Monthly Archives: July 2013

Run Down

I’ve been fighting off some sort of a cold bug lately, and just generally feeling run down.  I figured that it was probably just all the training, but when the sniffles started, I knew it was something more.  It was almost a relief, actually.  It wasn’t my training wearing me out!  It was the cold that’s floating around the office!

I might be the only person happy to get sick.  We amateur athletes are a little bit insane sometimes.

Okay, most of the time.

So yesterday, I took a sick day from work. I spent the day on the couch watching tv, drinking tea, and generally resting.  And it felt fabulous.  No work, no chores, no training, just a day of relaxing.  (Well, I cleaned off the DVR by catching up on TV – does that count as cleaning?)

Today, I feel a million times better, and while I would like to be back on my couch, I don’t feel like I need to be back on my couch.  Sometimes it’s good to just take a day to rest and recuperate.  But it’s back to the daily grid.  Lots of work to be done, both at the office and out on the road.

1987 was a good year

Today’s post is a fun linkup with Betsy!

If I could be six years old again for a day, I would…

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Yes, that redhead is me at 6 years old.  1987 was a pretty high fashion year.  (And this is also proof to everyone that I used to have stick straight hair.  Why does no one believe that?)

So if I could be six again, what would I do?  Well, first, I would have zero responsibilities.  So that would be awesome.  I would wake up at the crack of dawn, because that’s what kids do.  And I would have some awesomely unhealthy sugary cereal for breakfast.  I’m sure it’s vitamin fortified, but what do I care?  I’m six!

I think the biggest thing that I would do would be to play without worries.  At six, I didn’t have body image issues.  I wasn’t worried about what the cool kids thought.  Kids are kids, and at 6 (for the most part), the cliques haven’t formed.  Sure, you have your group of friends, but you play with anyone – even strangers at the park.

Six is a time when you can just enjoy life.  Live and love and laugh and squeeze every bit of joy out of life.  And worry only about what color of dress to try on next or how many stuffed animals you can carry or which couch cushions make the best fort walls and which make the best fort roofs.

Maybe we could all do well with a bit of 6 in our lives.

Best Laid Plans

So last week, my training schedule got screwy.  I fell asleep at 6:30 on Thursday night, skipping swim.  Got up and swam before work.  Awesome.  Saturday morning, I got up and my quads were still achy, but I planned to head out for a run.

Then I took a look around my house.

With all the training and work crazyness, the first thing to drop was my housekeeping.

I mean, the dishes were done (thank you, dishwasher) and I have been keeping up with laundry (otherwise I wouldn’t have anything to wear), but other than that, the house was just a disaster.

So instead of working out on Saturday, I cleaned, did yardwork, and ran errands.  All things I’ve been putting off.

I can’t say that the house looks substantially cleaner than it did when I started, but I managed to check a number of things off of the “to-do” list, so that’s a plus.

Sunday morning, I got up and planned to head on the group ride.  Checked the status on Facebook before heading out and saw that the ride was cancelled.  Whoops.  Should have checked that earlier.  But I had planned to ride, so I decided to head out anyway and see what I could get done on the course.  I chose to ride the same course I rode last week, since it was fresh in my head (hills and all) and I made it through without too much trouble (and within minutes of the time I did it in last week – not bad since this ride included a dropped chain).

After that, it was off to a Team Fight fundraiser and a crab feast.  YUM.  Best way to refuel after a long ride.

So the weekend didn’t go as planned, but I still feel like I accomplished a lot.  Now, onto a new week!

Eau de Runner

If only we could all remove our nosesIf only we could all remove our noses!
photo credit: sleepjunky via photopin cc

I have a coworker who jokes that my perfume is a lovely blend of jasmine and menthol.

He’s not wrong.  Though I’m not sure I would call it a lovely blend.

We runners are a fragrant bunch.  And the sport itself comes with some interesting smells.  I can identify a portapottie from blocks away due to the lovely “air freshener” smell that they try to use to cover up the true odor of those awful yet necessary contraptions.

Well loved running shoes have a fragrance all their own.  Sometimes to the point where they are banished to the garage or the mudroom.

Not all the smells are bad.  New shoes are amazing.  And some of my favorite race mornings smell of coffee and cool crisp air and sunscreen and the exhaust of busses dropping off runners.  Okay, so maybe that’s not the best smell.

Then there’s the smell of post-race.  Sweaty, happy runners.  And often the smell of snacks.  Frequently, there’s the smell of a post-race brunch: sweaty, happy runners eating pancakes.  Yum.

Thankfully, we typically don’t notice that we’re a bit fragrant after a race as we hang out with our fellow runners.  Thankfully, our spectating friends and family don’t seem to mind too much.

But for today, I will stick with the odor of body lotion and Biofreeze.  I kind of like the smell of Biofreeze, to be honest.  Maybe I should market this stuff.

 

Following the Training Plan

When I wrote yesterday’s post, I forgot about the fact that starting this week, my training plan amps up a bit.  Only a tiny bit, really.  My Wednesday brick workouts go from an hour bike and 30 minutes run to 75 minutes biking and 30 minutes running.  It’s just an extra 15 minutes.  Not that bad, right?

Oh my goodness, tired.

Admittedly, I did it last night on the trainer because it was hot and because I got home late (thanks, work).  And maybe it was a tough workout because I had two full days of meetings where I had to be “on” all day.  But the last bit of my run was tough!  I pushed through and felt awesome when I was done (and sweaty too).

I had been tempted to just skip the workout and postpone it, but I know how important it is for me to stick to my plan.  Additionally, I missed my normal Tuesday swim due to the work meetings (had to be at the office at 7 and since the pool doesn’t open til 6 and I can never get space in a lap lane after work, there wasn’t much I could do).  So it was crucial that I get back to the schedule.

Just a few more weeks!  (Then on to marathon training…)