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February 27, 2006

The longest run

Well, I am really excited for Matt. He ran the farthest he ever has yesterday - 7 miles! He did great and just got a little tired at the end, which is not bad at all. I think he will do really well at Cherry Blossom. Of course I ran with him so I, too, ran 7 yesterday. It was kind of hectic and stressful what with having my family's highly insane dog with me. I feel really bad whenever I take her running on a trail where there are off-leash dogs. If she is on her leash and another dog who isn't leashed comes up to her she basically freaks out. So it was a fine balance of taking her leash off for off-leash dogs, putting it back on for leashed dogs/cyclists/children, and basically trying to make her less of a menace. I think I only screwed it up twice that I can remember, so that's not bad. I know when I'm running there without a dog I am annoyed at least that many times by off-leash dogs. So I still feel bad but I also think I did just about the best I could with it.

Because of having said insane dog I have not slept well for several nights so I am quite sleepy today. Hopefully I'll have more energy tomorrow.

I did actually run 7 days (and over 45 miles) last week, which was really good for my slacker self. Saturday I did 8 miles at Wash Park in spite of a sore butt from yoga. I didn't feel great on the run but towards the end I was doing decent so I am okay with it. The weather has been so awesome the last few days that although I wouldn't mind a day off from running I'm going to save it for a less beautiful weather day. Today it's going to be 65 and tomorrow it's actually supposed to get up to 70 degrees which is awesome! So I will run a nice easy few miles today, probably in the 4-7 range. I also need to lift weights as I have not done that in quite some time.

We went to dinner with friends last night, and we're going with Matt's parents tonight and my parents on Thursday. This is Denver Restaurant Week, which is fun. Basically you can go to lots of nice restaurants and get three courses for $52.80 per couple (because of the elevation = a mile high is 5280 feet = very clever). So we should eat a lot of good food this week which is always fun. Luckily dinner tonight is at 6:30 so I can be asleep early!

Posted by barb at 09:01 AM | Comments (2)

February 24, 2006

A beautiful spring day, if we had those

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts about Chicago. Most of which were basically that I should do it! I am going to see what I think over the weekend but it looks like I am leaning towards it right now. However I am going to need to find one or two people who will go out and run 20 miles with me, since I hate three hour runs and I will probably not do them very faithfully if it's just me. Last year I tried to convince Matt that it would be fun if he biked with me while I did long runs but he didn't go for it.

Anyway back to the title of my post today. Basically, in Denver we do not have spring. We have winter and then we have summer. We do have fall, which is nice, but in May or so it all of a sudden becomes summer after being cold and snowy a day or two before. When I went away to school in New England I remember being very surprised by a few things - how often it could be cloudy, how different a damp cold was, the fact that fog was unremarkable because it occurred so often, and, most memorably, how incredible spring was. I miss that so much. It was so perfect - and so green!

If we did have a spring season, I imagine it would be like the weather today - sunny, mild (temperatures around 60), and beautiful. It was awesome. I was only planning on running 4 miles today, since Friday's usually my easy day, but I wanted to run to the park and that is a five mile run so I just did it. I tried to go as slow as I could just because it is a very easy recovery day so I finished in 45:30 or so. It's supposed to be really nice all weekend so I am excited to do some running tomorrow and Sunday. We are dog sitting Saturday to Tuesday and on Sunday I think we will take the hound up to Boulder for a trail run, which I think will be great.

That is about all the news. I may or may not go to yoga later depending on how I feel. I might make Matt go for a walk since the weather is so gorgeous! I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Posted by barb at 01:38 PM | Comments (1)

February 23, 2006

to marathon or not to marathon...

That is the question of the day, kids. It might seem to have come out of nowhere and it kind of did. This morning my best buddy, Betsy, pinged me and told me she signed up for the Chicago Marathon, which is on October 22 this year. Immediately I decided that since Southwest flies from Denver to Chicago now, which means it is cheap to go there, I would at minimum fly there and run the last 10 miles of the race with her and generally hang out and have fun wtih her in Chicago. But now I am kind of thinking I might as well sign up too! I have kind of been wanting to run Chicago, and I've been wanting to try another marathon that is NOT at altitude or insanely hilly. Also, I should be in good enough shape this summer from triathlon training that I'd just have to add a few long runs and I could easily finish. At least as easily as anyone finishes a marathon of course.

So right now I am leaning towards signing up too, but I am going to sleep on it for a day or two. It wouldn't be that big of a deal but marathons are somewhat expensive so I'd like to actually do it if I do sign up, because I am cheap! I definitely think I'd have a much better experience with this marathon for three reasons: 1. sea level; 2. flatness; 3. companionship. Also, Matt likes Chicago so he would come and we would all hang out and have a big time.

My run today frankly helped me along to leaning towards the marathon - I felt like a rock star! First of all the weather was great, and it wasn't all that windy. I would say strongly breezy but not windy, which makes a big difference. Secondly, I felt awesome and went fast! I did an 8 mile run from the gym downtown that normally takes 71-72 minutes. Today I hit the halfway point almost two minutes early and finished in 65:30. It had me wondering if the course is short, and I do want to drive it, but I'm pretty sure it's very close to eight miles if it's not actually correct. I did walk on the treadmill for five minutes when I got back just in case (and to cool down). Then I lifted weights - chest, legs, and lats. It was not too bad and I would've kept going but I needed to get back to work.

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Tomorrow will be a very easy running day (I am saying an easy 4 miles) and an hour of yoga after work. It should be nice!

Posted by barb at 04:18 PM | Comments (4)

February 22, 2006

falling asleep at the job

Of course I am not really sleeping at my desk today. How unprofessional would that be! And if I did, I certainly wouldn't blog about it for all to see.

Happily in fact I am having a productive day. I am really tired though and a nap sounds appealing. I am considering going to bed around 9:00 tonight. I am truly a disaster when I'm tired. And a tired-hungry combination is seriously unpleasant. I admit I am not nice in those circumstances.

So, Matt and I had a great 6 mile run yesterday. He is funny. He will stop and walk three or four times in the first three miles but in the second three miles he is totally fine and in fact speeds up. It is 100% mental. But he is getting to the point that he understands it, and in my opinion, if he stops to walk ten times during his race he will still be a rock star. So that was fun. We did a loop from home so that was good for him mentally as well to get outside of his comfort zone (which is Wash Park or the treadmill). That was a good time all in all. It was in the low 40s when we ran so that was nice.

Today somehow I forgot my running socks. I have no clue as to how this happened. Usually I have more than one pair in my bag but somehow today I had zero. Luckily I was wearing a heavier work sock than normal so I just wore those for my run. They are truly revolting now and must be immediately thrown in the wash when I get home. Sadly these were not amazing wind repelling work socks. Boy how rich would I be if I could make that concept work. It was really, really, really windy today when I ran. How irritating. Seriously. Can I not get a day's peace? Okay, that was a bit much. I ran all 5 miles today hard, but my time was unremarkable. I blame the wind and the two hours of exercise that was yesterday. I am still happy with it though. When I got back I was going to lift but then there was a brand new US magazine which is my absolute favorite trashy magazine so I ellipticalled for 20 minutes while I read all about the celebs. Who needs to get a life? I think it might be me. But I really enjoyed it, and finding the US made my day a little better, so I am okay with it.

One of the reasons I am tired is that we stayed up to watch all of the womens' figure skating last night. Now I am generally a summer olympics person but the thing that I think is really cool about the figure skating is that womens' figure skating is probably the most popular winter event. It is way more fun to watch than the mens, in my opinion. It seems to me that there are few sports, much less few large athletic competitions, where a womens' event is widely considered to be the best one. That is really cool! Maybe someday there will be lots of events like this, and maybe there are others now that I'm forgetting, but I was all fired up about it.

Posted by barb at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2006

everything seems to be going smoothly

You know how there is like a basic level of drama and excitement that is almost kind of nice? Yeah, I don't have that right now. Everything is the same. It is nice but boring. I definitely go through phases like this where I am bored by myself. These are the kinds of times where I think about trying to do voice lessons or art classes or something. Speaking of which, I would love to take voice lessons. I am horribly tone deaf and when I talk, my voice is abysmal (although I think most people hate the sound of their own voices when it's recorded back to them, except extreme narcissists). I would love to be a great singer! Frankly I will probaby never even be a good singer but it would be cool to get better. Perhaps I will get myself a few voice lessons for my birthday. Either that or drum lessons. I think it would be super fun to be a drummer in a rock and roll band!

So, if you are reading this and you're as bored as me, what is the skill/job/ability you wish you had?

Anyway on to other topics. I trooped over to the gym yesterday to run, but the water wasn't working and I decided running and not showering would be gross. So I hopped on the elliptical for a bit of cross training. I had gone for about 45 minutes when the manager came up to the workout area and told everyone he had to close the club because when the water is not working they do not have adequate bathroom facilities and I guess city regulations require that they close. So that was a bit of a buzz kill. It has been cold enough that lots of people have had frozen pipes but this place basically is in an old and crappy building, so I kind of blame them. The club is fairly expensive and I think if they had any brains they would rebuild the club elsewhere. Hopefully it would stay within two blocks of my office!

So after work, I went to Wash Park and ran 7 miles. I encountered a range of intestinal issues most of which were my fault for eating a burrito bowl for lunch and having two cookies. Luckily I have run there many times and know where all the bathrooms are. I ran really slow due to a combination of the aforementioned issues and the fact that it was dark, but I felt good - especially once my stomach felt normal - and enjoyed the run.

Today I made sure the gym had reopened and went over for 8 minutes on the bike (waiting for an elliptical machine) and 60 minutes on the elliptical. I cannot lie, I was pretty happy when I hit 60 minutes. It seemed harder than normal. Then I did one lifting exercise as I did not have time or energy for more.

Now I am running a never ending query. I kicked it off before my workout and nothing came back so I changed something and kicked it off again an hour ago. I think something must be wrong with my query. How irritating! I told Matt I thought that I might have created a cartesian product and he thought I was the biggest dork ever. But I think I may have.

And later on today, Matt and I are going for a 6 mile run at Wash Park. I think it will be a good time. I have decided that in order to make it a bit more of a workout if he has to walk at all, when he is walking I will run fast. It will be like doing strides or something.

That is the news for this loquacious Tuesday!

Posted by barb at 02:58 PM | Comments (3)

February 20, 2006

It's winter now

Wow, last week and the weekend was really cold. On Friday I could not feel my face, except for a painful burning sensation, when I walked to work. Saturday was equally miserable and Sunday was slightly better. I will be tough about cold weather to a point but I don't really like running outside if it's under 10 degrees out due to freezing leg muscles. I was a wuss about working out and running in general this weekend, but I figure I will be better in the warmer months.

This is the weekend in exercise:
Saturday - 6 mile run (outside) in about 55 minutes. This was a nice hilly run in an area where I used to run often but hadn't for months. I enjoyed it although the temperature was about 15 while I was running. Then I did 15 minutes of swimming which was also fun.
Sunday - 4 miles on the treadmill. Totally weak day which I fully admit. No excuse other than laziness but at least I did run 7 days last week.

The forecast for this week is looking much better. Today it should get up to the high 30s which is completely tolerable. I am running at lunchtime today and hopefully running again or cross training after work. I may need to go and meet my dad to give him a snowshoeing book because he and my stepmom are going up to the mountains tomorrow. I still think I can get a second workout in, although it might cut into the time I spend with Matt's mom who is coming over. Ah, messed up priorities. I am not too worried about it though, it is always nice to have mother-son bonding for them.

Sadly I do not have President's Day off. It is a double edged sword as right now I only get paid when I work, and I like getting paid, but I could use a three day weekend. At least Cherry Blossom, DC, and a four day weekend is coming up in about 6 weeks!

Posted by barb at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)

February 17, 2006

mellow running day

I was tooling along on the treadmill today - as it is 5 degrees out and -5 with the windchill - enjoying being inside, I cannot lie. I generally prefer running outside but today that just wasn't happening. I did an easy 4 miles today as in general Friday is a rest day for me, and my left quad was really tight and sore for some reason. Which was weird, since I haven't done anything particularly strenuous lately. It could be due to dehydration. Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow. My pace today ranged from 10:00/mile to 7:30/mile. I do enjoy treadmill running to an extent as I like knowing exactly how fast I am going at any moment in time. I also did two lifting exercises which is always fun - lat pull down and the shoulder machine. My shoulders should be looking good soon, although I don't know how much stronger they are becoming. I wanted to lift legs but what with the soreness it didn't seem like the best idea.

Here is the plan for this weekend, which is looking somewhat full all of a sudden:
Friday - I don't know what we are up to tonight. We have a happy hour but that's all I know so far. Hopefully it will be a quiet night as I am falling asleep at my desk presently. Since it is really freaking cold, it would be nice not to go outside much.
Saturday - breakfast with friends, errands, run in the afternoon when it might be around 20 degrees out. Saturday night, dinner with other friends.
Sunday - run in the morning (9+ miles hopefully). Visit parents in the afternoon. My stepmom has done something incredibly nice such that we need to go to her house and check out an item she might give us. So that is good.

I am jealous about the warmer temperatures on the east coast, and of my friends who are cool and get to go to the XC championships! Have a great weekend everyone!

Posted by barb at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2006

cold out!

Wow, all of a sudden it's really acting like winter. I think the high temperature today was around 20 degrees, and I don't know if we even got there or not. Also it snowed several inches last night which was kind of nice. I am very happy to report that I have finagled a ride home from work for myself today!

Here is the report for the past two days:
Yesterday - ran 4 miles very slowly on the treadmill. Then ellipticalled for 65 minutes. Watched CNN and other TV. Saw crazy TomKat rumors. Went home to a lovely dinner cooked for me!
Today - got stir crazy, could not stand thought of the treadmill, ran 8 miles outside. Cold but not too bad. I have not showered yet (gross - but I didn't sweat much and I only finished running 45 minutes ago, and I am going home in 15 minutes). I promise I will shower when I get home! I felt good on the run except for feeling like my quads were frozen. I am very excited to head home and have a snack, I am starving! I did not have time to lift weights and get huge so I really need to do so tomorrow.

Also this might sound kind of silly but my office chair is too tall for me. Thus I have to sit in weird positions and it hurts my back. So I think I am going to get a fitness ball type of thing this weekend, and sit on it. I think I will be ridiculed for it, but I also think it will help my back. I am actually pretty excited about it. Sitting on a ball is supposed to force you to have really good posture.

I am going to finish up a few things before I take off. I hope all you east coasters are enjoying the warmer weather!

Posted by barb at 04:35 PM | Comments (1)

February 14, 2006

happy valentine's day, but not

I can only imagine how many blog entries have a similar title to mine today. For some reason that bugged me so I changed it to be slightly different!

Anyway today is Valentine's Day, as most everyone knows, but frankly I am not into celebrating it. Hopefully Matt and I have enough fun together, and tell each other how much we like each other, every day - not just on February 14th! Thus there will be no fancy dinners or overpriced flowers or chocolates (which are so overrated. Who likes chocolates? I kind of think they're disgusting. I would much rather have a package of Oreos). So instead, because I am sick and twisted, we will go running! Then I think we will cook dinner and hang out and some such things. Ah, running. How exciting and fun!

So basically I have not run today. I ellipticalled for 65 minutes at lunchtime while reading my new Vanity Fair. Then I lifted shoulders and I did the adductor machine. I had a good time. We are planning to run 6 miles at a nice leisurely pace. It is supposed to get really cold at some point today or tomorrow, so I hope it'll hold off until we're done.

I have been reading online about a few new studies that are showing that diet (actually, more specifically, a low fat diet) doesn't have much of an effect on heart disease or several types of cancer. I have to say that this makes me happy. I don't eat terribly but I do love cheese, and I know cheese is so bad for me. Now I am feeling like it is kind of okay to eat a lot of cheese, or at least it won't give me heart disease or cancer! So that is nice.

I am off to get ready to run. I hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day!

Posted by barb at 04:40 PM | Comments (1)

February 13, 2006

slacking no more!

I swear I feel like lately I should have James' blog title - he is temporarily not slacking, and I seem to have taken over the slacker title. Ah, the days when I ran 60 or 70 miles a week. At least I am no longer permanently bloated which is how I felt when I ran lots of mileage.

Anyway I am really trying to turn the corner on this. So yesterday I ran 11 miles. Of course the day before that I looged a big zero, but what can you do when you go skiing with your brother. It was really, really cold on Saturday so actually I didn't do very much skiing - three runs. I was wearing a ton of clothes but I still froze so it was not terribly pleasant. I don't think I'll be skiing much more until March when it is warm. However, then I will really have to ski hard as one of the guys in the house is getting almost as good as me because he skis a lot more. We can't have that! I don't know why I care, but I do.

My run yesterday was not what I would call a good time. It wasn't that cold or anything, but the wind was chilling and made my head hurt. However, I felt good to get the miles in. I think I'll be okay with regard to Cherry Blossom if I continue to do one long run per week and one speed workout per week. Not great but okay. The rest of yesterday I felt pretty bad. I had one of the worst headaches I've ever had - which, by migraine/bad headache standards is probably nothing - and everything I did exhausted me. And I swear this was not a psychosomatic reaction to the fact that when I got back from running Matt said we had to clean!

I slept from about 9:45 last night until 7:00 this morning so I am feeling a lot better. My head is still a bit foggy but it could be much, much worse. Needless to say I didn't run this morning, but I am going at lunchtime. Depending on how I feel this may be a pretty mellow day - I don't want to get more sick and tomorrow I will be able to do a double, so I am not too worked up about today. However I do want to do a bit of lifting regardless as to the sad state of my aerobic activities.

As of right now I am undecided about this coming weekend. It is President's Day Weekend which means it is a particularly awful weekend to try to ski. So I don't think I will ski, but I may go up to the mountains with Matt if he wants to go for one day. However, I may stay home and attempt a Beth-esque swim/cycle brick workout or a run/swim. I would really like to do some decent training which sometimes makes a trip to the mountains much more of a pain than it's worth. However if it doesn't snow at all this week, and if it's not as cold as it's been, it wouldn't be bad to do a decent run up there. Luckily I have four days to decide!

I hope everyone on the east coast enjoys the snow as much as is possible even though it provides makes training quite a bit more challenging!

Posted by barb at 09:38 AM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2006

easy day

I had a very mellow day of training today - 4 miles at between 9:00 and 10:00 pace on the treadmill. Then I did three lifting exercises. I thought about ellipticalling for a while but I kind of needed to get back to work and I thought it would be nice to have a very easy day. I didn't end up doubling yesterday - and Matt seems to be feeling worse today, actually - but I am still ahead of last week's total mileage by a mile today. So I should hit around 40 miles if not a little more this week. It is cold and snowy here and we are going to the mountains tonight where it will be colder. Hopefully it won't be too bad to run tomorrow. My brother is going with us so that will be fun. He is a poor student so he doesn't get to ski very much, I think he should enjoy it. Happily for me we are coming back tomorrow!

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I know I am looking forward to it!

Posted by barb at 03:02 PM | Comments (1)

February 09, 2006

possible double?

So I might actually run a double for the first time in a long time today. To clarify, I do two workouts in a day maybe two or three times a week, but I rarely run twice a day lately.

Workout One: 6 miles on the treadmill while listening to bad Top 40 music and watching Ellen. She had Madonna on today and it was so weird, she was on the show there wearing a leotard. She looks really good for her age but still, not something I particularly want to stare at for 50 minutes! It was kind of interesting though. I did do a speed workout type of thing today. Basically here is the workout:
2 mile warmup
Half mile pickup (quarter mile at 8:27 pace/quarter at 8:00 pace)
Quarter mile recovery
Half mile pickup (8:00 pace/7:30 pace)
Quarter mile recovery
Half mile pickup (7:30 pace/7:03 pace)
Quarter mile recovery
Half mile pickup (7:03 pace/6:40 pace)
One mile cool down.

This actually didn't feel too bad so I am pleased. And it was kind of fun, and somehow went by pretty quickly. I didn't feel out of break even after running 6:40 pace so that was promising. However that pace did feel a bit awkward, I can't lie.

If I do a second workout I will be running with Matt. He didn't go to work today due to a headache but says he still wants to run, so we'll see. Since I have run already I won't be upset if we don't go! It is getting colder and I think it may snow tonight, wouldn't that be kind of fun.

Posted by barb at 04:23 PM | Comments (0)

Nothing too exciting to report

I can't say I am wildly excited about writing all kinds of interesting stuff in my blog today. This week is going by kind of slowly for some reason. I wrote my numbers from yesterday in my blog and I couldn't believe that yesterday was only Wednesday. It feels like today should be Friday! Oh well, I think it will be a good day. However, let me just say that I am excited to be retired someday. This is what my stepmom, who is retired, does (from an email in which we were trying to schedule lunch next week):

Actually, next week is a mess now. Monday is never good for me because my riding lesson is Monday. We're going to try to go to the Colorado Home Show Tuesday or Wednesday (We're looking for a console table for the living room and a little table to go next to the chair in the bedroom. We got a great new cocktail table at Scandinavian Design which we are picking up on Friday) and Thursday is the first meeting of the Ladies 9-hole Board! And the next week we are hoping to go to Breckenridge!

She has a fun life. I am jealous! However, she did work very had for 30 years before she got her cool retired life.

In my cool, fun, non-retired life, yesterday I ellipticalled for 55 minutes at lunch time, lifted weights (legs, lats, row), and then I was starving so I ate lunch. After work I drove to Wash Park, because it is nice to run on dirt trails with people around, and ran 6 miles. I felt like I was going super fast - probably because it was dark - but based on my times I totally wasn't. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow I can actually do some fast running! After I ran, I got a few groceries and went home. Matt was at a basketball game and I found out that hanging out on the couch watching television isn't fun when he is not around! So I ate dinner, showered, and read. By the way the grammies are so boring. They seem to drag on forever and nothing happens! I fell asleep reading until Matt got home and then I chatted with him for a bit. Then I had a hard time falling asleep so I woke up late this morning (7:00) and came to work. Matt has a headache so he stayed home from work but if he feels better we are running after work. If not, I will most likely run at lunchtime. We are going to see Measure for Measure tonight so tomorrow will be a lunchtime workout day. The play should be fun, and long.

Tomorrow after work we are going up to the mountains with my brother. We are skiing Saturday and then coming home so it should be pretty tolerable. I hope it won't be too cold! The good news is that perhaps I will be able to bust out my Yak Trax, which is always amusing. Matt is very excited for the Winter Olympics so it will be nice for him to ski for a while and then watch the skiing, boarding, and speed skating. Sunday I should have time to do a nice long run and perhaps to drag Matt to yoga as well!

Posted by barb at 08:29 AM | Comments (1)

February 07, 2006

Trotting around in the dark

It is so weird to get used to running early again. I am making a concerted effort to do it because I am not wild about running from downtown, it is easier on my schedule, it is easier to double, and most races are first thing in the morning anyway. However, I am not a fan of getting up at 6:00. I feel more alert all day when I get up at 7:00. I am hoping that once I adjust to getting up earlier I will feel just fine, but it may take time. I can't say I'm a huge fan of running in the dark but it does force me to pay more attention to where I am going, so that I don't fall or otherwise make an idiot of myself.

One thing I have found is that the crowd at the huge laundromat that I run past is definitely interesting at 6:00! Interesting as in sketchy. It is nice that it's winter and I am wearing lots of clothes so that no one can check out my legs or anything.

This morning, I ran 7 miles. I did my run that goes through this ritzy neighborhood and shopping area so that was fun. I was trying to figure out reasons why I might need a new dress this spring. Too bad I already bought one! One thing I have noticed in this ritzy area is that the businesses turn over very quickly. There are always three or four stores that have space for lease. I assume this is because the rents are so high. So it's always fun to check that out. My time was pretty average but I do feel lighter on my feet in the mornings this week, so that's good. I assume it's because I've been sleeping adequately and getting used to starting to run 10 minutes after waking up. My times the last few weeks had been really slow and I think it was only an adjustment period thing.

I still need to figure out what to do about speed work and tempo runs. I think in order to do these I need to either run after work one day or do them on the weekend. First thing in the morning I am not loose, awake, or motivated enough to do them, and at lunchtime I don't really have places to run that I think are conducive to speed work. So that isn't too big a deal, I just need to make myself do some workouts. This is a time when I really miss my group. It was so much easier to do workouts with other people. But I need to build mental toughness and a good way to do that is to do workouts alone! Maybe I will make Matt come and time me.

The run is my only workout for today. I can't remember when I posted yesterday but I did cross train and lift so that was good. I have been positively starving lately for some reason, maybe it's all the varied workouts or something. Tonight I am helping Matt drop his car off at the mechanic's and then we are having dinner in Boulder with our friend M. It should be fun! Tomorrow Matt has a basketball game with a friend so I am planning on morning and evening workouts. I'll probably run in the morning and then cross train or do yoga in the evening. Ah, how I love working out!

Also - my goodness I just cannot stop typing today - I was thinking of a fun business idea. I would love to learn how to coach people, and then start a women's triathlon training group. Wouldn't that be fun?!

Posted by barb at 10:36 AM | Comments (3)

February 06, 2006

Triathlon Training

Well I believe I have officially started triathlon training. How exciting! From the brief picture into my life this summer that I received this weekend, I think I will enjoy it. I did a lot of workouts this weekend, but I did not do a lot of running mileage. However, I think that is okay. I am not sure what to think about my 10 mile prospects for April. I feel like I am in decent shape right now in general, but crappy running shape. However, that's how I felt in November and I ran fast then. I still want to do 70 minutes, but that means I need to start doing tempo runs! Anyway that is a whole other topic that I will deal with sooner or later.

Here is the weekend in review.
Saturday:
Woke up and Matt decided to sleep in so I went to do a workout before my hair coloring appointment. (By the way isn't it awesome that I can just color sometimes? I was blown away by this. It is great! It saved me $30 because although my thousands of gray hairs were showing, I didn't need a cut. Sweet.) So I went to the gym down in the burbs and ellipticalled for 35 minutes while I watched people do the end of one spinning class and the beginning of another. It looked fun. I haven't gone to spinning in probably 8-9 years but I think I want to try it again sometime. So that was fun. Then I went in the pool (I had planned on doing the pool first but I am bratty and basically refuse to share a lane), where I had a lane of my own. I did sets of two laps and rested for maybe 30 seconds in between because I never swim and I thought it would be nice to start easy. I ended up being in the pool for slightly over 30 minutes so I think I swam for 25 minutes. I did do one lap of aqua jogging just for old time's sake. I love aqua jogging! Then I got my hair colored, and after that I went running with Matt. He wanted to do 6 miles and really stopped just short, doing 5.5 again. I added on to get 6 for the day. After he stopped he was kind of annoyed with himself, thinking he could have done 6, so I told him this was an important mental component of his training. Maybe next time instead of being annoyed he will just run the extra mileage!

Sunday:
Got up and returned slightly late library books and then ran 3 miles. Then went home and made breakfast (hence the abbreviated run, as this was in the plan for a while). Then Matt helped me figure out the mystery of clipless pedals on my road bike. It was so scary at first! But I think I am doing well. I still need to practice so I will take the bike down to the park soon. Then we rode our mountain bikes around for almost an hour.

We watched the Super Bowl and I am happy for Beth that the Steelers won. However I have to say that it was not the most exciting game. We did hang out with our friends during the game which is always fun.

Now I actually pulled myself out of bed to run this morning before work - go me! I don't like waking up early but I do like running early, and it's an especially good habit when I have to go to lunch with people, and when I want to bump up my mileage somewhat. I ran 8 this morning in one of my fastest morning run times in a while. It was colder than it has been but not too bad. If I don't have to go to lunch today I am going to elliptical and lift. I did feel stronger than normal on the bike yesterday and I think it is partly due to lifting this winter.

That is all the verbose news of the day!

Posted by barb at 09:19 AM | Comments (1)

February 03, 2006

Friday

It is always nice when it's Friday. IT is somewhat better when you are not about to fall asleep at your desk, but I will take a falling asleep at my desk kind of Friday today. However it is difficult to write much in your blog when you keep dozing off!

Anyway yesterday I ellipticalled at a higher intensity than usual for 65 minutes, then lifted. For some reason I just could not bring myself to run, but I am okay with it. Today I got up at 6:00 and ran 8 miles. No wonder I'm tired! It was a nice run. It's definitely good to get runs out of the way in the morning during the winter so as to reduce the amount of wind you end up dealing with.

I feel like I am writing almost this entire entry in the second person (i.e. you do this, you do that, blah blah blah). I once read a whole travel memoir/novel thing that was written in that style and it was so irritating. I don't even know how I finished it!

The other news right now is that my good friend Betsy is coming to visit! I am very excited. We are going to run, and look at real estate, and do all kinds of fun things. I think she will be coming in late May. Also, I think while she is here I might have a party. Her visit is currently scheduled for late May (the weekend after my birthday), so I think that while she is around I may have a birthday/Betsy is here/I am retired from skiing party. On the retired from skiing part, I don't know that I will never ski again, but I am so sick of it now that when this season is over I definitely want to celebrate.

That is about all - I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Posted by barb at 09:20 AM | Comments (1)

February 01, 2006

title block

I am having some serious title block today. I think this has been sitting here for about 10 minutes while I stare at it, do other things, and contemplate my title.

Frankly I am sick of writing about the weather. So I am going to ignore it unless something really wild happens! I doubt that although it would be really cool to have a huge blizzard like we did a few years ago! That was so awesome. Nobody worked for 2-3 days because we literally couldn't get out of our houses. It was not good for my running, so I snowshoed around my neighborhood instead.

So yesterday as I anticipated I did not do any additional workouts. I am still SO TIRED. Seriously maybe something is wrong with me. Although last night I did not sleep very well so it is somewhat understandable. I went for a run at lunchtime - 8 miles in 70 minutes. I felt kind of faint for a while, like I needed to eat, but then I felt okay and towards the end of the run I was even feeling somewhat peppy. Matt and I are going to a play tonight at 6:30 so after work I am heading to the gym for 20-25 minutes of ellipticalling and a steam. I have not taken a steam for a while but it just sounds delightful. My mileage is going to be down a bit from last week but hopefuly I can make up for it in added cross training. Speaking of which, tomorrow I must swim!! Now that I will be doing this triathlon I need to get started in this very weak area. I hope to have time to ride my new bike this weekend as well, although I should probably get some spare tubes before I do that!

Posted by barb at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)