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January 31, 2005

Midday Monday

Well here is the news from today so far. 4 mile treadmill run at lunch, going from 9:05 to 7:40 pace. Felt fine. I played with the incline, going from 0.5 to 1.5 or 2.0 (can't remember). I am going to run another 4-5 miles after work somewhere, not sure where. This two short runs a day thing is definitely stupid but sometimes it's the only way I can get any mileage in. When Matt and I both get home we are walking to the ghetto Safeway (I do not think they have Safeway on the east coast), which we have affectionately renamed Unsafeway. I need to get ingredients to make a beef and broccoli stir fry tomorrow or Wednesday. Because it calls for flank steak and that type of steak is tough and rubbery if it's not marinated forever, I may marinate it tonight for dinner tomorrow.

I just calculated my mileage total for January and it is my lowest in quite some time so I'm hoping to step things up a bit in February. We'll see how it goes. I would also like to go to yoga occasionally and keep skiing now and again.

That is the news for Monday! What a great day when it's Monday afternoon and I'm in Denver!!

Posted by barb at 3:40 PM | Comments (0)

It's Winter Again

Well we are finally having some winter weather. Based on the amount of snow I scraped off my car this morning, I'd say we got maybe 6 inches or so. I thought the commute would be dreadful but actually it wasn't that bad - maybe 5-10 minutes more than normal. So due to snowfall and uncertainty about conditions I decided not to run in the morning, I'm going to try to go run about 45 minutes (5 miles or so) at lunchtime today.

Although I am sad that I didn't go to practice this weekend (slacker!!) I had a decent running week last week and my mileage ended up being about 51 miles. I feel like I am in better shape every week right now which is also good. I am not generally a huge fan of treadmill running but it does make me faster.

Over the weekend the weather was moderately cold (maybe like 40 degrees or so) and surprisingly humid here. Pretty good conditions actually. Saturday morning I got up around 8:45, ran down to Wash Park, did part of the scheduled fartlek workout (about half), and met Matt at my favorite coffee shop where he was on the internet trying to get U2 tickets for some of our friends (we have them already). That was about 6.5 miles. Then in the afternoon, after we went to see my brother's house that he is buying which is really awesome, we went to Matt's swanky gym and I ran another 4 miles and then did 20 minutes on the elliptical. His gym is totally sweet. They have big TV screens on all the equipment and the locker rooms are gorgeous.

Sunday morning we skipping skiing/boarding because we stayed up too late having friends over for dinner and then meeting people at a restaurant/bar about a block away from home. So I ran 5 miles in the late morning as just an easy recovery run. I did not feel great on this run by any means but I felt okay, and I am pretty pleased with the week overall because I did the same mileage as I've been doing lately with the intensity ratcheted up.

So that is the news from the weekend, I am off to get the scoop from all the other blogs!

Posted by barb at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2005

Working on Friday?!

Working on Fridays is so strange - I have not done it for the last 6 months or so but now it's about time to get back into it. I really don't mind it, I much rather be like a normal person and work 5 days a week and actually be able to go home after work every day!

I have only been working at my new company for two weeks now but I am really liking it. The work is exactly the kind of stuff I enjoy, so I am really happy. And of course being in Denver is so great. The only thing I am having trouble with is trying to fit in all of my running along with work, commuting, and spending time with Matt and friends.

Anyway, on to running... last night after work I started driving home to do my second run but traffic was bad so I decided just to go to the gym. I ran 5 miles on the treadmill in 45 minutes which was not too exciting, it was fine. I just kind of listened to music and zoned out. I am pleased that I can run 9:00 pace on the treadmill for as long as I want, and I seem to be okay with 8:00 pace as well. Running on the treadmill does make me a bit faster, I believe.

I finally went to bed at a decent hour and finally slept for 8 hours last night so although I was not popping out of bed with great vigor, I was able to get up at 6:00 and feel okay. I wanted to get into work pretty early today because I'm getting a haircut at lunch which will take a while so I only ran 6 miles. It was a nice run and the weather was really kind of strange - it was about 35 degrees out and really humid and foggy. It was cool though.

So that's the running news, now I am back to work!

Posted by barb at 8:35 AM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2005

Some Good Running News

Well, I appear to have rescued the week from low-mileage oblivion, at least for the time being. Last night I left work right around 5:00 and headed to the gym to start my run. I ran about 7.25 miles outside, going through the area where the gym is (which is a bunch of office buildings and stuff) to another of Denver's ritzy neighborhoods. Denver has a truly surprising number of neighborhoods with huge houses, I really do not know how our economy supports it. Anyway that was nice but I guess the rich people do not like street lights so it was really dark. This would be a good run in the morning though, you can run all the way to one of the trails in the area so it could be a nice long run. Anyway at the point where it was too dark and I was getting pretty far away, I turned around. It was kind of a strange run - at about the 2.5-mile point I felt terrible and light-headed but then for the rest of the run I felt great. When I got back to the gym I added on to make the run about 9 miles and then took a quick shower and headed home. Matt made some awesome chili last night which was so nice!

This morning I was pretty tired so I just ran 4 miles and I hope to run again later, maybe 5-6 more miles. I am also currently planning on going to practice this Saturday to do some speed work and hopefully getting a long(ish) run in at some point although I believe we are skiing on Sunday. Overall it should be a decent week!

Posted by barb at 8:39 AM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2005

Not much to report...

I have not run yet today so I debated as to whether or not to blog but I figured I am such a blog slacker on the weekends that I might as well make up for it today. Anyway, we saw Sideways last night so I went to bed too late and thus I did not get up and run, and in addition to that, I am sleepy. But Matt is making dinner tonight so I have plenty of time to run after work. Depending on how I feel, and how bad traffic is, I'd like to run anywhere from 6-10 miles. I think I'll have time to run a lot tomorrow so today is not critical but I am feeling like a bit of a slacker so far this week.

Last night after the movie we did do some abs but I am still not too pleased with the amount I have worked out so far. However I do have to take a minute to say how much I liked the movie! I really, really, really liked it. I recommend it very highly.

That is about all the news! In a tribute to the veggie-eating that has been happening, I had lots of veggies in my teriyaki chicken bowl thing I ate for lunch. In addition, because I still need to drop some weight, I have decided that even though we are having a special dinner we will not have dessert. Luckily Matt isn't into dessert so he won't care, and I will be happy later for the semblance of discipline I am displaying. After all you have to be disciplined if you run as little as I do right now!

Posted by barb at 4:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2005

Working

Tell you what, working sure keeps a girl busy! I had a crazy day yesterday - got up, went to Starbucks, went to work, went to the gym, went home, had dinner, did laundry, etc., etc. There is just so much to do every day and when I am too lazy to get up and run first thing it absolutely kills me. Happily however this morning I was able to convince myself that running first thing was indeed for the best so today should be a little bit less hectic. Anyway here is the week in running so far...

Yesterday after work I rushed over to the gym. It was still pretty nice out but it was getting dark and I am more efficient when I just suck it up and run on the treadmill so that's what I did. The gym is right by my high school so I know some good runs from there which will be nice when it starts to get dark later. Anyway my plan was to run 4 miles easy. However, on the treadmill I always want to make myself go faster so I started at 8:57 pace and kept going faster until I got to 4 miles, and was running 7:00 pace. Then just for kicks I did another mile with the quarters at 8:00, 6:40, 9:00, 9:00 pace respectively. So I ended up with 5 miles in 40:00. I felt pretty tired when it was done although I could have run more time permitting so that is good since I ran long on Sunday. After running I walked for about .2 miles and lifted weights for like 5 seconds (time issues). Then I went home and did all kinds of stuff and hung out with Matt - which is the best part of not traveling and having a normal job!

This morning I dragged myself out of bed and ran 7 miles in one of my normal routes. I had some stomach trouble but it was not bad, and overall it was a nice run. I didn't feel tired from running hard 12 hours before which is good. Tonight I think we may go see either The Aviator or Sideways, which will be fun.

Posted by barb at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2005

LONG Update

I have not updated for several days and there has been a good amount of running so I will try to keep this as short and sweet as possible! I do not believe I have updated since Wednesday as I ran late on Thursday and then was not online until this morning. So here goes:

Thursday:
7 mile run, early afternoon. I feel so bad talking about the weather out here right now because I know how cold and miserable it is in the Northeast right now, but this was another warm run. I felt pretty good and my iPod is back working again which was nice although I definitely felt like my legs were a bit dead.

Friday:
6 mile run, around Wash Park and some neighborhoods. Nothing exciting about this. I had just come back from Breckenridge - I was up there for some work stuff - and was feeling kind of depressed so it was a bit of a blah run. But it was fine.

Saturday:
Short easy run, 4 miles. We had planned to go up skiing but didn't quite make it. So we slept in until 11:00 (this was SO GREAT) and I ran, then we ran errands and went to some friends' house for dinner. Which was a lot of fun but I need to stop eating dessert!

Sunday: 11 mile long run. Felt pretty good throughout. Dressed too warmly so I was hot but it was fine. I completed this in 1:35 (which I think is like 8:45 pace) - that seemed like it did not take enough time but I am pretty sure of the run's distance so I am calling it 11 anyway. After I ran, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park and did about a 4 mile hike. It was so much fun and it was beautiful up there although the footing was certainly tricky in the snow. I was wishing I had some Yaktrax (or some snowshoes). Then we took a nice drive up to Fort Collins for a surprise party where we hung out with my favorite 18-month old, our friends' baby Abby. She is absolutely adorable and so much fun. It was a great Sunday.

Monday:
I have not run yet but my plan is to go to the gym after work, do a quick 4 mile run from there, and then lift weights because as usual I have been a weights slacker for a while. My legs actually feel fine today in spite of putting 15 miles on them in one shape or form yesterday, but I still think it's wise to take it pretty easy today.

I hope everyone has an okay time digging out.

p.s. Go Patriots! I have bet against Matt on the Pats games for the past two weeks and won both times so they have been very good to me :)

Posted by barb at 8:05 AM | Comments (1)

January 19, 2005

This cannot be January!

I just got back from a lunchtime 8 mile run. On January 19th in Denver. In shorts and a sports bra! How crazy can this weather get? Now don't get me wrong, I am most definitely not complaining - it was sweet. But it was definitely kind of bizarre. I think it is supposed to stay this nice at least for another day or two which will be great. It was just getting to be that time in the winter when I start to become grouchy because I am sick of being cold all the time. So it is very nice to have a little break. Now I am sitting at my desk looking out at the beautifully sunny day. Life is good!

Not only that, but I have been in Denver for over two weeks now and in fact have not been on an airplane since January 4th. That is also sweet and I feel that my quality of life has been improving by leaps and bounds.

I would not really say that I felt superb today but I did run 8 miles in about 69 minutes which is pretty fast for an easy day. My left shin is intermittently reminding me of its existence which I attribute to my recent mileage increase and running on pavement too much. I will keep an eye on it but I think it should be fine. I guess that I've also been walking a little bit more - to and from work all week - but that should have a very minimal effect.

Anyway I just had a big lunch so I can hardly think about eating but I kind of want to cook dinner tonight so we'll see. I also kind of want to lay around on the couch! I was thinking about going back to the gym after work and lifting but frankly I just do not see that happening.

That is all the news for this great Wednesday...

Posted by barb at 2:07 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

Warm and Windy Tuesday

I do not know what the temperature is outside right now, but I do know it is warm. I think the high is supposed to be about 60 degrees today which is sweet! However normally when we get unseasonably warm temperatures in the middle of January it is pretty breezy.

So I started my new job yesterday (after an easy 6 mile run in the morning) and it is going great so far. I am doing some cool stuff and learning new software and development tools which I enjoy. It is a really tiny company which is totally fun - the guys in charge are great and I am excited about what they are doing. Of course my expectations are still low because you just never know what to expect but I think that things are going well so far.

This morning I woke up at 6:00, which was unfortunate as I was in the middle of a cool dream. Oh well, such is the life of a working person. I started out feeling crabby but felt good as I trotted around, and decided to do an 8 mile run down to Wash Park, around it, and back. There is still a ton of snow and ice on the ground but I hope in the next few days it'll melt. I had forgotten how much slower I run early in the morning, but today's run was about 2 minutes off normal at 75 minutes. I would like to measure this course to see how accurate my assumption about its distance is, but I probably won't do that for a while.

Anyway running is good. I am meeting up with my parents for an early dinner tonight but depending on how I feel afterwards I may work out more. Then again, I may not. I have been trying to read more lately so I may hang out on the couch and read or go meet Matt at our neighborhood pub for some trivia. I love trivia!

Happy Tuesday to all!

Posted by barb at 11:01 AM | Comments (4)

January 16, 2005

Quick Weekend Stuff

So this will be quick because I am at my mom's house and Matt and my brother (and my insane dog that hates Matt) and my mom are all upstairs. But I hate having too much to update on Monday so here it is:

Friday:
Easy 7 mile run on the Highline Canal. Terrible footing, slow pace but it was nice and much warmer than I expected. Also did 25 hard minutes on the elliptical and lifted.

Saturday:
Workout with my group. Frigid - 11 degree - temperatures and snow. But it was a good fartlek workout and ended up running about 9 miles. Jeanne Hennessey (spelling?) ran with the group, I guess she just moved to Boulder. So that was cool, we were a bit starstruck. She seems extremely nice.

Sunday:
Easy 6 mile recovery run. Legs were a little sore but not bad. It was probably not quite 20 degrees out so it was cold but nice.

Tomorrow I will be starting my new job (I have been too scared to tell my dad that I left my old job, so this may be the way I am telling him - if so I am sorry daddy!). I am excited about it but it will be strange to have to get up at 6:00 again!

Looking forward to catching up on everyone's weekends. Good news is that I finally had a decent mileage week this week - 52 miles.

Posted by barb at 4:26 PM | Comments (2)

January 14, 2005

Better, Finally!

Well I am finally feeling quite like myself again. Last night I could stay awake past 10:00 and I did not hack my lungs out or anything! My energy level is so much better although I still need a lot of sleep. I have not updated for two days because on Wednesday I holed up with Harry Potter for 9 hours and finished the fifth book! Which means I will not be obsessed again until July when the sixth book comes out. It was such a relief to finish! I also think it was the best thing I could do for my body to sit on the couch for a full day. After doing so, I finally got to running around 6:30 and just ran 4 miles since it was late and cold and stuff. I have been feeling pretty good running lately so I was pleased again. So Wednesday was not my most productive day.

Yesterday, Thursday, I had to take my car to the dealer in Boulder for an oil change. Normally I take it in early and go to work and pick it up afterwards but since I am not doing much lately I dropped it off and went for a run from the dealership. Only in Boulder is it possible to have a great, scenic run from the car dealer's. There were two cool things about this run. One is that I was running on a path on Boulder Creek that is measured every half-mile so I knew my exact pace which pleased me. The way out is downhill and out of the wind and I averaged 8:15 miles on the way out, and the way back is uphill and into the wind, and on the way back I averaged 8:45 miles. For a 9 mile run I was happy with that pace. The other cool thing was that I am pretty sure I passed by Alan Culpepper while I was running. He is cool!

This morning it is quite cold in Denver - they said on the news it was about 8 degrees out - so I will be waiting until the early afternoon to run, and I may do a treadmill run just because I am sick of running in the cold. I would also like to do a yoga class or do some other form of cross training today. Now that I am feeling better I think I need to step up my training again.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Posted by barb at 9:14 AM | Comments (1)

January 12, 2005

Snowy Wednesday

I am sitting at my favorite coffee shop watching the snow falling. I think it's been snowing for several hours by now, the roads are terrible. Today might be a treadmill day - footing seems quite bad and it's snowing hard enough that it would be pretty unpleasant. In fact it is a good day to curl up on the couch and read - I'm 250 pages into the fifth Harry Potter book now, and I am still obsessed. However I would like to run 6-8 miles today. If it is feasible I'd also like to do a yoga class.

Yesterday I ran 9 miles around Wash Park and some of the ritzy neighborhoods nearby. It was great although my decision to skip practice was definitely validated - I tried a 60-second pickup and felt like I was going to pass out. So it looks like easy running is about all I should be doing.

Now off to read the blogs and obsess over my book!

Posted by barb at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2005

A Little Relapse

I am feeling okay today. This cold is bizarre, that is all I can say.

Yesterday I ran 8 miles. I felt awful for the first two miles and considered turning around but then in the third mile everything changed and I started to feel strong, fast, and darned good! I had planned on doing some cross training/weight lifting afterwards but I had definitely not planned on running 8 miles so I decided that was plenty in my weakened state. So instead I got a salad at my favorite place in Denver and finished the fourth Harry Potter book - which is sweet, just one to go and I will be all caught up.

Anyway in a fit of exuberance because I felt better, I cooked lemon chicken, roasted potatoes, and broccoli (vegetables are good for you) for dinner for me and Matt. It was fun trying a new recipe - I had never made the chicken before - and it turned out to be pretty good. Then Matt watched 24 and I read my new Atlantic. It was a great day and night but it was tiring and I started coughing when we went to bed and could not stop for a while. When I woke up this morning I felt kind of cruddy. I am hoping I'll start to feel better today - if so, I will go to practice this afternoon, but if not, I see no reason to drive to Boulder to feel like poo and run the warmup. I am committed to going today and/or Saturday.

So as far as the crazy cold goes, I will continue taking it as easy as possible, running as much as I can, and drinking nasty vitamin C drinks. However things are great in general and I am a very happy camper today!

Posted by barb at 8:39 AM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2005

Blah

I feel like crap! This has definitely progressed from a little under the weather to the worst cold I have had in quite a while. Of course I am stupid and ran in Frisco on Saturday morning before skiing which I am sure was not the best thing I could do for my cold. But I digress. On Friday, I had a great 8 mile run up in Boulder. I ran one of my favorite trails up there, which is nice and flat. The footing was non-ideal but I still only ran it about a minute off my normal time so I felt really good about it. It was a lot of fun and did not exhaust me too much.

I didn't start to feel terrible until after skiing on Saturday. But skiing was so much fun that it was totally worth it! It had been snowing a ton over the past week, so conditions at Vail were cold but totally sweet. The powder in the back bowls was amazing. Powder is really hard for me to ski in and the runs at Vail are really long so it actually did feel like a bit of a workout. So I guess that is cool and kind of makes up for the fact that yesterday (Sunday) I felt so terrible that I didn't run or work out all day. As much as I hate the fact that I took two days off last week, I do feel much better today than I did yesterday. We did have a really fun day yesterday though - drove up to Fort Collins to have lunch with friends who have a kid (she is about a year and a half old I believe), which was great. They are some of my favorite people and their daughter is adorable. We saw the new house they are building, which was so gorgeous. Then we went to Matt's parents' house to watch football and have dinner with his family which was also lots of fun.

Today I'm going to try to run as much as I can, and also take care of a bunch of errands and things. Even though I am stressed about all kinds of things I need to do this week, I will also try to drink lots of fluids and rest as much as I can so that I will keep getting better. Hope everyone has a good week!

Posted by barb at 8:44 AM | Comments (3)

January 7, 2005

Getting Better

I feel much better than I did late Tuesday/early Wednesday. However I do have a crazy sore throat now - when I woke up I could hardly speak. But my energy level is much better so I am happy. Wednesday I did a 7 mile run on the treadmill which almost killed me (kids, do not try this at home when you have a cold). I started at 9:05 pace and by the end I was running 6:40 pace. This is what I always forget about the treadmill - it is dull but I tend to run hard on it and I can really get faster if I do it. So that was good. I also saw an old friend on the treadmill which was cool and lifted weights for as long as I could stand it, which was not very long but hey it was something.

Thursday I ran 6 miles and did not feel that great. So I was happy that I chose a 6 mile loop rather than the 8 mile one I had been considering. I did all right but I just got kind of tired and not really light headed but just wanted to stop. And for some reason my stomach was bothering me. So then later I went to the gym and ellipticalled for 60 minutes which was fine. I am so happy because my gym finally got the good elliptical machines! Woo hoo! While I ellipticalled I obsessively read the fourth Harry Potter book, I am about 300 pages in now.

Today I need to meet with my coach at 2:00 to discuss goals and stuff for 2005, so I am planning a run in Boulder around lunchtime when it is warm outside. It is amazing the amount of crap I have to do, because after I meet with Darren I need to rush back and pick up my skis in case we go skiing tomorrow (they are getting tuned so they will be FAST!). I also need to go yell at the 'geniuses' at the iPod store because my iPod stops working when I run, but I may put that off because of how unpleasant it will be. The last time I went we practically got into a shouting match because the man told me that basically iPods are not to be run with (which is ridiculous!) and that I must have jostled it. Damned crazy technology.

So anyway that is all the news. I am so happy with being in Denver right now! I hope everyone will have a great weekend!

Posted by barb at 9:25 AM | Comments (3)

January 5, 2005

Under the Weather

So it has finally happened - I finally feel like I am actually a bit sick. In general I pride myself on having a strong constitution but it appears that the Man has finally gotten me down. I do not feel too bad but I have a headache, a little cough/sore throat, and some congestion. I am sure I will feel better soon and I did take some vitamins this morning. I will also drink some of my nasty-tasting Vitamin C drink which always helps.

I really wanted to run a lot yesterday as I did not run on Monday (dammit!!) and the fact that in general since Christmas Eve my mileage has been anemic at best. However it looks like this will be another lame week. Oh well. I figure if I am going to have some down time January is a good time for it. I am hoping/planning to run 7-10 miles today and also lifting and possibly doing some cross training but we will see how I feel. There is no reason to make myself feel lots worse and jack up my running for several weeks.

In other, happier news I have finally jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon and in the last two weeks I have read the first three Harry Potter books. As an English major I am practically ashamed to be reading them but the stories are fun. I like the movies too. We have watched the first two and started the third. And in skiing news the slopes are getting dumped on with snow, so I believe we are going up Saturday night and skiing Vail on Sunday, which is my favorite place in the world to ski. My skis are getting tuned up right now so that will be sweet! I do not think that skiing downhill is much of a workout but it is a lot of fun and if I run beforehand, it does lead to much activity for me.

Anyway that is what's up!

Posted by barb at 9:36 AM | Comments (6)

January 3, 2005

Back to Work

I feel like I have not worked for so long! I also feel like I have not been in California for a long time which was nice. Oh well, here I am back in LA. I flew first class this morning at least which was pleasant. I think that either this week or next week will be my last one in LA which is also good.

Here is the running situation for the last few days:

Thursday: Ran 10 miles in Denver around Wash Park, etc., etc. Felt good.

Friday: Ran 7 miles in Denver. This was possibly closer to 7.5 as I did add on quite a bit.

Saturday: New Year's Day. Skied instead of running. Felt bad that I did not run but I did not sleep much either as we got home at 2:00 am and left for Keystone at 8:00 am! Skiing was fun and I got 8 solid runs in which is at least some form of exercise. Matt and I had never skied together before so it was lots of fun! However that night we were exhausted.

Sunday: Ran 5 or 5.5 miles at Keystone before driving home. This was fun but cold. It was good to run at 9000 feet of elevation - felt hard but it was a nice morning.

Overall, for the week, I finished with 37 miles which is of course quite bad but at least I have Mexico as an excuse! Hopefully this week will be better. I have a meeting at 5:15 pm today and then I plan to leave straight away to go for a quick run before I pass out in my bed.

I hope everyone had a great new year (I am off to catch up on the blogs!)!

Posted by barb at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)