365: Week 7

2/11/13:  I honestly felt so uninspired today I didn't think I'd capture anything today...that was until I decided to walk the 3+ miles home instead of run or train it from my client this evening, and somehow the massive fog outside cleared the crazy fog in my head and was able to take this gem
2/12/13:  The wheels on the bus go round and round...the impromptu run away with 8 hours of motion sickness and nausea was worth every bit of being able to see a surprised face, hug and catch up with a couple of best friends
2/13/13: My crazy fur buddy giving me love after our run 
2/14/13: This is what happens when twins go to the mall and the evil twin talks the good twin out of getting her tattoo for shoes & other booty
2/15/13 (1):  Serene and beautiful walk around Belle Isle with Twin & B
2/15/13 (2): Obligatory Tobacco Co visit with candle lit Alison
2/16/13: For someone who is ALWAYS cold, it kinda amazes me of my hatred for socks or shoes that cover my feet in the winter
2/17/13: One of my fav amazeballs purchases this week...I mean, I couldn't not buy it with that name...guilty marketing name/package sucker (unless it has some celebrity attached to it then not so much)

2/11

2/12

2/13

2/14

2/15 (1)

2/15 (2)

2/16

2/17

365: Week 6

2/4/13: Don't we all wish that life's occurrences came with one of these, and as easy as well
2/5/13: Dusting of snow on the river
2/6/13: Sunshine rising it's way up
2/7/13: Doh! No photo of the day
2/8/13: Someone shook up the snow globe
2/8/13 (2) : (Since I failed a 2/7 potd, a double day photo) Melted snow drops on my bag
2/9/13: Ruminating over life's sense of humor and nature's beauty (for the record trying to take a self pic with an SLR without a tripod and/or remote with your right hand is incredibly awkward and hard)
2/10/13: Gave my little man legs, he went for a run and overheated

2/4

2/5

2/6

2/8 (2)

2/8

2/10

2/9

The Best is yet to come

Stuck in a strong hold again, and trying to problem solve my way out. A piece of my puzzle is missing. While I know that there are a few corner pieces that need to be rounded out and lend their hand to a bit of the problem, I don't believe that they are the main contributing factors. So I sit here trying to figure out exactly what piece is missing. I have my many guesses but nothing concrete.
As I mentioned in my last post I decided to stay in NY to race.  Well that has come and gone and I'm $20 lighter, farther from my goal times than previously and banging my head ever so gently against the wall. As for me worrying about the heat being competitive enough, that ended up not being an issue. Yes I realize I made my decision based on training through the season, but that doesn't mean it doesn't frustrate me to no end, because I know that something key is MIA. 

Could it be that my diet/hydration state is off? Could it be I'm still psyching myself way out before racing? Could it be my head is getting in the way during the race? Could it be my lack of consistency in the weight room? Could it be not having a training partner is holding back extra potential in practice? Could it be just the wrong event? Could it be something I just don't know?
So many could it be's now its time to make a few tweaks and clean up. Maybe I'll find that it has been staring at me, right under my nose, it's just in the wrong place in or burying under as couple layers.
Its a good thing I really like puzzles.

Oh I did forgot to mention that even though my race didn't pan out remotely to be what I'd hoped, and after I stopped deciding to be mopey, I took advantage of being at the track with hurdles and turned it into a hurdle workout. A very solid one at that.

Decision made

After a few days of consideration and weighing all of my options (and still not really coming to a complete ground breaking verdict) I've decided to take my chance and stay in NY to compete. I think financially it's my soundest conclusion. As well safest bet physicality wise.

My major conclusion of this came after the realization that my plan for indoor track was to basically train through the season and use that base to kick my outdoor season in full gear. My goal is to peak only once and I want that to be outdoors. In years past I have peaked for phenomenal indoor seasons and tried again to peak months later in outdoor. Unfortunately my body used the 1st peak as my hard peak and my next season peak as the soft peak leaving me often a bit disappointed and craving more.

The logistics (which I only just learned in my USATF level 1 coaching classes this past fall) are the body really can only handle 1 solid hard peak, the one before or after will not be as good. And that's the cold hard truth, no matter what your age. You can certainly train all year long but you'll only hit your very best once. So for any of you out there who may not have known this, use this info to your advantage and choose wisely when you want your ultimate top to be.

And with that I'm sticking to my original plan to go ahead and train through indoor, not fretting over this upcoming race. Decision made, New York it is.

365: Week 5

1/28/13: Special delivery package for a special friend

1/29/13: Time only stands still when it's over
1/30/13: Sorry can't spare my two cents, gotta cash it for something bigger
1/31/13: A shiny reminder that 'Nothing is impossible'
2/1/13: Chinatown massage splurge is in need
2/2/13: Some days it's a long, cold and lonely stretch
2/3/13: I'm not a 'crazy cat lady', my cat's a 'crazy lady cat'

1/28

2/2

1/31

1/30

2/1

1/29

2/3

On the fence

I hate making decisions. Actually let me rephrase that I hate having to choose between decisions. Even in school I hated multiple choice tests, I preferred short answer questions (essays weren't my cup of tea either). Yes I realize making choices is an integral part of adult life, and really there's no getting around it, but really I'd prefer not to have to. Mostly because I'm ridiculously analytical and break EVERYTHING down to the tiniest molecules. This causes much inner conflict.
The funniest part of it all, is most of the time the most tumultuous conflicted decisions aren't even that serious. I mean give some life and death decisions and bam the verdict is quick, mindless and painless (I say this now). Then ask me to choose between coffee or tea for breakfast and we've got charts as to why each would be worthwhile and detrimental. For the record I usually always go with coffee in the morning and that's not really a true conflict but I figured it was an easy analogy.
Now let me fast forward to my non-threatening life decision I'm faced with now. Where I'm racing my next race.
One of my choices is in NY, the other Boston. Now I know what you're thinking, duh you live in New York race in New York. Now let me break it down to you as to why it's not the simplest answer.

The race in NY while yes it is close by, it's not exactly known to be highly competitive. This meet can be hit or miss with the competition. Since there is a big meet in Boston the next day, it's likely to be on the miss side, especially for the 800, where I need a solid field to run what I'm aiming for. I understand that you run your own race and leading an entire race isn't all that bad. But when you're leading a pack that's on your back it's completely different than leading a pack that's back 6-7 sec (this is what happened when I last raced an 800 at this meet). It's hard to stay in the game at that point, for me this is a breaking point and I REALLY want a solid fast race. The plus side is 0 travel, I actually jog the 1 mile to track as my warmup (yea I'm a little spoiled with that). 

Now let's flip to the meet in Boston. This is a HIGHLY competitive meet. No doubt I won't have to worry about the race field. I'll also get to see my Boston peeps. Downside to this meet is travel, and as I've mentioned in previous posts, I do not travel well in wheeled vehicles. Train and air are out of the question because of budget constraints. This leads to the next downside when travel is involved usually the cost for the meet increases tenfold. Factor in transport (even if I hitch a ride with a teammate, I still feel obligated to throw gas & toll money to help & thank them) plus food (athlete's gotta eat a meal) plus the entry fee the total cost is at least doubled if not tripled. And I'm on the super saver plan at the moment (this was coined by an old teammate for tight budget) Gah!

And now I sit here stuck on my fence, weighing out which option is best at this moment. Which chance do I take?? I have until Monday at 11:59p to make my final decision. Oh decisions, decisions.

365: Week 4

1/21/13: Ace Hotel lobby coffee date and find a Run DMC flyer on the wall= Awesomesauce

1/22/13: It's all a blur

1/23/13: I'm a numbers geek, so how cool did I think it was that my checks added up to 1234 (on 1/23 at that)

1/24/13: National Peanut Day...I don't like PB at all

1/25/13: BU Terrier Invite Day 1

1/26/13: Love that dirty water even when it's frozen. Long run around the Charles while in Beantown

1/27/13: Snickerdoodles baked up for a special delivery

1/22

1/23

1/24

1/27

1/21

1/26

1/25

Third time's a charm?

On Friday morning I took my usual January pilgrimage to the motherland (for those not in my know the motherland is Boston) for a track meet, BU Terrier Invitational. I love this meet and pretty much every time I've raced it I have PR'd. Why wouldn't I love it. It's also is a great excuse to see and catch up with old teammates/friends since I've ran away to NY and don't get to see these lovely faces as often as I'd like. Again why wouldn't I love it. There is only one major caveat that I do not love about it though. I've become a super bad traveler in the past years, somewhere somehow I've developed a serious bout of motion sickness when I'm a passenger in cars and buses. For obvious reason this doesn't bode so well when trying to race. To add boot I also am unable to sleep in all moving vehicles, and of course sleep is said to help aide in the ease of symptoms.

Let's quickly back up to the week(s) leading up to this race day. I believe in order for me to be a complete athlete I have to be honest with myself and come out with the truth and the whole truth. That also means sharing that truth with my blog and to others. Here's that truth: I haven't really been on my game with my training since after Christmas. It's been quite spotty and inconsistent. I have no real viable excuse (except the actual week of). Yes the 2 prior races that haven't panned out quite to my liking have had some direct effect on my lack of passion. I mean blaming a couple lack luster performances isn't exactly nothing but it's not a good excuse. I need to (wo)man up take responsibility, especially if I want to excel in my sport. You get out what you put in and I know this. On a real excuse note I did however the day after I registered on Monday actually got legit sick, go figure. Already many strikes against me going in to the race.

Now back to race day. In order to accommodate other plans Thursday night, I decided to take a risk and bus up to Boston the morning of my race (I wasn't scheduled to race until 5p so I had hoped that catching an early bus I could maybe off set the inevitable). This bus ride managed to only procure a very mild case of nausea, Woosah! there might be a small bit of hope for my race later. I get into Boston at noon, grab lunch at South Station and kill a little bit of time before I make my way over to the track. I try not to get myself worked up and keep settled down before I have to warm up. I manage to do an alright job of this. It's incredibly hard not to sit still and even harder when you see so many people you haven't seen in forever and want to get all chatty with. When it came time to warm up I had managed to take a young runner under my wing. Oddly calming her same worked up nerves and assuring her that she'd be fine helped me to settle my own. Weird how that works.
The earlier strikes against me had me not knowing exactly where I would be time wise so my plan for this race was to be aggressive and present. Lining up on the line for a 2 turn stagger sharing my lane with another racer, I hear the 1 command then the gun and off I go. I knew I was fast off the start but I wasn't going to back off since I've done that in the past and it hasn't turned out well. The 1st 400 was on the quick side, then I fell off in the next 200 (that 600 split always finds a way to get me), I managed to not so prettily hold on for my last lap kicking down 1 girl, finishing in 2:20.74. Gah, I know that I'm in way better shape than that. I also know that the preceding weeks dictated exactly what I ran, so I am only to blame. Not super thrilled but I'll take it, I executed my race just as I had planned (can't be mad about that).
After cooling down I found myself scouring the meet calendar figuring out how to finagle the upcoming race schedule and where I'd race. I also found myself again in the mentoring role to my young wing runner as we chatted about her long future as a runner. This and my fired up race ignited a spark that had been out for the past couple weeks. Finally I'm back to my spunky runner ways (so much so that I even went on a 5 miler the day after).
Also since I decided to hang around for the next day I was able to watch Day 2 of the meet with the men's events, getting to catch a couple Olympians boss a few races. Yeah no big deal. Also another spark to fuel the fire.

A horrible blurry camera phone (b/c I forgot my real camera) photo of Galen Rupp trying to break AR in the mile.

365: Week 3

1/16

1/14

1/19

1/17

1/20

1/18

1/14/13: Kitty knows just how Monday's should be spent
1/15/13: OH NO whoops I fell off my wagon, no photo of the day
1/16/13: Non runner friend who might have been sick as he called me up to run with him
1/17/13: Every super hero has their weaknesses
1/18/13: I don't agree,I've had many stay in from the cold great stories
1/19/13: I may or may not have a puzzle addiction
1/20/13: January shorts outside runs...always welcome

365: Week 2

1/8

1/7

1/10

1/13

1/9

1/12

1/11

1/7/13: My Christmas card display that I can't bring myself to take down yet

1/8/13: Skating on thin ice with a cute date

1/9/13: Weekly Wednesday love(s)

1/10/13: My goals reflecting back at me 

1/11/13: Meet Day lesson in trust

1/12/13: My odd body measurements means sometimes having to be my own seamstress

1/13/13: The NYC New England cheer section

*PS blogger doesn't want me to organize my photos properly the way I want so yes that is why there is no rhyme or reason as to why the photos are in the order that they are

Take Plans, Round 2

After a dismal season opener, I had my next chance to open the way I wanted with an over distance race. Yep 1000 meters and personal best you are mine. Well, the 1000 didn't think so highly of that overly confident statement. I thought that I had a PR in me, I honestly thought I had a sub 3 min in me. The race or maybe it might have been mind had other plans. I started off trying to hold back my usual gun it and lead, Lap 1 I was with the mix but off my goal, no problem. Lap 2 I'm in the middle of the pack then make a move to get out but then fall back, split is off, not sure what's going on. I start thinking about being off and rather than DO something I just kinda held on. By 600 meters I'm well off my goal lap intervals and really just going through the motions of just running, not racing. Finally at about 150m left I decided it was time to maybe do something, of course that was WAY too late. I crossed the line and looked up at the results screen to see the result I really didn't want to see, but I knew was warranted as I didn't get in the game. Seriously *Go* button is broken. Blah! Again like the first race recovered too quickly, meaning I didn't give it my all. I know that the 1000 is an odd race and I haven't raced it in 4 years and really it doesn't matter, I hang on it because I'm simply frustrated. I just want to race well. Silver lining of my gray cloud (because I'm not a pessimistic person and there is always something good to take away from the bad) is again the strength/endurance is there from my recovery turnaround time.
Lesson learned run my own race, race not run, get out of my head and simply just GO!
Round 3, Next...

365: Week 1

1/1

1/2

1/3

1/4

1/5

1/6

1/1/13: New Year, new cool Believe I Am journal to tend to my running garden

1/2/13: Sad sad shelved cameras

1/3/13: Every Picky Bar's lovers dream, a bar chock full o'chips

1/4/13: Death of the Christmas tree

1/5/13: The best part of my mornings

1/6/13: Because one cannot be too bright for a night run

A Lovers Quadrangle...Resolution #2

Fine it's not really a quadrangle than it's really a triangle but it just sounded cooler to say quadrangle. At first it was just a simple straight line. 20 years ago I fell hard in love with running, it was my 1st love. For a good 6 years it was just us. We had some amazing times and we had some spats but it was just the 2 of us, we were a dynamic duo, head over heels for each other. Then along came a boy and typical teenage ways, then all of the sudden there was a triangle. What's a girl to do? I tried to hold on to both loves, but then said boy wanted more time and I wanted to give boy more time. Again what's a girl to do. Work wasn't an option, school clearly wasn't an option, ok well maybe I could just let up a little with running, but just a little bit. Slowly that little bit turned into a little bit more, then a lot bit more and then there was only a straight line between me and boy. No more triangle. I broke running's heart, then not too far down the line boy broke my heart. Then it was just me. I eventually ran back into the arms of running.

This cycle cycled through another time when I started college, not quite the same way but quite similarly. This time after though I left running for 6 years. We had a couple rendezvous in that time but they weren't ever for long stretches of time, someone or something always came along and got in the way of our trysts. Then after having my heart broken by another yet another boy, I flew hard back in to the arms of my 1st love. I knew it could console me like no other. A few months later after a trial run and a bit of research, I made a commitment to love, honor and cherish until death do us part. I knew that no other could give me what running gives me or makes me feel the way it makes me feel, so I took the plunge. I vowed that I would never let it go for someone or something else. We'd always be a line together just us or yep a triangle with another. 

I've upheld my vows pretty well the past 6 or so years, so much so that I've not let any boys come around or I've let many boys go or they've left because they just don't get it or understand our love and really don't want to be a part of this crazy triangle. I did once cheat on running with a boy I really thought I liked but then it made sure that I felt it's wrath for that, then I threw some spikes at it, then that boy turned out to be dud. 

But now since I'm not getting any younger I need to find a way to make this perfect isosceles triangle or at least something close work. This is New Year's resolution #2. Date, run and find balance between the three of us.

365 Project

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions, I rather not hold myself to something for the entire year then feel all sorts of guilty when I can't hold up my end of the bargain  Let's be real how many of us really can and actually do, seriously I can't think of anyone I know that has done such. In my running world at the beginning of every season I do do "resolutions" and set goals for myself, because then why would I put myself through the nitty gritty of training uber hard. These typically are only for 3-4 months and much more easily obtained. Do I fall off every now and again, sure but I can revert the next season and make an attempt again.
Well I decided that this year I would make some New Year's resolutions (actually only 2) that sort of had nothing to do with running (because I'm sure I'd like to think there is more to my life than running and track). One of my cheesy cliche resolutions is a 365 project that I've swiped from some of my photog friends. A photo a day with whatever camera I have on hand. I found myself on this train mostly because it occurred to me that I only brought my big girl SLR out from it's dwelling once last year and I honestly didn't take nearly as many pictures as I had in the past with even my little guy camera. Now you ask why in the world am I making a blog post about this?? You 2 or maybe 5 readers don't care and isn't this blog supposed to be about running. Weeeellllll the answers are simply I need to stop slacking on my blog so I figure why not incorporate this in (maybe it'll keep me on point, though I'm sure it probably won't) and like my title description says it's sometimes about that thing I call life mixed in. Also I'm sure 80% of my photos will have something to do with, yep shocker, running. My attempt on here will be a weekly compilation of the daily photos. Let's do this thang. Also please feel free to call me out if and when I do slack.

Gotta start somewhere

After the original race I had planned on racing was nonexistent, I decided to open up my season with a meet that's held the day after Christmas. Little did I know when I came to this decision that this meet was condensed to only sprint events (400, 200, 60, 60H)  from the previous full bill of years earlier. At any other point in my training I probably really wouldn't have cared but I did not want to open with anything short, and honestly it wasn't in my plans. I want indoor to be concentrated mostly on the longer endurance part of training, over distance training.

Needless I had bend my plans because I also did not want to open in January. I opted to do a 400/200 double and told myself to treat it like a really hard workout. Unfortunately in my head I can't detach myself from the word race or meet. As much as I want to treat this like a practice, it still looms in my head and I manage to get myself all worked up. Then you can guess what happens I under preform and get frustrated. My 400 was about 3 seconds slower than I know and my coach knows I'm capable to hit at this part of my training. Grrrr. I finished up with plenty left in my tank to repeat that same interval at that same pace with little differential. Oh and wait that's exactly what I did in the 200, split the exact 1st 200 split of my 400. Seriously not impressed. 

I know that it is the season opener and it is used as a cobweb shaker. I can't really expect to be in peak form since the last time I raced was back in July and I did just come off of a crazy work schedule that kept me up weird hours and on my feet for long hours. BUT I did expect to come off a little bit faster than I ran. 

Ok fine for the positive plus side that I need to find in every race, since I did have extra gas left in my tank after the 400, it means I can absolutely go faster. It also means that I'm strong and my 800 should be looking not too shabby. 

Now I'll carry on to the new year and other races.

KISS

I really came up short this week with trying to figure out what I wanted to accomplish as far as goals. I could have kept the same board as last week, or reverted back to weeks 1 and 2, but they just didn't call to me. As of Monday I could muster up was a weekly mileage of 27. And today I threw in 2 lifts. I guess I'll stick with the good ole acronym KISS: Keep It Simple Silly. I'll let you know later in the week how that goes.

Check marks the box

Snow

Week 3's goal board was pretty extensive and a little more specific. Now that indoor season's on the verge of starting up and I will likely be racing my first race of the season in 4 or so weeks I'm starting to go into crunch mode. One of the big things I want to get in check is my weekly mileage. I've never really been one to fret over how many miles a week I'm doing, I'm a sprinter it doesn't really matter as much. But my plans are changing and that means I need to make changes. I really want to concentrate on going a little longer indoors, and improving my 800 tenfold, this all to hopefully help out my endurance for the hurdles outdoors. I had a great improving season for my 8 last year but I want to continue that. Even though I'm a 400-800 800 runner (for those who don't know what that means, it basically means I train better with speed than with volume. I'd go deeper into the nitty gritty of training of the half mile but it's pretty complicated) I realized that my 5-10 mile a week regime probably isn't going to cut it to go much faster than my 2:19 PR.
First goal up 24 miles for the week. Although that might sound like a paltry number, it is quite the task for me to hit. My track workouts at best hit 3000m which it's only 1.89 miles, usually only one of my days of 3 hit that high, typically the rest are between 1000-2000. Combine that with a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown I'm ranging from 2.5mi to 4mi, times 3 that doesn't add up to be much. I have 2 rest days that leaves me with 2 days to make up a lot of miles to get to 24. I can take away one of those rest days but still quite a bit of ground to cover and as I get older my recovery time lengthens so that 2nds day is often necessary. All logistics (or we could say excuses) I need and will find a way to get it done.
Lucky for me funky weather has had it's eye on NYC (not so lucky for those still out of power and such from the hurricane that hit only a week ago. My heart aches for them). Wednesday threw in a Nor'easter with a dumping of snow. What do I love more than running, running in crazy weather. I've said it before and I continue to say it, I'm weird. This helped my mileage out for the sake that Wed was one of my off days and Tues track workout was super fast super short stuff (no real mileage there). I ended up going for a 3 miler in the snow, getting me closer to my goal.
By the time Sunday rolled around my days had added up perfectly for the 7 mile long run I planned (the 2nd goal) to equal out my 24 miles. The 7 miles def was no easy feat either, by my lonesome nonetheless, but I proudly chomped through it.
As for the rest of my goal board, I faired pretty well. I missed another stupid lift day, still mad at myself for that and really it's just me being lazy. The nutrition end I missed 8oz of water the 1st day but then rallied back the rest of the week never missing my min mark. And my sweet tooth got me an extra day. Overall I'm not too disappointed with my week. Baby steps to progression.

Week #3

I decided to bump up my goals this week to get a little more specific and also add in some nutritional aspects that I have trouble with.