Dev on Running

This week’s speed intervals:

• 1 mi warmup
• 4 sets of 0.40 fast/0.10 recovery
• 1 mi cool-down

The rain wasn’t that bad once I got out there (as always). Once you’ve run in one or two absolute shitstorms, it’s hard to be intimidated by the weather.

I kept passing this one guy during my speed intervals and being passed by him during my recovery periods, over and over, all the way around Green Lake, as he ran at a nice, steady pace. I hope he heard my watch beeping and realized what I was doing. Otherwise, he was probably like, “UMMMMM, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.”

Oh, I hope so. The thought kept me entertained for 40 minutes, after all.

I found tonight’s strength workout on Pinterest:

I did this twice, using 10 lb. weights for most of the moves and 3 lbs. when 10 was just too much. I also skipped the jumping jacks to rest my legs.

Now I have jelly arms! I’ll definitely do this workout again.

A crazy, crazy idea came to me during the workout: Should I switch from the half-marathon to the FULL for Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll on June 22?

Reasons:

• I would have more than enough time to train for it.
• The half might not feel like enough of a challenge when there’s an option to run a full.
• It would give me two chances to run a sub-4:00 marathon this year.
• It would be fun to run a full in my hometown.
• Late June in Seattle is lovely for running.
• It would be hilly, which would be plenty challenging, and may help me smoke flat-and-fast Chicago in October.
• I think there would be plenty of time to recover and keep training for Chicago…?
• It would only cost $20 to upgrade to the full, and I have until May 9 to decide.
• Why the feck not?

THOUGHTS?

EXCITING DAY, people!!

In the three months I’ve been at my job, I’ve worked at two desks on two floors, due to massive expansion/construction in the office. Today, I moved to my third and final location, and it is sweet.

I have a lovely window seat that looks out over the Puget Sound, the Great Wheel, Pike Place Market, CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field. I get to watch the ferries come and go all day. Oh, and I do some work, too.

At my company, the CEO and other execs occupy the inner offices without windows; it’s something about staying humble. I appreciate that, because in no other universe would this intern-turned-copywriter ever get an office with such a killer view. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts in case management realizes they’ve made a terrible mistake with my seat assignment…

Aaaaanyway. On to tonight’s run. I meant to take it easy, but I kinda, sorta, maybe… raced it.

I felt great! The night was warmer than usual (high 40s, maybe?), so I just wore my favorite long-sleeved running top rather than a pullover or jacket, and didn’t even bring gloves. Glorious. It was practically summer, compared to last week’s snowy run.

Time for the guilty-pleasure reality-TV roll call: Who watches The Bachelor??

It’s the highlight of every Monday for me, and you better believe that I have a front-row seat for the sh*tshow this season. I mayyy have run extra-fast tonight just to make it home in time for the season premiere.

The very best part is making Aaron watch it with me. His commentary is so hilarious, particularly this season. Pure gold.

And with that, I go to bed ridiculously happy. Good night!

I was sick after my run yesterday.

And by “sick” I mean that I was in the shower, then had to exit the shower prematurely in order to be sick, and then re-enter the shower to rinse off the soap and such. (Sorry for the overshare; I bet you wish you could un-read that.)

I felt weak and woozy and nauseous and all that gross stuff. I pretty much staggered to bed straight from the shower and slept for three hours.

And then I felt better! Fun story, huh?

Aaron and I both didn’t feel great yesterday, and I think we’re having carb withdrawals. We’ve reverted back to Paleo eating, and I guess it’s not easy to quit carbs cold-turkey after eating anything and everything we wanted over the past few weeks.

I broke down last night and had a 6" meatball sub from Subway (random craving), but Aaron stayed strong… and then he felt icky and couldn’t sleep last night. I wonder if I’ll have to go through that again since I dipped back into the delicious land of carbs.

I slept in laaaaate this morning and felt much better, both stomach-wise and sniffle/sneeze-wise. For breakfast, I made the sweet potato hash recipe that I saw on Tumblr a few days ago.

Pretty good, and super filling! Although grating a sweet potato by hand is not at the top of my list of fun activities, so this probably won’t be one of my regular dishes.

Later in the afternoon, I did my 40 minutes of cross-training on the spin bike while watching the Seahawks beat the Redskins!!! Throwing up a W for the WIN!

I did 9.98 miles at a 14.9 mph average speed. My legs were so tired (in a good way) when I finished.

And that wraps up six weeks of (non-existent) half-marathon training! Six more weeks to go. Super-happy with all the workouts I did this week:

Mon: 4 mi run (9:06 pace)
Tues: (skipped strength training)
Weds: 4 mi speed intervals (8:38 pace)
Thurs: 2 mi run (9:26 pace) + strength
Fri: Rest
Sat: 6 mi run (9:10 pace)
Sun: 40 min spin bike

Not a bad start to 2013! Here’s to a great upcoming week.

280: Days until the Chicago Marathon.

2/19: Date that registration opens for the Chicago Marathon.

4:15:10: My marathon PR.

9:10: Pace at which one must run for a 3:59:59 marathon.

8:12: Pace at which a female in the 18-34 age group must run to qualify for Boston with a marathon time of 3:35:00.

< 9:10: Pace at which I hope to run the Chicago Marathon.

< 8:12: Pace at which I run the Chicago Marathon in my dreams.

These are normal thoughts to have on a Saturday night, right?

This was a tough one. I ran down to Green Lake and did two full loops for the first time ever! Didn’t stop once, even though I wanted to a million times.

I believe that running is 99% mental and 1% physical.

The 99% includes:

Having the will to walk out your front door.

Scraping together every last bit of mental strength you have to push beyond physical exhaustion.

Refusing to give up.

Every time I refuse to give up, both my body and my mind get so much stronger.

That’s the real rush of running for me: doing things I never thought I could do. Proving myself wrong.

I think Aaron feels the same way about cycling. That guy will push through anything to get the job done.

He did a brutal, non-stop 65 miles with his team today, and now we’re both flat-out exhausted at home.

And we’ll do it again next weekend.

Call it craziness.

Or love.

Or just taking complete, utter, psychotic joy in proving ourselves wrong.

I really don’t want to do my long run.

I’ve been dressed to go for an hour.

It’s warm in here.

It’s cold out there.

I have the sniffles.

And the sneezies.

I… I…

I’ll see you when I get back.