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March 31, 2006

Going to DC

Our flight to DC leaves in a little over 2 hours, so we are ready to go. I am so, so, so excited to see everyone and everything there!

I ran an easy 4 miles (with three strides) this morning. It was really nice except for the wind, of course, and the fact that I was almost attacked by a dog. Basically it did come after me in a very aggressive way but it didn't bite me so I'm lucky about that. Seriously, people, if your dog's nuts PUT IT ON A LEASH!!! It's not that hard. I understand, having an insane dog myself, but she hasn't attacked anyone in a long time because I keep her on a leash.

On that note, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for all the good wishes. Hopefully I'll be able to write a good race report on Monday night!

Posted by barb at 08:20 AM | Comments (3)

March 29, 2006

I did it!

My morning run that is. I am very proud. Yes, it is a small thing but sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

I was actually thinking about bagging it. Sometimes, it is bad to wake up before the alarm goes off. I woke up at 5:00 and couldn't go back to sleep so I kept contemplating my existence, changing my plans, etc., etc. I was also thirsty when I woke up. It is weird, I have been feeling incredibly dehydrated lately, no matter how much water I drink. I know I do need to focus on drinking more water at night, because I definitely drink less at home than I do at work during the day. So I will work on that. It's always difficult to drink enough water while traveling so I'll be careful about that this weekend.

Regardless, I did end up running around 7 miles this morning. I do think it was slightly short, but who knows. This route is all uphill on the way out and all downhill on the way back so I go out for a long time and when I come back it's short. I hadn't done this exact run before but it's really close to a run I do every few weeks. This morning I wanted to check out a few houses in this neighborhood that I have started obsessing about. So that was fun, it's always nice to look at houses. Now I am at work, and I am free to do lunch with my friend T. and to do whatever I want after work! That is the benefit of running in the morning. It is good to remember that. Also, of course, it becomes so much easier to get up at 6:00 when it's a habit, so over the next few weeks I will work on making it a habit.

We are leaving for DC in less than two days now (well, actually our flight leaves two days plus one hour from now). How exciting!! Tomorrow I start to taper in earnest.

Posted by barb at 09:21 AM | Comments (2)

March 28, 2006

Planning for the weekend, and a running log question

Okay, so here is a question. If you end up, for one reason or another, running one mile in a day, do you put it in your running log? I think yes. I wouldn't say running one mile does anything for my fitness, but I think it's mileage nonetheless.

YOu might wonder why I care. Well, yesterday Matty and I started out on a three mile run and aborted (and walked back) after one mile because his hip flexor was feeling tight. And I just entered it in my log because I ran a mile, and that counts for something. So although yesterday was a very mellow recovery day - 65 minutes on the elliptical, 1 mile running, 1 mile walking - that was a decent amount of working out. So that's nice. I actually think the short run was kind of nice and helped my legs shake out a bit after Sunday's long run (which Drew pointed out, appropriately, was kind of stupid given that I'm racing in five days).

Anyhoo, today is a gorgeous spring day in Colorado. I think it's around 60 degrees out and sunny, and the wind is not too bad. I love it! I'm sure it'll be 30 degrees and snowing again sometime soon, but for now I am enjoying it immensely.

I ran an easy 8 miles (70 minutes) at lunchtime. With the weather getting warmer, soon it will be time to switch back to morning running. I was having an impossible time getting up for a few months but I'm doing much better now. I think the transition to waking up at 6:00 instead of 7:00 won't be all that bad actually. There will be good things about having lunchtime free as well, like going to a bigger variety of places for lunch, being able to shop or read at lunchtime, etc., etc. Anyway, I also lifted. I do not like the new lifting machines they got at the gym. They seem to make the weights heavier and the leg machine makes my knees feel weird. But I will just have to get used to them, because it is good to lift.

I do hope this weather sticks around, at least for long enough for me to try out my bike. My friend M., who I am doing the triathlon with, is very concerned that I won't bike or swim enough. I hope I'll have time and energy to bike and swim enough while running around 30 miles a week. I think I can do it!

Bridget asked the other day in a comment if I've finished Madame Bovary. The answer, sadly, is no. But I think I'll finish on Friday morning during our flight to DC at the latest. And Blondie asked if I've ever been to DC, speaking of said flight. The answer is no! So I am very excited. I didn't realize how many people I knew there until we started making plans with all of them though. Here is the basic itinerary:
Friday - arrive at 3:45 pm EST. See our friend K. who we are staying with. Have dinner with K.
Saturday - get up early and drive to Fredricksburg to visit my friends C. and T., who own a restaurant there. Then when we get back, go into DC for a bit of sight seeing. Then pick up our race packets by 5:00 pm. Then we will go to dinner with bloggers.
Sunday - Race!! After the race we will walk the mall and then meet my friend J. and his wife C. for brunch. After that we will possibly shower, do more sight seeing, and then go to my cousin R.'s house to meet his wife and kids, and then to have dinner with them.
Monday - Sight seeing. Museums. Leave at 5:00 pm or so for Denver.

It's going to be a very busy four days!

Posted by barb at 02:45 PM | Comments (3)

March 27, 2006

why I haven't been blogging

Things have been so busy lately. It is just absurd. Just FYI, selling a house/condo is really time consuming, and really expensive, and basically not a lot of fun. Matt has been bearing the brunt of the expense and the work, and I feel awful for him because it’s completely overwhelming and just a ton of work. I think we’re almost there though. Which is good because his condo’s going on the market this Thursday! If you or anyone you know wants to buy a condo in Denver, buy ours!!! Not that I will be posting the listing because frankly you never know what kind of weirdo reads your blog, and I don’t want anyone knowing where I live. This means you, Alison (just kidding – you do know where I live!).

So that is why my blogging has been lackluster at best of late. However, my running has not been too lackluster. Thursday and Friday were pretty easy days (5 and 6 miles respectively), Saturday I meant to do some faster 800’s but I felt horrendous and could barely manage to run a mile at 8:15 pace, and yesterday I did a real long run. I met my friend C., who is in my former and possibly future running group, at 7:15 yesterday morning at the Boulder Res. She’s training for Boston and was running 20 miles and I didn’t want to run 20, so she had run about 5 miles when I met up with her. I was really glad I went because the people she was with are really fast, so she was running by herself when I saw her. We ran about 8 miles together – from the parking lot at the Res to the Wellshire Inn which is on US 36 on the way to Lyons – and then she was heading up a canyon to a really steep hill which she did not recommend that I run a week before a race. So I left her there, with another friend who met her at the Wellshire, and turned around. I knew it was supposed to be windy yesterday and the second 8 miles of the run were incredibly windy. Boulder’s a windy town in general and they had been predicting high winds so I knew it could be bad. Luckily the balance of the running on the way out, which was into the wind, happened before it picked up. However, the run back was incredibly windy. I am talking 75 MPH gusts. Seriously. I heard it on the radio this morning. There were only two stretches where I had to run into the wind on the way back but I was running perpendicular to the wind for maybe 3-4 of the last 8 miles. That was almost worse because the wind was literally blowing me off the road and it hurt my right leg to stay upright.

So I hadn’t run 16 miles since my marathon a year and a half ago. Although I wouldn’t do it for fun in the future, it really wasn’t all that bad, and that includes horrendous wind and running the second 8 miles alone. It definitely made me feel okay about this Sunday because if I could run 16 miles in these conditions at altitude, on a pretty hilly course, I can definitely run 10 miles at sea level on a fairly flat course. I still don’t know if I can run those 10 miles at 7:00 pace but I will just have to go out conservatively and see how I feel. I still really, really want to beat my 10 mile PR because I feel like it should be easy so I think I’m planning to start at 7:30 pace and try to pick it up in the last 5 miles.

Speaking of this Sunday’s race, I think the trip to DC will be lots of fun, and very busy. We’ll be there for about four days, and I think we have several things planned for each day. I can’t wait to see the monuments and museums, and hopefully the cherry blossoms!

Posted by barb at 08:37 AM | Comments (2)

March 22, 2006

Feeling so much better

For a few weeks, I felt terrible almost all the time. I would sleep for a long time every night and still be exhausted all day. I was thinking about going to the doctor, but I decided I'd rather at least try to get new vitamins before I went to the doctor. And frankly I feel about 100% better! Maybe it's the B Complex, which supposedly helps energy and stress management. Which were two of my problems.

I hadn't really thought about it much but today I was pretty pleased that I felt decent for my run, thought about why it seemed surprising, and said 'oh yeah, that's why!'. I was planning on running maybe six miles (on the treadmill again), as I am rebelling against the cold weather by refusing to run outside until the weather's warmer. I ended up getting engrossed in daytime television so I ran 7 instead. Then I lifted legs and hurried back to work.

Now Matt is at the Nuggets game and I'm watching the new season of the Real World. I have become kind of obsessed with it. They have an anorexic girl on it this season and it's really sad. It's good, in my opinion, that MTV actually puts people with real problems on the show, and they don't glamorize it which in my opinion is really good.

I've been reading Madame Bovary for months and I'd really like to get close to finishing it tonight so as soon as I finish this, I am off to go to bed and read. I also bought two new books yesterday and I am very excited about them. The first one is American Theocracy, which all the cool liberals are reading right now (I think), and The Year of Magical Thinking, which is supposed to be a great memoir about loss and mourning. I have not been reading much at all recently - partly because I'm lazy and partly because I get lots of magazines - but we're doing some traveling soon and I think I should have time to get through both of them.

Anyway, it's almost Thursday, which is very exciting. Good night, moon!

Posted by barb at 09:00 PM | Comments (4)

March 21, 2006

freaking cold

Today it got up to a lovely 25 degrees in Denver. Sweet.

As you may be able to tell I am not pleased. It was really cold and windy. My hands froze on my way to and from work today, and I am sick of dealing with that!

So I wasn't into running outside today. I ran 7 miles on the treadmill during the good TV hour of Ellen, Dr. Phil, and Jeopardy. I love Jeopardy! You can take a test online to be a contestant on March 28, 29, and 30 so I think I want to take it. Wouldn't that be fun?

Yesterday I took a day off from running and ellipticalled for 65 minutes, followed by lifting on our gym's new equipment. It's nice, I like it. But I am still a huge wuss on the shoulder lifting machine. I don't know why, but I just can't get over 20 pounds! I can't think of anything else that's going on right now. I am thinking that I'm leaning towards doing Chicago, because Betsy and I may be able to do the competitive start. And because Freddie Prinze Jr. was on Ellen today and he just ran the LA Marathon! I figure if he can do it, I can stand to do another.

Posted by barb at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 20, 2006

spring???

Seriously. This happens every year, but it is the first day of spring and it's been snowing for about 12 hours. The amount of accumulation has been pretty disappointing for everyone who hoped they wouldn't have to go to work today, but still. I am ready for 70 degree temperatures!

Speaking of that, I am so excited for Alison's beach vacation. Inspired by her mentioning St. John, I did some research and now we are hoping to go there next spring, as long as we don't have the same number of weddings to attend next year as we do this year. I am very excited about it already. I adore the Caribbean.

So, as I have been slacking on my blog entries of late, here is a brief recap of the weekend in running. I actually ran about 46.5 miles last week, so that is one of my highest weeks in the last six months. What can I say, I'll take what I can get. I also did a good amount of cross training so I am feeling like a real runner again.

Saturday, I did a nice easy 6 miles near our athletic club in the burbs. It was nice but windy. Then I did three lifting exercises, all upper body.

Sunday, my friend C. and I ran our race. It was cold and getting ready to snow, so the turnout was incredibly small. That worked out well for me, as I was the second female finisher and fifth overall. I should be getting a medal in the mail which is always exciting. My time was not good at all - 22:30 or so - but I figured that given the level of competition, the weather, the lack of people to run with, and the fact that I did a 4 mile warmup and treated it more like a tempo run than a race, I am okay with it. However, it does not bode well for my aggressive 70 minute goal for Cherry Blossom. I still think I have a chance, but if that's the case, I will need to do some fast (sub-7:00 pace) running this week, just so that my legs are used to running faster. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with me as I admit I am not all that hard core and I do not enjoy running track workouts in cold, wind, and snow.

There isn't much else of great excitement going on. We are signing paperwork for selling Matt's condo tomorrow, and today they are installing new carpet, which will be nice. It will be great once it's on the market because the preparation is a nightmare. I hope everyone has a nice week!

Posted by barb at 09:11 AM | Comments (1)

March 16, 2006

Treadmill

Well, after the miserable conditions of last night's run, I was in no mood to run outside today. Also I have a very busy work day so I didn't have a lot of time anyway. I headed to the gym mid-morning and ran 5 miles on the treadmill while listening to the radio and watching the Tyra Banks show. This was the hair show. It was kind of strange so I just watched it while listening to music instead of listening to what they were saying (which was kind of just a bunch of ladies getting their hair done, which is not too exciting). I started at 9:00 pace and at the end I was running 7:08 pace. Not too shabby for an old broad like me, I have to say. That is what I like about the treadmill - I get bored so I run faster! After my run I saw that they are replacing the lifting machines at the gym tomorrow and Saturday, so I had to lift today. I did five lifting exercises. Now I am fully jacked.

I have noticed today that my pants are not fitting too well. Like your average runner, I assume, I am having the problem that they are roomy in the waist but skin tight over my legs. I have another pair of the same pants that is one size larger, and those are just enormous. Not that this is a big deal, but it is aggravating.

Now that I have run and eaten (leftover Indian food which is really delicious), I would like to take a nap! Sadly, there is no nap in my future today. We still have so much to do before Matt's condo goes on the market, and somehow we have had plans every night so I haven't folded the laundry that's been in the dryer since Sunday!

Posted by barb at 12:07 PM | Comments (2)

March 15, 2006

Another long run, in adverse conditions

Matty is such a hard core rock star kind of guy. He had never run over 7 miles before today, and even though the weather was terrible (cold and really, really windy) he ran 8.25 miles this evening! The conditions were so bad that I was ready to quit several times. Not that I told Matt that at the time.

So Matt and I ran a little over 8 miles today. I ellipticalled at lunch time for 35 minutes, and actually didn't feel as bad as I have recently. I did buy new multi-vitamins today, and a B Complex supplement (which is supposed to help with energy and relieve stress), so hopefully soon I will be my old self again!

I don't think I updated yesterday but I ran 8 yesterday as well. I think I did two lifting exercises, somewhat halfheartedly. I had a snack in the morning which helped my energy but I still felt kind of weak in the first few miles. Someday I do think I will feel normal again.

Now we are both doing a few things on computers (I am signing up for a 5k this Sunday and reading blogs), while we are listening to American Idol. Then we will be going to bed in about an hour, which will be very nice!

Posted by barb at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2006

making a few changes

So these are some changes I think I should make.
- The name of my blog. Maybe I should trade with James, because lately I have been a slacker, and he has been working hard.
- I should start running in the mornings. Lately when I run at lunch time I feel kind of weak and light headed, which is definitely bad. Also, it is a more efficient use of time, I will actually be able to go to lunch occasionally, and when the weather gets warm it is much better.
- In the same vein, I should bring snacks to work. I get really hungry mid-morning, and it would be nice to have a snack.
- I decided I should race a bit more. If I can't motivate myself to do speed workouts, a race is just like a speed workout. Thus I am signing up for a race for this Sunday.

I don't really know what else I should change at present. Did I mention that, although I am not Catholic (in fact I am half Jewish and half Methodist or something - I like to keep my bases covered), I have given up alcohol and dessert for Lent? The alcohol thing is not a big deal to me. I am not really into drinking - I enjoy having maybe a glass of wine or two each week - but the dessert thing is killing me. Especially when we went to Beaver Creek to ski on Saturday, and we were standing around when they brought out big, warm, delicious-looking chocolate chip cookies for everyone. That did make me feel a little sad.

So, speaking of slacking, this is the story of my last few workouts:
Friday - So long ago I had to check my running log. It was cold and snowing. I ran 6 miles on the treadmill. I have been a wuss about the incline but I have been running 8:30ish pace pretty consistently so that's good.
Saturday - Skiing day. Did get a pretty full day of skiing in, including some pretty hairy bump runs. 10 runs total, so that is good.
Sunday - 4 miles on the treadmill, 45 minutes elliptical. This is my most shameful day. It was cold, damp, and snowy all day. I should have done a long run, but I didn't. I do think I came down with a case of altitude sickness, as we stayed in the mountains Saturday night in addition to Friday night (to my chagrin), but that's no excuse. All that meant was I had a headache and wanted to lay on the couch.
Monday - 7 mile run at lunchtime. It was still pretty cold - mid thirties maybe - but pretty pleasant. I did four weight lifting exercises afterwards, and then came back to the gym after work and ellipticalled for 45 minutes. Speaking of that, my friend A. just bought an elliptical machine and I am jealous!

So this weekend, I had thought that there would be a St Patrick's Day race, but it was actually this past Sunday. However, there is a 5k at Washington Park, so my friend C. and I are going to run it. I am going to do it as basically a long run - 4 mile warmup, run the race at tempo pace, 3-4 mile cool down. It should be a good time, and I think that when it is over, I will be tired!

I am sure there is much more to discuss but that is all I've got for right now. Cherry Blossom is coming up rapidly and I am very excited!

Posted by barb at 07:47 AM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2006

Running, skiing, and random thoughts for Friday

This week has just not been exciting from a running perspective, I am sad to say. I am still feeling lethargic all the time in spite of sleeping a lot more, but I did take some vitamins the day before yesterday, which will help, hopefully. I need to remember to take them more often so I might bring them to work. In fact, both of my vitamins are expired – the multi-vitamin expired in December 2005 and the iron supplement expired in January 2006 – so maybe I should toss them and buy some new ones this weekend. I am really bad about taking vitamins but I want to be better about it. I am thinking if I spend some cash on them, maybe I will be better. And maybe if they are at work, I’ll actually remember that they exist!

So yesterday I ran 8 miles. It was pretty pleasant, and the wind wasn’t too strong, so that was a nice change. It was around 50 degrees out when I ran. I didn’t feel great – tired and lethargic – but I didn’t feel terrible either.

Today, I feel the same as I have all week. Basically, not good. I don’t know what the weather’s doing – there’s supposed to be a storm moving in but I don’t know when that’ll happen. So I’m going to head to the gym, and if the weather’s okay, I’ll run 4 to 6 miles outside and then cross train and/or lift. If the weather’s bad, I’ll run on the treadmill. I have to say I don’t mind running on the treadmill sometimes but I really struggle with the offerings of daytime television. The only good times to run are between 10 and 11, and between 3 and 4. It was better during football season but all the stuff on ESPN now is about basketball, hockey, and baseball – yuck! Ah, how I miss football. Such a short but sweet season.

So after work we are going to the mountains. This may be my last day of alpine skiing for quite some time. I definitely need a change – I am thinking next year of possibly doing a lot more cross country skiing, trying to learn to telemark, or maybe just snowshoeing whenever Matt wants to snowboard. I guess with skiing I’ve hit a plateau – either I need to quit my job, move to the mountains, and ski every day to get really good, or I need to stop for a while. Sadly I didn’t become a ski bum in high school where I possibly could have made a living out of it – I have a pretty ideal skier’s body from what I have heard. I am short, with short legs, so I have a low center of gravity (meaning it’s easy for me to stay upright) and I’m pretty muscular and also love going fast. Boy, that would have been cool!

Then on Sunday I plan to sleep in and hopefully kick my exhaustion once and for all! Hopefully I can accomplish that. I’d like to do a long run Sunday and then my training for Cherry Blossom will be mostly complete. It’s coming up soon – very exciting! I can’t wait to go to DC.

Posted by barb at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2006

drastic change

Yesterday I think the high was 65 degrees or so and it was sunny and nice. Today, it's snowing and 35 degrees. Ah, spring in Colorado. Oddly I ran inside yesterday and outside today, but that was just wind and timing related. It's been snowing all day but it's not really sticking so it's kind of pretty and nice, and the roads are fine.

So far this week I have done:
Monday - 35 minutes elliptical and 4 miles running with Matt
Tuesday - 7 mile treadmill run
Wednesday - 6.5 mile run outside

I am not feeling great. Again. I need to find my health insurance card and go to the doctor, because I haven't been feeling very good for a few weeks. It is kind of frustrating because I keep thinking I'm on the verge of getting sick, and then I don't get sick. I'd rather get sick for a few days, rest, and then feel better. Instead I am never actually sick, so I feel like I should run, and I continue to feel bad for many days. Hopefully I will feel better soon, but until then, I may run 3 miles with Matt tonight and then I will be laying on the couch for a long time!

I have been inspired by Alison and Scott's posts about how they started running. Someday when I have energy again I may write a similar story!

Posted by barb at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2006

A good long run, and running your age

I am very fired up about my running right now. Which is always a nice feeling. I had a freaking awesome long run yesterday, and it made me feel confident about Cherry Blossom, and like I am generally in good shape even though I don't really know how it happened!

I will cover basic points of the weekend and then get into my sweet run yesterday. On Friday after my awesome two mile run we went to the mountains. It hasn't snowed up there in a while so the roads were dry and it was pretty warm - like in the high 30s - over the weekend. Saturday I slept for a really long time and then ran 7 miles. It was incredibly windy so that made the conditions difficult but I survived. I went back to the house where Matt was going to pick me up and we were going to ski at Keystone in the afternoon and then hang out with some friends, but when I got back from running Matt was on the couch and he was a bit of a disaster. He was really hung over, and hada terrible headache, and had fallen in the parking lot in the morning and bruised his knee. So he was in no shape to snowboard, and he was really in no shape to go hang out with anyone. So he slept on the couch for a while to get over the nausea portion of his hangover and then we drove home. I was happy to get 7 miles on Saturday in spite of being in the mountains - it helped salvage my week.

Sunday I got up around 8:00 and drove to the Bobolink Trailhead in Boulder. This is the start of an awesome trail that is flat, pretty, and has lots of adorable cows right now. I ran out for 6 miles - this trail only goes 3.5 but you can run down a road through a little area called Marshall and onto another trail called Marshall Mesa. I got up a nice hill at the turnaround point and hit that at 55 minutes which, based on my 3.5 mile time to the end of South Boulder, I called 6 miles at 9:00 pace (I hit 3.5 miles in 31:41). I added a minute because the entire mile at/around Marshall Mesa was uphill. I headed back and ran into my friend/PT Mark who was running with this lady I kind of know of. They passed me like I was walking so I sped up a little bit. I was 3:00 early when I hit the South Boulder trail again and although it was somewhat windy I kept up a nice pace. I ended up finishing the run in 1:43, which is a second half of 48:00, or 8:00 pace. That is sweet. I swear I would think the course is short but I'm pretty sure it's not. If you know that it is, please don't tell me as you will kill my confidence. Okay, just kidding, I think I want to know more than I want my confidence.

But I am really pleased. I'm a little sore today but I think that's just because I didn't eat for two hours after I finished running (or before - Bad Barb!) and I didn't drink enough water yesterday. I should be feeling fine soon. Today will be a pretty easy day, and I would like to do some lifting.

Now here is the story about my dad and the Bolder Boulder. Back when I was in 8th grade, I remember him going off on Memorial Day and running the Bolder Boulder. I didn't run then - which is another story - but I always remember him doing it like it was just no big deal. When I started running it, around junior year of high school, we started making it a family event. I have cute pictures of all of us wearing our bibs and our sweet mid-90s running gear (yes I wore a cotton t-shirt tucked into my running tights). At that time my dad started talking about running his age - i.e. I'm 55 now, so I should run the BB in 55 minutes. He hasn't done it but I think 2006 is his year. He's 60 and he can definitely run 60 minutes.

He also had a fantasy that one year he would skip the entire race. I think I would pay money to see him skip his age in the Bolder Boulder. So dad, you should run your age this year! Now I, and my readers, all think you can!

Posted by barb at 08:10 AM | Comments (3)

March 03, 2006

rockin' two mile day

Isn't that embarrassing? I ran 2 miles today. At least I ellipticalled, while reading US, for 45 minutes beforehand. I am ashamed. I think I might run home from work just to bump it up to 3 miles, which is at least moderately respectable.

As Audrey mentioned it might be a good idea to blog about family members. So stay tuned for the story of my father and the Bolder Boulder, where he is in a quest to run his age, and also wants to skip the race someday.

Keep it real for the homies!

Posted by barb at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

Boring? My blog is boring?

Well I am a bit up in arms about something. Last night we had dinner with my dad and stepmom, and my dad basically said my blog is boring! How rude of him. I guess it is possible that people who don't run are not endlessly fascinated by running, but still. That is not a very fatherly thing to say.

And because this is a running blog, here are my workouts for the past few days, and today's plan:
Wednesday - only did 65 minutes on the elliptical. I thought better of running since I did not feel very good.
Thursday - 8 mile run. Added on slightly to my normal route because of last week's smokin' fast time! Still came in under 70 minutes. So that is good. Planned a second workout but instead went home and cleaned. Our condo looked like we had been boarding rambunctious college students. And in any case, I figured this was a cutback week anyway, might as well really cut back.
Friday - I am thinking 6 miles of running and 25 minutes on the elliptical. Possibly lifting.

We went to a very hip and fabulous new restaurant last night which is so hip and fabulous that you can hardly get in. I called several weeks ago and the best I could do was 8:30 pm. It was a great dinner. They use goat cheese very liberally in serveral dishes - these little rosemary goat cheese biscuits, and a goat cheese polenta Matt had as a side - and that always wins big points in my book. Also, the service is good. So it's understandable that they're always packed. And yet on a week where I have been trying to get more rest, it is not the most intelligent decision. But we had a good time.

Tonight after work we are heading up to the dreaded mountain house again. We have not gone for several weeks which has been really nice. Yes I know blah blah enjoy things about it blah almost over blah whatever. Instead of having a positive attitude, however, I will just be happy when it's over and I never have to do it again. This weekend I have decided I'm not skiing - I am sleeping in, going for a run, and possibly going to the outlet stores. If I have a car. If not, I am sleeping in, going for a run, and then laying on the couch. We are only going for one night so that makes me happy.

I am a little freaked out by the fact that I haven't been doing a lot of runs over 10 miles in my training lately so Sunday morning the plan is to drive to Boulder and run for two hours. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with my plan! After all that I believe we are spending the rest of the day preparing Matt's condo to be sold. We are putting it on the market at the end of March so there is lots to do. Matt has to replace his carpet and the counter tops in his kitchen, probably just to get back what he paid for it. So that is unfortunate, and of course selling the place is a lot of work, but once that is done we get to do the fun part of looking for a new house! I think that our move should be a good one from a running perspective - I should have to cross a lot fewer busy streets once we get moved. So that is always a good thing.

Now I am going to try to keep from falling asleep at my desk for a while!

Posted by barb at 08:22 AM | Comments (3)

March 01, 2006

still exhausted, quick entry

Maybe I have mono. Well, I doubt it, as I always think that when I am tired but I never have it. So most likely I still need to catch up on sleep.

Yesterday, basically I felt like death warmed over. It was all I could do to run 5 miles. This was after Monday, which was a planned recovery day on which I ran 4 miles and lifted. I am definitely not setting mileage records this week. But considering that it's a big accomplishment just to stay upright all day, I'll take it. I am feeling a lot better today than I did yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow I will be recovered for the most part.

Today I might do some cross training but otherwise I'll probably be running after work. It has been positively gorgeous for the last several days - yesterday I think the high was somewhere in the low to mid 70s - and it's cooling off a little but not much. Hopefully I will be getting out there enjoying it soon.

Posted by barb at 12:38 PM | Comments (2)