Three Things Thursday

1. I might be alone in this, but you guys, CIM was, like, MAGIC. First, this is the ONLY chafing I got, despite running hours through the rainiest rain ever.



Second, Jerk Shin is magically healed. No pain when I run, very very VERY minimal pain if I start poking and hitting it. Maybe it was the hours of ice bath WHILE I RAN, but whatever. I'll take it.
CIM = Magic.

2. Good news: I lost a couple pounds during taper (or the Bob Harper two weeks of madness that I did, whatever). Bad news: my two favorite Lulu skirts don't fit me quite right yet. Good news: They've released a new Chase Me, MY FAVORITE, plus a beautiful striped Pace Setter THAT I NEED. Bad news: I have a policy against buying anything for myself during the holidays just in case. {Do you hear that H? This skirt and this skirt}.

3. This Elf business? With the creepy little doll that you move around and put in wacky scenarios every.single.day? That isht is WEIRD. Maybe I'm bah humbugy (but I don't think so, I LOVE HOLIDAYS), but I don't have a brain creative enough to come up with scenarios, nor do I have the patience to make a mess, and then CLEAN IT the next day. No way, no thanks, nope.

This is kind of how I feel about it. Please don't be offended and shun me now, thanks.

Three Things Thursday

1. August was kind of the suck. I started all gung ho on strength training, and SFM recovery before jumping into CIM training. And I did that, for a few weeks. And then the lazy was funner than the training. And now I'm just lazy.

I'm in a funk. <-- I seem to say that a lot. I am perpetually unmotivated and lazy.

I did what should have been a pretty easy speedwork session Tuesday, and dude, it was HARD. Paces that I could hold even a few weeks ago, I was struggling. I don't know if it was "recovery" from Disneyland, or what, but it sucked, hard.

BLAH.

2. On Saturday, we ran the Hyundai Hope on Wheels 5k at UCI. We found this Schwaggle deal a few weeks ago, and since we weren't running the Disneyland 5k, we thought this might be fun.

Becka recapped the race here (and A's PR*!). It was kind of a weird race, the course was strange and inbound/outbound runners had to cross paths a lot, it was SUPER hilly, the course was SUPER short, and the logistics were nutty, but you know what?

I don't care.

Hyundai donated over $174,000 to Children's Hospital of Orange County, where Gabby receives treatment. In 2011, Hope on Wheels donated $10,000,000 to fund a project focused on pediatric genomics researchpediatric at CHOC.

There are a few other race locations this fall - Sept. 9th in Chicago and Sept. 29th in Miami. If you're in the market in one of these areas, please consider running - click here for info.

Plus, we were freaking cute.

Julie, Gab, me, A, #1, Madison, Becka

3. Can you handle another back to school picture? Our school district started MOST kids yesterday - except #1 started today. I don't know why. It's weird. It made getting a group bts picture tricky. So here's a pretend one.

They're the cutest.

The laziest laze that ever lazed

The "Plan" for last week...

Monday: Cross training
Tuesday: 7 miles, 1 easy, 1 @ 10:00, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:45, 1 easy, 1 @ 9:30, 1 easy
Wednesday: Into the Wild OC Trail Run!
Thursday: 6 miles, 10x400
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Cross training
Sunday: 8 miles

Things I actually did:

Wednesday: 5 mile trail race
Thursday: Shopping
Saturday: 6.2 easy miles with Will

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My days of lazy are dwindling down, I know, and a whole new marathon training cycle is closing in. So I guess I decided to take full advantage of the "No Plan" Plan while I can. Also, I'm really lazy.

Plan for this week, maybe:
Monday: Dinner with friends
Tuesday: 7 miles, 10x400
Wednesday: Cross training
Thursday: 7 miles, 5 easy, last 2 hard
Friday: Cross training
Saturday: Maybe a 5k?
Sunday: Disneyland Half with BECKA!

********************************************************************************
Two excellent purchases I made this weekend:

Add caption

And part of our Disneyland Half costume....

I KNOW.

Purchase I did NOT make....
TaTa Tamer my ass. False advertising, I say.


Sunday morning I spent trying to find a fall 10K. As luck would have it, I took #1 shopping later that morning, and my favorite local race company was offering 20% off their fall races outside Whole Foods! I've been wanting to run Make Room For Santa for a few years, it just never worked out for me, until now. With the discount, it was a steal. (Related, I've updated my Come Run With Me! page up there ^^)

If I could talk I'd tell you...

• I ran 67 miles in October. That's my highest mileage month ever. Two half marthons in there helped, I guess.




• For someone who hates the cold, I was dismayed to find this in my weekly forecast...
  
  
  
  Perfect running weather, though, I guess.




• I'm really hoping to PR at Iron Girl Del Mar this weekend. My current 5K PR is 33:05.




• Who am I kidding. I bet I kill that.




• I am itchy to take a vacation




• I have no plans to any time soon. Bummer




• Halloween at the Giraffy house was very mellow. #1 decided she was too old to trick or treat. #2 went with some friends. The H was working. That left Gabby and me on our own.




• We had a grand time. I tried to take a picture, and these were my options from her...
  
  


• She was rpetty much a rock star, and walked two miles! This is kind of a huge deal for her - normally she tires out well before then.




• People and their insistance on finding an easy way to being healthy fascinate me. I'm not sure why hard work and committment are such a tough thing to grasp.




• Someone told me I was judgy about people who constantly complain about being overweight or unhealthy, but aren't interested in putting in the effort. It's true. I probably am. I don't care.




• If you're going to choose to be lazy, at least embrace it, and stop pretending. I could respect that.




• I just talked The H into approving a trip for me to visit my CO BFF. He said yes because, I quote, "Better for you to get it out of the way now and quit bugging me about it.". He knows me so well.




• Oh. Becka. I hear Feb. 3-5 are free for you?.....
  
  

Weekly Recap, and July Rewind

So, I 'fessed up last week to feeling extra super duper lazy. What happened last week:

Monday - Went for a 2 mile walk with The H and Gabby, around the lake
Tuesday - nada
Wednesday - zero
Thursday - zip
Friday - etc
Saturday - Biked 5 miles to the TNT meeting spot (I'll blog more on this separately), then later another 2 mile walk with H and Gab
Sunday - 90 minutes (!!!) at the pool learning to freestyle, followed by 1 mile hill run, and short walk later in the evening

Swimming was pretty fantastic! I might be a convert. The bike was great also.... I am bumming #1's bike, but I am going to have to break down and get myself one eventually.

My left knee has been kind of bugging me, and I had a PT at the TNT training take a look at it... he massaged it and did some pokey stuff to my quad, and it felt great! Then, on my walk last night it got wonky again. Weirdo knee.

I think I was just... I don't know. Burnt out, maybe? A week off and introducing some new stuff felt good, though, so this week, I'm back.

Monday - Swim?
Tuesday - 4 miles, easy (Knee Test)
Wednesday - Swim
Thursday - 4 miles, 400's
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 8 miles easy
Sunday - Swim, followed by short recovery run or bike

It's sinking in that I've got another half, like, AROUND THE FREAKING CORNER. I probably should get some miles in.

************************************

July Rewind....
Ran 41 miles (scheduled for 63 - oops)
Ran just over my 10K goal
Nailed almost every training pace
Ran my fastest 4 miles ever

I sucked at Sucking Less

I took two unplanned weeks off (Florida, and last week)

All in all... not exactly happy, I don't like to not stick to my schedule. But I'm thrilled with how the training I did translated into my great 10K.

What's on the schedule for August?

Disneyland training!
77 miles total
Wet n' Wild 5K on the 27th
Less lazy, more doing