Tread hell

Up on the training calendar for today was a 4 mile run. It sucked. There is no way around it, it just sucked. Now that it gets dark when I'm leaving the office, I am chained to the treadmill during the week. I wasn't off to a good start when I got to the gym and realized my ipod was dead. Bleh. Trying to read the closed captioning on the TVs in the gym makes me a little dizzy so I tried to occupy my brain with people watching. Normally I love people watching but not when I'm sweating like a banshee and I want to cry.

I started with a 1/4 mile walk warm up. Then a painful 1 mile run. Damn these shins. I took a 1/4 mile walk (wayyyyyy too slow I'll point out) break because my shins were still on fire. I started to run again and I wanted to quit every single step. Bleh. But I made it another mile before taking another 1/4 mile walk break....then a mile run. The burning from the fronts of my legs started to subside but at this point, I was starting to get hungry. I went from the office, changed clothes at home, had my nightly chat with The Pilot and then went to the gym. I had a fruit strip (the REAL fruit roll up!) before heading to the gym but at mile 3, that was obviously not enough. Bleh.

I wanted another walk break but that's when I noticed my time. If I took another walk break, it would have officially taken me longer to do my run/walk combo than if I would have race walked the entire thing. And I couldn't let that happen. Not when I have a PR to chase down. Instead of walking, I sped up the treadmill. Maybe not the smartest, but I was annoyed and wanted to be done. I slowed back down for the last tenth of a mile to cool off a bit. 4 miles in 56 minutes. Bleh. But, I didn't quit at 2.5 miles like I really wanted. And I didn't chew my own arm off at mile 3 like I really wanted. I finished all 4 miles that were on the schedule and I did it (slightly) faster than a race walk pace.

I am now home and have had dinner and while I still think it was a craptastic workout, I'm glad I didn't give up, because then I would just feel worse.

Ooooohhhh....shiny!

As part of my "chase down that PR" training plan, I had a 6 miler scheduled for yesterday. I started fueling on Friday evening by carb-loading on this:

I had every intention of preparing this recipe myself. I found it, bought the ingredients and then realized that The Pilot was going to be heading to bed around 7:30 pm on Friday night (a 4:30 am report time means he was up crazy early on Saturday morning). By the time I got home from work and prepared this, he would have been in bed. Fail. But, because he's awesome, he made it instead and I ate it. (I did clean up the mess after so I like to think that makes up for my lack of dinner planning skills!)

Anyways...I headed out on Saturday morning to get 2 miles in before meeting up with some of the TNT alumni. It was pretty cold (30!) and I was having a hard time getting my asthmatic lungs and cantankerous shins warmed up. I ended up walking more than running for those 2 miles. Bleh.

After meeting up with the alumni, I ended up running alongside Kim, one of the walkers I've been coaching for the past year+. Yes, she was race walking and I was running. I like to think that is because I'm such a fantastic coach and taught her some stellar race walk technique. In reality, her legs are about a foot longer than mine and she's a natural race walker....and I'm a slow runner. Anyways, it was nice to have someone to chat with for 2 miles. Despite my warnings, she is signed up for the Goofy Challenge and we will be traveling to Orlando together in January. She wants that Goofy medal and I want a PR!

I only needed 4 additional miles so after 2 miles with Kim, I turned around to head back. I did take a 30 second walk break for some water and to stretch out my shins. As I was running, something shiny kept catching my eye. It happened during the Air Force 1/2 Marathon as well. One of our TNT alums, Jenny, was selling shoe charms as a fundraiser awhile back. And I have a hard time saying no to a fundraiser, especially one this cute. Well the shoe charms have some bling on them and on a sunny day, my feet are sparkling when I run!

Check out my TNT and Tri shoe charms (as well as my toe emergency tag):
Despite the shiny distractions, I ran the entire way back and finished 6 miles in 1:22. A little slower than my pace from last weekend and definitely not a PR pace. It's still 8 minutes faster than I could have race walked it so I'm still on the right track. I'm hoping I just need to give my body a little time to adapt to running in the colder temperatures again and that increased miles and pace during the week will bring down my weekend times.

This yummyness was waiting on me when I got home! I was refuled and ready to get on with my day.

The Hat

The end of daylight savings means the end of the summer uniform for pilots. And for my pilot, that means he has to start wearing his hat and a trench coach (yes, the trench coat is as creepy as it sounds). I, like many pilot wives, think the uniforms are kind of hot. Most women have a thing for a man in uniform. I don't understand it at all. And for some unexplainable reason, I dig the hat. Most pilots hate the hat. It's hot, it doesn't breathe, it itches, it slides off, it's one more thing to carry around, etc. But I think it's hot. So we are heading into the darkness of winter but now that daylight savings has ended, The Pilot is wearing his hat again. He wouldn't let me post a picture of him in the hat (he really does hate it) but here is his and the Captain's hats hanging up in the flight deck, which is where I am sure those hats go from the second the door closes until they open it again.

Be Nice to Me: Part II

Remember when I told you to be nice to me back in July? Well you should be nice to me again! I donated blood yesterday. I was trying to get on a more regular schedule (you can donate every 54 days) but 54 days after my last donation ended up being right near a big work event and right in between a 1/4 marathon and a 1/2 marathon....not the ideal time to be giving up my goods. And then I just had all kinds of other excuses but I finally made it last night. Now I'm trying to replenish fluids and iron so I don't drag through my 6 mile run tomorrow morning.

I pledged to donate 3 pints this year but unfortunately I'm not eligible to donate again until the very end of the year...just a couple of days before my race that I hope to PR. I'm not so sure that's a good idea. Crap....oh well, its better than nothin' I guess....or feel free to comment below and tell me what a slacker I am.

Wow, Pilot, that is really close. I have no idea why my nose is all scrunched up.

200th!

I just noticed that my post from earlier today was my 200th post! I've been blogging for just over a year and I'm so thankful that I have found a place to share my inner most thoughts with all of you bloggy people. Or at least a place where I can whine about The Pilot's schedule, share my training successes and failures and bore you to tears with my wedding photos. I have finally found a place where I can make up my own rules, ramble on and on about whatever I want and in general, be less productive than I was before I discovered blogging. Yeay for 200 posts and counting. Thanks for reading!

Put that in Your Planner and Smoke It

I know I just made a post about scheduling and my weird obsession with an old school planner but I felt the need to make a follow up post about scheduling. When The Pilot gave me his November schedule, I wanted to rip it up and pretend he didn't give it to me. It's terrible. He works every.single.weekend. Guess who works a normal Monday- Friday job and is home on the weekends? This girl.

We have found that him working on weekends just doesn't work for us right now. Sure, it's great to have him home during the week because that usually means dinner is waiting for me when I got home from work (score!) but I'd rather forage for my own food than only get to spend a couple hours each evening with him. I know that this is what most of the rest of the working world does but keep in mind that those people have their spouses home on the weekends also. Do you know how hard it is to get home improvement projects done when you only have a couple of hours in the evening (after you've just worked a full day)? Sure we could divide and conquer, which we often do, but some things you just need two people to do!

And then there's my training. I usually get home from work around 5:45. Depending on the day, I need to eat dinner and then work out. Sometimes I work out first and then eat. A shower is also required after working out (I'm a sweaty beast). If all of this takes place after work, I'm not available for talking, cuddling (eeeeww....remember, we are newlyweds), paying bills, fixing crap around the house until 8:30 pm at the earliest. We go to bed pretty early most nights...between 9:30 and 10. That only leaves about 30-60 minutes to get that other stuff done. This 9-5 girl has to save that other stuff for the weekend. And so for a month like November, I'm on my own to make that happen. If The Pilot is working one weekend in a month, its not so bad. I can get caught up on stuff and get some free time for myself. But five straight weekends all on my own = sucky.

Something else that is sucky about the November schedule and having him home on weekdays, I sometimes travel for work. I have an overnight trip next week. The Pilot is supposed to land about the same time I am going to leave for my overnight trip. After a 4-day trip, The Pilot will come home and I won't be there. That means 5 days apart just because of the timing of our trips. Yuck.

Yes, I am complaining but don't get me wrong, I am extremely thankful that both The Pilot and I are gainfully employed. No matter the shortcomings of either of our jobs, we have incomes that we can live comfortably on and I know that isn't the case for many people right now. I'm not sure if this is something I will adjust to and if its just extra hard right now because we are newlyweds and (ewww) want to spend as much time together as possible or if I will always hate when he has a crap schedule that takes him away from home when I am at home ( and not at work).

This has been our life for the past 21 months and I still haven't gotten used to it. But looking on the bright side, after an exceptionally long month, it makes us both extremely thankful when he gets a good schedule and we get to spend lots of time together. I get to miss my husband every couple of days. When was the last time a "conventional couple" actually had the opportunity to miss each other? Know that awesome feeling you get when you see someone you've been missing? I get to feel that every couple days. It's pretty cool.

I laugh at you!!

So while I've been dreading the month of November, I'm going to do my best to focus on how incredible it is to actually miss The Pilot and then be reunited with him. I'm going to focus on the fact that with him working every weekend this month, I can go for my long runs and not feel guilty that I'm out on the trail for hours on end when I could be at home spending time with him. I'm going to focus on how thankful I am to have such a wonderful husband and how thankful I am that we have jobs that we have a passion for.

Old School

I'm old school. I don't have a smart phone that thinks for me. I do use my Outlook calendar at work but if there is anything that occurs outside of my normal work hours, it gets HANDWRITTEN in an old-fashioned planner. I use a DayMinder monthly calendar so I can see an entire month at a time. If I know in advance that I will have to work late or over a weekend, I write it down. All of my TNT coaching and/or fundraising commitments, it's written down. Babysitting my brother's rug rats, it's written down. If it's not in the planner, there's a good chance that it's going getting done.

Know what else gets written down? My training plan. In red ink. I schedule my workouts just like any other commitment. If I don't have a solid plan in writing, it's just not going to happen. Just because I write it all down in red ink, doesn't mean I'm uptight about cancelling or rescheduling. If my body isn't up to running/walking/swimming/spinning for some reason, I listen and do something else...or nothing at all. If I'm overwhelmed at work and just plain exhausted, I'll take a day off. The red ink is done on purpose as well. All of my other commitments are written in black or blue ink. The red stands out so I don't forget. A big red 12 MILER will stand out more so I know to allow a couple hours that day to my workout.

By having a plan and writing it on my social and work calendar, I know exactly what needs done for the day and what I need to do to make it happen. I can see if I have to work early/late one day and know right away if an early morning swim just isn't going to work. By looking at the entire week/month, I can swap out workouts. Maybe I can't swim one day but I can get in a 30 minute core workout at home instead. Schedule your workouts like any other appointment but be a little flexible when needed!

What else is in my planner? The Pilot prints out a copy of his schedule for me each month and it gets tucked into my planner. This way I can also try to work my calendar around his. This can be tricky. I have to train but I hate not being able to see him for several days and then have him come home only for me to have to leave for several hours to go to a long walk or run. Sometimes I can make it all work out. Sometimes I can't. Last night it all worked out. I had a late meeting get cancelled so I was going to have time to get in a run before the sun went down but The Pilot was home. Solution? He just tagged along with me. I nearly broke him (I like to think it's because he's a couple years older than me and his knees are falling apart) but we got in 4 miles and spent some time together. :)

Thank you, Pilot, for taking this very artsy photo of my planners of past.

Some may use their fancy smart phones to keep their lives in order but something about writing things down helps me not just remember everything but there is some satisfaction at looking at the last month and seeing all of the things I accomplished. To make me even more neurotic, I keep all of my planners. It comes in handy when I'm behind in my scrapbooking (which I always am) and I can't remember when I did a certain race or some other event. It also helps when all of the other bloggers start doing their year end recaps and include all of their mileage and race times. I have my planner to look back on!