This is a rest week, gotta love those. I only have to run 23 miles, nice. I don’t even want to say it…I’m sick. I know you guys probably think I’m crazy, I’m always sick! I have always been the type to be the first to catch a cold if it’s going around, but this winter has been ridiculous, just crazy. Every time I run over 15 miles, I am sick 2 days later. What the F is that? I take my vitamins. Does anyone else always have an immune breakdown following long runs? Maybe it’s just that I’ve been working out 7-10 hours a week all year whereas before I probably worked out 7 -8? But then again, I have had a rest day every week and some weeks 2 rest days and there were 2 weeks where I almost did nothing. So, it’s not like I am overworking my body. Sigh. Today I am sick to my stomach. I think I actually ate something that didn’t agree with me and I was so close to not coming to work, but I am off a ½ day on Thurs and all day Friday, so I couldn’t really call in. But my throat and head are hurting too. I wonder if running in cold weather is the culprit. I have got to find a good immune system booster and start taking it. I already take a multi vitamin, Glucosamine, Fish oil, Chromium, vitamin C and calcium thought. I need another pill like I need another hole in my head. Come on spring, where are you? My body is beat down today though. I ran 21 miles on Sat, then yesterday I had a nice 1350 swim. It went pretty darn well. I did the following:

WU: 1 x 400, 50 of each 100 was kick
Main: 1 x 800 (each 100 being 25 easy, 25 build, 25 hard, 25 easy)
CD: 6 x 25 (each 25 slower than the last)

I felt pretty fluid in the water and seemed more in place that I have lately. I was tired though after about 1000 yards and ready to be done. After that G and I went to the Bike Authority. He needed to get his seat adjusted. From there we headed to the towpath in Valley View. There is a section that is paved and we rode towards Harvard Road. It was a gorgeous day out and we took it easy, but the crosswinds were crazy and we found ourselves working hella hard to get back to our car. We ended up only riding 13.5 miles in an hour, but that was fine by me. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, lots of laying around and reading and watching Rock of Love. Goooo Ambre.

I got up at 4:45 am this morning. I actually felt good when I woke up and had no issues shaking off the sleep.I met Beth at 5:15 and we were on the road. The trip there was pretty uneventful and took us about 1:50. We found the park no problem and got a really lucky front row parking spot in a lot right across from the start. We got the last place in the lot, so that was cool. I had checked the weather and it was supposed to be 32ish at the start, but it was FREEZING. Both Beth and I were contemplating what we should wear. It was way colder than I expected. I ended up running in my pants (thank goodness right), a fitted tank top with a long sleeve tech shirt over it and then my vest, ear band and gloves. IT ended up warming up quite a bit and turned into a gorgeous day. We got signed in and got our numbers, etc. For doing this race, you get shorts, get it, just a short run. They were nice Brooks shorts and were maroon. I had also paid extra for a tech tee, but it was an enormous small!

Beth and I decided to run to warm up since we had some time. WE managed to do 2 miles. Then it was 8:30 and time to go! There was a 5K, HM and 30K. The 30Kers started a half mile up the road from everyone else. Then we ran the 5K course which had a monster hill, that killed me, but I got up it and back down and all the sudden we were running back by the start and getting ready for the 3 - 5 mile loops. This race took place in a park, so it was very scenic. There were over a 1000 people, so there were folks around me for a lot of the race. I did the first 5 mile loop with very little problem, I felt good and ran anywhere from 8:30 to 9:30, there were 3 rolling hills on the loop. Once I started the second loop, around mile 9 my stomach really started to bother me. That's my running curse. I had taken in 1 gel and a few short blocks, they had them on the course. I decided to just slow down and try to run through it and after awhile it calmed down. Around mile 11-13 is kicked in again and then around mile 16. But I managed to run through it and didn't stop to go to the bathroom, which is actually a big accomplishment for me! Aside from the stomach I ran strong until mile 14 (which was really 16 b/c of the warm up) my hamstring and feet were just killing me, I wanted to be done. I started walking the water stops and slowed down quite a bit. By the time I took the final turn I was so ready to be done. I kicked it up a notch for the last 1 mile. I finished in 2:59:30. So, under 3 hours, which was m secret goal. I ran it all in around a 9:30 pace, but there was a good chunk ran around 8:45-9, I just slowed down with belly problems, etc. I was surprised my feet bothered me so badly. I can't say I feel super confident for the marathon at this point. But I am on target to finish around 4:20 which is my goal. Oh yeah, I forgot to say the race course was long today. Both Beth and I had 18.8ish on our garmins. And Ms. Beth got 1st place in her age group with an awesome time of 2:38 and change. I was so happy for her.

At the end of the race, if you were still there they had a bunch of raffles. Not many people were there, so the odds were good, but I didn't win anything. They raffled off a bunch of running painting and a vacation to ocean city. At the end they did give away the rest of the tech tees, which were XLs, but I grabbed 2 for Gary. Then stocked up on the leftover fruit and chips. I came home with some serious swag.

I am very worn out. Gary is at his dads, but should be home soon. I think we'll go see a movie tonight. Tomorrow I need to swim and bike. fun, fun. And if it stays this nice, I'll need to do yard work.

Alright. I had an awesome 8 miler last night. I ran it with an avg pace of 8:53. I have never maintained under a 9 min mile for that long. Sweeettt. I might just have to do the Hermes 10 miler and see how I do. The last 10 mile race I ran was in 2006 and I ran it with an avg pace of 9:41. I felt good the whole run and managed to get 6 mile done before it started raining. It just sprinkled though, so it wasn’t so bad. But after my watch crossed from 7:99 to 8:00, I was d-o-n-e and in the house. Gary had dinner waiting, what a nice husband!

I was going to swim this morning, but decided I need to take just a total rest day. I am nervous about tomorrow. I hope I am remembering the hills as being bigger than they really were. Last year’s time was 3:19, so I should easily be able to beat that. But you just never know. My stomach has been wonky for well over a week now, it may decided to torment me tomorrow. I am heading to Fleet Feet on lunch to pick up some hammer gels. I have a case of accelerade gels at home, but I haven’t really tried them yet and they have protein in them, so I am not sure how my stomach will handle them. Best not to try them out on a race, even if it really is just a training run. Beth and I are meeting at 5:15 to make the trek to PA. I sure hope it doesn’t rain. I ran a whole half marathon in a downpour once though, so it won’t be the end of the world if it is. Of course that HM was in Aug, so it was certainly warmer out.

My zexy husband pointed out to me that my blog is always negative. Negativity has seemed to creep into my life this winter. Between being constantly sick, my dad dying out of nowhere, not progressing in my training as much as I should and not having a job that I love; I have become quite the negative nelly. Well, I am going to try and make strides to change that, so I won’t bitch about the fact that I overslept this morning and didn’t do my 8 mile run. I will just say that from being sick last week and training hard Mon-Wed, my body needed some extra sleep, so I did the right thing and allowed it those 2 extra hours. How is that for positivity? Also, I had a very plesant dinner with my friend Leah last night. We hadn’t seen each other in a long while and oddly enough it turns out our dad’s died on the exact same day, how weird is that! After dinner, I was feeling a little blurgy in the stomach, so I decided I really didn’t have it in me to run. So, I grabbed the dogs and took them for a very brisk 2.5 mile walk around Shaker Lakes and admired/drooled over the beautiful homes. The dogs were super happy and worn out when we were done and I just counted that as the 2 mile recovery run I had on my schedule. Today after work I will hit the gym and run as long as I can stand on the dreadmill and maybe do a short swim. I for sure have to swim before work tomorrow morning. Sat is the 30K and Sunday is a bike ride. Fun, fun, fun.

Soooo after all after all the nervousness and fretting, I get to Hathway Browne and everything is dark, no cars in the parking lot. Spring Break! Didn't even think about that. But I was a good little trooper and headed over to the JCC and did the workout that was on my training plan - WU: 200 x kick, 200X swim, 200X pull, 200X swim
Main - 1500 swim
CD: 200 swim, each 50 slower than the previous

It was a tough workout, I started to really want to be done around 1000 yards of the main set. My upper body was getting fatigued, but I completed it. Due to time constraints (male only swims for the hasidic jewish males at 8:30 on Tues/Thurs) I wore my flippers for the majority of the main set. I don't know if I get as much benefit that way, but I was exhausted. I feel fine swimming with my fins and pull buoy, but seem to really suck when I am doing freestyle minus any tools. It stinks, I hope I can pull it together quickly. I am now doubting the whole master's swim. Maybe I should swim 3 days a week on my own for 1 month and then try masters. My real fear is that I can only swim 100 yards straight, I need to rest in between and I don't know if that's okay at these master's practices.

I was BEAT when I got home, just absolutely rung through the ringer like I had run 15 miles or something. I was asleep by 10 and when the alarm went off at 5:15, I was so not ready to get up! But I did and I am proud of myself, as I have been struggling with that. I dragged my ass to the gym and did the 6 am spin class. It was tough. Usually Rich runs a very complicated spin class, but today it was simple, we would cycle through the 3 spin positions (seated, standing and then agressive leaned forward with your butt back close to the seat), and we would do 1 min each position, then 2 mins, then 3 minutes and then we did that twice and increased our tension as we went along. For the last set I was really struggling. Some vocal annoying ladies in class told him they hated it and it was boring when he asked their opinion. But I piped up that I LOVED it and so did another girl. I much prefer Rich's cycle specific spin classes to aerobics on the bike. I didn't get my run in yesterday due to rain after work, so I have to do 2-3 miles after work today. I am also meeting a friend for dinner right after work. That should be fun, we're going to Hoggy's, I love BBQ.

I am sitting at my house waiting for a plumber to come and finish a job they started yesterday. They are supposed to be here at 9, I hope they aren't too late, I have a 10:30 meeting at work that I really can't miss.

Have a great spring day bloggy friends.

Ahhh so Monday is here, time to become a triathlete for reals real. It starts off simply enough, just a 60 min spin. I meant to go to spinning this morning, but was in a food coma, so I overslept and will do it at home on the trainer tonight.

I can't decide if I want to hit master's swim classes at Solon at 5;30-7am on Tues & Thurs or at Hathaway Browne from 7:30-8:45 on Tues & Thurs? If I do it at Solon, I can get ready there and get to work at 7:30-7:45 which is a bit early for me. But I much prefer to get my workouts done in the morning. And 7;30-8:45 pm is such a big chunk of the day especially with summer coming.... I guess I should try them both and see what I think. Anyone who reads this that goes to masters swim classes, let me know any tips you think I should know. I emailed both instructors to ask them if I just show up or what? Jump in a lane? Ask for them? How do I know which is the slow group. Ooooh so nervous. But I will just do it. Just like the first time I ran with Second Sole, it was awful, they were alllll so much faster than me, but I didn't die!

Well I am feeling MUCH better, not 100%, my throat still hurts, but at least I am not a blubbering mess anymore. I did run this weekend, both Sat & Sun. I got 8 miles in on Sat and 5 this morning. Not the miles I needed, but it was something. Tomorrow starts a big journey, my HIM training. I'll also go to a masters swim for the first time if everything pans out correctly. Hopefully the massive amount of food I ate will be digested by then. Ughhhhh.

Still sick today and I didn’t go to spinning. Those of you who work out everyday know how awful you start to feel after a few days off. I have not worked out since Tuesday and I am starting to FREAK. Surely I will not be able to run my marathon and gain 20 lbs all in one week lost, right, right? Well that’s what the brain whirlies tell me anyway. Yes, I know I am a bit crazy, no need to point it out in the comments J So tonight, no matter what the snow is like, I will run 3-4 miles. They will be slow, I might walk some, but it’s getting done. Then tomorrow I will attempt as many miles as I can, although I know I won’t make 16. Then on Sunday I am meeting Sara to run for an hour so that will be at least 5. If I can make it out of this week with 20 miles under my belt, I will be okay. I was supposed to run 29 but it’s just not going to happen, unless I miraculously wake up feeling rejuvenated tomorrow, in which case I’ll do the 16. I hope to just run slow all weekend, not push it too hard and be healthy again next week. I’m not so much worried about the marathon, as I am about the 30K next Sat. If I am sick for a week then I am going to be all weak and blah and not get through the race as strong as I want. The last 30K wasn’t great and I wanted to do better this time. Last year I did it in 3:19:44 on a bum foot, so I really want to do better this year.

Well Bloggy friends I hope you are doing better than me! Have a great weekend.

I'm sick. Not just a little sick, like I have a cold. Like stomach cramps, nausea, fever, headache, sore throat, hurts to move sick. Really sick sick. This is so freaking unfair. I have been sick off and on all freaking winter, well I thought I had been sick, I was just run down, this is sick. I took some dayquil and felt better, but now it had worn off and I feel awful again. I have only ran 3 miles this week, biked for 20 mins and swam 1000 yards. Not good. I mean I am logical. I know if I basically take a whole week off the world will not end and I have over a month until my marathon so I will be fine. But those of you who have done marathons know how important the long run is and I have already missed one when I was home after my dad's funeral. Missing one is okay, missing 2, not so much! I am getting ahead of myself, I need to see how I feel on Sat. I might be able to slosh through at least half of the 16 miles I have on my schedule. Some is better than none. Today I was to do 8 miles of speedwork. Today is a none day, there is no way. I hate being sick, I also hate that unlike most people who lose their appetites when they are sick, I stay home from work and graze allllll day. Ugh. Time to go back to bed.

I had typed something and it got erased. Boo. Nothing exciting, I woke up feeling really sick to my stomach and skipped spinning. Last nights massage was awesome. Mindy will be here in a few days and I am super pumped! She's my bestie.

Since I overslept, today will probably end up being a rest day b/c we have an appt with our financial planner tonight. Fun stuff.

Next week starts my official HIM training!!!! I decided to go with a plan I got from Beginner Triathlete. Hopefully it works out okay. It will be hard to balance out the marathon training and this plan, but hopefully I'll be smart and listen to my body! I only have 2 - 20 milers left before the marathon, so I'll just take it easier those days. Now I need your opinion - is it a really bad idea for me to do my first duathlon the week before my marathon? My running schedule calls for a 12 mile run that day, so would it be okay to do a 3 mile run, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run instead and call it even?

Ahhhh Tuesday. Now that’s better. Yesterday was uneventful. I swam 1000 yards after work and then rode on the trainer for 20 mins. I cut the swim short b/c my form was falling apart, I cannot seem to get back into the groove, it blows, but I am not too worried, I’m sure it will come back soon. I came home to a nice surprise in the mail. One of the guys from CTC burned me a bunch of spinning DVDs, so now I get to try all of those out. Exciting. I had said that I wasn’t tired really from my 20 miler, but I did end up with some pain in my left shin and my right hamstring. When I ran this morning, just an easy 3 miler, I definitely felt like my legs were spent. I have a massage tonight and I cannot wait. For those of you in the area if you need an awesome masseuse you should go to Sky MacDonald on Lee Road. She’s only $65 for an hour and she’s really good. I have got to get better about getting a massage at least once a month. My hamstring is so tight I hope it will feels better tomorrow. I made the fatal mistake of going back to sleep after working out this morning so I feel like a zombie, ugh.

I am so excited that Mindy is coming this weekend! I hope it stops raining and warms up b/c I really want to take her on the trail run we did for the buckeye trail HM in Jan.

Ahhhh Monday, my least favorite day of the week! I just hate having to work. I really do. I wish I could just hang out all day, I don’t think I’d be bored! But anyway, work I must and it’s a new work week, joy of joys. Sunday ended up being a very relaxing day. I slept in – until 9! Then I read coffee and read while I waited for Gary to get up. Once he did we headed to the Bike Authority and spent at least an hour there! Gary got pedals on his bike, he chose Speedplay. BA installed them and got his shoes all set up. I got a wetsuit off the clearance rack. I am obviously jumping into this tri thing with both feet, but I will need a wetsuit when I go to Lake Placid over memorial day weekend for training. It’s a sleeveless Xterra and I got it for $125 down from $250. Trying on wetsuits was the most demoralizing horrid thing I think I have ever done. It was like 70 degrees in the dressing room. I was seriously worn out after wrestling with 2. It sucked. I counted it as a workout. We left with pedals, wetsuit, new tubes, patching kits, gloves and a multi tool for G. I love shopping! Plus with the sales they were having and the CTC discount, we got such a deal. If you need a wetsuit, they still have a large selection of Nineteen brand on sale.

After the shopping extravaganza, I jumped on the trainer for an easy 45 min spin while watching Scrubs on DVD while Gary cleaned the basement. Then I did an abs DVD and called it a day. Then I proceeded to watch tv for like 20 hours. I love Rock of Love. I was going to hit spinning this morning but I was extra tired, so I slept in. Tonight I swim! This is going to be a crazy week b/c I have a massage tomorrow, financial planner meeting Wed and a hair cut on Thurs, then a friend staying with me this weekend. Which means I have to swim in the morning twice this week for sure. So, I think this is what I will shoot for this week:

Mon – PM swim
Tues – AM 4 mi run, PM trainer ride after massage
Wed – AM swim, PM trainer ride after financial planner
Thurs – AM 7 mi run, PM clean house for friends arrival
Fri – AM swim
Sat – 13 - 15 mile trail run (taking my friend out on the Buckeye trail if weather permits)
Sun – Spin class, maybe yoga

Oh I finished New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, the sequel to Twilight, loved them both and can't wait for Eclipse to come in at the library for me, it's the final book in the series. Now I am reading Monsters of Templeton.

Last night Gary, Tracie and I headed to an Inter Social club get together. It consisted of various area clubs, the Tri club included. It was at a brewery. It was pretty fun. I really only met like 2 new people so I didn't really get out and mingle like you're supposed to do at these types of things, but the group I was with had a good time talking about completely inappropriate things. I told myself I would only have 1 beer and I did, but then had another drink afterwards and a few hot wings. Not all good moves the night before a long long run. We got home late for me too, but I was asleep by 11:30.

I got up at 6:20 with an upset stomach. Greeeaatt. But after a cup of coffee, 2 glasses of water and some oatmeal I was feeling much better. I headed out into 38 degree very foggy weather. It was quite dangerous out when I first started at 7:15. I ran a slow 3.5 miles and then met my friend Robin at 8:00 at a local coffee shop. He and I ran until 9:00 and then met Sherri back at that coffee shop, then the 3 of us ran up until 16 miles. Then Sherri's IT band was hurting her so she opted out and Robin and I ran up until 18.6 then I finished up the last 1.4 miles solo for 20 solid miles. I did the total run in 3:20 and the middle 6 miles were ran between 10:30 - 11, so there were quite a few 9ish min miles in there. I felt good. It was a good run. Running with Robin is good, he's done a ton of marathons and is faster than me so it makes me work hard in a good way and I always love to see Sherri, she is just the nicest person. The middle 7 we did together went by so fast as we gabbed. We ran on the streets around Shaker Lakes, so all road. My legs, knees etc felt pretty good the whole time. My feet started to really bother me around mile 15. At about 17 I was feeling a bit sick, but I ate a GU and felt much better and finished strong. In total I had a 100 calorie Luna moons pack at mile 5, another at mile 11, and then the GU at mile 17. Even though I don't like to take in too many calories b/c I have so many GI issues, but I think I really needed one more GU in there. All in all I would call it a good run. I finished feeling spent, but I feel fine now. I actually haven't even take a nap! I had a yummy mini salt bagel with cream cheese and a soy latte as a windup to my run. Post run nutrition is very important ya'll.

After the run I laid in bed a little bit, then Gary and I headed to Spin bike shop in Lakewood b/c after calling 6 shops, they were one of the few who had bike shoes in his size and they won b/c the ones they had were the most inexpensive. Wow, that was a really long run on sentence. I had never been to that bike shop before. I still think the Bike Authority is the cream of the crop, but this place had some amazingly decent prices on last year's model bikes. So, if anyone needs a road bike right now, check em out. Then we went to the west side market and it was just crazy crowded. Someone explain to me why you would ever take a stroller into that place? It just amazes me that people do that and congest the whole aisle. We got lots of yummy veggies and fruit, some bone in chicken, apple smoked turkey ham, some homemade Greek yogurt dip and some dried fruit. Good times. We are making pizza for dinner, but right about now I am going to veg and read my book - New Moon - loving it.

Preceded by Sat & Sun, obviously. So, I had such a nice run last night and am very grateful for that. My running mojo has been non existent lately. It was 48 on the drive home and I was speeding home from work b/c I was so excited to get out there. The sun was shining, the snow was melting and I ran in capris and 1 shirt! It was so amazing to have only one layer on, I felt so light! And I was fast (for me). I ran 7 miles in 1:03! Fantastic! And if that wasn't awesome enough, I then rode my bike on the trainer for an hour while I watched Scrubs and did 9 mins of one legged drills on each side and covered 17 miles in 55 mins. And and and I didn't wear bike shorts, nope. I comfortably rode for an hour without padding. Yep, I'm a bad ass. After all the working out, I had some tasty crab soup (from a can, can't remember the brand, but it was delicious) and hunkered down to watch Lost and it was the most amazing episode E.V.E.R! I mean Michael! And is Jin dead? Did he fake his death? What the F**K. I love Lost. If you have never watched it, rent all the dvds, plop on your trainer and watch them all. You will not be disappointed, pinky swear.

Getting out of bed this morning was tough and I came thhiiisss close to blowing it off, but I am sick of taking 2 rest days a week, which I've been doing lately. and I can't work out tonight b/c we are going to the Interclub Social (anyone else going from CTC?) . So, I went to the gym and swam. I can't say it was a fantastic swim, but it was better than Tuesday. But I still felt slow and inefficient. I know I have got to get in the pool every other day, there's no way around it. I let too much time go between swims. I totally was getting lapped by this ironman guy in the lane next to me which just pissed me off, so I swam real fast and wore myself out in 30 mins. So, I decided to call it a day b/c my form was getting sloppy and I couldn't wear my fins b/c we had 4 in our lane and it would have been too much trouble. I schlepped home and got dressed. Totally scrubby by the way. Gary was still in bed and I am used to him being gone, so I had to get dressed in the dark and it IS casual friday, so tshirt, hoody, jeans, nikes, wet hair and glasses. Zexy I know. I smell like chlorine too. Seriously what is that? I shower, wash my hair, shave, exfoliate and I still smell like a pool? Oh speaking of exfoliating, if you are a fan, I recently picked up some grapefruit salt scrub at Trader Joes for $5 and it is the most amazing product. It's salt and this oil that totally seals your skin w/o being greasy and leaves you with a great smell. I am going to go back and get the lavender one. Love TJs.

I don't even want to think about work today. I'm under extreme pressure to get some things done, but as a project manager I don't actually really do any of the work, so it's a hard place to be. Sigh. Why can't I be a kept woman? :) Oh well I love G enough to not run off with a sugar daddy! I really need to figure out a way to start my own business! Think people would pay me top dollar to scoop the dog poop out of their yard? Think people would pay me even more to scoop the dog poop out of their yard in a bikini? Just joking. But hey maybe mowing lawns in a bikini. that's a workout at least!

I had a pretty shitty swim last night. Just one of those swims where it's like you've never been in the pool before. Granted, I'd only been in the pool once in the last 2 weeks and the water was 83! I decided during this shitty swim that I need to work on swimming consistently 3 times a week then move on to masters. SO, I am going to delay my masters class attending for another month.

This morning I had a good spin class. The Wed teacher Rich had a good course for us, one giant hill then little tiny zipper hills. I was feeling pretty spent by the end of class. Tonight I might hit the pool again to try and redeem myself a bit! Or I might just take a short run or maybe do my yoga dvd. Gosh, the options are endless :) All I know is I cannot wait for 5:00. Work is really trying to say the least right now. I don't want to write about work on my blog b/c I'm not stupid and I know at least one co-worker who reads this thing! So, I'll just leave it at that, work is very trying right now. Sigh.

The ankle feels better today. Brock and I ran 3 miles this morning. It was foggy and slippery out so we cut it short. What strange weather we’re having. My legs felt really heavy and I was slow. I am really slow lately ya’ll and I hate it. I feel like I have just been constantly plagued with heavy legs and sore feet. I can’t manage to do speedwork to save my life. I don’t get it. I’m sure the obvious thing someone would say is that I am overtraining, but there is no way. I’m only running 25-30 miles a week and getting 1-2 bikes and 1-2 swims in right now. My workout schedule is not as heavy as it has been or as heavy as it should be or will be when I start HIM training in a few weeks. I guess the only thing that has really changed in all of this is the pain in my arches. So, it could be wrapped up in that. Or maybe it’s just the weather. Who knows. All I know is I am s-l-o-w for me and I hate it. But bottom line is that I will be happy if I can maintain a 10 min mile at Cincinnati and the 30K and 15K were both done a little under 10 min miles. Maybe my real problem is that I am not doing my long runs slow enough? I have been running them all 9:30 – 10 min miles, which is really my marathon pace. I think I will focus on slowing it down for my next long runs, minus the Just a Short Run 30K at the end of the month. I have high hopes that once it gets warmer and I peel off some layers I will magically be able to run faster! Magically! Now my real dilemma is if I should do St.Malachi’s on Sat. I have a 16 miler scheduled for Sunday. The 5 miler doesn’t fit into my training at all, but I can cut my Thurs run back a few miles. I just wonder if I should worry about a race right now as slow as I have been. Will I run it a time worse than last year and make myself feel bad!?! I guess I’ll see how the feet/legs feel. Need to sign up by Thurs though so I can do it online for $17 instead of paying $25 race day. I would just skip it, but everyone I know is doing it and there is beer afterwards. I like beer. Of course I’ll have a long run looming over me for the next day, so I can only have 1 beer.

We went and saw Semi Pro last night. I know, I know, who pays to go see a movie like that. But Clevleland Cinemas has $5 monday's and you get free popcorn. We like free things. So, we went and I like Will Ferral. Old School is one of my favs and I even like some of his stupider fare like Ladies Man, but this movie just blew. It wasn't funny in any way shape or form, don't bother even renting it. Booo, I wanted to see 10,000BC, but my sister said it was the worst movie she had ever seen in her life. I have only walked out of one movie ever and that was Battlefield Earth, in case you were wondering.

Tonight I was going to hit a master’s swim class for the first time, but my shoulders are really pinched and sore from the shoveling, so I think I will swim myself tonight and take it slow and give the master’s class a go on Thurs. I am REALLY nervous to go to one. Now that I have done 3000 yards, I think I can hang, but I am slow and I don’t know the drills. I’m sure I’ll learn quickly, but it’s always weird to go to these kinds of things for the first time.

So, the 15K yesterday was interesting. It’s not often that I just pick up and decide to do a race at the last minute, so I didn’t feel very prepared. I woke up at what I thought was 8:30 on Sunday and figured I had plenty of time to shovel, get ready and meet Sara at 11. But then I forgot about daylight savings time and realized I only had like 30 mins to shovel. Gary was still sick and asleep so I didn’t want to wake him. I furiously shoveled one car width down the driveway and gave up about half way down and decided to see if my car would make it. Which it did! Except for the end of the driveway, I had to shovel where the plow had built a wall. I was a little worried going into the race as on Sat I had ran 5 miles in a blizzard, biked for an hour and shoveled twice. My body was sore and I was worried that my back and neck would really start aching, but I need to get my miles in so I headed to meet Sara and Debby in Macedonia. Then we drove together to Peninsula. Luckily the roads were pretty clear. The race wasn’t until noon which was also kind of nice. We started at a high school and it was a looped course. It was all on roads and they weren’t closed to traffic, but there really weren’t many cars. I started the race off with Bridget and was able to hang with her for 2 miles, but my legs were feeling heavy and I knew that I didn’t need to kill myself, just to treat this as a training run and I pulled myself back down to more like a 9 min pace. That pace would slow down a lot on this course. It was pretty much giant hill after giant hill. You basically ran down into the valley and then right back up. Amazingly you only ran downhill for about 2 miles, but uphill about 6! Right at the 5K mark I stepped into a pothole funny and wrenched my ankle to the point that I totally started crying, luckily I had sunglasses on. It startled me more than anything and the pain was just so intense. I hobbled for a little bit until I regained my composure and then took off on a slow trot again. Quickly I was at the bottom of the uphill and it was steep and twisty, so I decided to walk a bit until I was steady on my ankle again. At this point I really thought I was going to have to quit. But ankles sure are amazing things, after about a quarter mile I felt better and was able to get myself back up to a slow run. I finished the race in 1:31. With all thing considered, that’s not that bad b/c I took several walk breaks on the giant hills. My ankle throbbed really badly when the run was over and I limped around all night. Gary and I played scrabble and I sat with an icepack on it and took a lot of ibuprofren and this morning it feels almost okay. My back and neck hurt more from shoveling. I basically feel like someone beat me with a baseball bat. I seriously considered staying home today, but managed to drag myself out of bed. Then when I get here I learned that an integral team member is out and with him out, little gets accomplished, so I wish I had just stayed home. I had the worst day at work on Friday, we got out at 3, but I had to stay until 6 b/c of what a mess one of my projects was and it was totally my fault and that’s such a horrible feeling. Hopefully this week will be better work wise.

WEll since the indoor tri was cancelled and I am behind on my weekly miles (I've only done 14, and need to do 21) I am going to head to summit county for the CAtch a Leprachaun 15K. It's hilly and I am sore from shoveling. it probably won't be my best race ever. But at least I'll get my miles in!

I don't know that I've ever seen a snowstorm like this. Actually I guess this qualifies as a blizzard. It has not stopped snowing since yesterday. I shoveled the driveway earlier and there was a about a foot of snow. I just went back out there and there are at least 4-5 more inches. Sigh. THis is crazy! They cancelled the tri for tomorrow and I cancelled the part for tonight. THere is no way I am driving out there. THe roads are horrendous, I think the plow guys gave up. I did however get my butt out there and ran 5 miles! Can you believe it. I mostly ran on sidewalks that people had been nice enough to shovel and ran up and down the same three streets over and over, I started to feel like a hamster. I got a lot of odd stares. It really wasn't that cold, but my nose was constantly running and that was annoying. My gore tex Brooks trail shoes managed to keep my feet dry which was pretty darn amazing. The snow in my driveway was up past my knees! For reals. I'll post some pictures later.

So, I ran 5 miles and shoveled the driveway with G. He's still very sick and pretty much laying around and moaning about dying. I have a roast in the crockpot and 2 movies waiting to be watched- God Grew Tired of Us & The Asassination of Jesse James. I might hop on the trainer for about 30-45 mins, only b/c I took 2 rest days this week and monday was just a short, short swim. So, I feel like I need to make up some lost workouts. Tomorrow I will try and make it to the gym and swim since I only did it once this week, bad monica.

Hope everyone is staying warm and off the roads!

Well I totally meant to get up and swim this morning or spin and I think I must have turned my alarm off in the night b/c I overslept. But hey I made it up and out 3 days this week to workout at 6am. Based on my track record lately, that's pretty good. SO, hopefully 4 days next week. 4 days is all I want 2 run, and 2 spin or 1 spin & 1 swim. Depends on how the evenings go.

I got home last night with the worst migraine. Gary has been sick, but he went for a short 2 mile run with me anyway. I was going to go swim, but we decided to go to dinner at Alladins instead. I had a yummy lebanese salad & hummus rollup. So tasty, I love that place. Lost was awesome last night too. So, it was a good night!

Today we have a major storm a-brewin', but who knows if they will be correct. They are predicting up to a foot. Greeatt. Especially sucks b/c I had organized a get together for tomorrow night at a local bar.

I am just about sick, well not just about, I AM sick of this winter. I am so over the cold and the ice and the snow. The roads this morning were horrendous when I left my house at 5:20 am to make the 6am spinning class. I have been bad about biking the last 3 weeks and plan to get back into it with 2-3 spin classes a week. So, I went to spin class and it was good and it took me forever to get home from the gym so I had to rush rush to get ready b/c I knew the commute to work was going to bite. I carpool with a lady on Tues/Thurs and she called to see if I just wanted her to pick me up since she was already on her way to work and the roads were so bad and I was so happy to get that phone call as now I didn’t have to drive in this muck again! So, after getting ready for work in 15 mins, yeah I look awesome today, but hey at least I showered, our normal 25 mins commute became more like 45 mins. But all in all I guess that’s not so bad, but I really wish I had just stayed in bed today.

Yesterday I went to the pool with Gary. It was the first time he has swam in a long time and I helped him out some and got in 10 laps myself. I just felt really tired and drained and I was fine the first 25, but on my returns I barely got through them. So, I figured why push myself after such a hard weekend and called it quits at 500 yards, nothing too exciting, but hey in November, that was my swim workout! Today I am to run, but it was raining this morning so I slept in, now I am stuck to do it after work (after I vote, go Hillary!). If it’s still raining I might make today a bike day and run Wed & Thurs. It’s a rest week so I only have 21 miles total this week. I am considering the 30K from this weekend a success b/c usually 2 days later I am really sore, but I feel pretty good today. My calves are a little tender but nothing debilitating. I hope hope hope that I can do a smidge under 3 hours at the Just a Short run 30k in a few weeks. That’s the goal anyway, it does have some big hills though. I did it in 3:19:44 last year, but that was with a foot injury due to the mother of all blood blisters that threw off my gait and caused me bad ankle problems. I didn’t know you could pop blood blisters, so I hobbled around on it for a few days and totally messed up one of my feet. I finally popped it, but that sucker came back to haunt me on all my long runs after that.


I am super excited b/c I just learned that I get to go to a training camp at Lake Placid over memorial day weekend with my friend that lives in NY. She has a tri coach who said I could come along. How fun! It will make me feel much more prepared for the Summi tri in June. I can’t wait to get my bike outside. We had a glimpse of spring here, yesterday it got up to 60, but due to schizophrenic Cleveland weather it’s only 30 again today w/icy rain. I almost took a half day yesterday to enjoy the weather, I kind of wish I had. Am I the only one super geeked that daylight savings is on Sunday? I think I like it more than Xmas now that I live in Cleveland crave some freaking sunlight.

Have a great day bloggy friends.

Boy oh boy, 18.6 miles down in the book, my time on my garmin was 3:02, my official time will be a few minutes more b/c I hit the potty at mile 9 and stopped my watch.

Last night I had a nice dinner of spaghetti chocked full of veggies - squash, mushrooms, olives and onions and a can of tuna thrown in for good measure. I got into bed early, but couldn't fall asleep until after 10. Boo, b/c the alarm was set for 4:45 am! However, I awoke at 4:30 and was wired so I figured I might as well get up. I turned off my alarm and tired to sneak over to G's side of the bed to turn his off (I set two when I have to get up super early) and scared the bejesus out of him! Breakfast was a PBJ sandwich and a scoop of protein powder in grapefruit juice, drank some water and a big cup of coffee and got dressed. I picked up a great new mid weights nike shirt at Second Sole yesterday (hey everyone their winter clothes are on sale big time) that had a hood and gloves built in and decided to wear it with a tank top bra top under it and my mid weight pants. The high was supposed to be 40, but the evening low was 19 so it was pretty damn cold this morning. I got on the road at 5:15 and got to Avon way to quickly. I wanted to be there by 6:30 but was there at 6, so I had an hour to sit around and get tired, which I did! My friend Kim who moved to Fairport NY recently was in town for the weekend and met me to do the 15K, that was an added bonus.

So, there was a 5K, 15K and 30K, I imagine there were only 150 runners there tops, most didn't do the 30K, it was a 2 loop course. Kim and I started off strong, we kept a pace of about 9:17 the vast majority of those first 9 miles. There were a few roads that were a steady incline that we slowed down on. The course is nothing exciting. It starts at a strip mall, then runs through a subdivision, then you have about .5 miles on a park path that happened to be horribly icy today, then back through subdivisions. Sometimes you run on pretty busy roads and they were not closed to traffic. For the first 9 it was still pretty early, so there wasn't much traffic, but the second 9 had a lot of cars blowing by. There is one stretch of road, maybe 2-3 miles that runs along the lake past some very pretty houses. So, at mile 7.5 Kim was feeling strong, so she gave it a kick and sped up. Around 8 I knew my belly wasn't happy, so I made the decision to stop at the turn around point and hit the john, which I hated to do b/c I was running with a nice pack of guys, one of which was training for ironman and they were my speed and I hated to lose them, but I am glad I stopped so I didn't have to worry about my belly the next 1.5 hours. Back on the road after a 3 min detour I plugged in my ipod and tried to zone out. The next 1.5 hours I was pretty much alone, I didn't have anyone around me and several times I thought I might be lost! I felt pretty good up until about 15 at which point I was just ready to be done already! I kept soldiering on. The wind was really kicking in and blowing across me for a good portion of the second loop, I swear it got colder! By 17 I was back on the icy path and my legs were not happy, my feet hurt and so did my knees. All of the sudden some lady came charging past me, I swear she cheated. I looked behind me several times, convinced I was in last place and this lady was no where to be found. You run up one road and then back down a parallel road that is connected by side roads, I think this chick cut down one, I really do! But anyway, once off the ice path, I got a bit of a second wind and kicked it up a notch. When I saw that strip mall I was so happy, 18.6 miles, although my garmin said 18.8. The NCN crew had a nice little spread of food, but I just had a banana and sat down to stretch. On the course I had 3 gels, mile 5, 10 and 14. The funniest thing is I got 1st place in my age group! I swear I must have been the only one in my age group doing the 30K, there's no other explaination

From there I headed home and G and I went to brunch (veggie omelet and hash browns!) and then I met Sara for a movie - the Other Boleyn Girl - it was okay.

All in all I would consider today a success. I didn't feel as strong as I would have liked, but swimming 3000 yards the day before could have played a part in that. And I did have some stomach attitude, but I feel fine now and know I'll be okay tomorrow. Getting stronger!

Ooooh and I have most definitely developed plantar fasciitis, mostly in my left foot, but in the right as well, and it can go suck my ass.

I swam 3000 yards today. 3000! Holy Moly. 60 laps. I have only ever done 40 before.


That is all.

I have nothing to do today! That is an extremely rare occurance in my life and to be honest...i don't like it. When you live your life in such a regimented way, falways following a training plan, preparing for an upcoming race there is always something on the scehdule. I don't know if that's a good way to be or not, but it's how I am, very type A, I'm going to make a broad assumption that most people who read my blog are the same way! THe thing is I have a 30K tomorrow that I really want to rawk so I am laying low today. The only thing I want to do is go swim, and my gym doesn't open until noon on Sat b/c it's a Jewish gym. Gary took my car to the shop to get the steering checked so here I sit idle....ugh. I tried to sleep in, but the most I could do was 8:30am. I'm reading a really good book, so I laid in bed and read that for awhile with the dogs. It's Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and I can't put it down! Then around 10 I realized I really should eat something, so I made some breakfast. I figured I can't just have my day in total choas :) SO I made a list of how my day was going to go! Yes, yes, I know, don't you just feel for my poor husband.

12-1 - swim at the J
After that - come home and get cleaned up
After that- run errands - need to get dog food, invitations for a baby shower and go out to Fleet Feet to buy one of those socks for plantar facisitis, I think I have it in one of my feet, not good, not good, but every morning I can barely step on it and I read that one of the common factors of plantar F is that it's at it's worst in the am. Boooo.
After that - take the dogs for a walk around shaker lakes
After that - make dinner - veggie lasagna
After that - mop! while diner cooks, we have a black and white kitchen floor it stays horribly dirty b/c of the dogs, bad decision going with white on a floor
After that - watch a movie -Some Jessie James movie with my boyfriend Casey Affleck in it
After that - make sure I have everything laid out for tomorrow and double triple check my alarm clock which will be set for...wait for it...4:45am, how bad does that suck! Who starts a race at 7am that is all the way out in Avon Lake!