Suburban Speed Work

I had "speed work" on the training calendar for last night. It was about 35 degrees and the wind was howling. Swell. I really didn't want to do it but Lisa had agreed to help me and I knew she was waiting on me!

I got to her house and she was full of sunshine! That helped me get out of my funk and get prepared to head out into the cold. The sun was setting quickly so we walked through her neighborhood to "warm up." That was a little difficult given the temperature but the goal was to avoid my shin splints.

Once we got out to the main road, it was time to start. The road has a really wide sidewalk but more importantly, it has evenly spaced streetlights. We used the streetlights as the markers for the speed work. We started out slow (slower than my goal race pace) and then picked up the pace. She insists that I was the one pushing the pace but I just didn't want to let her down....that, and I wanted to finished so I could get home, put my sweatpants on and eat the yummy dinner The Pilot made for me. :)

Anyways, we would pick up the pace and run from one streetlight, run past one streetlight and continue until we got to a second streetlight and then would slow down to recover for two streetlights and then would repeat. We repeated this for close to 4 miles. I progressively got slower, with my recovery runs eventually slowing down to a walk but there were a couple 10 min/mile readings from Lisa's Garmin throughout the run. Remember, I need to maintain 12:45/mile in order to PR in January.

Overall, the workout went really well. I felt pretty good but the cold air and a touch of "the crud," made my lungs extremely tight. Ultimately, this is why some of the cool downs slowed to a walk. My asthmatic lungs were trying to tell me I couldn't do it but my brain was saying "NO! This body needs to PR in 49 days, so keep running! You can breathe when you are done." And so that's how it went. I was still breathing a little weird by the time I got home and was sitting down for dinner so that was a little annoying. It cleared up once I was sitting down and relaxing but I really hope that wasn't a sign of some sickness coming on! Who remembers the World's Longest Cold in the History of Modern Medicine? I certainly don't need a repeat of that!!

Successes and Failures

On any given day, I think everyone has successes and failures. Some days feel like nothing but failures but if you really think about it, you woke up and got out of bed, didn't you? That's a success. It beats not waking up doesn't it?

Yesterday, I experienced a noteworthy success and a failure. I'll start with the failure.

The Pilot has been doing P90X. I have joined him for a couple of the workouts. I've kept up for the most part and can do most of the exercises, even though some have to be modified for my current abilities. That is until last night. I call it a fail because I couldn't make it through the entire workout (90 minutes). The funny thing is that it was the yoga workout! I did much better at the other, more cardio intensive workouts. I knew it wouldn't be easy because I've only done yoga a handful of times in the last 10 years. I also knew it wouldn't be "true" yoga, it was the P90X version of yoga. Anyways, I really struggled through the moves. I'm not completely inflexible so that wasn't the challenge. It was the repetition of downward dog and cobra poses were killing my elbows. My elbows naturally hyper-extend and I don't have the muscle tone in my arms to keep my elbows from hyper-extending when going those moves over and over. I know it will get easier the more I do it, but after 45 minutes, I waved the flag and quit. Another thing I struggle with is my attention span. I started to get kind of bored. I'm used to cardio-heavy work outs and this just wasn't doing it for me. I may try it again or just keep searching for something else that floats my boat.

Cobra

Downward Dog

Something else working against me during this workout was it was after work and I hadn't had dinner yet. I was starving. I need to find some smart snack options that I can munch on in the late afternoon at work so I make it through my workouts without bonking. I guess a 45 minute workout isn't a complete failure. It's better than sitting on my a$$ doing nothing but I didn't finish the intended workout that I'm calling it a partial fail.

So moving on to yesterday's success. It's not fitness related...well, it was beneficial to my financial fitness so I guess that counts. As of yesterday afternoon, I am officially credit card debt free! A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It took a lot of discipline and time but I finally got there (getting a new roomie to help pay my mortgage didn't hurt either). A medical emergency, some not-so-smart spending and an epic fail of an experience with a health savings account (all several YEARS ago) put me into the mess and it was hard to get out. But I made the last payment and it feels great. Even while paying off the debt, I knew the only way to avoid getting into the same situation was to really work hard to create an emergency fund so I wouldn't have to resort to the credit card again. So even while still paying off the credit card, I also started socking away a lot more money into an emergency fund and in my retirement account. Now that the credit card debt is gone, I'm hunting down my car loan. The goal: pay off the loan at least 18 months early.
Normally I wouldn't share something like this publicly because part of me thinks it's really not anyone's business but I know I'm not the only one who has struggled with debt. I was ashamed of it to be honest. It was embarrassing that some of my poor decisions and not being prepared for an emergency got the better of me. But, just like with working out, I stuck with it and kept chipping away at it and I made it. I really believe that blogging holds me accountable for my training. I really don't want to blog about how I completely failed at reaching my goals so I just keep trying. So I'm going to approach my goal of paying off my car loan at least 18 months early the same as training for a race. I just made it public so now I HAVE to reach my goal. :)

Bonus: We Had Fun Working Out Together

The local pool I joined derailed my training calendar a bit when I discovered they didn't have any open lanes in the evenings during the week. Wha??? My current work schedule doesn't allow me to swim before work so I was planning to swim once a week after work as my cross training day.

Ok, Amber, roll with it (despite writing SWIM in red ink on Wednesdays in my old school calendar). Even though Sunday is supposed to be my rest day, I swapped it out for a swim day. It's low impact, so that's ok to do after a long run, right??

I met my buddy Lisa at the pool. She's new to swimming and asked if I could give her some pointers. I made it very clear that while I can swim and survived an Olympic triathlon (with a 1 mile swim), I'm extremely slow and there are probably better choices when it comes to a swim coach. She was ok with that I guess, so we took the plunge. We spent about 45 minutes in the pool and I showed her everything that I had been shown when I was a beginner. Like me, Lisa can swim, she had just never really needed to swim freestyle laps. She did much better than I did the first time swimming laps! And bonus, we had fun while working out.

The treadmill and I had another showdown last night. Remember last week when I wanted to quit and chew my arm off? Well, I was worried that my 4 miler last night would be miserable like it was last week. The Pilot tagged along and was trucking along on the treadmill next to me while I suffered through my first 25 minutes. I did a quarter mile warm up again and then busted out the run. I did take a random walk break when I started to get a little shaky (hungry!) but was able to run to the finish. Guess what happens when you run faster (and take fewer walk breaks)....you finish faster. I knocked out 4 miles in 54 minutes. That's 4 minutes faster than last week. And it wasn't anymore painful than last week either. While the average wasn't PR pace, when I was running, I was running faster than PR pace so that was encouraging. And bonus, we had fun working out together. At least I did. Having The Pilot on the treadmill next to me was sure better than a stranger. Strangers think it's creepy when you turn to them and make faces. The Pilot just smiles and makes faces right back at me.

Getting There

I had my long run on Saturday....7 miles was on the calendar. The informal TNT alumni run wasn't scheduled to start until 9 so I headed out a little early so I could suffer run my first two miles in silence. I've tried running right from the start, a walk warm up, stretching once warm, stretching while still cool and I just can't seem to avoid the shin splints I get for the first 2-3 miles. If I was new to marathoning or training for a shorter race like a 5K, I'd have quit a long time ago. I hate the first 2-3 miles with a passion. Yes, I realize I'm a coach and I should probably say that it gets easier. No, it doesn't get any easier until I get past the 3 mile mark. At least that's how it is for me. I know I'm not alone in this feeling but it is sure frustrating! I just keep trying to tell myself that I am designed for long distances....you know, just like the Kenyans. Or something like that.

Anyways, I did my 2 miles slightly faster than last week and then met up with the team. I was stopped a little longer than is ideal but it is always fun to catch up with alumni. Especially when they have just set a crazy PR....HELLO LISA!! I mentioned she was running the Savannah Marathon and let me tell you, she killed it! She came flying in at 4:25...beating her previous PR by 30 minutes!!! Holy smokes! I am so proud of her and I was jumping up and down when I get a text from her after the race. :)

The team headed out for varying distances and I ended up running alongside one of our TNT staff, Nick. He's a much faster runner but he completely humored me by sticking with me for 2.5 miles!! I'm not even sure if he realized how awesome that was. Know what happens when you run with someone who you know is slowing down to run with you? You run faster and longer. I kept glancing at my watch and it was a good 30-60 seconds faster than my normal pace. I also really wanted to take a walk break after 2 miles but because he was there, I just kept going. Plus, I really enjoyed the company so the 2.5 miles went by really quickly.

When Nick split off to get in a couple more miles, I ended up catching another group of our team. This alone was pretty amazing...I NEVER catch anyone else. :) They were stopped at a drinking fountain and I could finally take the walk break I needed wanted. When they started running again, I let them know that I was going to use them as my carrot to help me make it all the way back.

Now because two of them aren't currently training for anything and they are just thoughtful and selfless people, Mary and Elizabeth (Parker's aunts!) hung back with me and encouraged me the entire 2.5 miles back. I told them when I really wanted a walk break and we set a goal for when to walk and for how long and they held me to it. I really wanted to walk it in the last quarter mile (I was losing steam quick!) but Elizabeth wouldn't "let me." :)

And so I finished 7 miles in 1:31! Still not quite PR pace but it was an average of about 30 seconds faster per mile than last week! That was a huge relief and I was really excited to see that. I know that if Nick, Mary and Elizabeth wouldn't have stuck by my side, I would have walked more and run slower. THANK YOU!!!

Minimoon: Part II

After doing the zip line tour we headed to our hotel. Originally we wanted to stay in a cabin but we were only staying for one night and during peak season in the Hocking Hills, the cabins all had a 2 night minimum stay...boo. So we stayed at a glamorous Holiday Inn Express. We decided to pretend it was a cabin though and never turned the TV on and we brought a picnic dinner with us.

Wine, cheese, apples, pears, oranges, french bread and olive oil. YUM!

The next morning we went to the nearby state park, Old Man's Cave. I used to come a lot with my family when I was growing up but I don't think I had been to the park since college (I went to school in the Hocking Hills area....the OTHER Ohio school, Ohio University). The Pilot had never been so we were both looking forward to enjoying a beautiful fall day in the cave.

The Pilot took most of the photos but I got the chance to play around with his fancy schmancy camera also.

The best part of the minimoon? Hanging out with this guy of course!! :)

Minimoon: Part I

The Pilot and I still haven't taken a real honeymoon. Other pilot wives will completely understand but getting a full week off for the wedding was a miracle. Getting more time off for a honeymoon was a long shot and I didn't have much vacation time left for the year anyways so we agreed to wait until 2012 to take a big trip.

We were extremely busy right after the wedding and didn't get to spend much time together. We wanted to take a short getaway though and when we realized we had 48 hours together last month, we quickly booked our "minimoon."

We headed to the Hocking Hills region of Ohio and cashed in on a wedding gift, a trip to the Hocking Hills Canopy Tours for a ride on the Super Zip and a canopy tour. We arrived early for our scheduled canopy tour and asked if there was enough time to do the Super Zip first. They offered to rush us through so we'd make it back in time for our tour.

Not exactly knowing what that meant, we said we'd go for it. Turns out it meant rushing us out to the Super Zip platform, putting on harnesses and running up the stairs of a 75 foot tall tower, passing by others waiting in line. We both felt really guilty but the employees at the top tower were yelling down for us. I'd like to point out that I was really sick with a head cold (and later found out I had an ear infection and perforated ear drum) and I do have asthma so running up all those steps was a bit of a chore. I was definitely huffing and puffing when we got to the top but there was no delay. They led us right to the edge of the platform and the next thing I knew, I was laying on my stomach, hanging from a wire, 75 feet off the ground. Now, I'm not afraid of heights but it was a little un-nerving! The Pilot is not a fan of heights (yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either, given his career choice) and I could only imagine what was going through his head. The Super Zip is actually two lines, side by side so they let us go at the same time. It was pretty insane to look over at The Pilot as we flew down the quarter mile long line. Once we got to the end, my knees were shaking and my eyes were watering. It was great! They had a Gator waiting to transport us back to the start of the tours so we rushed out of our harnesses and headed back so we didn't get a chance to take any pictures from the Super Zip so I borrowed a few from their web site for illustration purposes.
While we wish we could have slowed down to really enjoy the experience, we agreed that by rushing through, neither of us had time to be scared until it was too late! :)

That's me in the pink, looking at The Pilot, wondering what he's taking a picture of....
oh, it's us in the Gator's rear view mirror. :)

Next up was our canopy tour. Our group had another family and another couple and two tour guides. They drove us all out to a cliff and pushed us off....really, there was a zip line set up so that it followed the natural landscape of the area and we headed off the hillside and zip lined to another platform. Then it was a series of zip lines of varying lengths, heights and speeds, as well as some rope bridges. It was about a 3 hour tour and we had an absolute blast!

The first zip line from the hill side

Minimoon!

One of the rope/wood bridgesThe Pilot zipping

Some video highlights of the tour:



I mentioned that I'm not afraid of heights and I'm not but.....I am afraid of stepping off from a height. For some reason, the zip line didn't induce this fear because when you step off the zip platforms, you are hanging from the line above you. An example of what makes my stomach jump into my throat? Trying to slide down a fireman's pole. I've never been able to do it, even as a kid. I tried bungee jumping in college and it was damn scary but fun once I got past making that first step. So anyways, I was fine all day until it came time to end the tour. You have to get down out of the trees and it never occurred to me how that would happen. Well, you belay down. Meaning I'd have to step off the platform and be guided straight down to the ground on a rope. For some reason, this freaked me out. My stomach was flip flopping. It's just the first step that freaks me out...and The Pilot was nice enough to record my first step:

Can't Complain

I completely agree with the statement that if you don't exercise your right to vote, then you don't have the right to complain. I've always been a very conflicted voter. I always feel like I'm trying to pick between the lesser of two evils, especially when it comes to voting for people as opposed to issues. It's not a secret that there are some super shady characters out there trying to push their own agendas. But there are also people out there who are really are trying to make a difference, it just takes some research to try to figure out which choices to make before casting that vote. So I did that research and I voted today. I hope you did too!