Well, the dream (the yoga teacher dream) got a little shattered yesterday. Actually, that’s unfair to say. (And can anything get a “little” shattered?) Anyway, on the advice of many people, I decided to try out CorePower Yoga. It’s a yoga studio in town that I’ve wanted to try out for sometime, and yesterday provided an opportunity. It was a good experience, but not altogether enjoyable, and definitely not the studio for me. I realized that I do not like heated yoga, I do not like doing yoga in front of a mirror, and I especially do not like doing heated yoga in front of a mirror in a tiny, cramped little studio with no room to move. Plus, it didn’t seem like a beginner’s class to me. The instructor moved way too fast. Yes, I know it’s power yoga and therefore vinyasa, but this class was supposed to be the total newbie class—or so I thought. Anyway, I really like my home practice. I like my yoga time truly being my time and having some peace to it. And being able to decide what I feel like doing. I guess perhaps I’m not doing every single asana correctly, and I could use some teacher adjustment, but it’ll be awhile before I try another class. I’d like to see if Jane is still teaching—I really enjoyed working with her, and something about her classes just felt right. Anyway, it was a good experience. I don’t think I’ll be going through teacher training for quite awhile, and when I do, I’ll definitely be doing it at the Yoga Center.
Well, true to Minnesota style, 6-8 inches of snow is on its way towards me…we’re supposed to have “heavy snow” tomorrow. UGH. When will winter end? Luckily I managed to get in a fantastic long run today—7.75 miles (a little short) at a spot-on pace of 9:28. Yay! I was thrilled as I walked up to my front door…only to discover that one of my worst running fears had come true. I HAD LOST MY KEYS SOMEWHERE ALONG MY (ALMOST) 8 MILE ROUTE. ARGH!!! I ran over to the Basilica, where I managed to catch Abe as he was leaving Mass. It would be $100 to replace my apartment keys, so he suggested that we walk my route and look for my keys. I was pretty agreeable until about 1.5 miles in, and then I got pretty whiny. I had already run (almost) 8 miles! I was tired and my hips hurt. So, Abe and I got pretty crabby with each other (although we were mostly crabby with our respective selves), had a little tiff, but kept walking the route. We made up around mile 4. I suggested at mile 5 that we just head home by taking a shortcut, and not do the full route. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I become that the keys had fallen out in front of my front door—I simply didn’t look down when I realized they were missing. So we headed back, and caught up with my running route for the last mile. We got back to the spot where my original route had diverged, and lo and behold, Abe saw my keys sitting on a transformer box! How we didn’t see them 2 hours earlier, I don’t know—they were only a mile from home. Dangit! But I was happy to have them back, and happy to know that I wouldn’t have to give One Ten Grant any more of my hard-earned money. I also realized that we were fortunate to have walked the way that we did—if we would’ve turned around at my first temper tantrum, we probably would’ve taken a different way back and not seen the keys at all. Then surely, the 6-8 inches of snow tomorrow would’ve buried them. Anyway, it was extremely fortunate, and I’m grateful. I will now secure my keys before every run with a safety pin.
But boy, my legs are tired. And extra calories that I might have burned walking 7 miles promptly got replaced by a chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream frosting from the Wedge Co-op. YUM. Thank you Abe. ☺
Well la-dee-frickin’-dah. I accomplished my goal. My goal for tonight’s tempo run was to do the 3 mile tempo portion without walk breaks, so that I could actually experience the lactic acid buildup in my muscles and move beyond it. With this in mind, I aimed for a slower pace, a mid-tempo pace (9:13) rather than the assigned short-tempo pace (8:58). Lo and behold, my average pace for the 3-mile tempo portion was 8:54! Of course, I could not have done with it without help from my friends—Britney, Weezer, Kelly Clarkson. Thanks guys. But yay! I did it. It was really tough for the first 2 miles, and then things just kind of evened out and it got easier. And it was kind of fun. ☺
I’m already thinking about post-Twin Cities Marathon and winter training. Isn’t that insane? But I was thinking the other day that perhaps I will really take a break following TCM, like a serious month-long break. And I won’t actually TRAIN (like crazy, FIRST training) over the winter. I’ll aim to run 3 times a week or so, and that will give me more flexibility to run on a treadmill when the weather’s crappy. Anyway, just some thoughts.
I did do speedwork earlier this week…2x1600 and then 1x800 with 400 meter rest intervals. Somehow, I miscalculated how far out I should go, so I ended up running 7 miles instead of 5. I had a 2.5 mile cooldown, which was fine. But I hate 1600s. They are so hard. I could do 400s or 800s until the cows come home, but 1600s? UGH. My target pace was 8:25 for each rep. I did 8:23 for the first one, and 8:28 for the second. Close enough. Ugh.
This weekend is 8 miles. I can’t let this one get cut short, so I really need to pick a good route. I’m wondering if Isles, Calhoun and over to Harriet would work? I’ll have to map it out.
On the nursing school front, despite my recent freak-outs, I’m now thinking about cardiac nursing. I’d love to work in cardiopulmonary rehab, if one can do such a thing as a nurse. Thanks to my physiology class, I’m just fascinated with these two systems. Maybe I could even teach yoga to rehab patients…
I like to dream. ☺
Caroline over at brainscramble (www.brainscramble.org) has brought up an interesting discussion regarding the ADN vs the BSN, and of course it's opened up a whole floodgate of doubt and second-guessing in my nursing school plans. (Including the ever-present, "Do I *really* want to do this? I just want to be a yoga teacher" thing.)
However, she did raise an excellent point--that you need to do what's best for you and your life situation. And I need to remember that. I *need* to remember that. I mean, there's no question that I'll do the St. Kate's post-bac, if I get in. Even though it'll take a million years, it's the best program for me, in so many ways. And I'm like obsessed with St. Kate's, so that works well. But I can't constantly flog myself for not doing the U's program or even Metro State's accelerated program. As much as Abe would love to support me and let me go to school full-time and not work, it's just not realistic for us. And I have to be ok with that. I *am* ok with that.
I just want to be a yoga teacher. :)
On the running front, yesterday's run was kind of a :P. We got a few inches of snow on Friday, and it was snowing when I left to do my 7-8 miles yesterday. I don't think that the Mpls Park Board plowed Friday's snow from the paths, and they certainly weren't plowing Sunday's snow! For most of the 7 miles, I ran through 2 inches of powder. That was annoying, but actually the easy part. Once I got to Cedar Lake, the bike path had been plowed. (Perhaps the rich people that live on the lake pay for their own plowing service?) BUT--it was super slippery. I slipped a few times, but luckily, I did not fall. I actually looked forward to getting back to the plowed paths. UGH. SO FRUSTRATING. I've been considering writing a letter to the head of the Park Board, since the other guy was so dismissive. It just really aggravates me. At least it gives me fuel to maintain my 9:30 pace for 7 miles. :)
I have not posted in a long time...shame shame shame. I haven't been running as often as I'd like, either. The past couple of weeks, I've been fortunate to get in 2 good days of running. Yikes! I've got all the usual excuses--colds, the weather, tetanus shots--but none of them really matter.
Actually, the tetanus shot happened yesterday, and I still did speedwork. The shot was purely preventative, I didn't step on a nail or anything, but man, does my upper left arm hurt! I'm such a baby. My arm actually felt better while I was running (helped by the blood flow to my muscles?), but now it hurts. Whine whine whine.
Ok, time to stop whining. Speedwork went pretty well last night. It was hard. I did 5x800 meters with 400 meter rest intervals. My goal for each 800 was 4:05. I think I hit 4:05 on my last one, after very consciously thinking about slowing down! The previous 4 800s ranged in time from 3:57 to 4:02. Oops. :) Ordinarily, I'd be thrilled to be coming in under the goal time, but the FIRST guys are quite clear that you don't want to stray from the prescribed paces by even one second. Otherwise, you risk wearing yourself out for the next interval, even the next workout. I've really been focusing on using my arms during running, though, and I wonder if perhaps that is helping me to go faster? I also try to really work on the rest of my form during speedwork, paying attention to my legs and my feet and just my whole body. I think it helps to distract me from the stress of speedwork, but it's also a good chance for me to check in. I really need to do that more often.
Oh yeah, so my last post was about how I felt that keeping a food journal was neurotic. Well, I got weighed at the doctor's office yesterday, and I found out that I've lost 8 pounds! That's pretty cool. Of course, I'm sure I gained most of it back with my dinner from Burrito Loco, but at least I started at a lower point before dinner. :)
In all honesty, I don't think I've been taking training as seriously since I dropped my plans for the half marathon. It's been too easy to let school or life or weather or fatigue get in the way. I've been doing my yoga and my Pilates, and I've walked home from work a couple of times, but it's been hard to get out and run, strangely. I experienced this around New Year's, too. The FIRST program is intense, and I can see how it could lead to burnout. I'm really trying to avoid that, but I can feel it coming on. Kind of like with studying for physiology, I guess my only choice is to dig in and work even harder.
Speaking of physiology, I should find out about MCTC's nursing program in a couple of weeks. Eek! I'm not expecting to get in, but I could be pleasantly surprised. I guess we'll see what happens...
Tomorrow, it is supposed to snow and snow and snow. I was planning on skipping the tempo run, but then I remembed the good ol’ treadmill. I don’t think I can do a 7 mile tempo run without falling off, but I’ll aim for 5 and mix up the pace enough. Or maybe I’ll be adventurous and go run in the blizzard. It could be fun!
I’ve started keeping track of my “cross-training” in my Runnersworld.com training log. My cross-training thus far is walking home from work 2-3 days a week (it’s about 3 miles), and my Pilates and yoga. You can’t really track the Pilates or yoga—I’ve been entering it as strength-training. Which it is! But it’s good to see on the calendar that I’ve been doing it.
Ok, so I have several thoughts today.
1) Keeping a food log is neurotic. I’m sorry, but it is. I have tried, I have tried to keep a food log for this week, but I just can’t do it. I think it’s ultimately because I’m lazy. Because I’d rather read this cool new blog that I found (more on that later), than look up the nutritional ingredients in Kashi GoLean Crunch and re-type them into the calorie tracker website. I’m sorry, I just can’t do it. But the good news is that I
have not eaten a SINGLE LEAN CUISINE this week. I’ve had very good lunches and very good dinners. I also think that a half-sandwich will suffice for lunch, with extra fruits and vegetables. I had a whole one today, and it was actually too much.
2) So I discovered this cool new blog, written by a student nurse. It’s awesome, and I really enjoy reading it, and it’s totally keeping me motivated to continue with my classes and all that good stuff. (It’s so good, that I’m writing about it, instead of reviewing this week’s physiology chapter!) Anyway, if you’re into that kind of thing, you can find it by going to www.brainscramble.org. (Do not click on this as a hyperlink, just copy/paste it into your web browser. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to insert hyperlinks into this thing!)
3) Had a great run today. Was supposed to be a 3 mile tempo with a 1 mile warm-up and 1 mile cool-down, but since I’m just finally getting over my very bad cold, I gave myself permission to take it easy. HA. Fat chance. 5.22 in 50:54. Oops. At one point, on the homestretch, I was running 8 minute miles. Ok, so I ran two miles at an 8 min/mile pace, but still! Go Modest Mouse. Keep me moving forward. I didn’t quite achieve my tempo pace for 3 miles straight, but I came pretty close.
4) Cross-training is going well. I walked home yesterday, and it was most pleasant. And it only took 48 minutes! Tonight after my run, I did my Winsor Pilates DVD. I must admit, Mari Winsor is getting pretty tired. The DVD even gives out at the end. Probably time to find a new Pilates DVD.
5) Tomorrow is coffee and donuts day. I’m considering taking the early bus, stopping at Lund’s (where I can grab both my Caribou Americano and a tasty pastry) and then catching my regular bus. But part of me is intrigued by this offer of free donuts at the Purple Onion (from 7am-11am, with any coffee purchase). I might have to try that.
6) Tomorrow is also take-myself-out-to-lunch-day. I might have to scale this event back to every other week, now that my paycheck is so much less than it was, but I’m still going to go tomorrow. And I’m NOT going to do homework; I’m going to read my new book about the Sherpa and the 1934 German expedition to Nanga Parbat. Neat.
7) Ok, I’d better actually go study now.
Sick time epiphanies...
I had a couple of epiphanies yesterday. I guess that’s what happens when you’re home sick with too much time to think, and nothing good on tv.
My first epiphany related to nursing school. I started thinking about doing something else yesterday, namely a MPH in Public Health Nutrition. So, I did what I usually do when I start planning something other than nursing—I figured out how long it would take. And it occurred to me that I’ve finally reached the point where nursing school is the most expedient route. Who would’ve thought that this day would arrive? This is assuming that I get into St. Kate’s this fall, of course, but I feel somewhat confident about that. So go figure—nursing is finally the quickest career change option!
My second epiphany was about nutrition, and how it’s really another component of training, just like speedwork, tempo runs, long runs, yoga, Pilates, all of it. There’s an excellent section on weight loss in the most recent issue of Runner’s World. The authors take real-life runners and tweak their diets and running programs. I gleaned a lot of good ideas from the articles, and have several principles that I’m going to incorporate. Number one: NO MORE LEAN CUISINES. I will eat real food, I will eat real food. The second is to limit myself to two servings of bread a day, so that I force myself to get in other unrefined carbs, like brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat crackers, etc. I’d also like to start exploring non-meat protein options, but that’s a separate blog entry. Anyway, I came up with a sample daily eating plan, based on the article, and I think it looks pretty good. It just occurred to me that I must thinking of nutrition as another component of training. It’s as important as doing my running work. If I think of it in those terms, I think it will be easier to motivate myself to eat real food, not frozen meals. Now what to do about that Wednesday night Chipotle…. ☺
I also want to incorporate more aerobic cross-training into my routine. (When oh when will I have time to study?!) Once I start biking to work, it’ll be easy to take the long way home and sneak in extra time that way. But until then, I’ve devised a fairly ambitious plan. And I’m posting it on the Internet so that Kiwi and Abe can see it, and make me stick with it. So here goes:
Monday: Yoga
Tuesday: Speed work, Pilates
Wednesday: Cross-train (elliptical or hills on treadmill until I start biking), yoga
Thursday: Tempo, Pilates
Friday: Cross-train (elliptical or hills on treadmill until I start biking), yoga
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: Long run, long yoga
It should be noted that a) my Pilates DVD is Windsor Pilates and is only 20 minutes long, and that b) I will probably do 30 minutes on the elliptical and then 20 minutes of yoga. Of course, after everything, I’ll do my requisite sit-ups and push-ups.
I was trying to fit in working out over my lunch hour, but it just isn’t working out. ☺ So, instead, I discovered that I can fit in a fair amount of studying over lunch. (I’ve been discovering a lot lately!) I got to Walter Library with my tea and study for an hour. It works out well. So, hopefully the time balance will work out. We’ll see how it goes. Oh! My other big goal is to ONLY use walk breaks on long runs, and to increase the interval to 15:1s. Yikes. We’ll see how that works.
Ok, so I’m a few months late, but basically there are all my New Year’s resolutions. Hold me to them!!
Well, I just realized that Yellowstone will put a bigger thorn in my marathon-training side than I thought it would. If I remember the correct week, it will occur during week 5 of marathon training. And at the end of week 5, I'm supposed to run 18 miles! Eep! Then of course, there's the altitude concern. I was thinking that maybe Yellowstone isn't that high, it won't matter, but then I did some Google research and discovered that technically, most of Yellowstone is at or above 7,500 feet, which is considered high altitude. GULP. 18 miles at high altitude? I don't think so.
So, now I'm thinking that I'll just start marathon training a week earlier, and use that week to run base miles. No FIRST training, no set paces, just get out there and get some miles on my legs. I don't want to take the whole week off, but we'll also be doing some heavy duty hiking, so maybe I won't need to worry about that. Either way, I am not running 18 miles at 7,500 feet. I can't even imagine how long that would take me! Eagle Mountain this is not.
Yes, I haven't written for awhile. I think I've been feeling too squinky. I have been running, but nothing been remarkable. I started my new job, but again, nothing remarkable. I'm really sick of school, but nothing remarkable. (Although I did find out recently that I got an A on my second physiology test. Yay!)
I did realize that I won't be able to do the Depot Downtown Half on June 1st. I went to go register, and realized--wait, June 1st? Oh yeah, we'll be moving that day! So, there goes that race. I looked around for another half around that time (besides Grandma's) and didn't find anything. I fretted a bit over what to do this spring for training, but then I remember Cassidi saying that if you want to improve your marathon time, you should focus on your 10K time. So, I figure that's what I'll do. (Of course, if anyone reading this is a running coach and has other ideas, I'm happy to hear them!) I plan on using the 27:00 5K paces, which is still low-balling it for me. And just really focusing on speed. The longest I'll go under the 10K FIRST training plan is 10 miles, and I'll have to run that at a 9:30 pace. Whew! Fun stuff. But it should work well. The 10K program is 12 weeks long, which gives me two weeks to build up the long run mileage before I officially start TCM training in mid-June.
So, that's that...nothing too exciting to report. But I'll try to be better about posting from now on. If only because it entertains Abe.
Last night, I started up my 10K speedwork. On the docket was 8x400 meters, with 400 meter rest intervals. My goal time for each 400 meter repeat was 2 minutes. My actual time for each repeat varied from 1:53 to 1:58. Oops! And then on top of that, I miscounted, and only did 7. I got back to my cool-down spot, and thought, “great! Easy jog home.” Then I noticed the rest interval on my Garmin only said 7. Darnit! After a brief internal struggle, I completed the 8th interval. Of course, I did. And I think I did that one in 1:53. Oops. I’m going to pay for it on my tempo run tomorrow night.
Here’s a good story for anyone who might admire my running motivation (namely, Kiwi and Abe). I was intending to go to a spinning class at the Rec Center tonight. I started packing up my bag last night with all my stuff, and realized that I couldn’t fit all my stuff into one bag—shoes, cycling outfit, textbooks, toiletries, etc. Then I realized that I had no idea what toiletries to take for showering after class, and that really, I didn’t really want to shower at the Rec Center after class. So, I decided to give up on the whole thing! Gosh, how lazy. Sorry, I’m not going to spinning tonight because I couldn’t fit all my stuff in one bag, and I’m too lazy to shower at the Rec. Nice. I do NOT deserve those Chipotle tacos tonight. So, instead of spinning my heart out and raising my HR like a good girl, I’ll do some yoga and pilates, and stretch the heck out of my legs.
I know that cross-training is an important part of the FIRST program, and that yoga and pilates probably don’t cut it. In fact, I know that they don’t cut it, because they aren’t aerobic enough. It’ll be nice when I can start biking to work, and then just tack on some extra mileage for my ride home. I like the idea of attending a spinning class in theory, but the thought of having to get ready at the gym just wears me out. I don’t know when I became such a lily, but there you have it. My justification is that cross-training will really matter when I start marathon training, and that doesn’t happen until June. So, I’m ok until then.
So much for that $50 FitPass. Argh. Live and learn and give yourself a week before you throw down money for a crazy new fitness plan!
