Month: August 2011

GPOYW: “The First Non-Running, Non-Sweaty, Actually-Wearing-Makeup Photo I’ve Seen of Myself in a While” edition.

Saturday night, city lights. My hair is odd because I napped for three hours after running 11 miles. Sue me!

I took a rest day yesterday. Felt exhausted from the weekend’s activities and also felt a little under the weather.

So I grabbed some quality hammock time and watched the sunset.

(It was way prettier than this cell phone photo, obviously. But I think no matter how good a photo is, sunsets are best viewed in real life anyway.)

My former DetermiNation coach, Rose Wetzel, won a local 5K in 17:53 (5:37 pace) dressed as Lady Gaga.

Oh, and she also stopped to tie her shoe during the race.

She’s such a badass, and also the nicest, most cheerful person you’ll ever meet.

Read the whole story of her race on the Brooks blog!

The De Soto tri top arrived! I think it’s gonna be a winner.

The pink top was cute, but it was all like, “Wheeee, I’m doing a triathlon!”

The all-black outfit is like, “I’M GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE.”

Jealous?

In other news, my latest marathon training recap is up. Check out Marathon Training: Week 5.

(And yes, I wear sunscreen like whoa. SPF 50 all the way. I guess my ankles just can’t escape the sexy.)

Yesterday was a bike ‘n’ swim day! I did 15 miles on the bike at a 14 mph average, which would have been faster if the trail wasn’t so crowded. The trail had a 15 mph speed limit anyway (and even had a digital sign that clocked you at one point!), but the serious riders weren’t really following it. One guy who was hunkered down on his aero bars was going ridiculously fast and almost hit a dog before the owner yanked its leash and pulled it out of the way! Not cool.

Then I hit the lake for my first opwn-water training swim. I went to the actual lake where the tri is!

I finally understand why people say they panic in open water… the water is murky, the milfoil is abundant and shiz gets scary when you hit a cold spot! I figured out that I needed to stay in a shallow area to avoid freaking out, and I ended up being able to swim from one end of the dock to the other (parallel to the shore). I couldn’t get much farther than the length of a lap pool without resting, but I practiced flipping onto my back to swim since I know I’ll need to do that during the race.

It was a great training weekend! This week, I taper.

Half-marathon a week from today. Triathlon in 11 days.

Got a bit of a late start on the bike today, but better late than never!

Nice place to stop for a Larabar.

11 miles {of death} done.

Fun fact! There’s no shade along the half-marathon course. And we’ll be running from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Kind of like I just did.

OMFG.

I got a hammock last week ($40, with stand, Craigslist, thank you) and all I want to do when I get home from work is lie in it.

So I do for a little bit, and then I go run.

Last night I took a roundabout route to the gym to knock out two slow miles (9:45-ish, recovery-style), then did a modified version of the strength workout that kristysfoodandfitness posted yesterday.

Instead of leg stuff for the second set of exercises, I did ab stuff. I hate ab stuff, but I’d also like to have nice abs, so I’m grudgingly starting to do ab stuff. (Normal people call them crunches.)

Then I ran a quick mile home. I physically cannot run slowly after strength training! My feet feel like they have springs on them and there ain’t nothing I can do to keep from springin’ on home.

Side note: I usually run by a fire station on the way home, and on warm nights there are usually a few firefighters sitting out front relaxing and, you know, waiting for fires. I always wave and they always say, “Good evening, m’am!”

Ain’t nothing wrong with having some firefighters in your life.

Today is a rest day, also known as “eat the face off some Chipotle” day. I go with a salad, no dressing, chicken, lots of pico de gallo, fajita vegetables and a side of guacamole. Yum to the yum.

11 miles tomorrow. I’m running along the half-marathon route. Half-marathon in 9 days. Wooooo!