Haitus

I have to take a break from blogging. I am up against major deadlines in the next couple of weeks and as you can see I just can't find the time to read or write.

here is a recap of what I've been doing since my last post:

• I got super sick and spent Thanksgiving alone in bed :(
• At least I was too sick to care
• Getting sick really set me back for those deadlines
• I had to take a whole week off from working out and I ran for 30 minutes yesterday
• Sore
• I got my trainer, but I can't put it together
• It's harder to not have a man around the house in the winter than it is in the summer
• Dear neighbors: sorry about the leaves and ugly winter storm yard. I'll get to it when I can.

Obviously I have nothing noteworthy to blog about anyways. My last final - Dec. 17th. Then I'm a free woman and can resume blogging.

Life is Good

I've had some questions about my hubby and why he leaves so I'll address them real quick. He is a merchant marine which means he works on ships, however he is not in the military. Right now he's on an oil tanker and his schedule is 75 days on, 75 days off. It's a crazy schedule but really, it's all we've known (we actually met on a cruise ship we both worked on). Anyways, I thought it was important because I've gotten a couple of comments that were absolutely wonderful, but I am not a military wife and I feel strange being put on the pedestal that those amazing women belong on. I don't have to say goodbye for more than three months at a time and more importantly, I don't have to fear for his life while he's gone. Regardless of whether or not you support the war effort, it's astonishing really. I have a few girlfriends whose husbands are overseas and their strength blows my mind!

So life is good. I have a great family, wonderful friends, a beautiful home, the ULTIMATE husband, and recently (today) purchased this:

Orbea Aqua Dama TDI (with Campagnolo components)

Those hudz are soooo fugly! I had them change them out to black.

Much better!!! I'll probably change out the water bottle cages eventually too. I decided to keep the saddle though. I figured it would be easy to spot in transition.

New goal: Half Ironman. 2010

The begining of a new cycle

I am very excited to be back on track. I tried not to emphasize how truly disappointed I was in my marathon performance and results. I know you all understand the pain of training so hard with your whole being for that long and just having it fall out from under you on that one day. I did suffer from some post marathon depression. I tried not to blog about it to much since all of you left such awesome comments after the race report. I guess I didn't want to be a drag.



Anyways, the month of October is behind me and I am super stoked about my new goals.

The next event I'm officially training for is:

Capital Peak Mega Fat Ass (that's really the name, I swear.)

They have a 34 and 17 miler. I'm opting for the 17 miler. It's all trail, all weather, all bad ass!!


My hubby leaves this week so my desire to blog or do anything but hang with him has taken over. I'll be back when he leaves.

Race Report: Monster Dash 8k

I ran a race today. Did I mention that before? Probably not because I didn't intend to really 'race' it, but once I got there - well, you all know what's up.

Pre-Race
Since I didn't intend to race this I wasn't really too into race prep. I didn't wear my racing flats, I wore brand new shorts that I took the tag of that morning, and I didn't really take my usual pre-race routine before I left the house very seriously. The race was local. Very local. As in the start was literally right in front of the running store that my running group runs out of. I left the house 40 minutes before the race start. Got to the running store, said my hellos, shot the shit for a few minutes the headed out for my warm up.

I did a short run, a few plyos and a couple of strides. Just over a mile. Then I was off to the start.

Race
So once the race started I got sucked in. I knew right away I was totally racing this for the best PR I could get. I ran the first half just under a 9:00 pace. At the turn around I was starting to fade but I didn't want to hit the wall so I slowed down a bit. Then when we had just passed the 1 mile mark guess what happened. A cop stopped the runners to let cars pass through an intersection. WHAT?! Oh, I was soooo mad. I was totally going to bust that last mile like I never ran a mile repeat in my life and boy was I pissed when I had to stop like that. Grrrrr. I totally understand that cars needed to go...blah, blah, blah, and if I weren't an athlete I probably wouldn't have understood...ONE FREAKN` DAY! One day. UGh.

So anyways, that kind of pissed me off but I still finished strong. I got to the home stretch which was about an 800 meter dash around a corner and kicked it up about 20 notches. I totally chicked one poor bastard and then another. The second guy I heard literally sprinting after me and I was like, "Hell NO" and really let it rip. He didn't pass me and it was one of the best finishes of my life because of it :)!

Post race
Since it was such a small event (wasn't even chip timed) I just hung out at the running store with some of my fellow peers.

Despite the forced stop at the last mile, I loved this race. I'm disappointed a bit because I hit the lap button on my garmin after we stopped at the intersection (when I realized it was going to be more than a quick minute at least) plus after my crazy ass sprint finish I forgot to stop my watch directly after so my splits are inaccurate, but this is my best guess 8k time.

45:00 minutes (conservative, rounded up estimate)

9:03 av pace/169 bpm (based on 45 minute finish time)

That's an 11 minute PR!!!! Ok, granted the one and only other 8k I've ever run I was still a little drunk from drinking boxed wine the night before (yeah, not my proudest moment), but still. Yay!!

I'm totally cool with that because I wasn't training for it, and more importantly, I was less than one month out from running a marathon.

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In other news I got my training plan for November. Project Suck IT: The Sequel is on!!

Also, since almost all of you reprimanded me for 'quitting' the wine (actually, it was more like detoxing) you'll be happy to know I'm celebrating tonight. Wine and ice cream bars all around!!

Happy Halloween!!!

.....annnnd I'm back

Well, almost. I haven't had wine or ice cream bars in like four days. More importantly, I haven't craved wine or ice cream bars in four days. Yay! I think I'm off the addiction.

Also, I set up my weekly workouts for the next couple of months and will start up again with the running coach November 1. And I'm excited about it!!!

Lastly, I had a swim today which I missed, which is not good. However, I do feel guilty about it so that's a good sign! (for those of you who refuse to feel guilty about missing workouts - spare me. Right now I need to feel guilty.)

By the end of the week, I'll be a lean mean workout machine again....and I actually can't wait!!

Plus my hubby leaves in a week or so and for those of you who have been following me long enough know that means I have nothing better to do with my time than workout and blog. Lucky you :)

Happy Monday.

Goals

I haven't really gotten back my motivation to workout. I've been lazy. Really lazy. Still drinking lots of wine and eating even more ice cream bars. I can't help myself. I've only run a couple of times, swam once, and rode the bike once. Pretty lame. I keep negotiating with myself: after today, after this weekend, one more day....you know the drill. Your all my witnesses, I'm giving myself until Monday.......

The chief reason why I've been so unmotivated is because my calendar is empty. No coach telling me what to do, no training calender on the refrigerator to follow, nothing to keep me focused. I've been doing lots of searches trying to find races for 2010, but not alot is up yet.

This is my plan for the rest of the year:

Remainder of 2009:
October 31 - 8k
November 26 - turkey trot (undecided on whether to run the 5k or the 10k)
December 13 - Off road Duathlon (7.2 mile run, 11.4 mtb)
December 19 - 5k

None of these will be "raced" they'll be just for fun. I'm especially excited about the duathlon. Should be cold, wet, and muddy.


My major theme for the first half of 2010 will continue to be speed. Lots of short races. The second half I am hoping to do another xterra triathlon and maybe an ows event.

Preliminary 2010 schedule:
January 16 - Mega Fat Ass 17 mile trail run
March 14 - 5k
May 2 - Tacoma City Half Marathon
May 17 - Capital City Half Marathon
June 26 - Seattle Rock n Roll
July 18 - OWS (1 mile or 5k)
August 7 - Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon
Augutst 15 - Xterra Portland

I need to find a 10k to race. Hopefully something in April will pop up. I know Project Suck It made me faster and I just want to blow all my current PR's out of the water.

These are my PR goals:
5k - 7:30 pace (23:18)
10k - 8:00 (49:42)
Half Marathon - 8:30 (1:54)

I haven't talked to Coach about any of these time goals yet. I know the 5k goal is doable for me, but I have no idea how the other distances stack up. I will start up my training with Coach officially in November.

Also I have added an OWS to my calendar. I've been thinking that I need to do something different this year. I know swimming 1 mile is doable for me and I would love to attempt the 5k distance, but I'm no fool. I realize the amount of time swimming would monopolize training for that and I don't think that's what I want. Not when my running is improving so much.

Also I would love to do the xterra portland this year, but August is a little sketchy for me. That's still a bit of time out right now I suppose.

Obviously these are very preliminary races, but I need something to focus on right now before I turn into a piece of lard that can't get off the couch without maxing out her HR.

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In other news, my hubby and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary this week. It's actually in August, but since he was gone.....We went out to a great dinner. I had duck and it was sooooo good. I love fall menus!

Here are some pics from our wedding weedend on Orcas Island.

Cheers!

Bloggy Update

I'm still alive. I just have been crazy busy eating, drinking, and doing school work. It's amazing how much of my time marathon training took up. I have been playing catch up in school and mid terms are this week. Blah, blah, blah, still hate it, but I picked a demanding major so I can't complain. I also am done in December so I have senor-itis which means I don't give a shit anymore. Ok, I do give a shit, but my discipline has seriously declined.

I have some goals brewing for 2010, but I have midterms this week so I don't have time to discuss until Thursday.

Quick recap -
Took my hubby to a hockey game for his b-day which isn't until next month, but he'll be gone:(. It was fun. If I grew up in an area where hockey was big, I would have loved it since I love all things aggressive. It would have been the perfect sport for me I swear. My hubby grew up on E coast and played his whole adolescence and a little in college. It was a good time.

Workout news: I gained five pounds. Sweet. It all came in the form of wine and ice cream bars so really - it was worth it.

I went for a run on Saturday for the first time (30 min only) and it was pretty awesome.

I also went for a 4 hour mtb ride yesterday. It was an easy ride, but my quads were feeling in towards the end. Good muddy fun!! Need to work on technical skills, but only fell a few times. Unclipped one foot alot though. Use it or loose it.

after I cleaned her off a little. Lots of big puddles :) Good times.

She took care of me even though I haven't been taking care of her.

Also swam this morning. YAY. I heart swimming. I haven't been in the pool in ages and the last time I swam was.... August? This will be my regular thing.

One more thing before I go. Remember that post I did about jogger vs. runner when somebody called me a jogger and I cringed, yet didn't say anything because I didn't want to sound like a douche-bag. Well I was taking to a girl the other day about massages and I called the person who administers massages a masseuse and she actually corrected me by saying, "it's massage therapist." It was funny, she sounded like a pretentious bitch.