Long Weekend Laziness

Oh hey! I hope you all had a good holiday weekend! Sorry for the major disappearing act, but we were out of town and I switched into total vacation mode.

We spent our weekend at Tom's family's lake house and had a nice, relaxing weekend. The weather was all over the place, but we had one good afternoon out on the jet boat. Tom likes driving super fast and doing crazy sharp turns/power slides - it takes me a little bit to get used to being on the boat, and then it's a lot of fun.

There's a spot on the lake with a rock that Tom likes to jump off of (he estimates it to be about 20 feet up, or a little less). It took a great deal of patience and insisting that I wouldn't die, but he convinced me to jump. The water was COLD, and that was with shortie wetsuits on (it didn't help that I'm not used to wetsuits and was pretty sure it was trying to suffocate me).

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, eating, and visiting. It was excellent.

I did manage to convince myself to go for a run on Saturday, and took a very pretty (and very hilly) 5 mile run on the roads near the house. I don't feel too bad for slacking off a little since I didn't actually take any recovery time after my last race.

I'm back to business as usual starting tomorrow  - apparently my next race is in 18 days, so I should probably get a little more focused...

Oiselle Roga Shorts and a Lazy Sunday

It was absolutely beautiful here on Sunday. Buddy and I hung out on the deck with some iced tea and my kindle for a while. It doesn't seem like too long ago that I was wearing my jacket to go running, now I'm relaxing on the deck in a sun dress!

Buddy is psyched for spring weather.

I actually had to make him go back inside to cool off at one point, he was just laying there, panting like crazy. He won't drink any water I bring outside for him, so he gets sent inside for his own good.

I had an easy 5 miles on the plan for the day, so I decided to test out my new shorts. The shorts are really lightweight and super comfortable, I really like them! That being said, there was Body Glide involved to prevent chafing. It's not the short's fault though, the problem seems to be my thighs.

It may have motivated me to do some strength training to tone some areas that constant running doesn't tone. Of course, I've made such declarations before and have yet to stick to any strength training program, so there's that.

Why is strength training so boring?

Go With It

Friday morning I didn't have anywhere to be until noon, so I tackled the dishes that we (yet again) let pile up. Then I was struck by a super random urge to clean more things, so I decided to just go with it. These things don't happen often, so I try to take advantage when they do.

I cleaned the kitchen counter - I actually moved things and cleaned under them (I know, it's madness over here). Then I did some vacuuming and dusting and swept. From the amount of hair I swept up, you would think both buddy and I would be bald (for a short hair dog, Buddy sheds an impressive amount).

We had group nap time (the boys napped, I just relaxed with the pooch) in the afternoon. Buddy is the best lounging companion.

The Rivertown Runners (my weekend running buddies) had a brewery meet up Friday night, so Tom and I went and enjoyed some free beer. It's always funny to see people in non-running clothes. We don't always recognize each other!

This morning I was up bright and early to hit the trails. The weather was just about perfect, sunny and mid-50s. I did not feel like running when I woke up - my cold is really lingering and I had a headache - but about a mile or two in, I was so glad I went. It ended up being a really nice run!

We ran our usual 7 miles, my watch calling it 6.58 miles at a 9:10 pace.

Buddy hung out on the deck with me when I got home.

A nice run, coffee, and sunshine - an excellent start to the weekend!

Race Sign Up and Running Again!

I was amazingly lazy on Sunday. We had freezing rain pretty much all day long, and I spent most of my day researching races, reading blogs and watching tv.

Freezing rain is dumb.

Buddy was terrified while Tom cooked dinner, so I threw his blanket on him. He stayed like this for about an hour.

He has such a rough life.

The result of all my race research is that I'm now officially signed up for 3 half marathons!

West Point Half Marathon - March 29th
Rhinebeck Hudson Valley Half Marathon - May 16th
Walkway Half Marathon - June 13th

The Rhinebeck and Walkway races are new, it's the first year for both of them. I think I have run more races in their first year than I have run established races. I have never been signed up for more than one half marathon at a time, it's weird for me to be planning my entire year of racing at once.

I'm almost 100% decided on a marathon, but registration doesn't open up for most fall marathons until April, so we'll see if I'm still stuck on the same one come April.

I ran today!

I haven't run since my painful, aborted tempo run last Thursday. My ankle has been feeling a lot better, and I took it slow. I did a legitimate warmup (which I don't always do) and stopped to stretch (and do some mountain climbers for the #NoExcuses challenge) every mile. I ended up running 3.13 miles in 30 minutes. I'm just happy that I got to run!

And yes, I iced after I was finished.

Hopefully this means I can get back to my training plan this week.

Buddy did as much adventuring as his leash would allow this afternoon. I think he was just happy the temperature was above freezing.

Do you plan your race schedule for the year all at once or do you like to play it by ear?

Not this year

Those of you that follow running news probably already know that the lottery for the NYC marathon opened up this week.

Up until a few days ago, I was planning to throw my name in and see what happened. But I got to thinking about how much money it would cost to run NYC (it's a $255 registration fee), and it even costs a little bit to put your name in the lottery ($11). There are a lot of other options nearby when it comes to marathons, and most of them are at least half the price of NYC. So at least for this year, I'm ok not sitting around in the cold for hours and hours before the race, and running with a completely scary number of people and paying an obscene amount of money for the privilege to do so.

So I'm still on the lookout for a fall marathon to sign up for - I've got time.

Friday was a slow day for me. I spent some quality time with my ice pack and watched a cute movie - The Other Woman.

I spent the evening babysitting and making some money. I didn't get home until almost 12:30.

I still don't know what this stuff was, but thankfully, it wasn't real nail polish.

A 3 year old with real nail polish would be terrifying. This stuff just wiped right off, which is good, because she painted half her foot with it.

My ankle is still sore, but it's definitely feeling better. I skipped running with the group this morning, which bummed me out, but it was the smart thing to do. I may attempt a little dvd workout action today (and obviously stop if it hurts). We'll see.

For now, I'm off to find some food.

I hope your weekend is off to a good start!

Did any of you enter the NYC Marathon lottery?

Lounging and Cleaning

This is what a lot of Saturday afternoon looked like:

Buddy's a good cuddler for lazy afternoons. Or anytime really.

Today was a rest day for me. My training plan for the West Point Half starts on Monday, so I'd like to start off with some well-rested legs. Plus, rest days are good for you :)

There's something exciting about the start of a new training plan. I like thinking about all the miles I'm going to run. Looking at training plans is always fun, and they make me feel like I'm getting the necessary work done to have a successful race day.

This morning we cleaned the house so someone could come look at it - now we just need someone to make an offer! I always say it, but it's nice when the house is clean.

After the showing we did some serious lounging (Tom and Buddy napped, I still can't nap - I just lay there). Dinner was BLTs with chips and guacamole, and now we're thinking about going watch a movie in the basement.

That's our thrilling weekend, aren't you jealous of our glamorous life? ;)

Race Sign Up, Strength Training and Crab

I took my rest day on Sunday very seriously. Mostly unintentionally.

I was ridiculously tired from not sleeping well on Friday and waking up early on Saturday to run, so I ended up sleeping in. Really sleeping in.

Ok, I woke up at 10:58.

The day mostly consisted of catching up on blogs and digging through boxes in the basement for all of my workout dvds - I did manage to do some laundry though!

And we watched Divergent. It was cute - Hunger Games is better though.

I also signed up for my first race of the year - the West Point Half Marathon at the end of March. It's hilly. Crazy hilly. One of my weekend running buddies ran it last year and is running it again this year, so we are now planning to harass convince some our other weekend runners to join us.

Good thing I got my new training journal in the mail over the weekend!

Today I reinforced the knowledge that while I can run for hours, I have really minimal muscle strength when it comes to anything else.

I did a Jillian Michaels dvd and wanted to die for about half of it. I guess that means I should do it more than once a year.

She's so mean.

You should definitely be jealous of our dinner tonight. For Christmas, my mom sent us a big box of fish and some king crab.

Merry Christmas to us!

Buddy's had an exhausting day of napping. It's a rough life.

Do you do any workout videos?

Are you a cardio addict or are you good about strength training?

I'm a Nuunbassador!

I was a time-wasting master today.

I'm not even sure where the day went. I spent a lot of time reading blogs and other random things online (down the rabbit hole).

I watched one of my favorite holiday Bones episodes while I ran this afternoon. Season 1, episode 9, in case you were wondering.

Adding yesterday's quick 2 miler to today's 4 miles, and I'm now under 20 miles until I hit the 1,000 mile mark!

I got a pretty exciting email yesterday - I'm going to be a Nuun Ambassador for 2015!

I'm not a big fan of sports drinks, but I love Nuun (just ask Tom, our kitchen cabinets have Nuun tablets all over the place)! Nuun is an electrolyte enhanced drink that's sugar free, carb free and really tasty.

Watermelon is my favorite, but I have about 4 other flavors to pick from as well - and there are even more available on their website.

Basically, I drink Nuun constantly anyway, but now I get discounted product and an excuse to tell even more people about it! :)

I think that's all the news for now, so I'll leave you with a picture of the dogpile that happened on our couch last night.

The time I accidentally ran 11 miles

I had a super busy/productive day today!

This morning I headed to the post office to get Christmas packages mailed off. I had all but one ready to go, but I wanted to get them shipped before I cut it too close.

After I got home, I went through the fridge and got rid of all the gross things. I didn't think you'd want a picture of that. Getting rid of gross things also meant taking out the trash and doing some dishes. I even took out all the recycling!

I hit the basement to run and watch Annie, because I keep seeing previews for the new Annie and getting irritated. I'm not a big fan of remakes. I mean, how are you supposed to improve on Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters?

I planned on doing at least 6 miles, but I was enjoying the movie, and it turned into 7, then 8, then....11. I sort of accidentally ran 11 miles, and yes, I know that sounds crazy.

My hair gets all curly when I run.

Since I ran more than I intended, I decided to brave an ice bath.

It was really cold. In case you weren't sure.

This is my new favorite snack:

It's an English muffin with Laughing Cow cheese and salami on top. Really good.

I had one last thing I needed before I could send off my mom's Christmas box, and it was delivered while I was running. So, I wrapped it up and headed back to the post office. I have officially mailed all of my Christmas packages!

Now I'm watching a Bones marathon on tv and sitting with my feet up until it's time to start dinner.

Happy Birthday Tiny!

Today is Tiny's Birthday!

Happy birthday to my partner in crime - it's a lot harder to cause trouble when we live so far apart! I miss you - come see me!

Today was also the last day of Mom's visit - boo!

We had our first showing of the house - yay!

We got to relax for most of the morning and then did a quick clean/vacuum.

All four of us (Mom, Tom, Buddy and me) piled into my car and went for a walk around Rockefeller Preserve while strangers wandered around our house.

The guys are so cute.

Luckily the weather was much better today, so we had a nice walk.

Buddy was a little tired when we got home.

Then we had to take Mom to the airport. Did I mention - boo!

I have been pretty lazy since my race/while my mom was here. It was really nice. Tomorrow I'm back to my usual Saturday morning group run.

Since I don't have another race coming up and am training plan free (a place I don't really like to be), I'm going to work on my own plan. I may even work some cross-training in there somewhere. We'll see...

Limited edition EVERYTHING!

I attempted my first run since the race on Thursday.

I wanted to wait a few days since last time I tried to get back at it too soon afterwards and had a really frustrating run. I ran 4 easy miles while I watched a Gilmore girls episode. I wasn't crazy fast, and my legs were definitely more tired than they should be at the end, but overall it was a good run.

It's always hard for me to get back to running after a race, I'm kind of lost without my training plan.

Mom and I took Buddy on a long walk yesterday afternoon. He slept all afternoon. Mom had fun playing tourist and taking leaf pictures.

We have mostly been relaxing and visiting since my mom got here. We haven't even made it down to NYC yet, but we are planning on going next week.

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, we haven't done most of the things we talked about doing. We want to go play tourist in the city, visit an apple orchard, and go to our local brewery (we all love beer) at the very least.

We also have busy things going on here at home, because we're hoping to get the place listed early next week. Pretty soon we will have to live super neat and tidy in case people want to come look at the house.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I kind of have a lip balm addiction. There are probably 6 in my purse and tons laying around the house. I got this at Target the other day.

Remember what I said about my weakness for limited edition flavors of things? That goes for lip balm too. :) And this isn't as crazy-sweet as it seems like it would be. It doesn't have a flavor, just smells yummy.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Post Race Recovery

Happy Wednesday!

My mom and I spent most of yesterday playing with a 12 month old. There are worse ways to spend your day.

Buddy was pouting because Tom was hanging out with a friend in the city.

I haven't even attempted a run yet. On Monday, Mom and I took Buddy for a long walk, but otherwise I have been taking it easy.

How long do you take off after a race? It really varies for me, mostly depending on how sore I am, and how long the race is. I have seen recommendations to rest anywhere from 5-13 days after a half. Generally, I take a few days completely off, and then hold off on any tough workouts for close to two weeks. I've even been trying to stretch and foam roll this time around.

I definitely pushed myself on Sunday, so I still have some pretty sore muscles. Plus, having my mom here is a good excuse to take it easy for a few extra days. :)

The Big 3-0

Today is my birthday! I think I'm supposed to be upset, because it's my 30th, but I feel pretty much the same as I ever have, so I'm not too worried about it. :)

Tom made a really good apple pancake/custard/french toast type thing for breakfast - we aren't quite sure what to call it!

One of my (now former) co-workers sent me a video of all my kiddos shouting "happy birthday!" - it was really cute. :)

Even Google was on board with wishing me a happy birthday.

Tom got me an Athleta gift certificate (to feed my workout clothes addiction) and a BOSU ball because I have been talking about wanting one. :)

I asked my Grandma for an Oregon State tee shirt so I can properly support the Beavers from the East coast.

I took my time heading out the door this afternoon, but then I had a really nice run.

The park was a little crowded.

It ended up being perfectly timed, because it just started to sprinkle as I was finishing up. By the time I pulled out of the parking lot, it was full-on raining.

I realized today that I really need to stop thinking of myself as a 10 minute miler. Most of my runs these days are much faster. I'm just so used to telling people that I'm not very fast, I need to get over that mental block.

It has been a pretty fantastic day so far! Now, excuse me while I go peruse the Athleta website...