Dev on Running

Aaron has decided he’ll run with me on Mondays and Thursdays.

Tonight, we just had a two-miler to do. As I turned on my Garmin and set it out on the deck to find satellites, I noticed…

“Ummm… it’s snowing!”

Aaron laughed and replied, “No, it’s not… oh, yup, it is.”

“Do you still wanna go?”

“Do you?”

“I’m already dressed…”

It definitely wasn’t the fastest run, since I skidded in a few icy places on the sidewalk and then got really paranoid about falling, but I got it done! (Aaron got it done way faster than me, since he’s more daring and sprinted ahead when I started running granny-style.)

The snowflakes were huge at first, which was really fun to be out in, and then they turned into boring old rain. Oh, well. We’ll always have the memories.

I also lifted weights and did some crunches, but I’ll admit that I’m totally half-assing my strength training. I just haven’t put the effort into looking up new lifting routines, so I just stick with the same old stuff and it’s not challenging my muscles. Must. Start. Caring.

So excited that tomorrow is FRIDAY! We’ve got an active weekend planned, including my long run (6.5 miles) and Aaron’s group road ride with the Audi team on Saturday, and his mountain bike ride and possibly some bouldering for me on Sunday.

Aaron also signed up for a fun bike race next weekend, and I’ve heard whispers from a former co-worker about possibly forming a team to run Ragnar Northwest Passage this summer. Sign. Me. Up!

The hardest workouts are the most satisfying and productive in the end!

This week’s speed intervals:

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

The 0.40 fast/0.10 recovery combo was so much easier than the 0.50 fast/0.25 recovery I did last week! Not sure why, since I had less recovery time.

There were more people than usual walking and running around Green Lake, and at first I thought it was because we had a nice (and very rare) clear night. On second thought… it’s January 2nd.

Welcome to the grind.

Aaron had a treat waiting at home for me:

DUCK!

It cooked all day on low in the crock pot (using this method), and then he popped it in the oven for 25 minutes at 425 degrees to crisp up the skin. Holy cow, this was amazing.

And now Aaron has agreed to watch Magic Mike with me because I’ve never seen it! I convinced him that it had a clever storyline (or something…? probably such a lie). Best fiancé ever!

Updated to add: WTF? Terrible movie! We got legitimately bored and turned it off. And I had such high hopes…

Happy New Year!!

We had a fabulous few days up in Vancouver, B.C., celebrating the New Year with my four closest girlfriends and their boyfriends.

The night before New Year’s Eve, we all went out to dinner at Don Francesco and enjoyed amazing food in our own private room. Oooh, fancy.

We admired pretty lights in the city.

And we enjoyed plenty of adult beverages back at the hotel! (Not pictured.)

Against all odds, Aaron and I were up early the morning of New Year’s Eve for my planned four-mile run. Our hotel was just a few blocks away from the water, so it was easy to hop onto the waterfront trail and run two miles to Stanley Park and back.

It was a very satisfying run, and so fun to do with Aaron! Vancouver is such a great place to run. I’d be on that seawall trail all the time if I lived there.

We met up with the group afterward to take a little ferry over to Granville Island. We had fish ‘n chips for lunch, and did a beer tasting at the Granville Island Brewing Co. before hitting the public market to grab cheeses, cured meats, and a baguette for pre-NYE-party appetizers.

Later, we all gathered in a hotel room to eat and drink before heading out to our party destination. Just before our champagne toast, I gave each of my friends a little something that Aaron helped me whip up…

I asked them to be my bridesmaids! Aaron did some masterful Photoshop work with the Bridesmaids movie poster and put our heads on the actresses’ bodies. (Melissa McCarthy, on the far left, got to stay Melissa McCarthy.) I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw the final product!

They all said yes, so now I have bridesmaids! Woo-hoo!

And then it was time to go out! We booked tickets a month in advance for NYE at The Blarney Stone, an Irish bar in the Gastown area. The party was packed and did not disappoint.

Here’s to a fantastic year in 2013!

I skipped my two-miler this morning because:

1. Tired
2. Slightly sore throat (NOT OK)
3. Tired legs (which would probably fit under the umbrella of #1, but it sounds better to have three reasons)

We’ll be on our way to Vancouver shortly. I just remembered that last time we went to Vancouver, Aaron rode his bike there in the RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party).

I also ran 8 miles along the seawall, and we both posed with Lego Whale (known to more sophisticated folks as “Digital Orca”).

There will be no bike riding on this trip, but there may be running — I have 4 miles to do tomorrow, and Aaron is packing his running shoes to potentially join me.

And there will certainly be partying. RSVP, indeed!

Yesterday, I broke TWO dishes. Completely shattered them. I can’t remember the last thing I broke before yesterday, and then I broke two things in one day.

The first thing was a cute little bowl that I collect my eggshells in to take out to the compost. I dumped out the eggshells, then dropped the bowl.

The second thing was a wine glass full of champagne. To the surprise of approximately no one, I knocked this over immediately after drinking another wine glass full of champagne.

May it rest in peace with the dozens of wine glasses that I broke in college.

To segue into the running portion of this post, that broken wine glass did not prevent me from drinking still more champagne (like a champ), and I didn’t know how my stomach would hold up to the six miles I had to run today.

Good news: After a slight cramp during mile two, I was juuuuust fine.

I feel like I’ve been doing my “long” runs a bit too fast, so I aimed to run 9:15-ish miles today. I felt so good by the end that I cranked it up a bit for the last mile and finished with a bang. Also did some pushups and sit-ups for strength training when I got home because I was too tired/lazy to lift weights.

I had 40 minutes of spinning on my training plan for tomorrow, but Aaron and I are leaving for Vancouver early-ish and I can’t get on the spin bike at 7:00 a.m. because it is super-loud/shakes the floor and will probably piss off the occupants of the condo below. I changed it to an easy two-mile run, so we’ll see if my legs feel good enough in the morning to actually do that. They are ti-red right now!

In other news…

Aaron and I hit up the Brooks outlet store in Bothell (near the Brooks headquarters) and I got some new running gear for half off! I got a cozy track jacket, a long-sleeve tech shirt, and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle hat (from 2012, but I ran it in 2011 and am going to run it in 2013, so whatever) — all bright pink, because that’s how I roll.

I’m not sure about the wi-fi situation in our Vancouver hotel, so… this may or may not be my last post of 2012! Eeek!

If it is, everyone have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. Try not to break your glass full of champagne!

I wrote last week that I’d mix up my speed interval routine this week in order to keep getting better.

This led to… interesting decisions today.

The workout:

• 0.5 mi warmup
• Four sets of 0.5 mi fast and 0.25 mi recovery
• 0.5 mi cool-down

That means I doubled the distance of the speed intervals to a half-mile and kept the recovery distance the same as usual at a quarter-mile. HOLY HELL was this difficult!

You can see that my first 0.25 mi “recovery” period was wayyy too fast at 9:05 pace, so I about died during the next speedy half-mile. I had to straight-up walk for the first little bit of each remaining recovery period, and then jog slowly to regain some energy for each speedy half mile.

This workout pretty much felt impossible, but I never stopped during the speed intervals; I just slowed down a bit when I felt like I had to stop, then tried to speed up again as I neared the end of the interval.

My lungs and legs were wrecked when I finished. I think that’s the sign of a goooood workout!

I loved wearing the SmartWool training headband that Aaron got me for Christmas.

My ears will never be cold again! This thing is so soft and incredibly warm for how thin it is. It also doesn’t budge a bit. Now I don’t even need to wear a hat if it’s not raining! Ohhhh, the freedom!

I also did a quick post-run lifting session: Three sets of 10 reps of bicep curls, hammer curls, and military press with 15 lb. weights.

Rest day tomorrow. 6 miles on Saturday. And on Sunday, we trek up to Vancouver, B.C., for a little getaway to ring in 2013!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I attempted to kick off the big day with a 4-mile run… but only made it 0.40 miles. Lame.

My left knee felt funny. Not funny “ha-ha,” but funny “oh shiz, what is that?” So I stopped, turned off my watch, and half-limped 0.40 miles back home in the nasty rain. 

BUT! This story has a happy ending. I massaged and foam-rolled the heck out of my left leg yesterday, because the funny feeling felt like a super-tight IT band, and today I was able to run those 4 miles with no pain/funny feelings whatsoever. SUCK IT, IT band.

I’ll be extra-vigilant about stretching and foam-rolling for now on! I’ve never had to quit a run that early before, and I hope to never do it again.

In other news, Aaron and I got to celebrate Christmas four times in three days! That is the joy of having two sets of divorced parents who all live within an hour of each other.

First up, we had day-before-Christmas-Eve brunch and presents at Aaron’s mom and stepdad’s place.

We got several cute ornaments to start our collection, plus many other thoughtful gifts!

Next, we stopped in for a few hours to Aaron’s stepsister’s house to spend time with his dad’s side of the family on Christmas Eve. We had just enough time to catch up with everyone, eat hors d’oeuvres, and drink some wine before heading to…

…MY dad’s for Christmas Eve dinner and presents! And several vicious games of Spoons.

Finally, after my failed run, we went to my mom’s house for Christmas Day. We nibbled on chocolate babka, deviled eggs, veggies, chips ‘n dip, and cheese before opening presents, watching Jaws (which my mom’s fiance received on Blu-Ray as a gift from my bro), and doing a blind taste-test of hard ciders.

Everyone agreed J.K.’s Solstice was the best. I would avoid that Snowdrift, if I were you.

I also picked up some pieces of mail from my mom’s, including this sweet t-shirt I received from Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle for registering super-early for the half-marathon!

Usually, free race t-shirts: 1) have an ugly design; 2) have an ugly color; and/or 3) fit poorly, so I’m actually thrilled with this shirt! Cool design, nice dark gray color, great fit. I’ll actually wear this one, and it’s got me all excited for a race that’s 6 months away!

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for you now. I worked from home today and will do so again tomorrow, so I’m beyond thrilled to be able to run in the daylight during my “lunch break,” and squeeze in the very last sights and smells of Christmas from the comfort of my couch…