Running Chick

This week was a self-imposed cut-back week for me.  Between stresses at work, miserable runs and just generally feeling like crap, I was feeling totally burned out with running. I was looking at my schedule on Sunday night and had many thoughts of throwing in the towel.  However, having signed up for a race makes things a little complicated, so in an act of self-preservation, I decided to do what I usually hate to do – make adjustments.

I’m usually really OCD about following my training programs. If you ask Josh, he’ll agree and somewhere in that conversation you’ll probably hear him say the word “insane”.  Yeah, I guess I can be a bit rigid with my schedule.  But, I had to do something or I was going to throw myself off the bridge, so I dropped my weekly runs down to three from four, and dropped my weekly miles by around 15% and did all my runs at an easy pace.  I’m not sure if it completely worked, but I don’t feel like jumping off a bridge when I look at my schedule for next week.

Anyway, recap.  Wednesday, 5 @ 11:00; Thursday, 5 @ 10:04 and Saturday, 6 @ 11:09.  I had a little bit of quad cramping during the last few miles on Saturday, but I’m blaming that on heat and lack of fluids. Next week is the final big week before taper.  I have three four-milers and a 12 (or maybe 14 depending on how I’m feeling) miler on the weekend for a total of 26 miles. Once next week is over, it's a downhill slide until the race.

We got a giant box of veggies from our CSA last week, so I’ve been busy making zucchini relish, zucchini bread, zucchini chips, and zucchini soup. Can you guess what we got most of?  We also got swiss chard (surprisingly yummy), cucumbers (time for pickling), potatoes, sweet corn and various peppers. We also got turnips. I used to hate turnips when I was a kid.  For Thanksgiving, my grandparents always served up a bowl of them them mashed.  I can remember walking into their house (now mine), smelling the turnips and thinking “eew, gross”.  So, when we got several in our CSA box, I figured that my adult tastes were far more refined and I’d find them completely yummy and I’d be able to tell the story to my folks and we’d have a good laugh.  However, as soon as that smell started creeping out from the kitchen, it was like I was transported back in time and all I could think was “eew, gross!”.  Suffice to say, that is one of the foods from my childhood that will stay there!

We had a great time at the Keweenaw Brewfest.  This was the third year it was held, but due to being out of town, our first time attending.

There was a ton of people there, and we ended up hanging out with a group of work friends.  It was fun comparing beers and chatting and, despite it being 1000 degrees outside, the beer was nice cold.  The event was $25 and that got you a fancy glass (6 oz) and fifteen wooden chips, each one good for a sample pour.  I don’t think there was one beer that I didn’t like, or maybe it’s more like I can’t remember. Toward the end, it all blurred together.  Some of my favorites were the pumpkin ale from some brewery, the Black & Tan from Guinness, the margarita from some other brewery and (this I remember) the Newcastle Werewolf Red Ale.

I don’t know what either of these beers were, but I’m certain they were awesome.

Until next year, Brewfest!

This post wouldn’t be complete without some some gratuitous pictures of the cats.

Scout, who has decided that Josh’s Makita tool bag makes a great napping spot and who gets really crabby when I wake her up to take pictures.

And Pippen, lording over the world from atop the mattresses waiting to be hauled to the dump.

If he’s awake when you walk in the room, he will boop you on the head.

Praise the running deities, I made it through my 28-mile week unscathed.  Sorry for the blurry photo, it’s hard to get a clear shot when you’re running SO FAST. Ha.  In case you’re wondering, I’m wearing my new Brooks Glycerine 9s.  They’re pretty sweet.

So, how does it feel to run that many miles? Tiring. That’s a lot of miles for me. Couple that with some issues with aching/cramping legs and stress at work and it equates to an unpleasant week. I was very happy for it to be over.

Monday, I ran seven miserable miles which was supposed to be six but I screwed up my route (oops). My legs complained the entire way and I had to walk and or stop frequently to stretch. The entire run was a mental and physical struggle. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Tuesday, I ran five with Josh. Those miles were a little bit better, but only slightly.  Wednesday, was a day off, so I stretched and rollered and yoga’d the life out of my body and that made my Thursday four much better.  We finished up our week with a hilly and moderately windy twelve.  Oh, and we got rained on.

We’d been trying to outrun these dark clouds but they caught up to us two miles before we ended.  Fortunately, our shower was brief.

Afterwards, we headed to our usual Saturday lunch spot, the Downtowner.  I bet you thought you were just going to see a picture of fries, but I was being healthy so I had a salad and fries.

Unfortunately, I was suffering from eyes bigger than stomach syndrome, so about 2/3 of those fries accompanied me home in a take-away box.

Mr. Creosote would approve of Hardee’s offering.

Weekly recap: Monday, 7 @ 10:28; Tuesday, 5 @ 10:58; Thursday, 4 @ 10:15 and Saturday, 12 @ 11:49.  Next week is a cut-back week and I’ll do fifteen total miles.

Interesting tidbit: I was looking at my mileage summary and noticed that I’ve surpassed my running miles for all of 2011. Yay for not being injured.

Scout says hello.

Weekly recap: Monday, 6 @ 10:46; Tuesday, 5 @ 10:44; Thursday, 4 @ 10:25 and Saturday 8 @ 11:10 for a weekly total of 23 miles @ 10:50.  Next week, I have 28 total miles on the schedule.  That’ll be my highest weekly mileage in the history of the (my) world, so it’s daunting.  However, I have a couple of things working in my favor: 28 is my favorite number and once the week is over, I start to dial back my mileage.  Focus on the positive, I guess.

This deer says hello, too. We had a 20-30 second stare-down when I was finishing up a run on the Nara boardwalk last Monday.  She let me walk about 10 more feet in her direction before she went bounding into the woods.  Earlier, just as I was starting down the boardwalk, I came upon a small red fox.  He didn’t stick around to check me out, like the deer did. He & his floofy tail took off into the bushes as soon as he saw me so no pictures.

Our first major delivery from the local CSA we joined included everything below (onions, cucumber, zucchini, squash, cauliflower, lettuce and turnips) as well as a giant bag of potatoes.  Today I made two loaves of zucchini bread and only used one zucchini.  Good thing I like them in salads.

Fiat 500. How cute! I sort of want one.

I always wear my compression sleeves after a long run.  I don’t know if they actually do anything useful to aid recovery, some people say yes, others no, but I do know that they do make my legs feel better so I’ve made them part of my long run recovery just like stretching, rolling and refueling with fries.  Unfortunately, they’re not the most fashionable thing in my wardrobe and I got two comments on them yesterday.  One was from the gas station lady who told me she liked my “calf wear” and another from some dude at the bar who asked me if I played soccer.  Wonder what they would have said if I’d been wearing my fancier socks?

Josh and I took a bike ride this afternoon and stopped for a short break at the Quincy Mine Hoist. Here’s a glamour shot of our bikes.

And here’s a glamour shot of me on Coal Dock Road just before a massive hill. I’m so glad we were going down instead of up.

Finally, I got up early today to watch the finish of the men’s Olympic marathon.  When I started watching, Meb was way back in 18th position. By the end of the race, he worked his way through the pack to finish fourth. I’m pretty sure that he could have finished bronze, just like Deena Kastor did in Athens in 2004, if he had a a bit more real estate, but it wasn’t so. Still, Meb is awesome.

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