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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

iHeartSoda


Yup.  You read that right.  I LOVE soda.  I *really* love McDonald's coke.  I often wonder if it's drugged.  It taste different, and better, than any other fountain coke.  I'm a big fountain soda fan.  I will drink Mountain Dew in a bottle, can or fountain.  But Coke is one I prefer only from the fountain. If I'm at a gas station and I get a fountain soda it will be Mountain Dew because  well. . . . coke is better from McD's!

I've given up soda for significant amounts of time before.  I always hope that when I have one after a long long time without that it will be too sweet and I won't like it.  I remember when I was younger and my parents switched to diet soda.  To this day my dad will only drink diet.   He says regular tastes too sweet.  I'm not lucky enough for that to happen to me.  One sip of a soda and I slide right off the wagon.   That happened about a week ago.  I'm back on soda and I can't seem to stop.   I know this is affecting my weight.  I was sticking under 200 really well and today I was 201.4.  Great.  It's the soda and my sudden addiction to Twix Easter Eggs.   I need you all to slap me and help me get back on the wagon.   I don't care if I eat some chocolate, but I have to keep it under control.  And I really do better in life if I don't drink soda at all.   I tend to associate soda to all things - good and bad.   The past 2 days have been *super* (too much so) warm.  I'm driving home in my hot car with the AC going and I think what a day - I'm going to get a soda!  It's a great day for one.  Or I can get bad news and I wanna drown my sorrows in a soda.  I guess there are worse vices to have.  I also feel like I will snack less in the evenings if I have a soda to drink while watching tv or reading my kindle.  It doesn't balance out though I guess, or the scale wouldn't be up.   Ultimately though I need to jump back on the wagon.  Just looking at that photo makes my mouth water for a coke! lol



The running schedule I have this week is two 4.5 miles runs (M&W is my plan) and one 7 mile run this weekend.  Monday (and yesterday) we reached the upper 70's in temperature.  I'm probably the only one in the local area that hated it.  I think that was too hot too soon.  It's March people!  Eli still has a winter coat. He just really started shedding.  So Monday, since Eli had been turned out for the first time in forever (too wet) I decided he didn't need any work and I would just run.  I decided to go to a different town.  I live on a farm smack between two towns.  I always run in the larger town cause it's easier to do a loop and get my full run in.  But I saw a new paved path in the park at the other town and I wanted to try it.  I drove to the park and I assumed I would use the bathroom there (like I do in the other town).  Bad assumption.  That dang park has 4 bathrooms and every dang one of them was closed. I was stunned.  The park was crowded and where do people go to the bathroom?  Lame!   So I decided to suck it up and run.  I'd see how far I got.  The path is only 3/4 of a mile.  So I ran around that just over a lap and headed off through the town.  This town is really short so I was back at the park in no time and had to run around the path 2 more times.  Ultimately when I hit 4 miles I bailed.  I have never not done a full run when I'm following a schedule.  It was hot.  My car said 79 degrees when I got to the park.  Each leg felt like it weighed 100 lbs.  I was running through molasses. I was breathing harder.  It was hot!  Too hot too fast!  I hadn't acclimated to that.  And I had to pee!!!!!  So I stopped at 4 miles, got in the car and went home.  I ran slow. . . here are the splits:


I'm a much happier cold weather runner.  I can generate my own heat.  I've never ever been too cold during a run.  NEVER!   Today the high is 40, but we are having 30 mph winds and rain.  So I will probably be on the treadmill, which I'm dreading.  The temps are perfect for running, but there is no way I'm fighting those kinds of winds. :(   

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Wednesday Run

My training schedule has runs Tues-Thurs-Sunday.  But it seems like M-W-Sat work the best for me.  This week is a step back week, thank goodness!   I love step back weeks.  I feel like I keep my legs going, but I don't wear out and I look forward to my next run.  So this Sat I will only be running a 5K.  

On Monday I ran at the gym on the treadmill.  It was really cold (the high was 18) and the roads were still too icy/snowy to make it safe.  I don't mind the cold so much at all.  I'm a much happier winter runner than summer runner.  But I am scared to death of falling while running and breaking something.  I've never broke a bone and it freaks me out.   

I struggled on the treadmill.  I walked. . . I can't remember how much but after 2 miles of running I did some intervals, walking  no more than a half mile.  It seems that intervals can do good things for calorie burn so I don't mind it too much.  Even though the perfectionist side of me gets highly annoyed when I don't run the whole distance. 

Yesterday was a gorgeous day.  It was around 40 degrees when I got to the park after work.  I couldn't wait to run outside.  Who am I?  Lol.   I love running on days that are slightly cool.  It works well for my body and I wanted to soak up some vitamin D, even though I didn't have much skin exposed.  It felt great!  Shortly into my run I ran past a house with a dog loose in the yard.  There was no fence, but I suppose there could have been a invisible one.  The dog stood near the house, so no where near any fence that I was unable to see.  He/she just looked at me.  Didn't bark.  Didn't move.  Just watched me.  I really wanted to say "Good Doggie!"   But I knew better.  I am not a dog person.  There are some dogs that I get to know that I like. But I don't know that I will ever own a dog (we have a dog that my husband had before I met him and he lives outside and I hate that - a whole other story).  But I do like well behaved dogs.  The animal lover in me respects and admires animals with good manners.  Dogs that bark and chase me, not so much! :) 



I tried hard to keep a pace around 11:30.  It wasn't as easy as my 6 mile run, but I fully believe that this is a pace that in general my body likes and does well with right now.  So I'd like to keep most of my runs (or the beginnings of long runs) near that pace.  It was a bit hard as not all sidewalks were clean and sometimes I didn't have a place to get off the sidewalk, so I had to slow way down and pick my way through.  It was worth it to be outside. 


Having an 11:10 second mile is strange, but I'll take it! :)  I think that's when I really decided to push for my pace.  My first mile is often faster than I think/plan/expect, but I have to focus to not slow down after.  When I first started running I had natural negative splits, but I think I was really focused on running. . . I would work on my breathing and such. Now I will think about things in life and that causes me to slow down a bit.  

Saturday my husband and I are going to take a little road trip.  So I'm glad to have only 3 miles on the schedule this weekend.  I will run on Sat to get the calorie burn in before we leave.  I definitely have plans to eat out that day. :)


Monday, March 3, 2014

Awesome 6!

I had 6 miles on the schedule this weekend.  I admit I was dreading it.  We had dinner plans on Sunday so I wanted to run then (burn the calories then stuff my face!).   But the forecast on Sunday was for ice and sleet (which ultimately changed our plans on Sunday).  I was *not* doing 6 miles on the treadmill.  Nope.  No way, no how.   So Saturday it was. My husband made plans for his sister and brother in law to come over and help us put away summer sausage.   I wasn't aware of that.  I did managed to get up in time to make the house look a bit better and fit my run in before they arrived.    I rocked this run!



I forgot to ice my knee and take any meds like I did for the 5 miles last weekend.   I worried about that when I started. (it did get tight, but not as painful as in the past)   It was chilly but not super cold - perfect weather.  I don't really set goals other than to run the entire time and finish the distance.  However, I found my groove and wanted to keep a pace of under 12 min/mile.   Finding the groove for me is hit or miss.  The "groove" in my world is when I find that good pace and become almost "mechanical".  By that I mean I keep a good tempo, a steady pace and a rhythmic breathing pattern.  I feel like a machine - very repetitive.  All of those things happened on Saturday and I didn't ever fall out of it.  I almost did when 2 dogs chased me.  They actually belong to our nephew, but we don't spend much time with him, so I don't know their names.  But I've had a neighbor's dog run with me before and he ran "with" me.  Happy - tail wagging - running *with* me.  These dogs chased me.  Barking and yapping and on my heels.  One of the tripped me and I freaked.  I turned around and screamed at the top of my lungs at them.  One went home.  The other proceeded to chase me until I yelled again.  All of this happened as I was going up the first of 2 "hills" on my run.  They aren't terribly steep, but in my flatland area of IL they are hill enough to get my hear rate up.  So I'm turning around, screaming and running up a hill at the same time.  My heart rate spiked.  I can see exactly where all of this happened in all the stats on my run.   It's kind of funny that there are peaks and drops (pace dropped) right at that point.   I wasn't sure I would recover cause my heart rate felt so high and that causes me to slow down. Plus I was out of breath!  I got to the top of the hill and focused on breathing and found that groove again.  All went well till about mile 5.5 when my sock started rubbing the back of one of my feet.  I knew when I left the house that those socks wouldn't stay up and out of my shoe.  Sure enough one slipped inside my shoe and rubbed the back of my foot raw.  It still hurts!  I am SO proud of this pace.  I even posted the Garmin photo on FB.  I tend to think that people that post about every workout are kind of tacky.  I have one FB friend that posts a photo of her heart rate watch after every workout.  I *has* to be every workout.  It's almost daily.  Really - does it not count if you don't post it to FB? lol   Anyways, look how even my splits are!!!!!



I love how my splits are so close together.  The longest split of 11:40 includes the miles where the dogs were after me.  My average pace was basically the same as when I ran my 15K in December.  I did notice how my watch and the screenshot from Garmin Connect aren't the exact same in avg pace.  Lame!   When I find my groove in running I don't hate it so much.   I just wish I could find it more often.  Or figure out what triggers it.  I often think the meal I ate for supper the night before impacts my run the next morning.  I'm embarrassed to admit I had a fish filet meal from McD's the night before!



So the rest of the weekend was spent making cookies!  I had no idea they would take so long.  Whew.   I found this idea online and have been wanting to try it for weeks.  I've had all the supplies for weeks.  The blog said that these come together really easily.  I guess they do when you aren't learning as you go.  I don't use the holy grail royal icing.  I knew that the icing I used would make details hard. But it made the stems of the strawberries impossible.  So I had to make royal icing for the first time.  Blah!  I used it on the stems and the seeds since I had some left.  I was going to use it on the white drizzle, but the instructions said to make the icing ivory.  I tried that and it came out way way way wrong.  So that got trashed and I had to make more icing yet again.  If I hadn't made the green and the white drizzle twice I'd have finished sooner I think.  Nonetheless I love them.  I brought them to work today and a coworker told me they look like something you'd see in a magazine!  YAY!  This photo shows a bit more shine than they ended up with after drying over night.  But it's the most accurate in color.