I ain't sayin you ain't pretty

• When was the last time I did bullet points?


• My to do list today after work: 1. pick up chemo at the pharmacy, 2. stop at REI for Nuun and GU.


• The AC in my office has gone wonky. It apparently doesn't run at night (fine), because it's warm when I open my office. Then, around 10, for 10 minutes every half hour, it runs FULL BLAST. That makes it FREEZING (not fine). I don't like to be cold. I'm pretty much getting hypothermia.


• I am running 20 miles tomorrow. TWENTY. Do you know how far that its? IT'S FAR.


• I've been mildly obsessed (shocking) by Evan Dando performing Different Drum for... oh... weeks. I know. Someone should stop me.


• Goofy registration opens next week. Who's running? (Psst, I am)


• Actual Wine and Dine planning has begun, too. I am SUPER SUPER STOKED for this one - a bunch of my non-bloggy friends are running. So excited.


• I had a tempo run last night. I really hate tempo runs, but every now and then one isn't SOO bad, and I think it could be less horrible than I think.


• Warm up was dreadful. Everything hurt. And not just, like, man my legs sure are tired I've been doing so much hurt, like motherEFFER that hurts ow, maybe I should stop. But sometime between mile 1 and 1.5, the ow stopped, and my body realized I wasn't just stopping. And it decided to play nicely.


• Actual tempo run: Scheduled for: 2@10:30, 2@10:00, 1@9:30. Actual: 10:30, 10:21, 10:01, 9:46, 9:14. Take THAT, tired legs.


• Um. I also registered for my 4th marathon. Before I've done my first one. I KNOW. IMS Arizona - registration is only $35 right now. I think it goes up pretty soon, but even with the increase it's CHEAP. Do it. This crazy and THIS crazy will be there too.


• I got an email Wednesday about a caramel blizzard at Dairy Queen. I know exactly what I'm doing Saturday afternoon.


• Go wish Haute Running Mama happy birthday!

TTT: Morning runs, Tempo Runs, and Weight Loss

1. I had to work a later shift today, so I thought it was the PERFECT opportunity to get my run in this morning. 6am, I was on the treadmill for my - dun dun DUN - 7 mile tempo run. I hate tempo runs. HATE. SO hard. I take back any nice things I have ever said about tempo runs. Goal 3 at 10:20, 2 at 9:55. Actual 10:24, 10:19, 10:19, 9:54, 9:40. Success?

2. I don't want to call it success. I thought FOR SURE after my sub-60 10K, that I would nail this, easy peasy. Not the case. I mean, I did nail it, but it was NOT EASY. It sucked, hard. And, man. You morning runners are dirty liars. It is NOT glorious. It's early, and exhausting, and now I have a full day of work still ahead of me.

3. A few months back I said I wanted to drop about 12 lbs. Since then, I've upped my mileage, been pretty diligent about eating well and watching my caloric intake. And as a result...... I've gained 1 pound. Yeah, that's true. It happened. And NO, I am POSITIVE 3 weeks of strength conditioning did not gain me a pound of muscle. So, I'm kind of at a loss. I mean, I'm not really killing myself over it, but... come on, body. Get with the program.

Dear Tempo Runs, I apologize for judging you.

Hey! I've got a 5K this weekend.

My previous 5K PR is 33:05, from the Corona del Mar Scenic 5K in June.

I've obviously been running a bit since then, but I haven't done any real speed work since before Long Beach. If we're counting, that was FIVE WEEKS AGO. And, certainly no tempo runs, because I just hate them so very much.

But this week, I was determined to suck as little as possible. So Tuesday, I did my speed work, like a good RLRF follower.

And last night, I did tempo. I almost didn't. I looked at my RLRF pace (9:56) and pretty much laughed at it.

This is the thing. I am NOT a fast runner, obviously. And I'm pretty content with that. Everyone runs for their own reasons, with their own goals. Mine is just to suck less, a little bit. I'm not SUPER concerned with my pace, so long as I'm challenging myself.

And I really don't want to puke. Ever.

I checked out my previous tempo run attempts, and they went from 10:54 (in June), 10:50, 10:44, 10:39, 10:24 (in August). Then I stopped tempo, totally.

Those were ALL done with a minute (or two....) break in between miles to catch my breath. All of them. I never ran a tempo run straight through.

So, yeah, 9:56. Seemed AWFULLY ambitious.

But I figured I'd give it a shot. How bad could it really be, right? I can just lower the speed or take a break if it REALLY sucks.

Mile 1: 9:46.

Huh. This isn't so bad. I don't even feel like I need to slow down....

Mile 2: 9:46

Huh. Two miles. Who knew.

Mile 3: 8:55.

what. the. eff. did. i. just. do.

I mean. Did you see that?

8:55.

3 miles, 28:24. Average pace 9:28.

That is the FASTEST I've ever run, ever. Ever. I didn't feel like I might die. I could have run FASTER, even - I started playing with the speed with about .75 left to go, and increased from 6.3 to 7.4.

And I could have kept going. I could have gone faster.

Imagine where I'd be if I hadn't chickened out of all those other tempo runs, eh?

Three Things Thursday

1. Dates were published yesterday for Wine and Dine 2013!! Who else is in?!

2. Tonight is tempo night.... dun dun DUN. I will run tonight. Fast. WILL. Hopefully.

3. PSA: This is TOO MUCH STUFF to go through the self checkout! And if you require 4 people to figure out how to do it? You're not SMART enough to use self checkout. Please go to a regular line.

Thanks.

Photo Friday....

How to survive a tempo run....

Mile 1.... 10:38

Mile 2.... 10:20

Mile 3..... 9:51

Result:

Swoob.

Morning Tempo Run - 1. Me - 0.

Suck Less last night - 167 push ups, 255 sit ups, 110 tricep dips.
Curse that week off. It's like I've never moved my body ever before in my life.

Dude. That really, really sucked.

So, I have plans tonight, so I set out to get my 4 miles in early. I did my 400's on Saturday, and was going to be outside, so thought I'd switch things up and do my tempo run today, and intervals on Thursday.

You know how people say to listen to your body?

It's not really a joke.

I felt okay - sleepy, but I'm guessing that's because it was 5:45am, and 5:45am is a stupid time to be awake. But my legs, my breathing, I felt good. Until I paused at after my warm up mile to stretch.

Shooting pain, in my left shoulder blade. Ouch ouch ouch.

My back has been kind of wonky since I slept on the flight back from Florida, and it's just achy. But it's just my back, right, how would that stop you from running?

Well. Every time I landed in a certain way on my left foot? Shooting pain in my shoulder.

Every time I tried to breathe deep? Shooting pain in my shoulder.

Every time I wasn't holding my core and standing super straight? Shooting pain in my shoulder

I don't know if you've ever tried to run without breathing, but I don't recommend it. It pretty much sucks.

So, whatever. I should have stopped, but I'm a moron and finished my 4 miles.
1 - 13:01 (this included stopping for a minute to stretch and realize my back was revolting against me)
2 - 11:26
3 - 11:27
4 - 11:01

Tempo pace: 10:40. Fail.

The lesson here today....
When you can't breathe, you should probably not run

Oh well.

The bright side to this, was those last 3 miles (when I wasn't stopped dead in my tracks by random shoulder pain) felt effortless.... And it included walking and stopping. Good to know, I guess.