Monday, January 27, 2014

[week two] towpath half marathon training

Another week down! Even though this week wasn't perfect, I did my best. I may not have great mileage, but I did set a record for my coldest run ever. And then I promptly joined a gym. 

Monday: Spin class! I had plans to go with a good friend, and when she let me know she'd double booked I almost backed out. Lucky for me, Harness Cycle is smart and requires you to cancel the day before to get your money back. Since I'm cheaper than I am lazy, I headed off to get my butt kicked, and it was wonderful! 

Tuesday: The dreaded speedwork. When I looked at the weather in the morning, I realized it was one of those weird days where it was just going to get colder and colder, so there was no reason to wait until the afternoon to head out. Then I turned on my computer, and somehow it was already noon. When I left it was 12 degrees with a windchill of zero. I warmed up the car, bundled up, and congratulated myself on being quite a bad ass. I hit the track for an abbreviated warm-up, then started on 12x400 in 2:03 with a 400 recovery jog in between. I made it through 10 before I was just TOO cold. My water bottle had frozen, and the half of the track where I ran into the wind was just unbearable. My splits were 2:03; 2:06; 1:59; 1:59; 2:03; 2:05; 2:02; 1:59; 2:00; 1:58. In total, I only covered 5 miles due to cutting the workout short. By the time I quit, the windchill had dropped to -2 and I have never been happier to get into a hot shower.


Wednesday: I was still thinking maybe I could get through this winter without joining a gym, and set out for an easy three miles. I got it done, with an average pace of 10:30.

Thursday: Another cold day! I woke up and couldn't stand the thought of running outside, so I just made delicious giant chocolate chip cookies and called it a day. Not regretting that decision one bit.

Friday: I finally sort of joined a gym. I still am not ready to take the plunge on a monthly membership, but I got a punch card with 5 visits, so at least I will have access to a treadmill! Unfortunately, it didn't change the fact that I still dislike the treadmill. I managed to get a one mile warm up in, then three tempo miles at 9:09. Missing one more tempo mile and the cool down, but at least I got something in! Next time I'm going to bring B's ipad and see if watching tv makes things more bearable.

Saturday: Nada! I spent all day with 35 high schoolers on an overnight orientation. It snowed and snowed and snowed, and was so pretty! I think I got my workout in trying to keep up with them all weekend.

Sunday: Spin class with a friend! I didn't get home from the mid-year orientations and a training until around 3 pm. I was so pleased that Arleigh had already asked me to go to spin, because without a friend-date, I definitely would have ended up on the couch, wine in hand, for the rest of the day.

This week:

Monday - speedwork. 8x600 @ 3:03 w/ 400 recovery jogs. Based on the amount of snow outside, this is going to have to be on the treadmill.
Tuesday - rest.
Wednesday - 4 mile tempo run + spin.
Thursday - easy 3 miles
Friday - easy 4 miles
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - rest.

How did your weeks go? Is this weather making things hard on anyone else?

Friday, January 24, 2014

around here




via iopop


wishing for some cozy wool socks. 
hoping to finish reading my book in time for book club. 
joining a gym (you win, winter). 
snuggling with my dogs. 
baking my new favorite chocolate chip cookies.
watching Friday Night Lights at a crazy fast pace. 
attempting to make a quilt.
looking forward to spring. 
re-reading a beautiful article send by a good friend. 
feeling inspired by this clean, cozy bedroom.
cooking comfort food. lots of chilis, curries, and soups over here! 
dreaming of a vacation to the Amalfi Coast.
drinking a bit too much red wine. 
brainstorming cheap winter date nights. 
going outside. 
grateful for oh so much :: husband, friends, family, dogs, books, blankets, netflix.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

[week one] towpath half marathon training

I'm relatively new to the running world, but have always found a lot of my inspiration from running blogs. Despite spending a lot of time making training plans, my follow through leaves a bit to be desired. I have some time goals this year, and while they might be a little big and hairy, I would love to see what I can accomplish with some good old fashioned hard work. 

Monday: 1 mile warm-up, 6 x 400 @ 1:50 with 1:50 rest, 1 mile cool-down. I have never really done speedwork, but since it seems to be the way you get faster, this training plan involves weekly speedwork. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I felt great afterwards. Things really step up this week though, and I have to admit that I am very nervous! 



Tuesday: 2.5 miles @ 10:52. Went on a run around the neighborhood with my dog, Abby. She loved it, and I was dragging a little bit. I followed it up with an evening Thai Yoga/Vinyasa class with one of my good friends. We both agreed that although the class was challenging, we basically both just wanted a Thai Yoga Massage... 

Wednesday: 3 mile tempo @ 9:09. Eesh, this was a doozy. The plan called for one mile warm-up, 3 miles at my goal race pace of 9:07, and one mile cool-down. I made it through with tempo miles of 9:09, 9:08, and 9:07, but with a whole lot of stopping. This made me very concerned that my 2:00 half marathon goal is a little out of reach, but I will wait a couple more weeks before reevaluating that. I haven't been running seriously for a while, so hopefully my fitness will pick up. I ended up covering 5 miles with an average pace of 9:41. 



Later that night I went to a spin class at this wonderful new place, Harness Cycle in Ohio City. I've gone to a few classes there, and while I have liked all of them, this Wednesday night class with Danielle was amazing. I was expecting to be seriously dragging after that tempo run, and would have canceled except that I couldn't get my money back that late. However, Danielle hit us with an awesome 90s mix, and I found it to be one of my best classes yet! 

Thursday: rest! 

Friday: 2.5 easy miles with B and the dogs on the towpath. The weather was pretty crappy, but it is still always nice to get out of the house with the dogs. 

I wish it was still warm enough for shorts! Just had to throw in a picture of my fave running partner!


Saturday: Unplanned rest day. I had 4 miles at a long run pace on the books, but ended up just having a very lazy weekend. Hopefully this week will be better! 

Sunday: Rest. I considered making up the long run, but my cozy couch got the best of me. 

Here's what's on deck for this week: 

Monday - spin 
Tuesday - speedwork. 12x400s - yikes! 
Wednesday - easy run 
Thursday - 4 mile tempo 
Friday - easy run 
Saturday - 4 mile long run 
Sunday - rest 

There's a cold front in Cleveland right now, and I still haven't found a treadmill to use, so I'm going to have to dig deep! 

Any suggestions for motivation for winter running?? I seem to do okay in the teens, but with the single digit forecasts this week, its going to be tough! 


Friday, January 17, 2014

2014.

wit + delight

I've always been a big proponent of the clean slate/fresh start. 

Despite the bad rap Monday gets, I've always found it so wonderful that every seven days, we get a chance to start over, and to do better. 

It should come as no surprise that I love January. The whole year is ahead of me, and anything seems possible. For years I spent January coming up with insanely lofty goals that seemed, in the haze of the new year, to be completely reasonable. I was a little drunk on the idea that this year was going to be the year. Come February, I'd lost some of my zest. My ambitious goals seemed impossible, and by May I'd all but given up on them. 

The last few years, I have taken a new approach. This approach, while not as exciting, is much gentler. My resolutions have become smaller, and I am happy to just be making any forward progress. 

So in that vein, I am moving forward on what has been a goal for the last few years. I am starting a blog. As someone who has always understood myself best through writing, I wanted a place to share what inspires me and brings me joy, where I struggle, and to document the small things that are so easy to forget. I have found it so incredible that even when big things are so incredibly hard, something as small as watching the cream spread through my coffee can bring me a small bit of joy. This is my little corner to share my cozy delights.