It was nice to have a weekend at home. I guess we technically had a weekend at home last weekend, too, but with the open water swim it was pretty hectic. Marty decided to do a local sprint on Saturday morning, but I opted out because I really just wanted a solid training weekend. He ended up winning a cool belt buckle, if you're into that sort of thing.
After the Thursday run meltdown, I took it easy at Master's the next morning and brought up the back of the lane. They were having a huge meet there this weekend so we were relegated to the short course pool. This is also the 'warm pool' which I was very excited about when I first hopped in but not so excited about after 500 yards. Can someone make a pool that is warm when I first get in and then slowly drop the temperature a couple of degrees when I'm ready to start the workout. Am I asking too much? ;)
I went to work, got a much need eyebrow wax, had pizza with Marty for dinner, and then watched a bunch of House Hunter episodes. I was pretty much a blob on the couch and still obviously needed good rest.
The next morning I did my long run (10 miles) and was not worried at all what my pace was. I just wanted to get the time in. There was no way I was going back to Umstead, so instead I ran on the Black Creek Greenway (thanks to the anonymous poster for teaching me the name of that greenway. I can now stop calling it 'you-know-that-greenway-that-kind-of-starts-near-the-dogpark-and-runs-into-umstead-at-reedy-creek?') Thankfully, no horseflies!!
Saturday night we hung out with Alysia and Jimmy at their pool and had a great time catching up with them. It had been too long since the 4 of us had gotten together.
And this morning we did hill repeats on Lystra (a pretty steep hill near here). I felt great! And I ended up riding home instead of back to our car to get some extra miles in. Now it's time to catch up on all that house stuff - stupid laundry won't do itself no matter how many times I ask it!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Eat McDonald's
I’m typically a pretty consistent workout person. Of course, I don’t always feel good or fast or strong, but when it comes down to it I’m not usually too far off my target paces. It’s not supposed to be easy right?
Yesterday I was supposed to do mile repeats, which I was going to do at Umstead on the bridle trails. Wednesday was a challenging day with early morning master’s, a longer than normal work day, and then a solid bike ride with the girls. I got home and was d-o-n-e. But I was going to sleep in (relative term when I’m used to getting up between 5-5:30) and actually felt pretty good all day on Thursday. I was even excited for the workout. I do get excited to do run workouts a lot of times, I’m weird like that and a runner deep down. I ended up getting stuck a little later at work again, but no matter, I got to the park before highway traffic got too bad.
The first thing I noticed was the heat. And the humidity. But I’m from Florida so that doesn’t bother me too much. I set off on my run and felt the deep, dead feeling in my legs but also knew this didn’t always indicate a bad run. Maybe after I got warmed up a bit I would be fine.
And then THEY came out.
The horseflies. Or deerflies. Whatever they are they make life miserable for us runners in the woods. And the more you swat at them the more they dive bomb you. The sweatier you get the more they multiply. The slower you go they multiply exponentially.
I set off on my first mile, which was pretty hilly but I was having to work SO HARD. And when I saw my time I was mortified. I was breathing like a freight train and I could barely pick my legs up. The second one (less hilly) was faster but I felt even worse and with the amount of pain I was feeling I might as well have just set a world record. It’s possible I set a world record for 2 year old girls.
I had to reassess – this was ugly and I could tell I had crossed that line of pushing hard to get faster and pushing hard to get nothing. I was actually weaving a bit on the second mile. This can’t be good. I decided to run just a ½ mile and back the effort down. Of course I ended up doing the entire mile, but it was a minute slower than the other one so it was manageable. What wasn’t manageable were all those flies. I had at least 3 of them constantly circling around me, dive bombing my arms, legs and face. I was swatting like a crazy person, but barely hit them, and even when I did it didn’t seem to faze them one bit. I wanted to cry. Actually I wanted to stop, but that meant more flies. And I was SO TIRED!! But I was still 1.5 miles away from my car. I really wanted to cry, but didn’t have the energy. It was a miserable, miserable experience.
And I had to walk. I had to! I could barely get one foot in front of the other. F----NG BUGS GO AWAY!!! AUGH!!! PLEASE GO AWAY YOU ARE GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME! I wanted to jump off the bridge and into the lake that has signs posted that you shouldn’t eat the fish because of the high levels of mercury. I didn’t care, would it get the bugs off me? Because I was willing to risk some mercury poisoning at this point.
I did make it back to my car but I was not a happy camper. It’s one thing to have a bad run. It’s another thing to have a swarm of bugs around you. It’s torture to have to deal with both. Forget waterboarding, go run for miles in 90% humidity while deerflies try and poke your eyes out.
So I did what any exhausted person would do – I went to McDonald’s! I love McDonald’s. I know it’s horrible and I don’t eat there that much but for some reason I felt like I needed some big fatty caloric goodness. I don’t think my brain was working correctly at the time. It seemed like such a great idea. Except it didn’t do the trick and I ended up only getting half the burger down and couldn’t even touch the fries! What a waste!! My stomach, after that effort (as slow as it was) and the heat/humidity was super mad at me for trying to put that filth in it. We really need to go food shopping so I’m not tempted to make such an ill-fated decision again.
Okay, so now you all know I’m not perfect and have lots of downfalls :)
Yesterday I was supposed to do mile repeats, which I was going to do at Umstead on the bridle trails. Wednesday was a challenging day with early morning master’s, a longer than normal work day, and then a solid bike ride with the girls. I got home and was d-o-n-e. But I was going to sleep in (relative term when I’m used to getting up between 5-5:30) and actually felt pretty good all day on Thursday. I was even excited for the workout. I do get excited to do run workouts a lot of times, I’m weird like that and a runner deep down. I ended up getting stuck a little later at work again, but no matter, I got to the park before highway traffic got too bad.
The first thing I noticed was the heat. And the humidity. But I’m from Florida so that doesn’t bother me too much. I set off on my run and felt the deep, dead feeling in my legs but also knew this didn’t always indicate a bad run. Maybe after I got warmed up a bit I would be fine.
And then THEY came out.
The horseflies. Or deerflies. Whatever they are they make life miserable for us runners in the woods. And the more you swat at them the more they dive bomb you. The sweatier you get the more they multiply. The slower you go they multiply exponentially.
I set off on my first mile, which was pretty hilly but I was having to work SO HARD. And when I saw my time I was mortified. I was breathing like a freight train and I could barely pick my legs up. The second one (less hilly) was faster but I felt even worse and with the amount of pain I was feeling I might as well have just set a world record. It’s possible I set a world record for 2 year old girls.
I had to reassess – this was ugly and I could tell I had crossed that line of pushing hard to get faster and pushing hard to get nothing. I was actually weaving a bit on the second mile. This can’t be good. I decided to run just a ½ mile and back the effort down. Of course I ended up doing the entire mile, but it was a minute slower than the other one so it was manageable. What wasn’t manageable were all those flies. I had at least 3 of them constantly circling around me, dive bombing my arms, legs and face. I was swatting like a crazy person, but barely hit them, and even when I did it didn’t seem to faze them one bit. I wanted to cry. Actually I wanted to stop, but that meant more flies. And I was SO TIRED!! But I was still 1.5 miles away from my car. I really wanted to cry, but didn’t have the energy. It was a miserable, miserable experience.
And I had to walk. I had to! I could barely get one foot in front of the other. F----NG BUGS GO AWAY!!! AUGH!!! PLEASE GO AWAY YOU ARE GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME! I wanted to jump off the bridge and into the lake that has signs posted that you shouldn’t eat the fish because of the high levels of mercury. I didn’t care, would it get the bugs off me? Because I was willing to risk some mercury poisoning at this point.
I did make it back to my car but I was not a happy camper. It’s one thing to have a bad run. It’s another thing to have a swarm of bugs around you. It’s torture to have to deal with both. Forget waterboarding, go run for miles in 90% humidity while deerflies try and poke your eyes out.
So I did what any exhausted person would do – I went to McDonald’s! I love McDonald’s. I know it’s horrible and I don’t eat there that much but for some reason I felt like I needed some big fatty caloric goodness. I don’t think my brain was working correctly at the time. It seemed like such a great idea. Except it didn’t do the trick and I ended up only getting half the burger down and couldn’t even touch the fries! What a waste!! My stomach, after that effort (as slow as it was) and the heat/humidity was super mad at me for trying to put that filth in it. We really need to go food shopping so I’m not tempted to make such an ill-fated decision again.
Okay, so now you all know I’m not perfect and have lots of downfalls :)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
I Hope This Wasn't Someone's Personal Playlist
This morning I thought I was going to Master’s practice.
Turns out I walked into a Middle School dance in the mid 90’s. They have a pretty good sound system at the pool we swim at. I would like to advise the employees on when it’s a good idea to blast C&C Music Factory’s ‘Gonna Make You Sweat’ (Everybody Dance Now) at 5:45am.
NEVER!
Some other highlights included:
PM Dawn (I’d Die Without You)
Janet Jackson (Together Again)
Britney Spears (Baby One More Time)
Boyz II Men (End of the Road)
and - drumroll please...
Milli Vanilli (Blame It On the Rain)
Music aside, it was a nice swim.
Turns out I walked into a Middle School dance in the mid 90’s. They have a pretty good sound system at the pool we swim at. I would like to advise the employees on when it’s a good idea to blast C&C Music Factory’s ‘Gonna Make You Sweat’ (Everybody Dance Now) at 5:45am.
NEVER!
Some other highlights included:
PM Dawn (I’d Die Without You)
Janet Jackson (Together Again)
Britney Spears (Baby One More Time)
Boyz II Men (End of the Road)
and - drumroll please...
Milli Vanilli (Blame It On the Rain)
Music aside, it was a nice swim.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Jordan Lake Challenge - 1 Mile Open Water Swim
Here are results!
Collis and I were manning the 'packet pickup' table and everything went pretty smooth. Some people were irked that they didn't get a t-shirt but that's why it's good to sign up early. We have to put the t-shirt order in at some point and for a race like this, if we have a ton of t-shirts ordered but not paid for, it really eats into any profits.
Marty did the pre-race swim clinic and we actually only started about 15min late, which I thought was pretty good. The water temp ended up being 76, so there were plenty of wetsuits out there, but also a lot of us who didn't wear them.
We saw tons of familiar faces and it was a very low-key, fun event. They started us and the swim itself was pretty uneventful - the Coast Guard was out there overseeing everyone and some people were on surfboards paddling around. I went out steady and tried to pick it up a bit on the way in. I was around people the whole time but it never got too crowded. I got closer to the boat ramp and was getting pretty tired, so kind of put it into a hard tempo effort (whatever that means) and took the last turn toward's the exit; the exit was about 20 yards aways.
Then all of the sudden - ZOOM!! Someone went sprinting SO fast by me...and it was a she! Oh no! When she popped up I realized it was my friend Laura who swims at Master's with us. She had an awesome finish and said when she turned around, "Oh Bri! I had no idea it was you! I drafted the whole last half on you!" That's racing! We finished 1 second apart, so fun!
We both got back in to do a little warm down and I could barely lift my arms at all. I had never felt that much soreness in my lats so quickly. I guess I was pulling hard! My breathing wasn't out of control or anything, just sore muscles.
I waited around for the awards with Collis and Kari and Bobby. Kari beat Bobby and he seemed super excited about the swim he just did :) I think Kari may have a gross post-swim picture of the two of us; hopefully it came out blurry.
Collis and I were manning the 'packet pickup' table and everything went pretty smooth. Some people were irked that they didn't get a t-shirt but that's why it's good to sign up early. We have to put the t-shirt order in at some point and for a race like this, if we have a ton of t-shirts ordered but not paid for, it really eats into any profits.
Marty did the pre-race swim clinic and we actually only started about 15min late, which I thought was pretty good. The water temp ended up being 76, so there were plenty of wetsuits out there, but also a lot of us who didn't wear them.
We saw tons of familiar faces and it was a very low-key, fun event. They started us and the swim itself was pretty uneventful - the Coast Guard was out there overseeing everyone and some people were on surfboards paddling around. I went out steady and tried to pick it up a bit on the way in. I was around people the whole time but it never got too crowded. I got closer to the boat ramp and was getting pretty tired, so kind of put it into a hard tempo effort (whatever that means) and took the last turn toward's the exit; the exit was about 20 yards aways.
Then all of the sudden - ZOOM!! Someone went sprinting SO fast by me...and it was a she! Oh no! When she popped up I realized it was my friend Laura who swims at Master's with us. She had an awesome finish and said when she turned around, "Oh Bri! I had no idea it was you! I drafted the whole last half on you!" That's racing! We finished 1 second apart, so fun!
We both got back in to do a little warm down and I could barely lift my arms at all. I had never felt that much soreness in my lats so quickly. I guess I was pulling hard! My breathing wasn't out of control or anything, just sore muscles.
I waited around for the awards with Collis and Kari and Bobby. Kari beat Bobby and he seemed super excited about the swim he just did :) I think Kari may have a gross post-swim picture of the two of us; hopefully it came out blurry.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Weekend Preview
I just finished some oatmeal and am about to get Marty moving for our long run. We're heading to Umstead to do Turkey Creek, hopefully with some tempo thrown in. Then a short mountain bike ride immediately after. Marty's friend, Collis, is flying in this afternoon for a visit and to do the Jordan Lake Open Water Swim. Marty and Collis both swam at FSU eons ago ;)
The race had over 100 signups when online registration closed the other night! We'll be at Inside Out this evening doing packet pickup from 5-6pm (which really just consists of a cap and t-shirt, but help us out and get your stuff tonight so the morning isn't so busy).
Even though the swim will probably be wetsuit legal, I'm going to go without mine. What?! But I've said on here 20 different times how much I love my wetsuit! That's still true but I think I'll get a much better workout without it, and I already know I swim well in it so it's not like I need that practice. And I'll look like a real swimmer without one :)
The race had over 100 signups when online registration closed the other night! We'll be at Inside Out this evening doing packet pickup from 5-6pm (which really just consists of a cap and t-shirt, but help us out and get your stuff tonight so the morning isn't so busy).
Even though the swim will probably be wetsuit legal, I'm going to go without mine. What?! But I've said on here 20 different times how much I love my wetsuit! That's still true but I think I'll get a much better workout without it, and I already know I swim well in it so it's not like I need that practice. And I'll look like a real swimmer without one :)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
On The Go
Oh my what a busy week it’s been.
We got home Sunday evening and I had some time to unpack and do some laundry. I skipped master’s Monday morning since I had just raced, but from then it’s been nonstop:
Monday
Work
Evening run at Bond Park (6pm)
Coach master’s (7:30pm)
Tuesday
Morning run at Bond Park (6am)
Work
Ride with Alisha
Wednesday
Swim master’s (5:45am)
Work
Run/Swim/Run at Jordan Lake (6pm)
Thursday
No way I could get up this morning for the run at Bond Park – SLEPT!
Work
IOS ride (6pm) barring any storms
Friday
Swim master’s (6am)
Work
Probably run workout
I’m wiped.
We got home Sunday evening and I had some time to unpack and do some laundry. I skipped master’s Monday morning since I had just raced, but from then it’s been nonstop:
Monday
Work
Evening run at Bond Park (6pm)
Coach master’s (7:30pm)
Tuesday
Morning run at Bond Park (6am)
Work
Ride with Alisha
Wednesday
Swim master’s (5:45am)
Work
Run/Swim/Run at Jordan Lake (6pm)
Thursday
No way I could get up this morning for the run at Bond Park – SLEPT!
Work
IOS ride (6pm) barring any storms
Friday
Swim master’s (6am)
Work
Probably run workout
I’m wiped.
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