Done

WITH SWIM CLASSES

This morning I had my last swim class for 2010. Now with most of my swim workouts out of the way for the year (if you think I am kidding... I am not!) I might have a chance to shed that chlorine scent, grow some finger nails again and make my scalp a happier scalp. I am still planning on getting in the pool once a week, mostly for continuous swimming, hard efforts etc. Drills can be neglected, there is nobody there anymore to correct them. No, I don't hate swim class.... If Coach Katie would do those year round, I would most likely be in the pool twice a week all year, but she doesn't and so I don't. HAH! ;-)

Anyways, I am very happy about the progress that I made in my swimming in the last four months and it didn't go unnoticed. Even one of the "big" guys that I ended up doing one 500 (he is still faster than I am, but I'm getting closer) today was complimenting me on my progress this season... I also tied for second in a kick-board race with four other guys, so yes... I have plenty of reason to be happy about my swimming...

WITH PACKING

I leave you with some impressions on how it looked when I  packed everything on my relay check list into an as small as possible space. I will let you judge, if I have been successful.

So... This is all the stuff from the check list above... I hope that's it!

And this is all the stuff in bags.... Okay okay.... I did a little cheating... Terry's bag is huge and still had tons of space, so I sneaked some stuff in there. ;-)








Now it's time to get some good rest in, before we'll grab the relay bull by the horns tomorrow!

As mentioned earlier, I will try to blog from the road, but you'll never know into what kind of technical difficulties we'll run, so I am not going to sweat it, if it doesn't happen.

So you either read from our adventures very soon or Sunday/ Monday night... Either way.... Wish us luck! ;-)

Relay Check List

Oh boy, not mentioning sports AT ALL in yesterday's post was kind of tough, especially because I am soooooo excited about the Palmetto200 starting in less than 36 hours*!

*Our team has a 9AM start time Friday... How we ended up with such an early slot and a projected average of a 9 minute/mile... I have no clue. The advantage of such a "late" start time is, that we can get up at a decent hour Friday morning!

Having several races under my belt, gives me some experience on what I am having with me for a race. If I have to travel to a race, I take several outfits with me to decide in the morning, what I feel like and when I get a better feel for the temps and general weather conditions. A relay brings on several additional points to consider when packing your stuff:

1. three legs = three outfits
2. weather conditions can vastly differ due to extended time of the race, day and night running, traveling a route of 200 (in this case) from the Midlands to the Low Country
3. limited space (I say this even though we'll have much more space this time because we are going to rent two HUGE vans)

When it comes to the clothes, I will work with versatile pieces, arm/leg warmers and bright colors. But of course the packing goes way beyond the clothes, so I better start a check list to make sure I won't forget anything (in no particular order):

• three versatile running outfits (I will spare you the details, you'll see on the pictures)
• three pairs of running socks
• recovery socks
• two pairs of running shoes (in case a pair gets wet)
• Birkenstock's for in between runs
• hat and shades
• sunscreen and bug spray
• running fanny pack (for cell phone, b/c we'll be running in the middle of nowhere)
• RoadID
• Garmin
• inflatable camping mat, sleeping bag and pillow (oh yes!)
• one "going out" outfit for after the finish line
• bathing suit (the finish line is right on the beach! ;-) and small towel
• baby wipes (for a quick clean-up in between the runs)
• hand-held water bottle, blok shots (for emergencies) and TUMS
• race belt
• reflective vest and reflective ankle bands
• head lamp, red and white bike lamps, batteries for the lamps
• van markers for a little decoration
• team t-shirt
• bathroom tissue b/c you never know how the porta john's look like
• GPS for the car
• description of my legs to memorize on the drive down there
• camera and transfer cable b/c I will try to blog from the road from a team mates laptop
• print-outs with hotel directions and confirmation numbers

That looks like an awful lot of stuff... But I kinda doubt I will be able to thin this out.... Just glad that we have a big van this time! ;-)

I AM SOOOO EXCITED!!!















Didn't I tell you that a post without a pic is just not complete! ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits: One Word Meme Edition

Lately, I have had people commenting (not commenting in the comments section, more of an e-mail and phone call commenting) about the blog being very sports focused... So I was thinking about keeping the "Tuesday Tidbits" free of sports and then I saw this "One Word Meme" on Mel's blog and thought this would be a great way to break things up a little.

The only rule is:

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.

Not as easy as you might think…

1. Yourself: happy
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband: newlywed
3. Your hair: unhappy
4. Your mother/stepmother: phone
5. Your dog: Karma
6. Your favorite item: dunno
7. Your dream last night: forgotten
8. Your favorite drink: soda
9. Your dream car: practical
10. The room you are in: open
12. Your fear: mistakes
13. What you want to be in 10 years: better
14. Who you hung out with last night: nobody
15. What you’re not: patient
16. Muffin: yummy
17. One of your wish list items: decisions
18. Time: 8:01
19. The last thing you did: laundry
20. What you are wearing: comfy
21. Your favorite weather: sunny
22. Your favorite book: nonfiction
23. The last thing you ate: veggies
24. Your life: settling
25. Your mood: mellow
26. Your best friend(S): fun
27. What are you thinking about right now? post
28. Your car: KIA
29. What are you doing at the moment?: blogging
30. Your summer: honeymoon
31. Your relationship status: married
32. What is on your TV?: nothing
33. What is the weather like?: fresh
34. When is the last time you laughed?: now

So, if you wanna play, you can either copy and paste this to your blog or you can answer in the comments at Calli’s place, where this meme originated. Either way, make sure you stop by and tell her you played.

And because I think a post is not complete without a pic, here is a "Lolcat" just for you.

So long! ;-)

Walk To The Beach: Stats Week 5

 

Hmmmmm.... I guess this is how it looks when you skip a whole week of workouts. This is officially my lowest mile week for the "Walk To The Beach" challenge. What can I say... The challenge doesn't end until beginning of July and our team will certainly complete the 1,000 miles required to enter the raffle by the end of this week. Not much left, but can't remember the exact number from the top of my head right now... It was around 20 miles.

Also, I have to say that the team got a little demotivated by the result posting after week 4. We slipped into third place again, but we are at a point where we don't really care. The top two teams both posted extremely high mileage weeks and I just have a hard time to believe that each of these peeps put in ten miles per day each day of that week. I may do them wrong, but I just have a hard time.

Anyways, we are still in the top ten and we are also one of the handful of teams that already reached the next milestone. So far we haven't gotten our swag.

So long!

Rebooted

Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I do the tri-sports for fun. It's not my profession, nobody pays me to train, it's just in order for me to lead an healthy lifestyle and do something that I really enjoy. But the truth it, that sometimes I don't enjoy it. Sometimes, I just dread to get out there and do the workout that I was planning on doing.... It doesn't happen a lot of the time, but sometimes it happens... Even more rarely than me blowing off a workout, because I just "didn't feel" it, is blowing off a whole weekend of workouts. But this weekend, this is exactly what I did. Scary right?? Kind of yes and kind of no. I just feel like I needed a weekend of doing NOTHING. No workouts, no house renovation, no wedding planning, no entertainment of guests.... Just a couch, comfort food and "The Hills" marathon... Don't judge me!

Half way through my Sunday, I finally feel back to my normal self again.... Kathrin rebooted so to speak. Swimming, Biking, Running after all? I don't think so... I am just waiting until my husband is getting back from his run and then we'll pack up the doggy and go to Paris Mountain State Park for a little hike. Change of pace and scenery can work wonders.

Only because I didn't do any running of my own doesn't mean the weekend didn't revolve on some level around running and sports... That's how we roll in this household.

Upgrade for the Foam Roller

You all know that I love my foam roller, but sometimes, I feel like I cannot really target those really tight spots the way I wanted to. So while we were browsing through a local running store, I found this puppy here:

There are several products like these out there, but this one is locally produced and we kinda got a deal on it. Anyways, let me tell you that it works.... I am extra sore today.... But in a good way. I feel like I finally got some relieve on my butt pain issue... If this is too much information again... Sorry! ;-)

Last D.N.R. All Stars Team Meeting before the Palmetto200

We also met most of the D.N.R. All Stars team members for the last time before we head out for our second relay experience. I start to get really excited about it, even though I haven't been training all weekend... I feel good about this race and confident that I will have good legs. Of course, those meetings are supposed to get the last bits and pieces of information down, but really, it's just a lot of chatter. But we know now where we are supposed to be Friday morning AND we also got our team t-shirts! YAY!

First pic is the front and second pic is the back. Design as usual by Alex! Thanks!

So long! ;-)

Midweek Running

I know it's already the end of the week and now I finally come around to post my hump day run. You might excuse my slacking, but with the midweek virus scare, I chose not to switch on my home computer all day Wednesday and then yesterday, I had important Earth Day business to blog about! ;-)

But let's move on to some nice midweek running. The Palmetto200 is close so close and I had a very slim running week last week... Time once again to bring out the big guns! ;-) 6 miles on Monday and I wanted to shoot for 6 to 7 miles on Wednesday again, but slower... Like easy pace slower which should have put me at an average pace of 10:43 to 11:13 minutes per mile. As you can see below, this didn't happen.

I kinda sorta hit that pace in my first four miles... Okay, not really..... My first four miles were between a 10:00 to 10:45 pace. I felt good and I didn't feel like slowing down and then it got dark quickly. So at mile 4, I said skew that and just ran by feel. Oh well.

It was fun running in Cleveland Park and River Falls Park... How can you not enjoy running through this kind of scenery? The park was full of other runners, dog walker, couples... Sitting on the benches, walking around... It's always great to see people enjoy the park. This way it will ensure that the city continues to spend money on this.

A sight that I didn't enjoy was this guy peeing at a tree along the Swamp Rabbit Trail while his buddy smoked pot. In public and daylight.... Like really?

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Cultural Differences: Earth Day Special

As you most likely already heard: Today is EARTH DAY!

I think we can all say "YAY" for our planet on Earth Day, since we are all pretty much skewed without it... So please! YAY! Thank you!

The planet not only has to be here for us to enjoy, but it also needs to be maintained in a way that allows future generations of flora and fauna to flourish... Sounds cheesy... I know.... I don't know what is up with me today... Call it cheesy Earth Day mood!

Well anyways, it's time for an apology to Mother Earth from this little human. I have been a bad human! I haven't watched my carbon footprint too closely lately and on top of it, I neglected recycling A LOT. Or like my parents plus brother put it several times during their stay at the house: "You completely forgot your upbringing!" I went down the slippery slope of convenience way too often lately! Bad human!

Where are the cultural differences come in, you ask?

• Recycling: In Germany you have to separate recyclable from non-recyclable waste and collect it in different bins. Most people also collect paper and glass waste separately to take it to public recycling bins, this way they don't fill up their trash bins too fast, because you pay for every pick-up. Around here (I can only speak for GSP because I assume it's different from at least state to state), I can just throw everything in the two trash bins we have at the house and it's getting picked-up every week for a convenient flat rate per year. BUT! In Greenville County we actually have the option to collect recyclable waste separately, we just have been too lazy for it.... THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE! I PROMISE and you are my witnesses! (Turns out that I DO have more than three readers, so this is not just an empty statement! ;-)
• Plastic Bags: Paper or plastic? Is plastic okay? No, no, no! A bad human indeed. In Germany, there are no free plastic bags at the grocery store. You bring your own bags or you pay and those bags ain't cheap. Around here it sometimes looks like you get a bag per item in the store, but I recently noticed that a lot of cashiers try to stuff the bags more and I also told them before to stuff the bags as much as possible. But even better would be, if I would just remember again to bring my own reusable bags and don't accept all that plastic and I used to be better with this too! AND I WILL BE BETTER ABOUT IT AGAIN!
• CO2 Emissions: I could research the whole industrial CO2 emission shebang and present it to you, but there are things that you can influence so much faster and so much easier as an individual. Get rid of your gas guzzler and get a more fuel efficient car. I have an SUV, but I really thing that I get a decent gas mileage out of this puppy. But we also have TWO trucks in our household. One of those has got to go. Unfortunately, the market to sell big old trucks these days is not very good, but we certainly have it on our to-do list to replace one of the trucks with a nice fuel efficient car. In Germany, fuel efficiency is one of the biggest selling points for a car in the first place, because the gas prices are so outrageous.

Some changes for the better (especially when it comes to environmentally friendly changes) just seem to finally work with people, when you push the topic over the wallet like charging for plastic bags in stores and gas prices.

PS: My family arrived home late last night (their time)... From Madrid, they flew to Paris and from there to their final destination. It was a long trip, but they made it and didn't have to pay anything extra.

Walk To The Beach: Stats Week 4

Let's do this rundown short and sweet! Here are my stats for week 4 of the Walk To The Beach challenge. Regarding the crazy busy week that is behind me, family in town and tons of skipped workouts, I am very happy about the total. This is not even my lowest week in the whole thing.



After we added all the miles from all of the members of the Possum Posse, we just need to log another 208 miles in week 5 and we are already done with the challenge goal.

Here is the top ten after week 3 and the team returned to the second place again. Good work possums! ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits: The Wedding Edition

• There is a reason, why you should only get married once... It's just too much of a hassle for a couple of hours.

• With that being said, the whole thing went off without a hitch (that I know of) and from what we hear, our guests enjoyed themselves and had a good time.
• We had a good time and especially enjoyed that so many of our friends and family came out to celebrate this day with us... We have an amazing group of people around us!
• I got tons of compliments on my dress... Funniest compliment was: It's so functional! (Coming from a guy.)
• I got blisters from the shoes... of course... Half way through the thing I changed into Salsa shoes... It felt soooo good.
• Terry and I rocked our first dance. We did a cha-cha to the song Ich+Ich "Vom Selben Stern". Yes, there is a cha-cha version of this one and we ROCKED it!
• Our guests busted quite the moves on the dance floor... There was the Electric Slide, a SOUL TRAIN and LOTS and LOTS of SALSA!!
• Did I mentioned that we have a great group of friends? Because we do!
• I am a wife now... That idea hasn't quite settled in yet.
• The ceremony was SO NICE... Very touching and personal and the waterworks were ON! ;-)
• Here are a couple of pictures taken by my brother. I won't have any "official" pictures for the next couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Goofing around a little!


The wedding party... Small and perfect! ;-)


Giving my feet a little break before everything started.


Itching to get this show on the road! ;-)


I do! And I do, too!


First dance! We ROCKED it! ;-)

• I am happy!

PS: My parents plus brother are currently on a flight to Madrid. We'll see how they get from Spain to Germany.

There Is Always A Story To Tell....

.... when you are traveling.



Once my family is getting back home, they will have a heck of a story to tell. Whenever they do get back home.

I guess you heard it all in the news, that air travel to and from Europe is pretty much impossible right now due to this volcano up in Iceland. Fortunately, they knew their flight today is going to get canceled before they even left the house, so at least they are going to be comfy with their extended stay. So far, we don't know when they will be able to get back. My brother spent most of the morning on the DeltaAir hot-line without actually talking to anybody, so he just gave up and drove to the GSP airport. Hopefully, he will be more successful there. We'll see.

With that, I also don't know when the regular broadcast on my little channel here is going to resume. I am planning on getting a run in today sometimes, since the Palmetto200 is just around the corner and we have also been a little indulgent over the last couple of days.

We had a blast at the wedding and once I sorted out some pictures, I will share some here.

So long! ;-)

Let's Talk Feet: Bare Feet

Disclaimer: This post contains pictures of bare feet. If you can't bear bare feet, you might want to skip this read which is otherwise pretty informative.... Well, you might just want to scroll over the bare feet pics really fast. ;-)

I know, I said I am not going to post until next Monday, but then I had this really really great run yesterday evening and just HAD TO SHARE IT!

So I headed out for a run last night, but planned on keeping it in the 3 to 4 mile range due to my monster running weekend (see dress rehearsal posts day one and day two) and since I haven't done a track workout in a while, I decided that it's going to be some speed work. After my warm-up I looked at the track and then I saw a guy in the grass field next to the track running and I thought to myself, that this looked so much better than the track.



On top of mixing things up with running on grass instead of running around the track, I remembered a portion in "Born To Run" that said some track coaches let their athletes run bare feet on grass. And as I mentioned a week ago, I feel my feet muscles seriously have declined and I need to get back into my FiveFinger shoes. Since I was out there, I just thought to give it a go... without the FiveFingers and everything.

The first lap, I just did as add on to my warm up, to check out the terrain (who leaves all those sunflower seeds out there) and to see how far one circle around the field is and it's pretty much the same as the track - a quarter mile. The grass was nice and cool and soft. So after my check-out lap, I did four laps fast with each a recovery lap in between.

The total run ended up to be 3.66 miles in 32:35 minutes. That's a 8:54 pace and this is the fastest I have been in a long time for a complete workout. *Insert a little happy dance here!*

Was it the bare foot running? Maybe not! But it certainly gives you more awareness of the terrain and how you run. As soon as I took off my shoes, I felt myself leaning forward more and strike the ground with my forefoot. Also, I felt my toes spreading out and "digging" into the ground. I also noticed that I favor my right side. I have been told this several times, but last night, I actually felt it for the first time myself.



Bottom line: This felt good and I am planning on incorporating this into my running in the future. But I also felt that it's time to call it a day after two miles on the grass, because the little muscles in my feet, shins and calf started to get achy. It's like with everything else, you have to build up slowly.

And here is the proof that I didn't hurt myself and that the feet didn't even get very dirty either. ;-)



So long!

PS: Today is my parent's 43rd wedding anniversary! CONGRATULATIONS!

Breakfast

Note: This post almost didn't happen... The idea zipped by and almost got lost somewhere between my brain, an eight hour work day and the keyboard... Fortunately, I ended up remembering what I wanted to share... Yay for me.... Or yay for you.... Since you get something to read now... ALL THREE OF YOU! ;-)

Remember the health assessment at work that I mentioned several weeks ago? Back then, I filled out the questionnaire, but today was the lab day e.g. weight, measurements, body fat and drawing blood. My appointment was at 8.45am and I was supposed to fast 8 hours ahead of getting the blood drawn. Picture me getting up at 5am, drive to the pool, knock out 2,600 yards in an hour, get dressed, go to work and then work until the appointed time rolls around... And all of this WITHOUT BREAKFAST. By appointment time I had stomach cramps, felt woozy and almost started biting my fingers off... Okay... The last item is maybe a little (tiny) exaggeration.

But it got me thinking about how much my eating habits have changed when I finally decided to get healthy. You see, if you have ever read about healthy eating habits and how to maintain your weight, sooner or later you stumble over the claim that:

• breakfast kick-starts your metabolism in the morning (here is one example, just google it and you'll be surprised on how many articles are coming up)
  
• fueling your body properly during the day avoids binge eating in the evening when the body preps to sleep (here is an article more directed to athletes, but it really applies to everyone, once again google it and you will find)
  
• eating breakfast is one of the habits that most people have that were able to maintain a significant weight loss (in this article are also the other habits)

So, can I hear a YAY for breakfast, please? YAY! ;-)


(Picture is from here and the article also has some information about why breakfast is so IMPORTANT!)

Before I started my (somewhat*) healthy lifestyle, I was a notorious breakfast skipper myself. But since I never read articles about nutrition and weigh loss, I never made the connection between my weight and my (non-existing) breakfast habits. I also never thought that this is such a common habit for people with overweight. Have you ever noticed how many contestants in the Biggest Loser mention at one point during the show that they have been skipping breakfast a lot. Of course, this is not the only mistake made by the contestants when it comes to eating and exercise habits and it certainly wasn't my only mistake either.

* I certainly still have a lot of room to improvement when it comes to the quality of my nutrition. But compared to what I used to put into my body, I came a long way and in the meantime am able to balance out calorie intake with calorie expense.

If you are a breakfast skipper, please consider to ditch this habit and have a healthy breakfast to kick-start your day. It's just one simple step to improve your nutrition and has a real impact on how you feel throughout the day (increase energy level and such). It certainly is worth a shot.

When it comes to me this morning... As soon as I got back to my desk, I raided my healthy snack drawer (whole grain cheese crackers, granola bars etc), but it took me until having lunch to finally feel back to normal.

So long!

PS: Tomorrow my parents plus brother get back from their road trip and I'll be off work to spend some quality time with them. There is a good chance that you won't hear anything from me until next Monday. Then I plan to resume broadcast as usual... married and all! ;-)

Walk To The Beach: Stats Week 3

SWEET! I crossed the 50 miles threshold for a week.

Compared to last week I quadrupled my running miles, mostly due to my dress rehearsal weekend (click here for day one and day two). On the other hand, I was slacking off a little when it comes to the cycling and walking, but heck, there are only so many hours in the day. I am also pleased that my swimming miles increased compared to last week.



After week two, we placed third (but second place is not far away). Well, that certainly gives us some motivation to work harder. As a team we logged 217 miles for week 3... Let's see where that gets us.

This is the top ten (there are 62 teams in total!) and I will just continue to post it with my new stats each week since it always takes a little until we receive the results for the week.

So long!

Dress Rehearsal For Relay: Day Two

So here we are at the second day of relay running practice. Original plan was to get up early and get the run out of the way before church. Well that didn't happen. I got myself another hour of sleep in instead and did the running once we got back from church.

In the meantime, temps have risen and so I ended up running in the noon heat. Smart, but well... I didn't want to push it out even further to not screw up the relay specific training effect.



Three hours before heading out for my run, I had my usual Sunday morning breakfast at our usual Sunday morning spot. No troubles here.


12:41PM: 4.00 miles in 38:56 minutes (9:43 pace - YAY)

For a change of scenery, I started running from the house today and did our usual 4 mile loop. Way more hills that anything I ran in the last couple of weeks, but well, it's good training. Here is the elevation chart.



The first two miles felt pretty labored for me, but after that it got better. My body certainly hasn't adjusted to the warmer temperatures yet, but I feel like I am slowly getting there. I tried out a new approach to me on this run and power walked up the hills instead of knocking myself out by running up the hills. I think that worked pretty good. My last mile was actually under 9 minutes which is very good for me. This was a good run and in total, I am also very happy, how this relay practice weekend played out.

After the run, I did a very easy spin on the bike for 15 minutes just to shake out the legs. After that some household duties and for the rest of my Sunday, I am just going to relax.... Nice!

So long!

Dress Rehearsal For Relay: Day One

How do you prepare for a 200 mile relay when you have to run around 16 miles out of that 200? Well you gotta run, that's for sure, but a relay has a separate set of challenges than running 16 miles at once. Those challenges is to run on little sleep and run while you spend the rest of the day on your feet as well in order to cheer on the other team mates and to in general enjoy the whole experience. Of course, sooner or later you also have to eat something in between your runs, because running without fuel over a 30 hour period is just not going to fly... Having stomach trouble on your run is not going to fly as well, so you have to find stuff to eat that is not going to mess up your next run. In the spirit of this, I set out on my first run this morning on three Oreo cookies! Yes, I know.... It doesn't seem to be an obvious choice, but I did the BRR basically on M&M's and Tums and I have to broaden my horizon here.... Just kidding.... I don't know what I was thinking, but it worked! I had a great first run this morning!

9:12AM: 6.85 miles in 1:02:46 hours (9:10 pace - YAY)

I headed out for an out and back course on my trusty Swamp Rabbit Trail. No need to practice hills, the relay is in the Low Country. The direction I run the trail, I have a gradual incline on my first half and a gradual decline on my way back in - perfect.

Here is a pre run shot. Notice the beautiful weather and the stray strand of hair! ;-)



I first headed out a 1 mile out and back section to the south end of the Furman portion of the trail and am happy to report that the construction work to connect the Greenville and the Furman portion have started! YAY! Can't wait!

For the last year the trail was blocked of by this white barrier. The barrier was pushed aside today and they had equipment there and people working!



I did a quick stop to take a picture of Paris Mountain... Over the last week, green has made it's way back into nature big time! Perfect foliage for wedding pictures! ;-)



And after the run, I gave my legs and hips a nice stretch. Yesterday, I did some strength work over lunch and I am sure sore today.



I was moving around all afternoon, running errands and doing some cleaning. For lunch I had a grilled chicken sandwich straight from a fast food joint, because that is most likely what we are going to get while we are on the road. I made sure to drink TONS of water.... As I said.... It's all about practice what is going to work and what is not going to work. ;-)

4:40PM: 7.20 miles in 1:12:58 hours (10:08 pace - MEH)

And for the second time today, I was heading out to the Swamp Rabbit Trail. It has warmed up, so I opted for shorts, but of course still a long sleeve.... Tan lines - remember? ;-)



I headed out from the train trolley northbound all the way to Sunrift and turned left towards the Travelers Rest YMCA a little while before I turned around. After my turnaround, I noticed this beautiful blooming tree and just had to snap a picture.



Well, after the turnaround, the trouble started. I wasn't fast before, but half way through my run I started feeling a little queasy and got side stitches (on both sides!). At the gas station I bought myself more water (since I didn't have enough with me) and took a pit stop, but still didn't feel good afterward. Also, my legs started to really get heavy. Anyway, I made it back to the car and did another good stretch.



When I got home, my soon to be husband already cooked dinner! You gotta love him!!

And now excuse me, I have to do some serious foam rolling and get tons of shut eye tonight. I know that it would be more realistic to not sleep at all tonight and then run tomorrow, but I won't take the rehearsal that far! ;-)

So long!

A Tale Of Two.... Updates

Palmetto200

There have been more changes to the course of the Palmetto200 relay. I guess, if you never think about it, you can just not appreciate the amount of work the race directors have to put into a race that covers such a distance (I am not saying that organizing a shorter race is no work). The new changes have been made necessary due to construction on one of the roads. On top of changes in the course, we once again scrambled around the legs between the runners in van #1 and now I am runner #2. That means in total, I have to run a mile less than before and the split between the legs are: 6, 6.4 and 3.9 miles... So that's my new game plan for my race dress rehearsal over the weekend. Here is some more detail in case you need to look for me on Apr 30th or May 1st 2010:




New Hair

I was sooooo overdue for a hair cut. Finally, I got it done today. For whatever reason, I never look forward going to the appointment, but I always feel better and beautified once I am done.

I made a picture, but for whatever reason, I can't upload it.... Oh well... I guess you have to take my word for it.

Crowded On The Sidewalk

I bit the bullet and decided to run in the morning and I am glad I did. Firstly, because it was almost too warm at 6am this morning and secondly, because I was wide awake at 5am. So by the time dawn rolled in, I already had my run finished and 4.28 at a 9:33 pace in the books. NICE!

Well, since I knew I am going to start running before dawn, I decided to drive over to the Cleveland YMCA and head out from there, through the residential areas, hitting Augusta Road and then McBee until I reach 2 miles and then turn around. I did some of the route as a warm up for the track workouts at the Greenville High track in preparation of the Myrtle Beach Half. From back then, I knew there are always runners and walkers out and about and I didn't have to worry about a thing.

I started at 5:40am and I didn't see a soul out for the first mile. But from then on there was a constant stream of single runners and groups of all sizes behind me, crossing the street in front of me or coming towards me. Constant chatter and nods and hellos exchanged and once again I was just happy to be out there and being part of such an active community. Especially on Augusta Road, things got a little crowded on the side walk when a group of five was running towards me and a light pole made the side walk even narrower at that point.

But you know what? I rather weave my run around other runners on the side walk than be the lone deer in the hunter's shooting range! As much as I love my Swamp Rabbit Trail for running, it's just useless for running in the dark because there is NO light and I am a chicken like that. So I think the area that I ran in this morning will certainly be a good alternative for running in the dark on my own.

So long! ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits Vol. 6

• Since my family is using my KIA for their road trip, I am currently using Terry's truck... I don't hate it as much as I thought I would, but I still can't wait to get my car back! ;-)
• Life happens a lot these days, so once again I had to scramble around my training plan a little. So no run for me tonight, I will do that tomorrow night instead.
• I also had a 1.5 hour bike ride on schedule for tomorrow night, but since I knocked myself out with some hill repeats yesterday, I think I will run and then bike tomorrow night... We'll see what life brings tomorrow though.
• I thought I was done with the wedding planning and then my soon to be husband comes home with a laundry list of stuff one of his co-worker reminded him that we need... By now I wished we would have eloped, even if that means that my parents exclude me in their will. Too late now anyways, once the first deposit check was mailed the show was on. I handle races this way and do the same thing for weddings! ;-)
• Great Facebook reconnecting going on these days... A girl I went to middle school with found me on Facebook. In her friend list I found a common friend and then another friend of mine found me on the second friend's friends list... Confused... Don't be... Bottom line is: Great things happen on FB every now and then! ;-)
• The impromptu dance practice Sunday evening almost killed my feet... Sometimes it feels like there is a stress fracture waiting to happen. I think it's about time to take the Vibrams back out of the box and slowly start building some mileage on them again. I basically put them away over the winter, but with the temps being like they are, it's time to use them... And hopefully, it's going to make my feet stronger again.

Walk To The Beach: Stats Week 2

Just when you think that it can't get any worse.



Don't get me wrong. When I added up the numbers this morning, I was pleasantly surprised that I was still able to log over 40 miles for the week. Actually, compared to last week, my regular walking and cycling ended up around the same mileage and with two swims instead of one last week, I was able to increase the swimming mileage. But the run... The running is going really bad and this little exercise makes my slacking very visible.

Well, on the other hand, you can might as well call it taper for a big weekend of runs coming up. (Excuses, excuses, excuses) I will do a 4 to 5 mile run sometime during the week and then the big dress rehearsal for the Palmetto200 on the weekend. 10 mile run Saturday morning, 4 mile run Saturday afternoon (maybe on a trail) and then another 4 mile run Sunday morning before church. This should give me a fairly good idea how the relay is going to feel like... Hopefully my legs are going to survive this number.

Our team number was around 160 miles last week compared to 190 miles the week before... So I guess I wasn't the only one having some scheduling problems... We are still going strong, but I don't know yet where we are compared to the other teams.

So long! ;-)

No Problems Are Too Specific....

.... for Google.

I am sitting here on my computer, eating pineapple (yammie) and waiting on my soon to be husband to get home, so we can get a nice bike ride in and I am in a predicament.

You see.... I am planning on wearing a strapless wedding gown and it's HOT outside and SUNNY SUNNY and MORE SUN. I already have a tan line from two weeks ago half way down my arm because I forgot to put sunscreen on. Today, I don't think that any amount of sun screen can prevent me tanning at least a little. My predicament is: I REALLY REALLY want to ride my bicycle and I REALLY REALLY would like to look cute in my strapless wedding gown without weird stripey pattern on my arms, shoulders and my back. Well and I don't own a strapless cycling top.... I kinda doubt they produce that sort of thing.

My first instinct to resolve this problem was to Google it and there actually have been several bike forum entries about this topic..... The solution: going long sleeve. Can't say that I love this option, but it seems to be the only thing that works and I certainly don't want to look like this:



On other news: My parents plus brother arrived safe and sound. This morning they took off for their road trip along the east coast. It has been a fun day and a half to have them around here. The dog had a field day with so many people around playing with her. We also finished the kitchen just in time for their arrival. PHEW!

March Stats

You can also call it a filler post. Too much stuff going on, to really sit down and actually write real blog post with substance (who am I kidding).

At least I got my swim in this morning. It was a slow (60% effort) and long (3,000 yards) workout that was fairly enjoyable. The only problem with slow efforts is that I never really warmed up.... Well until I said: "Screw that! I am swimming the 200's as fast as I can!" ;-) Warm and fuzzy right away.

Okay... Here are the stats for March and I am happy to say that I did some sort of exercise every day in March and if it was just walking the doggy.



And here are the stats year to date 2010 for the tri sports.


(click to enlarge... to actually be able and read it)

I am happy so far with the training of the year and only wish I would run at least 50 miles every month.

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Tomorrow my parents plus brother are flying in. Fortunately, they won't be at the house before 7PM (most likely) which gives me a complete day (the company is closed for Good Friday! YAY) to get the house cleaned up and do the remaining organizing... Also, I would really really like to get a 10 mile run squeezed in too. We'll see what is going to happen!