This morning, Janna and I did six miles in Griffith Park. Because we were only doing six miles we started at 7am and the weather was perfect. It was slightly overcast the whole time we were running. I’m hoping that’s what the weather will be like the day of our marathon in San Francisco. We’re also doing shorter runs alone next weekend, and then our first 20 miler the following Saturday.
I’m not going to lie, I am very nervous about our 20 miler. My knee started hurting a bit toward the very end of our six miler today, and after last weekend’s 15 miler, I am worried I won’t be able to finish the marathon which is now only five weeks away.
In non-running news, I’ve made a decision about work that I can’t really talk about here yet, but it involves my taking a bit of a risk that I hope will end up being a good thing. It may mean that teaching dance goes on the back burner for a bit, but I’m ok with that. I’m still going to take my TCRG exam, they released a date: February 2-5th 2012. I’ll keep you all posted as soon as I can!
What’s the biggest career risk you’ve taken?
Stepping Forward: One Step at a Time
13.1 Unexpectedly
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Yesterday morning, I woke up at 5:15am and met my running buddy, Janna at Griffith Park at 6am. Â On my way out the door, I’d eaten a piece of bread with peanut butter on it, and by the time I got to the park, I needed to find a bathroom. Â So, before meeting Janna, I high tailed it to the nearest bathroom and prayed for two things. Â One, that there would be toilet paper, and two,that there would be no murderers or animals in the bathroom. Thankfully for me, my prayers were answered. When I first met with Janna we agreed to just see how far we could go today. I had no real milage goal other than “maybe 6 miles?” We first went along our usual route, up a giant hill, down the giant hill, around the golf course and were heading out toward the road when we discovered a side street we hadn’t noticed before. Â It lead us up onto a trail that took us back around to near the golf course and we just kept going. Â By the time we got to the Pony Rides, we had hit a little over 6 miles. Janna then told me that her goal for the day was a half marathon, 13.1 miles. We had tried to keep our pace at conversational, which for me meant really slow, but my legs felt good. Â My left knee was feeling ok, but my right was starting to twinge a bit, and I had done a lot of power walking. So, knowing it was at least another 4 miles back to our cars, I said I’d see how I felt once we hit 10 miles. Â I wasn’t feeling super awesome, my hips were getting really tight which made my IT band really tight, which made my right knee sore, but I toughed it out, walking almost the whole thing. Â We eventually finished our 13.1 miles, and then spent a good 15 minutes stretching. Â I’m still not proud of the time it took us to complete the milage, 3:34, it’s a whole hour slower than I finished my last half marathon race, but I was proud of the fact that we covered the distance. I kept reminding myself that it has been 8 months since I last covered that kind of distance, and being mostly out of commission for several weeks hasn’t helped either. Â Next weekend, I’m going to lobby for doing 5-6 miles and then we’ll try for 14 or 15 the following Saturday.
When you start to feel your muscles tighten up during a run, do you stop and stretch or power through? Â We stopped to stretch twice, but I have a feeling I may actually also need a little extra arch support in my shoes.
This morning I’m a bit stiff and sore, but not nearly as bad as I thought I’d be. Â I think the extra stretching, nap and icing I did when I got home helped. Â Also, the ibuprofen.
Last night my parents took Travis and me out to an early birthday dinner. I chose Flemming’s Steakhouse  in El Segundo because I’d never been, love steak, and had heard good things about it.  It did not disappoint, although the dining room was really loud which was kind of annoying. The food was great, the service was wonderful and we all left with full tummies.
Now, I’m off to breakfast with my parents at their hotel, then to dance to help and finally we’re having a friendfamily dinner in the Marina tonight. Â Travis and I are bringing a Greek Salad. Â :) Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend.Â
Return of the Outdoor Run
Image via Wikipedia
After work on Wednesday, I hopped on the treadmill and was planning on doing a 5k to see how fast I could run it, but as, staff when I saw a member waiting for a treadmill with no one budging (some people who had definitely been on for the 30 minute limit when someone’s waiting,) I decided to stop at 1.10 miles. I then did some push-ups, using an app I downloaded to my phone, and I hit the grocery store before heading home. Once I got home, I realized I still had lots of time before I needed to make dinner, so I strapped on my Garmin and headed outdoors for a quick run. I managed to get in 2.10 miles making my total mileage for the day 3.2. I somehow managed to lose the cord for my Garmin, so I couldn’t plug it in, but the total time for my mileage was about 36 minutes which gave me an overall average pace of 11:17. Not too shabby, since I’ve been majorly slacking on the running lately.
When I set out for my run, I decided against bringing my iPod, which I think was a great choice. I was able to really enjoy the weather, look around and soak in my surroundings. Can you run without an iPod? I did an out and back down the street to Pan Pacific Park and then into the park for a bit. Once I hit the mile mark, I turned around and headed home. I have to admit, I had a hard time pacing myself at first, I went out too fast a first. This made the return mile a little tough, especially because there are some hills in the park, and I’d been doing most of my running on the treadmill.
On Friday, after work, I hit up the treadmill again, but my knee was bothering me so I did the rest of my workout on the elliptical which as less painful. Today, I wanted to do 6 miles in Griffith Park, but sadly, my knees did not agree. We ended up doing a little over 4 in 1:17 because we walked a good part of the way. After a quick stop at Jamba Juice I came home and iced my knees. It seems to be helping a bit. I’m pretty sure I’ve got Runner’s Knee. So, some knee braces, and icing, foam rolling and stretching will be in my future.
Mars Needs 6 Miles and Kitchen 24
Last night, I set my alarm for 5am. I planned on joining my running buddies for part of their 14 miler, and was actually pretty excited about it. It had been a while since I’d run outdoors, so I checked my alarm twice before going to bed, and crashed around 9:30pm. I woke up at 5:50am, my alarm never went off. I still can’t determine what it is I did wrong in setting this alarm as it is the same one I use during the week for work, but whatever.
I hauled ass to Griffith Park to meet Janna, and we set out. I had to meet friends at the Arclight at 9:40ish for a MARS NEEDS MOMS screening, so I knew I’d only be able to cover about 6 miles, which was disappointing. I had been hoping to get in closer to 10. Janna and I started out, and did about a mile warm up walking, and then started running, but about 2.5 miles in Janna’s knee was really bothering her, so we just walked the rest of the loop. One thing that was kind of exciting to discover: we took a different path than usual to try and stay on paved road as long as possible, and they’ve paved over a huge portion of what used to be dirt path. This makes running so much easier because normally there’s so much dirt that it’s like running on really soft beach sand. It makes both of us nervous that we’re going to twist an ankle. So, it wasn’t what we had planned, but we at least got some mileage covered! In my haste to get to the park, I skipped breakfast (I know,) and then didn’t end up leaving the park until about 8:30 which made me nervous timewise. I realized I now didn’t have time to shower (which wasn’t as gross as it sounds since we walked the whole way basically.) I rushed home, changed, grabbed a cereal bar and hit the road for the Arclight.
I have to say, that MARS NEEDS MOMS was terrible. It was disjointed, upsetting, and actually pretty racist and sexist in ways I was shocked by. I am really kind of surprised this is a kids movie, and know that if I were a kid, and watched this movie, I would be really upset by it. I actually said, out loud, during a particularly upsetting moment “THIS IS WORSE THAN BAMBI!!” It’s in 3-D and doesn’t even really look cool, there wasn’t anything special about the movie that made it necessary to be in 3-D. So glad I didn’t pay to see this movie. I wasn’t, however, disappointed by my small popcorn and Coke. I only drank about a quarter of the soda, but man, that popcorn was good.
After the movie, we walked to Kitchen 24, where I bravely resisted the lure of the amazing Disco Fries. Disco Fries are seasoned fries, with cheese, and gravy. They are incredible, and probably even life changing. However, I figured, since I’d just stuffed my face full of popcorn, that I should probably go with something healthier.
I ordered the Tree Hugger which is their homemade granola (delicious!) with yogurt and strawberries. It was perfect, refreshing and just enough food. I am totally in love with their homemade granola. I wish I’d thought to ask if they sold it.
When I got home, Travis and I finished up our menu and grocery planning for the week and headed out to the stores. We usually do Trader Joe’s and then Ralph’s. Let me tell you, today must be asshole day because everyone out and about at the grocery stores was a total jerk. People taking up whole sections of food areas while leaning on their baskets and talking on their phones. People letting their children run amok around the stores screaming and pulling things off of shelves, people who decided to leave their carts completely blocking aisle ways and walk away. It was exhausting.
Right now, I have four things planned for the next hour and half: kitteh bath time, brief clean up of the office, nap, shower. This evening we’re heading out to meet friends at Father’s Office in Santa Monica for a bit of some goodbye Mikela and Happy Birthday to another friend. Travis and I will be picking up some cupcakes at Frosted Cupcakery, which I am really excited about. I’ve never had their cupcakes before, but I’ve heard good things.
Full weekend, but definitely worth it. Did you have a full weekend?
Down and Dirty
This weekend, I had an event to work on Saturday, the weather wasn’t terrible when I got to work, but when I left, it was pouring. The parking lot at work was starting to flood and I had to trudge through the rain and flooding to my car. I decided on the drive home to make another batch of Broccoli Cheddar Soup, so I picked up some frozen broccoli, cheese, and some French bread. I also used my free Red Box rental to rent Easy A. The movie was totally adorable and made me love Emma Stone even more than I already did.
Travis was out with friends until after 10pm, so I made my soup and watched my movie, and it was a great evening. Sunday morning I had a 5 miler, and one of my running buddies and I decided, even though it wasn’t raining to do our run indoors on a treadmill since Griffith Park’s trails would most likely be a flooded, muddy mess. It was a bit tough, my right knee was twinging a bit for some reason, probably a tight IT band, but I made it through in an hour and two minutes. After our run, we stretched and then I headed home. My best friend was planning on coming out to see our apartment, so I wanted to eat and get some cleaning done. Sadly, she texted me just as I got home saying she couldn’t make it. She’s pregnant and had been on bed rest for weeks, and wasn’t feeling well, so she needed to rest. Obviously I understood and want her to be well, but I had been looking forward to seeing her.
Breakfast both Saturday and Sunday was poached eggs and some fruit. Sunday I had some French bread toast and eggs, but Saturday’s breakfast was really tasty, a poached egg, tomatoes, broccoli and some fruit salad.
Travis and I cleaned anyway, a deep down, dirty clean. We needed to fix the curtain rod in the dining room because during one of her jaunts around the apartment, she managed to pull down one side of the rod. Did you have any home improvement projects to take care of this weekend?
So, there was a lot of dusting, moping, and scrubbing. So, in addition to the 5 mile run, and short arm workout I did, I also spent about two hours doing “vigorous house work.”
Of course, right after we’d dusted all the furniture, the kittehs managed to get tiny little paw prints all over the place. At least now we’ve got a mostly clean apartment.
We made a quick, easy dinner of “veggie pasta,” which had squash and tomatoes. Normally we’d have pine nuts as well, but for some reason, pine nuts have gotten REALLY pricey. We also forgot to get some goat cheese, so sadly, we were without that as well.
After dinner we also ate a couple of cookies, and watched Being Human, which is our new favorite Sunday show.
I can’t believe this weekend went by so quickly, I guess working Saturday didn’t help, but I’ve got so much to do this week at work, I can’t wait for the 28th to be here and our fiscal year to end. I’m going to need my workouts this week, I can already tell. How do you manage your stress?
Tough (run) Love
This morning I had a 12 miler on the schedule. My second half-marathon is coming up in just two weeks, so today marked our final long run before the race. I was actually kind of excited about this run, because I wanted to really push myself and see what time I could finish 12 miles in to give me an idea of when I might be able to finish my half. Sadly, this run not only turned into just 10.71 miles, it was a total train wreck of a run.
I tried to hydrate as much as possible yesterday, since I knew spending the day hungover wasn’t helping anything. Sadly, I didn’t get enough hydration yesterday, and I could feel it this morning. Waking up at 6am was rough, I didn’t sleep well, and it was cold and dark out. However, I kept telling myself how much better I would feel once I was done. I ate my peanut butter sandwich, packed up my stuff, and headed out to Griffith Park.
I met with one of my running buddies at 7am, and it was cold. I wore a long sleeved tech-tee, and a light weight windbreaker type jacket, long pants and had a hat and gloves and still felt super cold for the first two and a half miles. We stretched a bit before we headed out, but I could already tell it was going to be a tough run. Aside from the cold, my brain was working against me, constantly reminding me how cold I was. I was also wearing my hydration belt today with my PowerBar Endurance drink mix, which I couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position for. This whole training process for this half, I haven’t worn the water bottle with the belt, and it was really awkward and made for an uncomfortable first few miles. I finally took the bottle out and carried it.
Los Angeles has had a ton of rain in the past few weeks, and most of the dirt trails we run were full of sticky mud, and holes in the path, so we cut across at one point and hit the paved road for the rest of the run.
At about the 3.5 mile mark is when things started to go downhill faster. Suddenly I felt weird. Not totally lightheaded, but close, and off balance slightly. It was really kind of scary, so I spent a good portion of time walking starting then. I wanted to keep pushing, but decided passing out in the middle of Griffith Park was worse than walking.  The other bummer is that while I use a Garmin device, my buddy uses an iPod with the Nike chip, and by the time my Forerunner said I’d hit 5 miles, her iPod said we’d gone over 6 miles. Normally, I would have just pushed myself an extra mile to make the numbers on my Garmin total correctly, but I was starting to get really stiff and sore in my hips and knees and I still felt kind of wonky, so I just said forget it and turned around.
When I finally hit that mile 6 was when my stomach started acting funky, and I felt really gross and started burping. Again, lots of walking. I was so frustrated with myself, and thought about pulling an extra loop to get in that lost two miles, but my hips were so tight it was really painful, and then my hamstrings started to cramp. I’d never experienced actual muscle cramping while I’d been running before and it was not pleasant. I figured it was because I wasn’t hydrated enough.
I finally made it back to my buddy at the top of the trail and was so disappointed, but I had to remind myself, this was only one run. Yes, it was my last long run, but, aside from a really difficult first 10 mile run back when I was training for the Disneyland Half, I’ve been lucky with my long runs.  So, I just keep telling myself that this was just ONE bad run, and it doesn’t mean I won’t be ready in two weeks.
Here’s how the run broke down on the Garmin
Total Distance: 10.71 miles
Total Time:Â 2:40:21
Avg. Pace: 14:58
Seeing that total time and average pace was rough, considering the 10 miles I did on Christmas Eve was so much stronger. However, that was on a treadmill, with controlled temperatures, so maybe I shouldn’t have gotten so excited about those numbers before.
Mile 1: 18:21
Mile 2: 13:34
Mile 3: 13:25
Mile 4: 13:47
Mile 5: 12:37
Mile 6: 16:27
Mile 7: 14:13
Mile 8: 15:47
Mile 9: 15:01
Mile 10: 14:38
.71 nubbin : 17:00
I’m glad I went out this morning and got in a double digit distance, even if it wasn’t the strong 12 miles I was hoping for. What do you do to get over having a bad run or workout session? For a lot of this run, I was feeling so gross I didn’t even listen to my iPod, which was kind of interesting. Luckily in the park there’s a lot to look at which keeps the runs interesting, but I also have to say, it was kind of weird running outdoors again after the last two long runs on a treadmill. I have to say, I missed the climate control of the gyms.
Back on the Wagon
This morning my running buddies and I met up for a 4 miler in Griffith Park. This was the first time we’d run together in a while. Like, a long while. Several weeks. =X We met at 7am and walked the first 1.5 miles because it was so cold! We ended up doing a total of a little over 6 miles, but I only recorded 5.10 on my Garmin.
Total Distance: 5.10
Avg. Pace: 15:13
Mile 1: 21:11Â – walking, walking, walking
Mile 2: 16:03 – started running, got a cramp in my side halfway through mile 2
Mile 3: 12:11
Mile 4: 12:38
Mile 5: 13:55
After I got home, I waited for Travis to get back from his run to Home Depot, showerd and then we headed over to California Chicken Cafe for lunch. I ordered a California Chicken Salad with no bell peppers (because I am not a fan, especially of raw peppers.)
It was HUGE! I ate about half and took the rest home for dinner tonight. It was really tasty, and satisfying without being heavy. I went with low-cal ranch, which is something I never do. Order low-cal dressing, but I was trying to make SOME smart choices 
On our way home, Travis stopped at Game Stop and bought Call of Duty: Black Ops, and is now playing it, so…farewell TV. We’ve got to put together our dinner menus for the next week and go grocery shopping, but I think I may take a quick nap while he plays his game. Tomorrow my buddies and I are doing an 8 mile run, eep! My goal for tomorrow’s run is to push myself more than I did today. I also want to make sure I fuel myself and make sure I’m properly hydrated so I can run, run, run!
While we were running today, there was a race going on in the park on the other side, and we saw some runners on the trails with us who had made their own numbers, and written on their shirts “TOO CHEAP TO COMPETE!” We thought it was hilarious and cheered them on as they ran past us. 
Off to snuggle with some kittehs!
It is July, right?
This weekend, we had gorgeous weather in Los Angeles. Â The kind of weather people in other states, and countries come to experience. Â It was warm and sunny, but not too hot, with a lovely breeze. Â It was perfect weather for being outside and enjoying the trees and mountains. Today, I woke up to this:
Really, Los Angeles? Â I mean, I will say this, it will make for perfect weather for my run this evening. Â The high for today is about 75 degrees, which is comfortable for sure, but, Â where is the sunshine we saw yesterday? Â This spring and summer have been very mild so far, we’ve had a lot of cloudy/overcast days. Â It’s been kind of nice in that it’s been keeping the extreme heat (my apologies to Arizona who clearly thinks I am insane for thinking a mere 90-100 degrees is ‘extreme’ heat) at bay.
Breakfast this morning was cereal with half a banana. Â I was hungry, but not starving, and while I contemplated oatmeal since it was all icky looking outside, I wasn’t cold enough, so Joe’s O’s it was. Â When I got to work I was hungry again (probably should have gone with that oatmeal) so I had a small granny smith apple.
Last night’s dinner of leftover pasta was pretty good. Â We re-heated it in the oven like a casserole and tossed in some sun dried tomatoes. Â We also picked up some garlic bread sticks which made a nice addition to the meal.
Tomatoes of the sun-dried variety aren’t my favorite. Â I prefer fresh tomatoes, but these did add a nice little kick to the pasta.
This Saturday my training buddies and I have a 12 mile run planned. By planned I mean, we’re planning on running 12 miles, but we don’t have a route yet. Â I’m still new to crafting long run routes. Â When I do my shorter runs during the week I kind of just pick a direction and go until I reach 1.5 or 2 miles, then turn around and head back. Â I did map out our 10 mile route, but because none of the mapping tools show all the dirt trails in Griffith Park things got a little tricky. Â It ended up being fine, I made my 10 miles, but it wasn’t ideal. Â So, now I am tasked with finding us a good 12 mile route. Â My question for those of you who have planned long runs is this: Â how do you come up with a good, challenging, but not too difficult route for your longer runs?
One of the problems I discovered as we were going through our 10 mile run was twofold. Â One, I had us going up what turned out to be a lot more serious of a hill at mile 6-7.5 than I realized when I was planning the run to begin with. Â Two, I didn’t really think to factor in water fountains (I did find 3 along my run which was a total lifesaver.) Â Basically, I want to make sure we can get in 12 miles without wanting to die at the midway point because idiot me included a massive nearly two mile hill in the middle. =X
I’m going to keep playing around with the loops at livestrong.com and dailymile.com but I’d love to hear your advice for planning a 12 miler.
Exceeds Expectations
This morning C, J and I were planning on running an 8 mile loop through Griffith Park. C had found this loop a few weeks back when we first started (I guess as of this week it would be 3 weeks ago), and we’ve been working up to doing the whole loop which we thought was about 8 miles. Our first week we ended up completing about 5.5 miles, last week we managed 6.5 and this week, after I mapped the course we took on daily mile, I discovered we went almost 9 miles! I think the actual mileage count from daily mile was: 8.95 miles so just .05 more of a mile and I would have been up to 9
The loop is challenging for me, the first mile and a half is up hill, but then a good part of the run is downhill and flat, then downhill again. Once we got to the intersection where we normally take a left and head back, we took a right and went all the way down to Los Feliz before turning around.
On our way back is when things got a little tricky. I am last in the caravan anyway, but I had fallen a bit further behind on our loop back, and lost C and J at bit of a cross road. Instead of going back exactly the way we came, I started following a dirt trail I thought the girls had taken. I went on that for a while, and then when I couldn’t find them decided to cut across back to the road. Well, somewhere along there, we missed each other because they had gotten to the end of the dirt path and went back to find me, where I had gone off to the paved area to try and find them! I think they ended up doing an extra mile in their attempt to find me (Oops!) so they managed to make it almost 10 miles today!
We completed the loop in 2 hours, which gave us a pace of about 13:41 mile. I’m still slow, and still doing a lot of walking, but today I discovered what I think is the appropriate pace for me to be running. I finally found a place where, even though I was tired and struggling (I’m not a natural runner and keeping myself motivated to move forward is a challenge) a bit, I wasn’t out of breath which normally plagues me. I was also able to keep myself running consistently for longer than I had been. Maybe not by a lot, but I can see some progress, no matter how slow it is!
My new shoes were excellent help on this run. I did get a little bit of arch pain in my left foot but not until a few miles in, and after walking a bit, it went away and didn’t come back. The shoes did get a nice break in, and are quite dusty now from the trail running. I guess they can’t stay shiny forever.
I know I won’t be finishing this half marathon in any kind of record time, but knowing that I can finish it, and knowing I’m capable of maintaining a 13:41 minute mile makes me feel really accomplished.
When I got home, I made myself a bowl of pasta with Trader Joe’s Bolognase sauce which was delicious. Just the thought of eating the pasta was so good! I’d only had a bowl of Joe’s O’s before the run. Now, I’m just hanging out in the bedroom with the kitties while two handymen fix some things around the apartment.
