An alarm that goes off before 6am should be illegal and I broke the elliptical

I started my day with this ugly sight....



I added the "Go Run!" as motivation, it worked



This time of day should not be allowed and I forbid all of you from waking up at that time - its no fun for anybody.  But the reason I rolled myself out of bed at that hour was because today I have a double workout!! (no that isnt sarcasm, I'm actually pumped about 2 workouts today).  Today I have 6 miles easy and 35 min XT (cross training) + strength.  I decided to get my run out of the way this morning, because I figured my XT and strength would take a little over an hour and my run would be under an hour and I would rather do less in the morning :) So I got to the gym (with the 3 other people who decided to get up at that God-forsaken hour), and got my butt on the treadmill.  I got new shoes yesterday too so I was excited to test them out.  Unfortunately there is only one word to describe this morning run, UGLY.  From a hip/knee standpoint it was great - no pain.  But my stupid shins decided to be really tight again, and I got really bad "hot spots" on the balls of the feet - mostly my left, but my right joined in at about mile 4.  I ended up having to stop at mile 3 to wriggle my feet and try to get them to be normal but it didnt really work.  So I probably ran really awkwardly as I tried to adjust my feet in my shoes every 2 seconds.  I'm hoping it's because of my new shoes, and I'm just breaking them in, but has anyone else dealt with "hot spots" on their feet while running?  Anything I can do about it?  and what the heck causes it?!

For XT today I'm going to head out for a nice and easy bike ride.  It's just too nice here to workout inside again, I need the fresh air!  I also plan on doing a good 30 min. of strength too.  I have a feeling I'll be going to bed early tonight :)

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Oh, and here's some advice, next time you (i.e ME!) want to do a hard heart rate workout on the elliptical machine, I would suggest either buying your own to use in the comforts of your own home, or going to the gym when there isnt a soul around.  The looks I got and as I busted my hump on it yesterday were priceless.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy person, and I kid you not, I swore I smelled the gears burning.  Guess that means I worked hard right?

Also, the last time I willingly used the elliptical to workout was when I was in high school, and the only reason I went to the gym back them was to try and look cute in short gym shorts and a too-small tank top, not actually exercise.....oh how times have changed, there was nothing cute about how I probably looked yesterday, although my shorts were still short (laundry day).

thankfully it hasn't come to this....yet

recent happenings

Happy Wednesday folks!  Just popping in to keep ya'll up to speed on the goings-on in my life.  This past weekend was a fun one.  We got the chance to go back up north to stay with Nathan and Nichole for the weekend. Nathan was doing the Birkie Marathon and Jake was doing the Chequamegon 100 bike race, and they both happened to land on the same day, so it was a perfect opportunity to hang out, and cheer on the fellas.

is there a better view than this?!

  We got up there Friday evening and had a pasta dinner, figured out logistics for racing/spectating (which Nichole and I came to find out, isnt as easy as it looks :), then we all hit the hay since the boys had an early wakeup call.

Saturday both races started at 8am so the guys went to their respective starts, and Nichole and I made our way a little later to the half way mark of the marathon to had off new bottles and gels to Nate.  We got to our meeting spot with time to kill, so we sat in the car and chatted until it was time to go cheer on Nate, all we had to do was grab his bag of stuff from the car.....that I SWORE we packed.  Except, whoops, we couldnt find it.  It had dry shoes/socks in it, along with his extra bottles and gels.  We scrounged for anything we could and we ended up finding a gel in the car, and I had one randomly in my gym bag, and Nichole had an extra bottle that she brought for herself.  So it could have been worse, and luckily Nate didnt seem too mad :)  He looked great at the 13.1 mark, we handed off our random assortment of fuel to him, and he took off for the last half of the marathon.


Also, lets keep in mind that Nichole was dressed like this the whole time...

even a cow costume for their dog Mesa!

The cow suit is a running joke with their family for spectating/cheering on a race.  Jake and I are getting some for Chicago :)


We jumped back in the car, and made a plan to try and see him at another point.  Here's the thing, neither one of us claim to be great with directions or a map, so it was pretty amusing trying to find our way around.  After some time of driving, we decided to just head to the finish.

*note, we didnt really try to see Jake, since he was biking through the woods on trails, trying to find him was next to impossible, we were just hoping that by some dumb luck we would see him somehow

We got to the marathon finish and watched everyone come in.  Nate did a great job!  A regular road marathon is hard enough, but for these folks to do one on trails is awesome.  We hung around the finish tent for a bit so Nate could relax and eat, then we all made our way to the finish of Jakes race.  Since his was a 100k race (about 62 miles), we knew we would have some time to kill, and Nichole and I also needed to get a run in.  So we got the Jakes finish, and her and I took off.  We ran out and caught up with a gravel road and decided to just do an out and back.  Heres the thing, while trying to come back to running, I have been taking it easy, and turns out, I havent been running many hills.  I have been sticking with flat trails because it feels safe and I'm a giant baby.  So this run kind of kicked my butt in a bad way (I was super slow!)  Not a great feeling.  We turned around at about 3.85 miles and made our way back, and as luck would have it we ended up seeing Jake!  He was about a mile or so from finishing, and it was really fun to see him :).  We got back to the car, and Nichole took off for a few more miles to make it an even 10, but I was done.  I was a little disappointed I couldnt do the full 10 miles, and I know if I was on the road or my trusty flat trail then I could have, but this was a good kick in the pants to start running some dang hills!

We went back to the cabin, and hung out for the rest of the afternoon/evening.  Sunday I got up and ran again.  I knew I wanted to try 2 days in a row again, so I did an easy 4 miles that morning.  Surprisingly I felt a lot better than the day before.  My hip/knee felt fine, and it felt much "easier" than the day before.  This was a good sign and made me feel better about Saturdays run.  We hung around some more, and I was able to talk with Nichole about my future plans and where to go from here.  I will go into more detail in another post, but I'm excited to have some focus back and things to look forward too - it makes this "in-between" phase easier to deal with.

Jake and I took off a little after lunch time and got home at about 6pm.  Whenever I get the chance to talk with Nichole I always come back with a new sense of purpose and motivation, so I'm thankful we got the chance to figure some things out.  Wasnt that one of my resolutions to "Run with Purpose"??  I should re-visit those one of these days....

Oh, also, Nathan even convinced Jake to sign up for the Birkie Ski Race next February.  Yikes!  Looks like this winter will be a major training season for both of us!

I'm back.....kind of

Hey hey friends!  So I wanted to catch you all up on how things have been going over in my neck of the woods.  It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about running….or really anything in general, but for today, let’s get up to speed on what’s been going on with me and my Mizuno’s

 I have been pretty conservative and careful getting back into running.  I attempted my first run on August 10^th (yes I do remember the exact date, it might as well be a national holiday).  I had ZERO expectations going into it, all I wanted to do was be able to run pain free, if I could only do a mile, so be it.  Well I ran a mile, got a happy-tear in my eye, and gave a fist pump (I’m dramatic, but we already know this).  So I kept going, and ran 4 miles that day.  I felt good, no pain, and knew things were on their way back.  The next couple weeks after that, things weren’t quite so happy.  I was nervous before each run (still am), and was only able to do once a week – my hip/knee would be sore for a few days after.  The runs I did do weren’t that great, I felt slow, and heavy and awkward.  I try not to get discouraged, and I knew the only way to get stronger was to keep at it. 

After the first couple weeks back, things seem to take a turn for the better.  I’m feeling less clumsy and awkward (it’s weird having to remind your legs how to run again!), and the last 2 weeks I’ve been able to run 3 days/week (last week I ran a whopping 18 total miles – is that sad?).  Last week I was also able to do my longest run since being injured and I ran 8 miles last Saturday.  It was slow and steady, but it was the best I’ve felt so far.  I am still stiff when I start out, but the time it takes for my leg to warm up is getting shorter, and I’m almost at the point where I have no soreness the next day.  Things are definitely looking up, and I have some new found motivation to really hit my cross training hard, so I can go into a training plan strong.

But, there will be no training plan for a little bit.  Now that I can run a little more consistently, it’s all about getting healthy, and being smart.  In talking with Nichole, we want to get to where I can run 3-4 days in a row.   This week I’m attempting my first back to back days, so I’m crossing my fingers it goes well.  I’ve been thinking about some future goals, and what kind of base I want going into the late fall/winter.  I still need to talk it out with Nichole, but once I get things figured out, you’ll be the first to know J.

Speaking of, can I just say how awesome Nichole is?!  Seriously, the last couple emails I’ve gotten from her have really lit a new fire in me.  If you don’t follow or read her blog already, DO IT!  She is such a motivation, and I can’t wait to cheer her on in Chicago.

Ok, off my soapbox now, sorry for the lack of fluffy pictures and for making you read so many words, go stare at the TV for 5 hours to make up for it.

It feels good to be back-ish J