Blog, Or Watch This Great American Classic

I was going to post another weekend wrap-up, but got hooked into watching this movie. It's funny to see how dated it is. The bikes are similar to that old 10-speed a lot of us may still have in our parents garage. And the helmets - "hairnets" - I think they used to call them, are hilarious!

I am hoping that this will get me psyched for my spinning classes that start this coming weekend. Woo Hoo!

Quick Wrap-Up:
Friday: early swim (thanks, Nike. You do have the best ad people) 2000 yds; evening run, 3 miles
Saturday: 8 mile run 1:19 (same route as last week, 1 minute faster)
Sunday: swim, 2000 yds

P.S. Don't forget to check out Rae's site to see how she did in Miami!

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.

Joe Paterno.

This is dedicated to all athletes. Runners. Cyclists. Swimmers. Triathletes.

May all your early mornings be great ones.

Get Psyched

Quick Training Update.

Just a quick post to let you know how the training is going.
3 miles Monday
3 miles Tuesday
45 minute ride on the trainer Wednesday!!
Off Thursday
Will post Friday's workouts tomorrow.

Weekend Wrap-up

Here we are again, bloggers. The end of the weekend (sigh). This is how the rest of my weekend shaped up. I went to the pool on Saturday and had a decent workout. I did 6 x 500s (7:50, 8:10, 8:04, 8:18, 8:12, 8:19, 48:54 total) with a 150 cool-down.

I totally vegged Saturday night. I rented Redeye and Must Love Dogs. Both were pretty good rentals. "Redeye" was pretty suspenseful, and "Must Love Dogs" was your typical romantic comedy.

Today, I did my first "long" run of the HH marathon program. According to the program, I was only supposed to do 6 miles, but can you really call it a long run if you only run for an hour? I didn't think so, so I went ahead and did 8 miles in 1:20. I felt pretty good during the run, but my legs tightened up later in the day. This has been my longest run since my Fall Classic half, and I could tell. Thinking about all the really long runs to come, I am feeling somewhat daunted about the marathon in May. I'll do another 8 miles next week (HH calls for a 7 miler) and then should be pretty primed to start into double digits in February. My husband is also running Cleveland, but he is doing that FIRST running program, so our training is quite different.

After my run, we loaded the dog into the car to grab lunch, and ran some errands.

I ate lunch at Panera's and had a pretty healthy meal: veggie black bean soup, and asian chicken salad. (Ignore the bag of chips on the left side of the plate.)

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the local library, and watching some of the Steelers game. I am not a football fan, but I did want to see who won the game. My brother, who lives for Steelers' football was pretty happy.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

I Am Black Coffee

You are a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Thanks to Flatman for the blog distraction.

Begin the Begin

Hi folks! I hope that you had a good week, and are gearing up for a nice relaxing weekend!

My running this week has been pretty light. I did 3 milers on the 17th, 18th, and 20th. I was supposed to swim yesterday, but for some reason, just didn't go. I was really pooped after work, and just couldn't seem to get my butt to the pool. I should have gotten up at dark-thirty like the majority of you tri-bloggers do, but I am wretched in the morning...at least when it is still dark out. I can't wait until spring, when it starts getting light out around 6 a.m.

For the Cleveland Marathon training that I began this week, I am following the Hal Higdon Novice program. I like it because the mileage during the week is manageable, and it has enough off days that I can work in some cross-training. It doesn't include any speedwork, but once the spring races start up again, I generally substitute those races for speedwork. My spinning classes start in February, so I will be looking at a lot of time in the saddle. I haven't taken a spin class in a long time. At my old gym, they had "Power Pacing" classes that I loved. I hope I like these classes just as much.

Tomorrow, I WILL go to the pool and get in a workout, and then Sunday is my "longer" run of 6 miles.

There is a Super Bowl 5K I am thinking of doing on February 5. Any Buckeye bloggers out there thinking of doing it?

Workout Update To Come...Now, Birthday Wishes

for my little sister!!

Happy Birthday, Clare! Have a great day!!

What's In Your Fridge?

Even though I wasn't officially tagged, after reading Runner Susan and Bolder's posts about what's in their refrigerators, I couldn't resist putting up one of mine:

I can't claim to have a healthier fridge than Bolder; I love my Steak-Umms, and Aunt Jemima French Toast Sandwiches with sausage, egg, and cheese (for those days when I am too lazy to drive to McDonald's for the McGriddles) too much. I do have plenty of O.J., skim milk, and yogurt. And Pom, the newly-annointed miracle drink. Do you think that makes up for the half-rotted bags of spinach that have been sitting there for a week?

Back On Track

My back is getting better. I still have some discomfort, but I am almost back at full capacity. On Friday night, I was able to get a 5 miler in before it started raining and getting colder. I swam an easy 2000 yds on Saturday, and did an easy 2 miler on the treadmill. Yesterday and today, I did 5 milers. I am on track with my training for Cleveland. My long run this coming weekend will be a 6 miler. I don't get into the two-digit long runs until February. Hopefully by then my back will be 100%.

I have been catching up on my blog reading from this weekend, and checking out how everyone did in AZ. Elizabeth has some great pictures up, Trimama was hanging out with Jessi Stensland at the expo, and Commodore has a great race report posted! Way to go, guys, and also to those bloggers who ran, but I haven't mentioned specifically here.

All this talk of race reporting has gotten me psyched to get back into racing season. I can't wait to get back to reading race reports, seeing cool race pics, and hearing how everyone tackles their goals!

Have a great week, everybody! Train hard!

Riddle Me This, Batman

How long until a back injury makes like a tree, and leaves?

That's right, folks. STILL nursing that darn back thingy that I just can't get rid of! I did nothing on 1/10 and 1/11. By 1/12, I could feel my muscles practically melting away, and my lung capacity shrinking by the minute, so back injury be damned, I went and ran 3 miles, and swam 1750 yards.

My workouts were slow, and I could feel the pain in my lower back, but it was a managable discomfort, rather than a pain that I just couldn't tolerate. One thing I cannot do is standing back flys with 5 pound weights, or any other exercise or activity that requires me to lean forward very far and bend, like taking clothes out of the dryer, or bending over to put a towel on my just-washed hair.

But the running and swimming seem okay, as long as I go slow. So that's what it will be. I take my heating pad to work (therapy during the day), and still take Ibu like its going out of style. Hopefully this will get better, but it looks like I will start my marathon training on schedule, and still be able to cross-train, as well. Whew.

Happy TGIF! Have a great day everyone!

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming.

Well, my neck situation has improved. I have full mobility there, and I don't have that weird crick-thing in my neck now. However, now the crick has moved from my cervical vertebrae to my lumbar vertebrae, and decided that it likes it there. Somehow late Sunday, and into Monday, I threw my back out. Have not had pain in my lumbar region like this, ever.

I tried to go for a run last night, and didn't even make it to the corner. I had to turn around. I probably should have called it a night after that, but not me. I was convinced that some exercise would help me work the kink out. So I got on the bike trainer for an hour and 10 minutes. After which I discovered I couldn't get off the bike trainer. Needless to say, I think I made it worse.

I have been heating it, and taking Ibuprofen, and walking very slowly. I don't know when I will be able to exercise! That is the most frustrating thing, because it is pretty warm here in Cleveland, and I am missing prime winter running weather! So I am taking tonight off, and hopefully I can be back at it later this week, or weekend. I have to be, because my Cleveland Marathon training officially starts January 15! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Have a great rest of the week, bloggers. Run strong!

Goodbye Weekend (sniff), Hello Workweek

Well, here is a quick post to update you all on the rest of my weekend. I was so grouchy about how my workouts went, I almost didn't post. But you guys keep me honest, so here goes.
I did get into the pool on Saturday, and started doing Elizabeth and Curly Su's workout - I got 1900 yards in, and then, SNAP! Somehow, I pinched a nerve in my neck. I have done it before, usually it happens if I am blow-drying my hair, and I twist my neck funny. (I can't really hear an audible snap, I am just being dramatic. But I sure felt it.) I almost didn't finish the 500 I was in the middle of, but I finished, and got out of the pool. I was really bummed. I have no idea what I did, but I probably won't swim for a few days, at least until I get this crick out of my neck.

So today, it was pretty nice out - the sun came out later in the day, and temps were in the '40's. I went out for three miles, with my dog, and had every intention of going for another three once I dropped her back off at the house. But I didn't. I have no excuse, just that I didn't feel like it. Argh.

So to make up for measly workouts, I cleaned house, and went grocery shopping. While I try to keep my blog rant-free, I just wanted to share something that I consider a grocery shopping pet peeve. I always go through the self-checkout lane. My husband generally goes with me, and we make a good team. I scan, he bags. We're pretty quick, even though we generally but a lot of stuff. (We're big eaters.) Anyway, midway through checkout, I got annoyed when someone got behind me holding one item, and giving *me* an exasperated look, when the express lane is right next to us, and completely empty! I mean really - I have 500 items in my basket. Is this person really willing to wait until I have scanned and bagged all my items when they could be zipping through the express lane? And this person wasn't even reading a magazine! I mean, if you are going to mindlessly waste time, waiting for me to finish scanning and bagging, then at least they could catch up on some celebrity gossip. right?!

Anyway, enough ranting. I also wanted to mention that I saw a great program on OLN (Outdoor Life Network) this afternoon about Karen Smyers. She is really an incredible athlete, someone who personifies the old proverb "fall down seven times, get up eight." She survived, among other things, being hit by a truck while biking, thyroid cancer, a severed hamstring, miscarriage...she takes a licking and keeps on ticking. She is one amazing person.

Check Me Out

Hello Bloggers, and Happy Saturday! What do you think of my new header? Runner Susan was kind enough to take some time out of her holiday celebrations to create this great new header for me. Isn't it cool? So I want to send out a big THANK YOU to Runner Susan. You keep a lot of us bloggers stylin' and profilin'.

I didn't post much this week; it's been hard getting back into the groove of the regular workday. But I have been trying to keep up with my running.
12/31: 3 miles
1/1: 6 miles
1/2: 3 mile treadmill run, swim 1750 yards
1/3: 3 mile run
1/4: 3 mile treadmill run
1/5: 3 mile run
1/6: off
1/7: 4 mile run, with a swim planned for later today.

On Friday night, I had every intention of trying out Elizabeth's and Curly Su's 3000 yd workout they did on 1/5/06. Unfortunately, I forgot the the Westlake High School Swim team had a meet. So, I bagged the swim last night, and will have to do it this afternoon.

So, you may ask, what did I do instead? Get on the trainer, you say? Oh no. I ate McDonalds, and curled up with a book. (Yes, I did see "Super Size Me," but nothing beats a double cheeseburger, large fries, and a strawberry sundae. Except maybe the McDonalds breakfast combo. What can I say? It's one of my vices.)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, so far!

In Honor of Rachel and Brent's Pippin

I just had to post this picture after reading Rae's 1/2/06 post. I think Pippin and Sophie are on the same wavelength.

Welcome 2006

Here's to:

Diving into 2006. No fear, no hesitation. Come on in, the water's perfect.


Here's to:

Keeping our eyes on our goals, not the obstacles that will come our way.


Here's to:

Perseverance.

Here's to:

Flexibility. Adaptability. Fixing that which isn't working, and improving that which is.

Here's to:

Always finishing strong.

Happy 2006, Bloggers!