Four and a Sale

On Sunday I went to Target looking for a table top wine rack and, instead, walked out with $35 worth of workout clothes. The top (and the sports bra underneath) pictured above were some of my awesome finds.

See, Target always has workout clothes on their clearance rack but they aren't always a good deal. On Sunday, however, I spent less than $9 per item (before our outrageous sales tax, anyway). In addition to the top and sports bra pictured above, I got another tank, another sports bra, and a running skirt.



Check out the price tag on the skirt:



I'm pretty proud of my finds. Something about wearing new running clothes puts a spring in my step.

Although, according to the Garmin, I must have had rocket boosters in my shoes during the first mile of last night's four mile run. I'm skeptical, though, because the map has me running all over creation when, in reality, I ran my regular out and back route. After running the same route so many times, you get a pretty good idea of where each mile marker is and last night the Garmin told me I'd hit my first mile at least .15 before I actually did. So, yeah, 7:50 for mile one? No way. The other miles are much more realistic.



Other than the Garmin attempting to inflate my accomplishments, the run was fine. Temperatures have cooled off some and it was fairly cloudy while I was running. I managed to avoid scaring any oblivious walkers. I only had to stop at one major intersection. I wasn't even that sweaty or exhausted when I got home. Before I left, though, that was a different story. I got motion sick for some reason on the train ride home and then I just felt horrible. I almost didn't go running at all. But, I'm glad I did because afterward I felt so much better. Funny how that works.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 628 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/29/09 Up/Downhill: [+85/-85] Time: 06:16 PM Difficulty: 2.0 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   73 F temp; 51% humidity   73 F heat index; winds NW 14 Performance Distance: 4.28 miles Time: 0:39:08 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 09 /mi Calories: 455 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 50 -2' 19 8.8 +2.2 +3 ft 2 9' 32 +0' 23 6.3 -0.3 +16 ft 3 9' 45 +0' 36 6.2 -0.4 0 ft 4 9' 22 +0' 13 6.4 -0.2 -19 ft end 8' 38 -0' 31 6.9 +0.4 0 ft Versus average of 9' 09 min/mile

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Triskaidekaphobia

A creepy free-standing fireplace at mile 5.5

The number thirteen has so many superstitions associated with it. Heck, even my office building doesn't have a thirteenth floor. Nope, we have floors 14A and 14B. But apparently as runners we have no fear of the the number thirteen. No, instead we choose to make it an official race distance (well, we tack that .1 on it. Maybe that voids the bad ju-ju.). And yet, even though I've tackled that 13.1 distance before, it still psychs me out.

My training plan this time around had me running either 13 or 14 miles this Saturday depending on what I felt I was up to. I decided I'd go for 13 and see how I was feeling at the halfway point.

I got a later start than usual due to not having my day jam-packed with activities. Apparently getting out on the trail before 8AM only happens when I've schedule things back-to-back on Saturdays. Since I hadn't, I hit the bike path a little before 9:30. That may have been a mistake.



As you can see, although the path is mostly shaded, there are spots of sun. And although there was a breeze, the air temperature was still warm. And it just got warmer the longer I was out there.

My goal was to aim for doing each mile around 10:30. I did pretty well for awhile. The first few miles it was rough and my legs were acting like they'd never run before. Around mile 5, though, I started to feel good and was getting into a groove. I was excited to see what lay beyond mile 6 and I was looking forward to taking a short break to eat my assorted energy supplements (some Luna Moons and some Powerade things I got at my last race). Again, taking that break may have been another mistake.



I hit a wall and I hit it hard at mile 7. I had to walk A LOT. I tried to run a mile and walk a tenth of a mile. That worked okay but I just kept getting slower and slower. I ran out of my water and Gatorade mixture just after mile 11. Shortly after that the doubting Thomases filled my head. "You hit the wall at mile 7 at your first half, too! Just like you did today! Look how slow you're running! You'll be a huge disappointment next month! You'll have to walk! You ALWAYS have to walk. You're not getting any better. You'll never get any better!"

I let the negative thoughts get to me and I started to panic. I had no more hydration. I was a mile and half from my car. Jason was out of town and I couldn't think of who I could call to come get me. My chest started to tighten up and I couldn't take a deep breath. So, I walked. I walked a lot of that mile. Which is why the mile 12 time is over thirteen minutes. That dreaded thirteen.

Overall, my average pace for this run was almost exactly a minute slower than my actual half-marathon pace back in April. I KNOW training runs are supposed to be slower than race pace. Intellectually I know this. But I always think that if I can't run faster during a training run then I'll never be able to run faster during a race. Someone in one of the online forums also said recently that if you have to stop and walk during a training run then you haven't paced yourself correctly. Does that mean I really need to run slower on these long runs? I just don't know.

It wasn't a good run. In fact, I was so wiped out afterward that I ended up taking a four hour nap. But, I did it. For the second time in my life I ran 13.1 miles. And even if it wasn't the best run ever, I learned something. I learned that in this heat I need to start earlier. I need to figure out a way to take more liquids with me. And I need to learn to silence the negative Nancies that take up residence in my head.

Oh well. At least it's pretty out there.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 626 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/27/09 Up/Downhill: [+341/-341] Time: 09:22 AM Difficulty: 3.8 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   82 F temp; 39% humidity   81 F heat index; winds S 7 Performance Distance: 13.10 miles Time: 2:25:37 Speed: 5.4 mph Pace: 11' 07 /mi Calories: 1052 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 18 -0' 49 5.8 +0.4 -7 ft 2 10' 25 -0' 42 5.8 +0.4 +13 ft 3 10' 28 -0' 39 5.7 +0.3 +3 ft 4 10' 33 -0' 34 5.7 +0.3 -3 ft 5 10' 21 -0' 46 5.8 +0.4 +3 ft 6 12' 14 +1' 07 4.9 -0.5 +10 ft 7 11' 36 +0' 29 5.2 -0.2 -3 ft 8 10' 09 -0' 58 5.9 +0.5 +10 ft 9 11' 16 +0' 09 5.3 -0.1 -16 ft 10 11' 29 +0' 22 5.2 -0.2 +7 ft 11 10' 58 -0' 09 5.5 +0.1 -10 ft 12 13' 43 +2' 36 4.4 -1.0 -10 ft 13 11' 48 +0' 41 5.1 -0.3 +6 ft end 10' 38 -0' 29 5.6 +0.2 -3 ft Versus average of 11' 07 min/mile

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If you had told me....

The weather forecast said rain. The sun outside said otherwise. The temperatures were rather prohibitive. But Kim and I were not deterred. We were going to get our 3 mile run in, but this time we vowed to go slower.

I tell you, though, something about running with another person just gets me going. Ninety-five percent of my runs are done alone but I really enjoy running and chatting with someone else.

I think that's the one thing I never knew about running. Although I started running with a group, I never really clicked with anyone there. And since it was a beginner's group, we weren't really pushing each other for speed and you never knew who was actually going to be passionate about it. Denise made today's Take and It and Run Thursday post about the fact that no one ever told her that running would bring so many wonderful people into her life. I have to agree. Becoming a runner has allowed me to have something in common with people when I probably wouldn't have before. I think if someone had told me two years ago that I would be running at lunch with someone I met online I would not have believed them. If someone told me two years ago that someone I first met online would invite me to watch the Chicago Marathon with her or drive an hour just to do a 10 mile training run I definitely wouldn't have believed them.

No one ever told me that running lingo and jargon is its own language. No one ever told me that speaking that language to someone you didn't know was a runner and watching their face light up could make your day.

And if anyone had ever told me that I would run the last mile of a training run on almost 90 degree day under 9 minutes, I definitely wouldn't have believed them.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 583 ft Location: Chicago, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/25/09 Up/Downhill: [+118/-118] Time: 11:42 AM Difficulty: 2.5 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   89 F temp; 51% humidity   94 F heat index; winds NW 8 Performance Distance: 3.10 miles Time: 0:28:40 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 15 /mi Calories: 325 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 28 +0' 13 6.3 -0.2 -6 ft 2 9' 56 +0' 41 6.0 -0.4 0 ft 3 9' 05 -0' 10 6.6 +0.1 +3 ft end 8' 00 -1' 15 7.5 +1.0 0 ft Versus average of 9' 15 min/mile

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Doh! A deer

No, I didn't take this photo. The photo I did take was of me collapsed on the floor of my kitchen after the run and, trust me, you didn't want to see that

Wednesday night's run was supposed to be a 7 mile tempo run. One mile of warm-up, five miles at 9:45 minutes/mile pace, and one mile cool down.

I got in 5.37 miles total.

I HATE not making my distance goals. But, cutting the run short was the best idea. When I was walking home from the train at 5:45 PM the temperature read-out on the candy factory sign said it was 93^oF. I don't think it had cooled off all that much by the time I left the house for my run an hour later.

I wore and carried as little as possible. A sports bra and shorts with my visor on my head and a bandanna tucked into my waistband. Shoes and socks. My Garmin. And my handheld water bottle filled with half water and half Gatorade (straight Gatorade is too syrupy for me). That was it.

I took the first mile nice and slow and hit it at 10:14. Perfect. Then it was time to ramp it up. I admit I was dreading it because it was just so hot and humid outside. Plus, my Garmin was acting up. Every time I'd glance down to look at my current pace it would say I was running in the 12:00s or even the 13:00s! Kim said I need to name my Garmin, but if it keeps this up the only thing I'm going to name it is Dickhead. Very lady-like.

So, yeah, I had no idea what my pace actually was. Which might be why mile 2 was slightly faster than I intended and why I had to take a break during mile 3.

Although, it wasn't just my speed that made me need to take a break. As I rounded the 2.5 mile point, I came to a stop. Standing at the edge of the path, about 25 feet away from me, was a young deer just snacking away on the leaves of a tree. She was so beautiful that it took me a minute to realize that she was standing knee deep in water. It was then that I noticed the rest of the path and the parking lot I needed to cut through were covered in at least a foot of water. The nearby pond had overflowed after our last heavy rain and still hadn't receded. As beautiful as the scene was (and it was beautiful. I stopped to watch the deer eat and drink for at least 3 minutes while I listened to a toad croak and squirrels scamper. And of course I hadn't brought my camera!), it totally threw me off my route. I had to double back earlier than anticipated.

I didn't take my iPod with me, so to keep myself occupied and my thoughts off how much further I had to go in this heat, I started singing "Doe a Deer" in my head. I sang it over and over and over again. I sang it until I realized I was flubbing up the words. It was at that point I thought to myself that the heat might be getting to me. I decided I would run back to my starting point and reassess.

I really wanted to get the entire 7 miles in. I really did. But when I realized that my Gatorade and water concoction was warmer than the inside of my mouth I decided to call it quits. I hate having to cut a run short, but I figure it's better to do that and live to run another day than risk heat exhaustion or something worse.

Plus, as you can see from the stats, the tempo miles I did do were all faster than 9:45 so I think that should count for something.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 628 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/24/09 Up/Downhill: [+95/-95] Time: 06:40 PM Difficulty: 2.8 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   92 F temp; 42% humidity   96 F heat index; winds W 5 Performance Distance: 5.37 miles Time: 0:52:57 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 52 /mi Calories: 547 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)

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The Little Gym

Welcome to my living room or, as it sometimes becomes, the narrowest gym in the world.

For various reasons I didn't get a chance to sign up for Pilates for the current session and, even if I had, I would have missed almost all the classes so far. This means I haven't done any strength training for two weeks. I can definitely tell and I don't like it. So last night I busted out the yoga mat, the stability ball, and my hand weights and did some exercises on my own.

I did Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred. Although, due to an audio-visual equipment malfunction, it took me longer than 20 minutes. It ended up taking more like 35. After that, I did crunches, bridges, and some back exercises on the stability ball. Then I did some Pilates moves: supermans and roll-ups. Overall, I worked out for about an hour. I don't know if it was as good of a workout as I'd get if I was at the gym, but it was definitely better than nothing. I know I push myself harder when I'm at the gym but at home I take more time and focus on my form instead of keeping up with the instructor. So, I suppose it might even out. Who knows?

What about you? Do you prefer to work out on your own? In a class? At home? The gym? A combination of things?

The Basic 4

Yes, summer has arrived. This is a good thing, though, because it will help acclimate me to the temperatures I may face at my July 19th half-marathon.

Last night I went for my run around 6:45 PM. Actually, 6:50 if the Garmin is to be believed. It was still warm outside. The Bones in Motion weather data indicates it was 85^oF at ten til seven last night.

Whatever the temp, I was certainly sweating like crazy. I took a water bottle with me and tried to remember to take sips at regular intervals. I tend to get in the zone, though, and forget to drink. That's bad.

I also tried to keep the run slow. I was aiming for 10 minute miles. Well, my average pace was just under 10 so that's good. But, as always, I started out fast and finished fast.

Overall, it was a boring run. No fun bikes, no crazy pedestrians, no silly dogs, no nothing. Just me and the heat and the sweat. Oh, and the candy factory was making bubble gum flavored something or other. That's a distinct smell. I also ran in one of my skirts. And I almost had to dig a sports bra out of the dirty laundry basket. Thankfully, though, I had one more buried in the bottom of my drawer. Guess who's doing laundry as she types??

Otherwise, pretty boring. Nothing much to report, but here's some data anyway.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 628 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/22/09 Up/Downhill: [+95/-95] Time: 06:50 PM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0   Weather: A Few Clouds   85 F temp; 56% humidity   88 F heat index; winds E 13 Performance Distance: 4.00 miles Time: 0:39:45 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 9' 56 /mi Calories: 420 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 03 +0' 07 6.0 -0.1 +3 ft 2 9' 44 -0' 12 6.2 +0.1 +13 ft 3 10' 21 +0' 25 5.8 -0.3 -13 ft 4 9' 44 -0' 12 6.2 +0.1 -4 ft end 9' 35 -0' 21 6.3 +0.2 0 ft Versus average of 9' 56 min/mile

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Twelve Mile Hurdles

On Friday night we had HUGE major storms in my area. Tons of wind and rain. When I arrived at the bike path at 7 AM on Saturday morning I found it littered with bits of trees. In one place a large branch was laying across the path. And then, just past the 4 mile marker, was this downed tree. Bikers had to get off and wheel their bikes underneath. I had to stop and walk so that I could duck beneath it. Thank goodness it wasn't on a blind curve or anything. Can you imagine how dangerous that could be to bikers? Hopefully they remove it soon.

Anyway, the rest of my run was just one hurdle after another. First I forgot to turn the autolap function back on on the Garmin. This meant that I had no idea what my mile times were like. Since that's usually how I pace myself I was sort of flying blind. However, after the first mile I came upon two women who were having a nice slow jog. I decided to pace myself off of them. You can see on the graph below that it worked....until they turned around just before mile 4. Then my pace was all over the place.

I had to stop and walk more times than I wanted to. I just couldn't push myself. Even though I'd tried my hardest to get out there and moving before it got too hot, the humidity was killer. I actually ran out of water at mile 11.

On the plus side, this was the furthest I've ever gone on this particular path. The whole bike path itself is 7.1 miles long. The end is in sight! My goal is to run all the way to the end and back. 14.2 miles, baby. That would be a distance record for me! Also, I discovered that after the mile 5 marker (previously the furthest I'd ever gone) there are actually some rolling hills! Nothing major, but more than the flat flatness that makes up most of the rest of the path. Fun!

Anyway, I'm not proud of this run. I averaged a 10:57 pace for the whole thing when I was hoping to average closer to 10 minutes. But, it was my first long run since summer decided to show up and the previous week I'd only run 10 miles total. However, do you know how many miles I ran from June 14th to June 20th? 25.17 miles. Whoa. That may be one of my highest mileage weeks ever. That part I'm proud of. Well that and the fact that I got out there before 7 AM. I guess the secret is to pack the rest of your day with activities so the only way you can get a run in is to do it before everything else. Even if that means dragging yourself out of bed at 6 AM.

So, yeah, here's the stats as reported by Bones in Motion:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 626 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/20/09 Up/Downhill: [+298/-298] Time: 06:56 AM Difficulty: 3.0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 12.01 miles Time: 2:11:30 Speed: 5.5 mph Pace: 10' 57 /mi Calories: 964 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 28 -0' 29 5.7 +0.3 -7 ft 2 10' 15 -0' 42 5.8 +0.4 +6 ft 3 10' 30 -0' 27 5.7 +0.2 +10 ft 4 11' 40 +0' 43 5.1 -0.3 -3 ft 5 11' 01 +0' 04 5.4 -0.0 +6 ft 6 10' 29 -0' 28 5.7 +0.2 +7 ft 7 11' 52 +0' 55 5.0 -0.4 -4 ft 8 11' 41 +0' 44 5.1 -0.3 -7 ft 9 11' 00 +0' 03 5.5 -0.0 +7 ft 10 9' 58 -0' 59 6.0 +0.5 -13 ft 11 11' 21 +0' 24 5.3 -0.2 -6 ft 12 11' 02 +0' 05 5.4 -0.0 +6 ft end 10' 10 -0' 47 5.9 +0.4 -3 ft Versus average of 10' 57 min/mile

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Friday Fun - Cribs Edition

Photo from http://grahamwoodring.com/

In the interest of being more than just a pair of running shoes and some stats, I've decided to make Fridays be non-running (or exercise of any kind) post days so that those of you who found me via another blog or just randomly can learn more about me as a person.

Last Sunday my house was actually clean and the sun was out so I decided to film a little house tour a la Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point.

But first, a little background. My husband and I relocated to the Chicago area last summer. Prior to that we lived in a university town in central Illinois and owned our house. We had two dogs, two cars, a three bedroom ranch house with a large fenced in yard and a two car garage. I couldn't give all that up and move to an apartment or condo in the city. A plan was hatched to move into my brother's house in a suburb and pay rent, thus freeing him and his family up to move closer to their jobs.

Alas, that plan fell through and Jason and I were sort of scrambling for a place to live. We looked at many places but none were quite right. We almost signed the lease on a coach house that, while nice, was not ideal. And then my mom came to the rescue. She called the Chamber of Commerce for the same area as the coach house and asked for a realtor recommendation. She then contacted the realtor and told her our situation. The realtor found one rental house and we made an appointment to see it. When we arrived, after a 2.5 hour drive, the realtor informed us that just that day another house had been listed for rent that seemed to fit all our criteria. Which was good because the first house we looked at was a dump.

Saddened, we drove to the next house. We pulled up on a quiet, tree-line street across from a church and a school playground. The house had a building permit on the window and when we walked in it smelled of drywall and paint and new carpeting. The wood floors were shiny and the first thing I saw was a small room off the living room with French doors. A den? A library? Whichever, I loved it.

The kitchen was newly renovated with ceramic tile and granite and stainless steel appliances. The carpet on the second floor had just been laid that week. Central air conditioners were being installed the following week. It seemed too good to be true.

It wasn't. Turned out the the owner had bought it as a two-flat apartment building, gutted it, and turned it back into a single family home. His original plan was to flip it and sell it but then the housing market crashed. Lucky for us, huh? After some snafus with getting an occupancy permit (long story that got resolved in our favor but required Jason to live like a squatter in an apartment for a week) we live there now and have for almost a year. As renters, not owners, though. And, of course, there are some issues that come with any old house. Lack of insulation, some cracks in walls and tile, etc. But the location is fabulous and the house has everything we wanted.

So, without further ado, welcome to our home!