Week 4 - Cough, Sneeze, Groan

Monday -  Run 0 / Walk 3 / Ride 15 - The day started with a walk to the eye doc for the annual eye dilation, my doc is just over a mile from the house and it was a nice a.m. for a walk.  She plops the drops in my eyes, 15 minutes later my pupils look like I've been partying since 1999.   All was well and the usual comment, wow your eyes really react to this, ah yeah, they are blue and sensitive, do you not take notes?  I decided to take a less direct route home and check out Tin Tin Bakery across  from the Packy.  The owner of the shop suggested a cream bun and asked "Will this make it home?" considering I only bought one and really wasn't in a sharing mood I munched on it as I walked through the park and headed up the hill home.  Missed Mike B's run through the park!

After several hours my pupils un-dilated to the point it looked like I've only been high since yesterday, it was time to do something...   I pumped up my bike tires and put on warm biking gear and the new winter biking boots Dave gave me for Christmas.  Headed out for a ride to Watch Hill.  It was a nice 15 miles, my feet stayed nice and toasty!  

And yeah still can't load the Strava thing...

I'll spare you the photo of my uber dilated eyeballs!  It is pretty disturbing.

Tuesday -  Run 4 / Walk 2 - With snow predicted I got out just as it started and it was lovely, light snow falling.  Woods would have been better, but it was nice running along the Thames river.  I really didn't have any concerns till a car slid a bit at a stop sign and I thought oh that could be bad if one slides into me. 

The office population thinned out as the snow continued.  NYC meetings for Wed were cancelled, due to the snow.  It was nice and quiet in the office, I turned off the lights when I left.

After I got home I took Giz for a walk, to the park where he could perform a little civil disobedience by running leash free!  He was quite pleased to do this.   

Love the park in Westerly!

Wednesday - ZERO - I went to bed Tuesday night feeling like my head was in a vice and my ears plugged, not much improvement Wednesday morning.  Blargh.  I worked, took a couple hour nap, worked some more, moved my car to the street, worked, napped, knitted and went to bed.  Damn. I was not pleased with this turn of events.  I haven't been sick in over a year.  Dave has been and I've dodged the bullet, until now...  damn it.

Reindeer Hat, the first (there is enough yarn for a second)

Thursday - Run 3 / Spin 55 min - With all hopes (hope springs eternal in the mind of a fool to bastardize Alexander Pope - sorry) of this head cold being gone I packed up my gym bag before bed and woke up feeling a little bit better.  I lugged the bag into work.  There would be no running outside, I wanted to but knew I'd feel worse for it.  A couple miles on the treadmill before spin were just fine.   Of course Mike B went outside... now I feel like the wimp!!    I have to remember the reason for my pansy ways, I've got my eye on those 20 miles in the woods on Saturday.

Friday - Zero - I think I felt worse than Thursday...  But I did get a couple packages of summer running clothes in the mail, so that was fun!  

Saturday - 8 - Yeah, the 20 didn't happen.  One lap of Burlingame took me 2 hours.  The Yaktrax worked well, no slipping and sliding.  I was ready to be done with them by the time the last stretch of hard top hit and they fit nicely in my hands, I just had to remember not to try and wipe my snotty nose with them. 

The woods were beautiful and I met up with some nice hikers and their dogs and chatted a bit.  Hey, obviously I'm not out to beat any land speed records, and now I've got my slowest ever Burlingame lap!  Dave had mentioned there was one set of tracks when he rode Burlingame on Friday, there were a couple sets by the time I got out there, but just one lone set for the rock scramble I think this is the Li'l Rhody Rise?  The lens was a bit foggy, but kinda adds mystery to the picture.    

Interesting to see how this person navigated that part of the trail and they were the only tracks for a while (other than those damn bike tires).  I'm always curious how people run certain areas, got a couple answers.  But then it is probably different when there is no snow. 

All in all it was a slog and I kicked myself a bit and then told myself to stop it and just enjoy the experience, and it was a beautiful day.  Even with the cloud cover the woods were bright with all the white snow. I was protected from those 20 MPH winds others running the roads were experiencing.  And it isn't like I spent the week on my victorian fainting couch sighing and bemoaning what should be for what is.  As Scarlett says 'Tomorrow is another day' and there are more days after that.  Well they aren't guaranteed, but hey I'm trying to be positive here!

A deer and I scared each other.  HUGE beautiful buck too. He stopped in the trail, stared, I yelped, he ran.  Whoops.   A biker I met up with was telling me he sees Coyotes near the campground.  The dogs along the trail had impeccable manners, their owners even seemed surprised!  I know I am when mine behave less than abysmally when meeting a new person.

Sunday -  TBD - On the schedule is 8 miles and a deep tissue massage in the afternoon.  A friend hooked me up with a good deal and I figured I'd really appreciate that after a 20 mile run in the woods.  I'll appreciate the treat without the run!

Sincerely, 
Beth, remembering things don't always go to plan, so go with the flow!

Wordless Wednesday

Sincerely,

Beth with a wicked head cold.  Blargh...

50K Training - Week 3 - Easy

Week 3 of 50K training, an easy week!

Monday - 6.2 Run / TRX / 2.2 Walk the dog.  I was scheduled for NYC on Wednesday and I slacked off on my Sunday miles and couldn't even muster up anything to take the old grouch Giz out for a walk, I was enjoying being a slug on Sunday afternoon!  Figured I could better my Strava 10K challenge time on the roads and I had the time so off I went.  

I started wearing the Heart Rate Monitor, to see what level of effort I am putting in, and forked over the $60 to Strava for the suffer score.  After reading about Seth's HRM belt.  (Yes, I do go back and read old posts.  There are days I don't feel like doing anything but rotting my brain in front of the computer.  Plus it is fun to see how blogs evolve over time.) I made sure it was securely on.  I scored a 114 on this run!  Wait, is that good or bad?

And I can't get the Strava picture to load... I like the picture to break up the words...  hmmm...  found some pictures to break up the words and be somewhat relevant...


Tuesday - 3.5 Run / Spin.  Rain, blarghy rain, but the good thing was I didn't have to go to NYC on Wed!  Yippiee, so this made the mind numbing treadmill bearable (no not really), I wanted to get in some semblance of miles.  Spying Don I made sure I was several treadmills away because, yeah this might happen and I could end up tying my legs in knots.  

Wednesday - 4 Hills / 4.5 dog walks.  I did commit to myself to do hills on Wednesdays and I did them.  I ran the mile to some hills Mike B clued me in on and ran down and up them three times and then back to campus.  Figured that was good for a start.  I haven't done hills for a while, like a year, bad runner I know...  4 miles were on my schedule so that is what I did.  After all it is an EASY week!

Kinda fun finding some barely relevant pics!

Thursday - 4 Run / Spin / Weights.  Wow, it is true the hills do help speed a person up!  A whole 10 seconds!  Yippiee!!   Tired me was keeping up a pretty good clip while Tom Petty was Running Down a Dream.  I love that song, lots of memories.  

Ro did intervals in Spin and then I succumbed to pressure and stayed for the weight class afterwards - another one of those goal thingys. 

I did have a Mike B sighting, thanks for the note ;), figured you forgot where work was after a month off!!  I did have to take a second glance, where was the crap on his face?   Good luck picking up the younger chicks.  HA HA HA!!

Friday - 2.3 dog walk.  Gizzy was happy to get out for a stroll...  I'd of rather run, but it was a rest day... 


I did get a new knitting project started, a replica hat from the 2010 winter olympics. SO cute!  Yeah yeah we are approaching the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 winter olympics... Did you know that during the 2010 olympics these hats were going for $400 on eBay.  That is crazy...

Pattern by Clever Knits  http://cleverknits.com

Saturday - 5.2  Earlier in the week, Nicole posted she was getting a group together 7 a.m. on Saturday at the Town Beach in Narragansett to run 5 for Meg.   

Meg's Miles, dedicated to a young woman killed by a drunk driver while out on a training run for Boston.  Truly sad.  It is scary to run and ride the roads from time to time.  We couldn't even imagine what was going through Meg's mind as that vehicle kept coming towards her. 

Jenn, Jackie, Beth, Mary, Kelly (four footed), and Nicole
Photo credit Nicole

I've missed running and talking with these gals, it has been since the fall...  nice easy conversational pace.  This was also Nicole's longest run since Philly when her PF went into overdrive.  Good to give her some support as she gets back up to speed after being sidelined for 6 weeks!!   We thought for sure we could get Crutch up and out running before 7 a.m., no dice, see guys even 5 women to run with won't inspire Wakey Wakey to get up early... 

The rain held off until we were all in our cars, thanks Meg!!

A rainy Saturday is perfect for doing not much of anything, I missed my daily naps during the 12 days off at the end of the year, so I did that.  I suppose I could have cleaned the house or something productive, ah, no...

The Big Guy  (Diesel) was always the best napper!!

I did get the cleats put in my new winter riding boots and the cleats switched over to a new pair of bike shoes.  Felt good to get out on the bike and ride to the end of the block to test the cleats. Hopefully Monday I'll be able to get in a ride and try out the new boots.   The weather is supposed to cooperate and not be so windy.   

Sunday - 8 /3.1 dog walk.  No long run this week, I did get out on the trail, eventually, today.  I had no real time goals for the Burlingame loop, just to run through most of the places I normally walk through.  I succeeded only stopping to tip toe through rock gardens and mud a couple times.  I'm getting a little better with the Li'l Rhody Rise, don't worry guys,  your times are safe, I have no idea how you manage to scramble up those rocks so quick!!  It wasn't until a nice flat straight part (mile 6.5) that I caught a root with my right toe and took a nice sliding digger!  Whoopsie.  Kinda glad I didn't have any clean capri tights and was forced to wear long tights, probably saved my knees from some icky scrapes.  Brushed off the dirt somehow managing to press the lap button on the space watch, now it was all wonky with some 59 minute pace, oh whatever, I better pay attention to the last little bit of the trail.  

Lord Giz of the Mo was in rare form when I got home, whining up a blue streak, after warming up and cleaning up we went out for my 5K loop which worked well as a recovery walk for me.  Wow is it windy out there, so glad I was in the woods and not out on the road today, brrrr...  Giz is now sacked out helping Dave watch 'the game'.

Tough life...

Sincerely, 
Beth, happy to not have scraped up knees!