Monday (3.5) - Rest day, but I swam and biked on Sunday so really I needed to get some time on my feet in, and I wanted to see what the old attitude was doing. It's better.
Tuesday (6) - Back on track mile wise, my mind is catching up. A friend suggested a person to talk to, he's done several 100 milers, and may be able to help.
Gizmo left this earth peacefully, and that has gotten me out of the bit of a fog I have been in. I've been struggling with his declining health and Dave's in ability or just plain not wanting to face the sad fact G's quality of life was close to zero and he was miserable. I'll miss my buddy. It's been a year since I'd been on a real walk with him, he lost use of his back legs about a year ago. And a couple months ago he stopped shuffling across the floor, on a rare occasion would he get off the couch and shuffle, to greet me. We had our routine and he was happiest snuggling in bed, and if we went to bed early, all the better, he snuggled in to my back and was calm and content leaning against me, he was at peace. He liked the occasional adventure, it was clear on our last one, he was ready for all of this to be over. I could see it in his eyes, he was tired of not being able to to what he could do a month ago, let alone a year ago.
Wednesday (8.4) Power hills with Ro. I'm counting this as running, it is a solid well earned 5.6 miles at about a 14 pace and some wicked steep hills.
Spin class in the evening. I was tempted to bail but knew it would be good and i was able to get the new spin bike they are testing out. It tracks RPM, Mileage, calories all sorts of things. I tracked 17 miles for the class so I'm satisfied my 15 I've been using is accurate, some weeks may be more some less, depends on how much climbing she has us doing versus interval work.
Thursday (3.2) - Got some new shoes, ON Cloudcruiser, I was really looking forward to try them out for the scheduled 6 miles. I forgot a sports bra. I did a 3.2 mile walk and that was it. The shoes felt nice, my knees didn't give me as much trouble as they usually do... 6 miles would have been the true test.
My mouth engaged before my brain in the locker room at work. One of the gals was going on about her daughter and make up and another about her son and clothes and bitch moan crab complain....
Then it happened, the though bubble came out of my mouth:
"You ladies make me so glad for my decision to never have kids."
Crickets
"You never seem to have anything nice to say about them. It really sounds like a horrible experience."
Then it was like chickens cackling over a bug, a cricket, perhaps?
The gal next to me, one who never remarks about children so I assumed she had none, told me the story about how her daughter found a dating website for professional women with a very strict criteria for clientele and how this would be perfect for her if she did want to date. I said "Thank you. You raised a very thoughtful loving daughter. I knew there had to be an upside to kids." the conversation drown out all the cackling about grades or athletic ability.
Dave went off to Maine to visit with a friend and pick up some curly maple and walk in the woods. He needed to get away for a couple days. It took A LOT of encouragement to get him to go up for a 2 day trip versus a 1 day trip. I was happy for a quiet night at home with the boys. They are stressed, I am stressed, Dave is stressed. They crashed after dinner, I kind of expected that. I cleaned up Gizmo's feeding area and replaced Gus's station with Giz's. Gus got Diesel's and the foot rusted off. Jax had his own and he inherited Sage's so all three matched. Guess we are down to two dogs and two feeders, other than the odd shaped one in the attic.
Rambling... it's my blog, I'm allowed!!
I probably won't catch up on my miles however I will get the full 16 on the schedule for Saturday. The long runs are the important ones, right? And it's 5 months away...
Friday (6.3) - Got out in the a.m. for 3 miles. The Cloudcruisers are nice, I think they may be a bit big in the toes, but who knows at this point. I'm not really pleased with the laces, they are hard to tighten up, I do love the soles and my knees didn't scream at me so that's good.
I caught up on work work and a bit of house work, working at home is really distracting for me, I can't do it when I have actual things to accomplish. I know my limitations.
After having to wake the boys for dinner. Guess they had no clue since G wasn't there to start the whining chorus! It reminded me of my parents cat Frick. When Frack died he was lost, he had no idea how to get the people to open the door to let him in or out how breakfast got served. My mom said he would sit at the door quietly, waiting to go out, he never did learn to make a ruckus so one of the hoomans would open the door for him. Poor Frick. If you ever watched My Name is Earl, it was like when Earl went to jail and his brother, Randy, was clueless.
Evening walk with Gus, it cooled off nicely so I was hopeful the 16 in the a.m. wouldn't be complete torture.
Saturday (16.6) - Met up with the 'Gansett Gals at 7am for some miles. Nicole committed to 10 with me last weekend and totally stuck with that promise!! The rest were in for 6, cool!! Nothing was going quite right internally, I haven't quite nailed it down yet, but it has something to do with porter I'm pretty sure. Despite the monster in my bowels, I really really enjoyed my 6 with the gang and then Nicole and I got to catch up for 4. It's nice to be with my people, we all get out there and give it a go and have no desire of BQing we just love to run for the camaraderie and to save what little sanity we have.
Finished up my last 6 with 5.6 on the beach. I'll call it good for a 16 mile run, it's the first one I've come close to completing since I started training. I forgot how much I love to run barefoot on the beach, nothing hurts and when I'm done I can actually walk pain free, it is so lovely. I enjoyed a little stroll with Gus to return a library book and at least get him out of the house for a few minutes.
Sunday (2.5) - Got out for a bike ride. Decided I should see what was on the schedule for my PMC training long rides - 50 miles. I mapped it out and set out for 50. I may have started out a little to optimistically attacking the Wyassup Hills as part of a long ride when I haven't been riding long. No matter. I still did it and stopped for a break at 15 miles, then at 20 miles and slugged down a icy creamy sweet drink to hopefully recharge my batteries. It didn't kick in for a while, but it did for a bit and by the edge of 30 miles I was toast. I took the direct route home and shorted myself 10 miles.
I'm not disappointed, it was a tough ride, and one of the first humid sunny days we have had. I've learned there is no point beating myself up, it is stupid and I need to not do it, bottom line.
40 miles and 2,270 of elevation gain is respectable, I wonder what the Gazelle's fancy watch would get for elevation on this one. I'm a little concerned about the hills from Sturbridge to Bourne, well actually Sturbridge till we join up with the riders from Wellesley. I think I'll be mostly by myself on this portion, and hopefully link up with the LUNGStrong gals coming out of Wellesley for lunch time. Feh, gives me some nonsense to obsess about.
Dave and I took the dogs to Grills, they enjoyed it, mostly, it was humid and the air was still in the woods, probably not the best choice.
Jax does NOT like bridges!
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| Jax struggling across the Polly Coon bridge (he wasn't sure of the two small ones before this one either) |
But they were having fun running ahead and waiting for us!
Weekly Mileage:
Feet: 46.5 Run:33.7 Walk: 12.8 Yearly: 881.2 against a straight-line target of 826.5
Bike: 55 Yearly: 335 against a straight-line of 826.5
Sincerely,
Beth, gaining focus on training for the 100K and the PMC
