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June 30, 2006

two years of blogging!

Happy anniversary to me, happy anniversary to me, blah blah blah, etc., etc., etc.!! I can't believe I have been blogging for two years. I remember when Alison first told me about her blog and I didn't really know what blogs were. Sadly, over the two years that I've had my blog, I haven't gotten any faster. However, I have picked up a new sport (cycling), got ninth in my age in the Bolder Boulder, survived my first marathon and a 74 mile week, run a half marathon PR, and most importantly, through all of that, I've been able to continue enjoying the sport. It would be kind of fun to track how many new pairs of shoes I've bought over that time or something.

So sometimes I really regret over sleeping even if I feel better all day because of it. Like yesterday, when apparently the high was 98 degrees. I swear, I don't remember moving to Phoenix but apparently we have, because every day it's in the high 90s. I struggled through 6 miles in the heat. I cannot say it was particularly enjoyable. Then we went to a remarkably un-enjoyable dinner for reasons I won't get into here. We went to bed late again but this morning I sucked it up and got up at 6:30 for a 6.5 mile run. It was warm already but it was so much more pleasant than yesterday. I feel that I ran at a fairly decent pace so that was nice. I am pretty tired now but I think I should have time for a nap later on.

This morning my legs were tired from two runs in a row so I planned to take my bike ride into work easy but once again I was running obscenely late, so I picked it up a little bit and got another speed and time record - 17.4 MPH for 18:30. Very exciting. I am obsessed! I was talking to my brother yesterday and he is a pretty decent cyclist, it might be fun to do a cycling race with him sometime. There's one up in the mountains in August but unfortunately it's the weekend of my high school reunion and I have already paid the money so apparently I have to go. Maybe we'll find another race in September or something. After Beth's experience with the crit I am very curious to see what racing on a bike is like!

Posted by barb at 9:24 AM | Comments (4)

June 29, 2006

more bike changes

I am so obsessed with my bike. It is probably easy to see now that most of my blog titles are about my bike as opposed to my running. This is partly due to the fact that I ride every day and that I don't have time to run as much as I would like, but it is also fun to get into a new sport.

Last night after work I went for a bike ride as Matt had a work dinner and would not be home until around 10:00. I decided to move my seat up a little bit (higher, not farther to the front) because when I rode my mountain bike last week it seemed like the seat was a lot higher and I liked it better. This made a huge difference and I feel that I am able to ride faster with less effort and also that I have more control over the bike. For example my commute this morning was at an average of 17.3 MPH which is a slight improvement, and I didn't feel like I worked quite as hard as normal. I rode 22 miles last night and felt good. I had run 4 miles in the morning and drove to work so it was a moderate day from a workout perspective. I thought about running a mile or two after I finished the bike ride but it was already like 7:45 and I had a few things to do around the house.

Matt didn't get home until around 10:20 and I stayed up for a while chatting with him so I was pretty tired this morning and decided to sleep in. We have a 30th birthday dinner for a friend tonight but I should have time to run beforehand. Or rather I am making time to run beforehand because I don't want to take a day off! It is so hot in the afternoons but it's better to run in the heat than not to run at all. Tomorrow morning I am definitely getting up and running even if I have to leave the birthday dinner a bit early, or if I have to be really tired tomorrow. I'd like to run maybe 6 miles after work today and 7 before work tomorrow.

This weekend is going to be so nice and quiet, I can't wait. We have had weddings the last two weekends and moved the weekend before that so we haven't had a weekend where we could do whatever we wanted for so long. We are kicking our wedding planning into gear which is also exciting, but we should not have too much to do. And that is about all the news for today!

Posted by barb at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)

June 27, 2006

new record on my commute

Running late can do wonderful things sometimes. I was horribly late leaving home this morning after sleeping in for several minutes and running 6 miles instead of 5. However, sometimes being really late can be a good thing! I have been obsessing over my commute time (excluding stopping - just what shows up on my bike computer) since I started commuting via bike and today I had a sweet breakthrough. Normally the ride to work takes 20 or 21 minutes, but today I made it in a hair under 19. My average speed was pretty good as well at 17.2 MPH. Sweet! I am a rock star. Just kidding. Sadly I have not gotten my homebound time down to even 22 minutes as it is all uphill, and the traffic is worse. I may try a different route today just to see if I can do it any faster, since obviously it would be nice to get home after work a little earlier.

Tomorrow I think I am going to drive here because Matt has a work dinner so I want to go for a real bike ride, something I have not done for quite a while as the scab from my last ride is totally healed. I am not sure if I will be brave enough to attempt the reservoir again, as it is kind of far, so I may just go ride around the park for a long time. Yesterday we saw a guy on a very cool old looking bicycle with a HUGE front wheel - it was so big it looked like he would have to use a ladder to climb up onto the seat. How much fun would that be?

Anyway after sleeping in yesterday assuming I could run after work, I found out that my friend K. is actually joining our volleyball team. How exciting! I did not think that he would, but I am glad he did as he really elevated the level of play quite a bit. So I ran around the park for a while, met everyone and introduced Kevin, and watched them play for a while, as I have retired from my rec league volleyball career. I had run three miles or so before volleyball. I decided that would be enough for the day what with commuting and all, but then I was inspired to run one more mile, so I did. I also tried to do stride-esque running while chasing the ball for people when it rolled really far away. I don't feel that I worked out all that much yesterday, or all weekend really, but today I am famished!

In case any of my faithful readers remembers my lofty goals to go to grad school.... well, it is still a goal although I messed up my application a few months ago and I still need one more recommendation and apparently I also need to take the GRE again. That should be interesting! I am going to try to sign up soon and today I am planning to email one of my old professors and see if she will take pity on me and write me a recommendation (given that she remembers me which she hopefully does). So hopefully I will be a student again soon!

Posted by barb at 11:16 AM | Comments (3)

June 26, 2006

fun weekend, possible half marathon plans

This was such a nice weekend. I feel bad mentioning it since I know most of the East Coast is flooding right now, but we had a beautfiul weekend in Denver. We are settling into some more seasonable (and reasonable) temperatures, which is delightful, and Matt and I are almost done getting settled in our house, which is also very nice. I mowed the lawn yesterday, and washed both of our cars, and that was a good time. My car was truly horrifying. Now it's in the garage for the week so I think it will stay nice for a while. Our lawn has finally stopped looking like a wild meadow so that is good too, I am sure the neighbors are relieved.

I got a decent amount of running in over the weekend around wedding festivities. Saturday I ran seven miles in a new route in some ritzy neighborhoods near ours and that was nice. It was more hilly than my normal runs so that is always good. I am trying to find out a way to get on the Highline Canal and I think I got close to one. That would make for a long run because I was at about 3.5 miles when I got close, so I will have to get in better shape before I try again.

I was thinking yesterday as I was trotting around for 5 miles in a delightful morning, that I might want to run a half marathon this year. There is one in Fort Collins in September that may be a good target. I think later in the summer I should have time to do some longer runs, and one half marathon will not break my budget. I don't think I have a PR in me just because my mileage has been so low, but maybe I can run around 1:40 which would be nice.

Anyway today I am running after work and around volleyball (I am not playing this session but one of my friends who doesn't know anyone is starting today with the team so I need to introduce him to everyone). I think if I get 5 miles in, I will be happy, and that should not be too hard. Hopefully this will be a good running week!

Posted by barb at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2006

Summer

I love summer. It is such a great time of year, and now that it is almost the end of June (wow, I do not know where this month went!), the weather has really improved and the high temperatures are barely reaching 90. Usually I have a lot of racing to look forward to in the summer but this year I am taking it easy on the racing, for a few reasons - First, money. Now that I am a homeowner I am broke and race fees sound like a lot of cash. Especially for triathlons, so I've decided to hold off on those until next year, when I might actually have time to swim. I have read about both Audrey and Beth's tri experiences, and they sound like so much fun, though! Another reason for holding off on racing for a while is my IT band. It has felt fine all week, outside of Tuesday, but too much running and too much speed might aggravate it, and I'd rather be healthy and mellow than fast and injured.

We have a wedding this weekend but luckily it is in Denver so it should not be too time consuming. I am sad that I will actually not be sitting at the same table as Matt, as he is a groomsman and they are putting all the bridal party at one table. Luckily dinner should not last too long and then hopefully we will have lots of time for dancing, which is the best part of all weddings (outside of the cake of course). I recommended a cake shop to this couple so I think the cake will be very delicious. Speaking of cake, the process of cake tasting is my primary motivation for looking at venues and setting a date - once we have our date, we can go taste cake, which is great fun! Obviously you may be able to tell that I am very food (and especially dessert) focused.

Tomorrow morning Matt is going for a run with me, and then I think we may stop and get coffee and breakfast treats at a neighborhood bakery that I run by sometimes and that frankly looks adorable. Then I am off to get a hair cut and color, thankfully as I am turning very gray. I think Sunday morning I would like to do some exploring of our new hood and try to get to the Highline Canal trail for a slightly longer run. Maybe eight miles or so as I have not run over 6.5 in several weeks. It should be a good time!

Posted by barb at 9:28 AM | Comments (2)

June 21, 2006

I love my new hood

Although I have pretty much gotten used to running in my new neighborhood, I really appreciate it every day. It is so awesome. The mornings have been beautiful recently - I ran 6.5 miles yesterday morning and 5 miles this morning. Although I often think about moving back to the East Coast, which of course would be more difficult now that we've bought our house, one of the things I know I would miss is the temperate mornings in Colorado. There are maybe 10 days a year when it's already really hot at 6:30 am. Most of the time it's around 60 or 70 degrees which is about perfect. Now don't spread this information, we don't want it to be too crowded here!

I have ridden my bike to and from work every day this week so far which is also fun. This morning I was faced with a pretty stiff head wind and that slowed me down a bit, but I have been averaging just a little over 20 minutes of biking each way. There is a lot of stopping and starting, which is kind of irritating especially since I think I've already worn my left cleat almost completely. Which is bad because then it's more difficult to clip it back in after I stop. But what can you do.

In exciting house related news we are picking up our lawn mower tonight, I believe, and mowing our lawn. I tell you what, it does not get wilder or crazier than this! But it will be nice. The lawn has taken on a wild jungle kind of look since we've lived here for two weeks and haven't mowed, and the dirty hippies we bought the house from didn't mow for a long time before that. Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with hippies. I have nothing against them. But these people let their cat pee all over our basement before they moved out and didn't clean it up. Nor did they really clean anything. Thus our basement smells like cat pee, and thus they are dirty filthy hippies. I hope no one is offended.

I still haven't been running very much even though I do have slightly more time to devote to running now. Yesterday my knee/IT band started to bug me a little at the end of my run, so I think in distances over 6 miles I will take it easy for a while. Also, now that I have a mortgage, I am taking a break from racing which is not a cheap habit. I guess right now I'm just running for fun. I kind of think if I am able to maintain 30 miles a week or so, plus biking, through the summer I won't lose fitness. Then next summer when I am racing again, hopefully, I will be as fast as I was this year. I do think biking helps keep my legs loose for the most part, so that is definitely positive. But I'm going to keep an eye on my IT band, and keep foam rollering it, just to be safe.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday!

Posted by barb at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2006

slacker weekend, good times

I am a huge slacker lately. Every week, I think I could not possibly slack more, but then I do! I did run over 30 miles this past week but it was not without seven days of running. I did bike approximately 30 miles. I really need to get back into lifting weights however.

Philadelphia was a lot of fun. We did not see a single tourist attraction, but we really didn't have time! The wedding was beautiful and I think everyone had a great time, especially the bride and groom, so that is always nice. We got back last night around 9:30 pm. I did a lot of running in Pennsylvania - our friends we stayed with Friday night live in a nice rural area with a lot of quiet farm roads. That was really fun and very hilly, I loved it! They did warn me that apparently a mean goat lives on one of the farm roads and is very threatening to cars and pedestrians. Although it would have cut my run short to see him, I was kind of sad that I didn't, because a mean goat sounds kind of funny!

Today I didn't run as I didn't sleep very well and didn't go to bed very early. Today the high is a mild (ha!) 93 degrees so I am planning to wait for a few minutes after I get home from work and then go for a run. At least it's a dry heat. Which really does make a difference. I went for a run yesterday morning around 10:00 and it was just boiling.

I am hoping possibly to make it to training this Saturday, but we'll see. We have another wedding this Saturday and the rehearsal dinner is Friday night, so if it turns out to be a rambunctious night then I may not be in Boulder at 7:30 am. I am really sad about my inability to go to practice. But I just don't think I can put another activity on my plate right now.

Posted by barb at 1:44 PM | Comments (0)

June 15, 2006

woo hoo for vacation!!!

Even though I am only going on vacation for a day, it is always a fun thing to look forward to. It is awesome to have a four day week as well. And a three day weekend, and a trip to a city I've never seen! Woo hoo for today!

So now that I've gotten my woo hoo's out of the way, I should talk about running. I ran 6.5 miles yesterday morning and that was a lot on top of the biking. So today I ran 4 miles and drove to my old house and walked from there to work. That made my legs feel a little better, they were really tired yesterday afternoon when I biked home. I do enjoy biking to work but it's nice to mix things up. We have had several days of record breaking heat (yesterday it was 100 degrees) so today will be a nice break as it is only supposed to be 85 or so. Yesterday morning I could definitely feel how hot it was going to be - the sun was already pretty brutal at 7:00 am. Today was much more temperate.

Although we will be busy with travel and wedding activities, I would like to do some decent sea level running this weekend so I guess we'll just see how it goes. I'd like to get out for maybe 7 miles on Saturday or Sunday morning. But I am not going to count on it so I may just have another very low mileage week on my hands. At least I have done a decent amount of biking (33 miles), which has got to count for something!

I have to say lately I have been having a hard time coming up with interesting things to talk about. Basically my life right now consists of moving activities, running, biking, sleeping, and of course work. Maybe I will have some fun wedding stories after this weekend! Otherwise I may have to start running a little more so that I can talk more about that!

Posted by barb at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

June 13, 2006

moving is over

Hooray for being finished with moving! I am not a fan of moving in general. It is time consuming, expensive, and interferes with my running schedule. As evidenced by the fact that last week I ran a paltry 27 miles, and this week to date I've run 9 miles. Hoo boy, that is not the best! In my defense I did bike 28 miles, my farthest ride yet, on Sunday before unpacking and painting all day.

In addition, now that I am no longer walking to work, I am riding my bike 5.5 or 6 miles each way. Not that it's a huge change but it's making my legs a little more tired. And I have to wake up earlier than I'm accustomed to if I want to run over five miles! Lazy, lazy Barb.

Our new house is great. It is crazy owning a house. We have our own yard and it is awesome! Hopefully the yard will not be hurting too much this week as we are in for more record breaking temperatures. I believe the high today is 99 degrees. So it is imperative to run before work. Even then I am getting much more sweaty and disgusting than usual!! I love my new running routes, though. I get to run through two very nice neighborhoods on my way to a nice park with a very long dirt path around it. So awesome.

We are leaving for Philadelphia Thursday evening, for a wedding on Saturday, where my faithful reader K. is getting married to her high school sweetheart! It is going to be so much fun. So it will be very busy, and it's a short trip but I hope to do some delightful sea level running and see the sights of Philadelphia, a place I have never been.

Posted by barb at 4:37 PM | Comments (0)

June 8, 2006

when will it stop?

I am seriously drowning in our social life. I have no time to do anything, much less blog. But here it goes.

Basically it is insanely hot. The high has been 95 degrees every day for a week. I have no time to run so today I got out for 4 miles at 9:30 and it was already obscenely hot. There was a breeze and that helped, but not quite enough.

Yesterday was a complete disaster. On Tuesday night I got my second flat tire in three weeks. Give me a break. Who gets this many flat tires. I hate, hate, hate Discount Tire Company. Never buy anything there. So now I have all new tires and wheels. Because of that I got home much later Tuesday night than expected, was so mad I could not sleep, and felt terrible all day yesterday. I ran 5 miles in blazing heat and lifted. Last night I was in bed by 9:00. I feel a lot better today but I am still feeling the effects of a night without sleep.

Anyway that is about all the news. I have had very little time for running and biking this week. Hopefully July will be a more quiet month.

Posted by barb at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)

June 6, 2006

homeowners

Well, Matt and I are officially homeowners now. So that is exciting. Although we aren't moving in until Saturday! For that reason, buying a house is strangely anti-climactic. But nonetheless very exciting.

So I am pretty happy with my knee. I had been taking it pretty easy with running, and I think it paid off as it felt 100% this morning. I am pretty jazzed in general about running and otherwise working out right now in fact. I love my bike, and I just found out we have a secure place in my building to park it, so I can ride it to work. That is nice because it's much faster to commute on my road bike than on my mountain bike, and sometimes I can just leave the house early and go for a pre-work ride, or I can go for an after-work ride. I also hate paying for parking and riding my bike will allow me to avoid it! I still need to get a new bike lock - I can never keep track of keys and locks together - but that will pay for itself in about two weeks of riding to work.

I haven't written in a while so here is an update:
Saturday - fartlek workout with RRB. Approximately 6 miles of running. I felt great outside of a little tightness in my knee on the last set. Then I went on a hike (Mount Sanitas) and did not bring nearly enough water because it was really hot. But I recovered later.
Sunday - 60 minute bike ride (15 miles or so) in the morning with M. I did the last lap of the park faster and averaged about 19 mph on that loop. My legs did feel tired from the previous day's workout and hike. Sunday evening before Matt got home from Vegas I ran 4 miles. It was hot but nice.
Monday - Yesterday I was tired from the weekend and didn't want to push my knee so I went to the gym after work and ellipticalled for 65 minutes followed by a 3 mile treadmill run. My knee felt fine. It was really hot yesterday so I was glad to be running inside.
Today - got up early for a 6 mile run. I was only going to run 5 but my knee felt fine, so I added on a little bit. I think it is definitely on the mend if not totally mended, but I am still planning on an easy week this week. Tomorrow I have a bike ride planned so I'll just run 4 miles or so before work.

So this weekend is our moving weekend, which should be very fun and exciting, and next weekend we are going to a wedding in Philadelphia. The weekend after that we have a wedding in Denver... so it is a very busy month! I am so excited for Philadelphia though. I've never been and I've always wanted to see it!

Posted by barb at 8:58 AM | Comments (3)

June 2, 2006

no end in sight

So I basically have social plans every night from now until next Thursday. And that is the day we take possession of our house, so that counts as plans, in which case I have plans for a week and a day, because that means we have plans until next Sunday. Holy heck, this is tiring!

But it is nice to have lots of friends and family to do fun stuff with, so that is good. And on Tuesday we are getting our wedding planning going, so that is fun too! It is just not nice when I can't sleep for more than 7.5 hours a night. It makes me grouchy and makes my brain work in a less optimal manner.

The good news is that I get to go to practice tomorrow! My knee felt fine on a six mile run this morning so I think as long as I foam roll myself tonight, I should be good for the short workout. I need to see some of my RRB friends, it's been too long.

Anyway I ran 6 this morning. It was nice. The weather was gorgeous and I was running through my old/soon to be current neighborhood which I love. It's so pretty there and I love running on dirt. Then I came to work and it was nuts, and I didn't drink enough water, but I think I'll fix that. It's hot today, like in the 90s, so it's important to drink a lot of water.

I am off pretty soon to buy bachelorette party and other assorted gifts for soon to be married people. Then I plan to be in bed by 10:00 tonight. Very exciting weekend. Then tomorrow is practice and Sunday I'd like to do about 90 minutes on the bike. It will be a nice weekend!

Posted by barb at 3:45 PM | Comments (0)

June 1, 2006

thank heavens for foam rollers

Well, after a day off from running and some diligent work with my foam roller, my knee is feeling fine. I haven't pushed it at all - just an easy four miles this morning - but it seemed to feel just fine. How exciting! I was worried I would be down for the count for two weeks and in the PT's office. Not that I mind going to the PT because he is a really nice guy, but that's money I don't need to spend. However, I realize now that I do need to give him a call and tell him I want to go running.

So yesterday was a fun day of ellipticalling. I did it for 90 minutes while watching Dr. Phil and reading trashy magazines. I have decided I'm not a fan of Vogue at all. There was a three page article about this woman (who is actually a novelist, a boring one at that) who keeps buying really expensive coats, and she is annoyed because the buttons fall off. I know I would be annoyed in that situation, but still. Three pages?

We have been so busy lately. I keep hoping it will calm down, and it never does. Which is really starting to get to me. Yesterday we finished cleaning out the condo so that the new owner can take possession today. There was so much stuff there, even after we thought we got everything. In truly horrifying news, I almost left my amphipod (a birthday gift from Alison last year)!!! Wouldn't that have been so bad?

Also yesterday, while I was on my way to take my bike to my friend M's place, I tried to give a bunch of stuff to the Salvation Army. However, their hours for donations are from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm. Seriously. How dumb is this. The people that work need to donate stuff! We are the ones with stuff! There are so many businesses that really inconvenience people who actually work. It is very irritating. So I guess I will get that done, along with about 17,000 other items, this weekend.

I am taking Matt and his friend T. to the airport after work today. They're going to Vegas for T's bachelor party. Vegas is always a good time. Apparently it is going to be terribly hot there - like 105 every day. I think they will have lots of fun (hopefully not too much!). Then I have a bachelorette party this weekend. I hope I can work out a lot, though. After I drop the guys off I am heading over to M's for a bike ride. I hope the park will be less crazy, and we will have less people trying to make us crash, since we are starting later. Then I hope to pass out and sleep for 8 hours. That would be really nice!

Tomorrow I am not sure if I'm going to attempt running or not. I wanted to swim but I have this weird thing going on with my shoulder where it is very painful if I press on things with my right arm or if I lift my arm above shoulder level. So if I can't swim, I will either elliptical or run before work.

That is the news from Barb Land. I hope everyone else is getting a little more rest than I am!

Posted by barb at 8:49 AM | Comments (0)