Weekend Wrap Up!

Happy Monday! This is my week:

Monday: Teach kids
Tuesday: In-service
Wednesday: In-service
Thursday-Monday: THANKSGIVING VACATION!

I don't know how I got through the work day on Friday, but I channeled my inner "patient person" (assuming I have one) and somehow made it until 3:40pm.

When I got home, Paul had just gotten home from radiation and was starving. (He has to fast for 5 hours during the day due to his chemo, so some days he winds up really hungry around 4pm!) We ordered Chinese food and ate it while watching an old season of Survivor (Samoa) on CBS All Access. We never saw this season before, and it is GOOD! We hate Russell but we are extremely entertained by him!

I went to bed early and fell asleep in less than 10 minutes while reading the new book I got...

I <3 Christopher Pike!

I slept like a ROCK and didn't wake up once during the night. Around 7:30am, I got up due to the fact that there were two kitty cats laying on top of me and licking my face. I love it!

 Paul took these.

The first thing I did was make my famous pumpkin cookies so we could give them to Paul's nurses and technicians on Sunday. 

The second thing I did was give Paul a piano lesson since he hadn't gotten one in like two months! 

The third thing I did was freaking KILL my training run!

After a mega stretching session, my friend JK-L came over to chat and play games. She is one of the only people I know who loves to play Scrabble. But I have been beating her because she plays "nice". She plays where you try to lay words down so you can open up the board and have a nice big, beautiful word design. I play to WIN. Our playing styles definitely don't mesh, so I am not sure if she will play it with me again!

That evening, we were supposed to go to a surprise birthday party for one of our friends, but halfway there, Paul really started to feel crappy, so we decided to turn around and go home. Unfortunately, we were on the turnpike, and the next turn around spot was like 18 miles away! So yeah, we drove 60 miles on the turnpike that day for NOTHING. But at least we got to talk to each other. Paul felt better later on in the evening... well enough to lay on the coach and watch Survivor with me!

Here is Sunday in "list" format since I am feeling LISTY!

1. Sunday started with a "quick" trip to Baltimore for Paul's treatment. 

2. Then I did some major grocery shopping at a super crowded Aldi.

3. I lifted while Paul watched football.

4. We popped in at my bro's house for some family time.

5. Paul watched more football while I blogged and puzzled.

I will leave you with a picture of one of my beautiful babies...

What were you up to this weekend?

Half Marathon Training: An UNOFFICIAL PR!

I like to cut to the chase and keep it real on here. I readily admit my defeats and celebrate my victories. After my horrible performance at the Dover 10 Miler two weeks ago, I needed a strong run so I could gain my confidence back. Had my training peaked? Had I improved as much as I could and now it was time for the wheels to fall off? These are the questions I asked myself as I headed out for my warm up miles on Saturday morning. My workout was to be 10 miles at half marathon goal pace- <7:20.

The "cut to the chase, keep it real" story is that I ROCKED IT!!!! I set a new unofficial half marathon PR for myself: 1:35:57. Full disclosure: I stopped my Garmin when I took a quick pee and for about 20 seconds to answer my phone. (I had to make sure it wasn't Paul!)

I ran 2 warm up miles around my block. The first was an 8:09 and the second a 7:50. I ran inside my house and peed quickly and then BOOM out the carport I sprang. I had two 5 mile loops mapped out around my neighborhood. My hood is flat- this was not a hilly run. I didn't take water with me, which was stupid because even though I didn't feel thirsty, my pee was yellow when I was done. For the first couple miles, it was hard to stay a consistent pace, but I finally got in a rhythm where I could feel myself running at about a 7:15. After about mile 4, I stopped looking at my Garmin because I had been able to regulate my pace to something somewhat consistent.

After the first 5 mile loop, I felt a bit tired for the next half mile, but then I got some pep in my step and got back to the rhythm I had going. My IT band felt a little weak, and I knew it was going to ache the rest of the day. Oh well, I was just going to have to stretch, foam roll, and deal with it the best I could. As long as it didn't start to feel worse, I wasn't going to worry about it. (It didn't start to feel worse but it did ache later on in the day!)

Mid way through my second 5 mile loop, I started to feel very confident that I would reach my goal. My Garmin consistently showed about a 7:15 average pace. I was not running at a pace in which I would have been able to carry on a conversation, but my breathing was completing regulated and I had my shit together. This was NOTHING compared to that horrible hilly 10 miler in Dover. I didn't even feel like the same runner! Those hills will kill ya if you're not prepared... and I was not prepared for them!

Around mile 9.3, I started doing math in my head, and I realized that if I maintained my 7:15 pace for an extra 1.1 mile, I would hit an unofficial half marathon PR! Of course I had to go for it, especially because I still felt pretty good. My last two miles clocked in at 7:01 and 7:02, which definitely helped count balance those warm up miles!

Victory!

Now I don't have to go to Florida, right? Haha! 

Splits: 7:20, 7:15, 7:14, 7:18, 7:14, 7:17, 7:12, 7:17, 7:13, 7:01, 7:02

I recovered with a an hour of stretching and foam rolling (broken into 2 sessions), plus hours and hours of "pajama laying" (that is when you lay around in your pajamas). Once my stomach could handle it, I refueled with a tall glass of milk plus a full scoop of protein powder.

Boy do I look like my big brother in this picture!

What's next in my training, I don't know! I have to reevaluate what I have scheduled. The race is three weeks from today. Maybe next weekend I will do another long run with maybe just 7 miles at race pace and then start tapering. I am going to have to decide. But I would like to do 13.1 next weekend and have it be my last long run. But I wonder if I should do any miles at pace? What do you guys think?

Do you have any unofficial PRs?

What do you think I should do with my long run next weekend?

Weekly Workout Recap!

Sorry for the lack of pictures in my workout recaps lately. I am trying to remedy that this week!

Saturday- 8 neighborhood miles. Finally starting to feel like myself. I also lifted back at home. I did the usual- pull ups, row, bicep curls, etc.

Sunday- 8 more neighborhood miles. Even though my pace was basically the same, today's run felt better. (The first 1/2 mile didn't clock.)

Monday- Lifted chest at home. I forgot to write down what I did, but it was the usual: chest press, push ups, shoulder press, tricep dips, etc.

Tuesday- Speed work! 8x563s. I know that is a weird number, but you can read more about that workout here!

Wednesday- 5 pokey miles. I needed to recover from my speed work.

Thursday- 5 neighborhood miles. I started out pretty slow, but as I warmed up, I started to kick it into gear a bit.

Friday- Back at home. That's right, I did 3 strength days this week AND speed work! Maybe I can keep this up!?

How were your workouts this week?

So freaking overwhelmed.

Source: Nataliedee. The funniest girl on the internet!

When I start feeling overwhelmed, it comes out of nowhere. It’s not a gradual build up of stress that finally crescendos into that feeling where you think you have lost control of everything. It just hits me out of the blue- BAM. It feels like my heart is fluttering. It feels like I can’t function or accomplish anything. But of course I have to function. It’s not like this feeling grabs me on the weekend when I am relaxing at home doing a puzzle. It gets me when I’m driving home after work to teach five piano lessons. It gets me in the middle of a second grade music class when one kid drops their box of 24 crayons, another kid is whining to go to the bathroom, and the next class of students is at the door already because I’m running late.

I’m a mess right now. I forgot about a piano lesson I rescheduled and wasn’t home when the family showed up at my house. I double booked Paul and I for two different get togethers this weekend and had to cancel on one of them. I have a dear friend who is visiting from out of state and I can barely make time in my schedule to see her. Normally I have no problem saying NO to things so I’m not overbooked, overwhelmed, stressed, etc. But right now it feels like I am not only saying no to everything but cancelling everything. Or worse yet, forgetting to even show up! I don’t like being that type of person, but that’s who I am right now.

When I feel this way, I start to dread and obsess over things I enjoy and that are supposed to make me happy and relaxed. My house is partially decorated for Christmas, but now I am worried about when I am going to have time to finish! Yes, I realize it isn’t even Thanksgiving and I have plenty of time. I’m not saying this is a logical feeling! I see all the puzzles I bought and wonder when I am going to have time to finish them. Stupid, stupid things to be worried about!

There is nothing particular going on that is making me feel more stressed than normal. The same stressors that are always part of my life are present now. It’s just I am not able to deal with the stressors like I usually can.

I feel like I write a post like this every couple months, then all these bad feelings die down and I am back to normal. I am sure that is what will happen this time as well. Writing about it is very cathartic! Oh, and believe me, I know worrying about Christmas decorations, dropped crayons, and running paces are MINISCULE problems compared to what people all over the world are dealing with. I do not intend to compare them, because they are incomparable. I know I have so many things to be thankful for and I thank my lucky stars every day for the wonderful life I have. But...

Thanks for listening!

Currently...

Current book: Last Act by Christopher Pike. Yes, it is as cheesy as it looks!

Current music: Christmas Music!!! Warm 103.3 is already playing carols all day, every day!

Current guilty pleasure: Decorating my house for Christmas. I normally don't do it this early!

Current number of Jeopardy episodes on our DVR: 24. We are severely behind!

Current drink: Red wine. It makes me feel Christmas-y!

Current favorite TV show: Survivor! This second chance season is awesome!

Current need: To wax my eyebrows and dye my hair.

Current triumph: I cleaned the house this past weekend! 

Current wish list: I wish for patience at school. I have been lacking in the patience department lately...

Current bane of my existence: I lost my wedding ring. So sad.

Current most annoying celebrity: Ben Carson.

Current indulgence: There really isn't one single thing. I feel like I have been indulging a bit in all aspects of my life lately. Not good!

Current food: I have been into pickles lately.

Current thing I am thankful for: All of our wonderful family members who have been taking turns driving Paul to his radiation treatments.

Current excitement: Thanksgiving! I can't wait to see our family.

Tell me something "current" about you!

Half Marathon Training: Speed Work (8x563)

I mentioned before that it took me quite a long time to feel like myself after the 10 mile race I ran on November 8^th. My quads were very sore for several days after the race. The couple runs I did do were pretty pokey. It took three days for the soreness to go away. I rested, ran slow, and didn’t worry too much about it. By the weekend, I was starting to feel like myself again. I did back to back 8 mile runs on Saturday and Sunday at an 8:12 pace and a 7:58 pace respectively. Good stuff!

Monday was a rest day because I was going to make myself do speed work on Tuesday. Usually I do it on Fridays, but my training schedule got all screwed up from the race. I was in some dire need for speed training, but I was nervous. How would it go? What should I do?

In my usual fashion, I didn’t decide exactly what to do for my speed work until I was actually out there doing it, and my goals changed during the course of the workout. I did a 1.5 mile warm up, which brought me to a relatively flat loop around a block in the neighborhood adjacent to mine. I knew from previous runs that the loop was .35 miles around, and since I couldn’t decide whether to do 400s or 800s, .35 miles seemed like the perfect happy medium! (Google just told me .35 miles is 563 meters… so I did 563s this morning!)

I rarely look at my Garmin during speed work. Speed work makes me so anxious to begin with, and the thought of looking at my Garmin made me want to throw up. I generally just go by feel. Run hard, run easy, run hard, run easy, until I am done and can do a mile or two for a cool down.

When I started the 563s, I thought I would do six. Then as I got closer to six, seven sounded like a good number. I was so tired and spent, but I made myself eke out one more to make it an even eight. “You’ll feel like a million bucks if you do eight!” I said to myself. I didn’t feel like a million bucks, but I was proud of myself for pushing myself to the point of feeling uncomfortable. “Anyonecan run and feel good,” I thought to myself. When my 563s were over, I cooled down with a mile run and then a little bit of walking. (My IT band felt a little sore at the end of my workout and my knee pulsed a little the rest of the day. ARGH! It had been feeling so good lately!)

I got in a total of 8 miles at a 7:30ish average pace. Other than that, I have no idea how fast I was running my hard intervals because I did not look down at all! I am too chicken!

Getting a speed workout in was important, and now I need to get a LONG run in this weekend. I want to run 13 miles with about 10 of them around a 7:20 pace. That’s where my thoughts are now, we will see if they change by Saturday!

Did you ever run an oddly measure interval, or do you stick with round numbers like 400s, 800s, etc?

Weekend Wrap Up! (Muzzles, Lost Wedding Rings, & NO INTERNET!)

This wrap up is a little late, but better late than never! I hope your week started off well. For teachers, it's our last full week before having a couple days off for Thanksgiving. Man, am I ready!

This wrap up is VERY wordy. Sorry about that. (Why am I apologizing for WRITING in a BLOG???)

Friday started with a MUCH needed run. After being away from home for a couple days, it was nice to start my day off in my normal fashion. I kept the pace easy, as I was still recovering from my race on Sunday. That course really kicked my behind.

Work was fun because I took the fourth graders to see the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra perform at The Forum in Harrisburg. I love orchestra day and and am thankful the HSO provides a free educational concert for my students twice a year.

After work, I took Christmas to the vet. He developed a spot on his chin which I assumed was feline acne. I was right. I paid for his vet exam and some expensive shampoo and then dropped him off at home so I could go to Rite Aid and pick up his prescription. The prescription was under his name, so I felt extremely odd rolling up to the drive thru and saying, "I'm here for a prescription for Christmas Cooney." I am laughing just thinking about it! The script was extremely expensive, but I sucked it up and figured the vet knew what they were doing and that was just how much it cost.

They needed to break out the muzzle for Chrissy. He can be... combative at the vet.

This picture makes me laugh SO HARD. That's my Chrissy boy!!!

I drove straight home and put the dang stuff on Christmas' chin. As soon as I applied it, the vet called and asked if I got the script yet. "Yes and I just put it on him!" I said very quickly. My brain always goes to the WORST CASE SCENARIO and I worried they were going to say it was the wrong script or something and that the cream was going to hurt Chrissy. Well, of course that wasn't the case. They called because they didn't realize the prescription was so expensive and that I could have gotten an ointment instead. They didn't say what kind of ointment it was, just that I should call the pharmacy and see if I could return the expensive stuff and get the cheaper stuff instead. I felt sick to my stomach. The script cost over $100 and I couldn't believe there was something cheaper they could have given me! When I called the pharmacist back, he said the ointment was $88. HOLY CRAP. At that point, I was too tired and hungry to drive back to the pharmacy and just decided to keep what I had. Besides, I had already used it, and didn't know if they would allow me to return it already used.

After a shower and dinner, I was ready to relax and go to internet-land or TV-land, but unfortunately our cable had been down all day. It's a good thing I had a puzzle to do or else I would have been very bored. I went to bed early because Saturday was going to be very busy.

On Saturday morning I went for a very early 8 miler around my neighborhood. I didn't have any great podcasts to listen to since I couldn't download new ones, but I sucked it up and ended up enjoying a crisp, windy run. I was starting to feel a little bit like my old running self again, so that was good.

Then Paul and I headed to Millersburg (my hometown) for a visitation and viewing for my Uncle Jack who passed away. It was so nice to see family as well as look at lots of pictures of my uncle. Following the viewing, we quickly stopped in and visited my grandma, then we attended the luncheon. At the luncheon, we told some Uncle Jack stories. The holidays just won't be the same without him.

When we got home that afternoon, we still didn't have internet or cable, but Verizon said they were going to stop by and check things out. When the technician came out, he discovered some tree trimmers had cut the Fios cable for our block. GREAT. He gave us a 25% chance that it would be fixed this weekend and a 100% chance it would be fixed Monday. UGH! It's a first world problem for sure, but I was sad that Paul was probably not going to be able to watch football the next day!

I made use of my time away from the computer and TV by carrying all the Christmas decorations up from the basement and putting away some knick knacks and pictures to make room for the Christmas stuff. I also got in a lifting workout. I have really been slacking with my lifting lately, so this was much needed!

That evening, I went to a school event my 4th grade students were performing at. They danced and sang the song Footloose and they were a HIT! I was so proud of them for having the courage to do that in front of hundreds of people! The sad part about the night... somewhere along the way, I lost my wedding ring. When my hands are cold, my fingers shrink a little and my ring falls right off. Usually I notice, but that night I didn't. The sad thing is, even if someone happened to find it, I don't think they would realize it's a special ring since it is just a thin, plain white gold band. There is nothing special looking about it and I doubt anyone would think it was anything worthy of finding it's owner. Sigh. This is the second time I had to order a new wedding ring due to it sliding off my hand. Seven years of marriage and I am already on my third ring... I think I need to order a smaller size!

My wedding ring in happier times... when it was on my finger.

When I woke up Sunday morning, this was parked outside my house:

Hallelujah!!!!! It was the most wonderful sight to be seen! Paul got his football miracle because our internet and cable was fixed before the games started!

I went for a run and REALLY felt like myself. I did 8 miles at a sub 8 minute pace and it felt natural. I'm back!

When I was done running, I discovered Paul had left to watch the one o'clock games at a friend's house and locked me out! This was seriously just not our weekend. So his friend had to drive him back to our place so he could let me in.

After showering and eating, I went for a lovely walk with my friend Bree. She had quite a dramatic reaction to learning that Dr. Ben Carson is leading the Republican polls. I know, it is sad. You have to laugh or you will cry.

That evening, Paul watched football and I started decorating the house for Christmas! It is a PROCESS since I have so many decorations. I am about 60% done. There is more to do in the coming days... Don't worry, there will be pictures! I go ALL OUT for Christmas!

Christmas the cat is very excited for all the new decorations. "Yay! New stuff to pee on!" he says. "Yay! I am going to eat all of the fake pine needles!" he says!

I finally had time to catch up on some blog reading and replying to comments. Kristina informed me that her cat has had acne before and that the ointment her vet has her use is only $20. Again, I felt sick! Why did my vet tell me to use something that was extremely expensive!? I was irate and called the vet office and left a calm message. I look forward to getting some answers on Monday! I need to be able to trust my vet. I don't think I trust them anymore, but I may be jumping to conclusions...

Do you decorate for Christmas or other December holiday?
Does Ben Carson make you laugh or cry?
Have you ever lost your wedding ring?