fact that I'm making a stupid face behind his head.

Speaking of stupid faces, I mentioned yesterday that I have run the marathon I am presently freaking out about (the Glass City Marathon) 5 times--and that means I have LOTS of stupid race photos from those 5 times.  Please allow me to share with you my favorite picture from each year, starting with the first:

2013: Holy crap I survived.  (My first time running a marathon ever!)

2014: I PR'd the SNOT out of that course and now I'm in a world of suffering I have never known before.

Bonus pic: Other uses for the mylar sheets.

2015: I'm just here to strike poses and run 26.2 miles.

2016: Well, I jumped here last year so why not keep that streak alive.

2017: I will punch this marathon in the FACE

While those pics are all my faves, the best pic from Toledo I have is from the second year that I ran the half marathon:

I call this one: Why all the sad faces WE JUST RAN A HALF MARATHON wheeeeeeeee

And I call these bullet points below "learnings" even though they're not anything of the sort:

• It can stop being winter with all it's snow and sleet and cold any day now.  Really.
• The weather forecast in Toledo for Sunday is sunny, but the day will start in the 30s and end in the 40s.  It could be worse, I guess.
• My face in 2014: Priceless.
• Just you wait--I have all sorts of poses lined up for this year.

Tomorrow's workout: Maybe some yoga.  Maybe some walking.  Whatever it is, my legs are getting a rest.

One post, three workouts, lots of dumb pics.

What a week.  What a crazy, tiring, way-too-much-work-filled week.  This work thing is totally getting in the way of my true passion: posting dumb fitness photos and random pics of my animals.

Dumb photo of my awesome tempo-running tights

Random animal pic

Now that I got that out of my system, let's recap the three workouts I've done so I can throw more dumb photos at you, shall we?

Workout #1: An oh-so-fun tempo run.

As you probably already know, I ran it way too fast, ran it with large dog, and actually got to run it in spring running gear rather than winter.  Large dog was pretty happy about that, even though he only has one outfit...all the time.

Workout #2: Cathe's PHA workout.

This is one of my favorite workouts because it a) involves heavy weights, and b) has easily doable exercises.  I don't have any stupid fitness photos for this one, so you'll just have to settled for a random picture of one of the cats.

Hyooman.  I refuse to be a part of your stupid blog.

Workout #3: Ten mile treadmill run.

I wanted to do this last long-ish run outside in the beautiful spring weather we're supposed to be having this time of year, but someone ordered the wrong weather and we got this instead:

They even ordered it all crooked.  Send it back.

 

It was rainy and had some serious 30 mph winds going on out there, so to the treadmill I went, watching Dr. Strange as I slowly ran 10 miles to nowhere.

Only took me a minute!  Ok, maybe a few more.

I'm convinced my purple shorts gave me the power to plow through those miles.  

Large dog, however, just sat around looking super duper sad because I didn't take him for his run today.  And I'm sure he also plotted his revenge which probably will involve some of my socks or other unmentionables going missing some time in the near future.

Mom will pay for this treadmill transgression.

While large dog plots away, let's take a look at some learnings:

• I ran that tempo run more like a progression run because I'm a woman and I can do whatever I want.
• Dr. Strange starts off slowly but then finds its groove when all the magicks and explosions and crazy building transformations start happening.
• As I was writing this sentence, large dog trotted by with one of my socks.  Revenge accomplished.

Tomorrow's workout:  Upper body goodness and a bike ride because I can.

I'm exhausted. Here's some pictures and random words about workouts and stuff.

It's been an exhausting week, kids.  Work has been sucking away a lot of my time away from this little blogging habit of mine, and I'm resolved from now on to at least throw up one stupid picture with a caption I wrote while half asleep for your viewing pleasure.  Today however, mainly because I'm pretty freaking exhausted right now, you get at LEAST 5 stupid pictures about my workouts over the past 3 days.  Maybe more if I can stay awake long enough.

Workout #1: An 8 x 800m speed session.  Kind of.

I was supposed to do 8 of those 800m repeats, but only ended up doing 5 because:

• I got up late and couldn't do them before work,
• I got a late start after work and wanted to stop early so I could go to bed on time, and 
• I had to keep stopping for various stuff, like bathroom visits and the fact I had to TIE DOWN my watch band so the stupid magnet would stop slipping down and loosening the band causing my watch to try and escape my wrist.

This...is so much BS.  Even the cat agrees.

Plus, I just wasn't freaking feeling this workout.  It felt hard.  And I just wanted to go to bed, as you can tell below.

BUH BUH and more BUH

Some workout is better than no workout.  I guess.


Workout #2: Cathe's Boot Camp workout from her Strong & Sweaty series.

I was strong.  It was sweaty.  There was a lot of jumping and barbell.  Female cat supervised both my workout and the barbell to make sure it didn't roll away.

Hyooman.  Barbell not going anywhere on my watch.

Workout #3: Tempo run.

Tempoooooooooed it

This run is another reason why I'm so exhausted right now--take a peek at that start time.  And the sad thing is that was actually a little late - I had to cut the tempo short by a mile or I would have been cutting it close to get to work on time.

At least I got to give one of my birthday boys (large and small dog both have the same birthday - today) a birthday spin around the neighborhood as his first present of the day.

 I think he liked his present.  Just a hunch.


More random words disguised as learnings:

• That speed work session was literally the WORST session I've had in a long time.  That'll learn me to skip doing it in the morning.
• Did you see the temperature on my tempo-run summary pic?  23 freaking degrees on April 5th? Ridiculous.
• You know what else is ridiculous?  My thighs stinging after mile 2 of that tempo because I am a moron and didn't wear fleece-lined tights.
• But what's most ridiculous of all is this last picture below.

OMG so much tired.

Tomorrow's workout: Total body weights of some kind.  Hopefully female cat can keep an eye on my barbell again if she can work it into her busy cat schedule of sleeping and eating.

Tidbits from the tempo.

Just some quick tidbits from the tempo run this morning:

Tidbit #1: I am a moron.

I had a ten mile marathon pace (9:20) tempo on deck this morning, so of course I ran it faster than that.  I do this because I am a moron.

Tidbit #2: Tempo math is hard.  So is getting out the door on time.

I said I had a ten mile tempo to do...yet I only did nine miles.  This is because I just had to finish my coffee this morning before trucking around my little town for nine miles.

And it is still completely insane that 5 AM is late for me to start running.  Insanity, I tell you.


Tidbit #3: These splits were crazy easy.

I was all "I'M RUNNING TOO SLOW I KNOW IT I BETTER SPEED UP" and then, when I looked at my pace on my watch every 3.2 nanoseconds, I realized I was running under pace.  Apparently I had to realize this over and over again for 9 miles.

I told you; I'm a moron.

9 miles of moron.

Tidbit #4: Large dog apparently thrives on cold weather running.

Large dog and I went for 8 miles this weekend when it was much warmer and he was all, "Meh. I'm done at mile 6, human."  Not this morning; even though it was in the 20s with an 11 mph really freaking cold wind, he was all about the run, wanting to get that tenth one in with or without me as he tried to drag me past the driveway to keep going after mile 9.

Large dog be like, "WIMP. SHOULD
HAVE KEPT GOING"

Tidbit #5: Speaking of cold weather, did you know it's cold?

The backs of my arms, thighs, and other unmentionable places that are located below my back but above my hamstrings were so cold they were a bright merry-freaking-xmas red after the run, so much so that the hubbs thought I had an allergic reaction to my tights.

I couldn't even run with my thumbs exposed to the wind - had to tuck 'em into my little mitten pull-over things on my Saucony Ulti-Mitts.  Happy spring, ya'll.


Tidbit #6: Some running tights are more aesthetic than functional.

So while Nike bills these tights as thermal, don't you believe a freaking word of it.

While these are in my top 5 favorite pairs of running tights of all time due to their sheer obnoxiousness, they are definitely not designed for warmth (unlike my RBX fleece-line tights which keep my quads nice and toasty).  Instead, they are designed to hurt people's eyeballs and, from the picture above, attract cats.


Tidbit #7:  I dragged the dog into a ditch during mile 8 for once.

I'm going to let you figure out why that was and head off to bed now.


Tidbits are over; time for morsels of learnings:

• Even though I was tardy getting out for the run, my motto was to get as many miles done as I could.
• It was nice to be done with a run and realize the sun was coming up.  I need more sun in my life.
• Hubbs was all, "Those are some nice tights.  Too bad the only one to see them on your run was large dog because you ran in the dark." HILARIOUS
• Even though large dog did 9 miles this morning I still came home to laundry strewn everywhere while he pranced about with one of my socks.  I give up.

Tomorrow's workout: 30 minutes on the bike!

Yet another quick post before the NyQuil takes me.

I didn't blog yesterday because I had a late meeting at work last night.  But rest assured I managed to get a really bad selfie with recovery cat after I did Cathe's PHA workout.

Don't hate me, hyoomans, because I get da rubs.

Today I made one of the other members of my zoo happy by taking him for a tempo run that was supposedly at marathon pace.

TAKE ME RUNNING WOMAN

It was a little nippy out for a March morning, but we braved the cold and managed to, of course, run the tempo too fast.  I blame it all on large dog being generally over-exuberant about the run.

FYI: My marathon pace doesn't have an "8" in it.  At all.

But the run was, overall, a nice run, especially since I dug out a pair of fleece-lined running tights I completely forgot I had nabbed at a TJ Maxx and--you're not going to believe this--when I ran in them, they didn't fall down causing me to chafe in unmentionable places.  I would give the brand a really large shout-out....but there's no brand on them.  That's the risk you take when you get your gear at TJ Maxx, I guess.

The dog bed really completes this pic.

There's also a risk when you're writing a blog post hopped up on NyQuil that it will end abruptly because it's sleepy time now, seeing as this little runner is getting sick and all.

NyQuil-laced learnings:

• I got this dumb cold from the hubbs.  Stoopid germ-riddled husbands.
• Didn't stop me from running, though.  Because I'm a moron.
• I just need to be better soon for my 20 miler on Saturday.
• I also need to go to bed.  Nite, all!

Tomorrow's workout: 30 minutes on the bike.

ZOMG Race Photos

Geez.  Go out of town and run a little marathon and ker-BLAM work tends to get a little nuts when you get back, preventing a little running blogger like me from blogging because you pass out exhausted after you get home.  But it didn't prevent me from working out, managing to do a 30 minute bike ride Tuesday morning (skipping my usual speed session in homage to my really tired hill-abused legs) and a tempo run this morning that I ran too fast (supposed to be run at an 8:44 pace) even on my poor tired legs:

Need a tempo run too fast?  I'm your girl.

Of course large dog went with me so I could wear him out and save my baseboards and drywall for one more day from his entropy production.

cheeeeeese

Lazy laying down water-drinking dog being eyeballed supiciously
by a cat.

And would you get a load of all the awesome scenery you get when running at 4:53 AM around my little countryside house?  Just beautiful...beautifully dark and boring.

Beautiful.  Gorgeous.  Wish you were here.

But even though I am still currently exhausted from my running too fast and my crazy work day, I had one overwhelmingly compelling reason to still post instead of crawiilng straight into bed: I got my marathon photos.

Someone gave me this medal at the end of the race for some reason.

So please -- allow me the pleasure of sharing some of the better ones for you.  And by "better" I mean "ones I intentionally screwed up in the name of humor."

#1:

ZOMG the finish just snuck up and surprised me!

#2:

Look!  A medal!  Who knew?

#3:

I'm pointing down to distract people from my
crazy visor hair.

#4:

A picture of me posing for a picture SO META

#5:

And another watch-stopping picture to add to my collection.
Because I don't have enough.

#6:

Could be a pre-race photo...could be me helping to
hold up my sister while she suffers a face seizure.

And finally...lucky #7:

ZOMG a starting line to a race just popped up
out of NOWHERE will you just LOOK at this?!?

Sleepy exhausted post learnings:

• I took way crazier ones on a different part of the course but apparently those pictures have completely vanished from the face of the earth.
• I'm so tired just looking at these pictures of me running is making letter "Zzzzz"s form directly above my head.
• Maybe if I wouldn't run my tempos too fast I wouldn't be so exhausted right now.
• Don't you hate it when a starting line just pops up from nothing and then you just have to run the race?  Yeah, me too.

Tomorrow's workout: 30 minutes or so on the exercise bike staring at a blank wall.