Back To Basics: Week 2

I did it...I had another perfect week!  That's not to say that all the workouts were perfect (because they weren't), but I didn't skip any of them.


Monday:
After 6 days of workouts, this was much appreciated.  I squeezed in a call to my bike guy about that awful creaking sound, worked until about 6-6:30, came home, scarfed down some leftover spanakorizo (I swear I'll take a picture the next time I make it), did a little laundry, played with the bunnies, and crashed hard.

Tuesday:
1000 yard swim.  This wasn't easy, but I felt pretty good in the water.  I think my body is slowly remembering how this whole swimming thing works.  The key word here is S.L.O.W.  I'm not fast in the pool, but I'm okay with that.  I'm hoping that all this base building leads to less open water freakouts once I get to that point.  After the swim, Mr. R&R and I were both starving so tacos were on the menu again.  Perhaps Taco Tuesday will become a thing around here?

Wednesday:
My arms didn't ache when I woke up this morning!  Yes!  Tonight's scheduled workout was supposed to be on the bike, but I swapped it with Thursday's run workout because I am scheduled to work very late on Thursday (no chance of walking out of the office before 7pm) and I know there's no chance in hell that I'll be willing to leave the house and run after that.  It's been quite frigid here, so I headed over to the indoor track for 3 miles.  It took a solid 2 miles to get warmed up/used to the cold, dry air, but my 3rd mile was encouraging.

The hamster on the wheel goes 'round and 'round

Thursday:
By the time I got home from work, I was ready to eat all.the.things.  I had picked up sushi from the place down the street from my office, but it had to hang out in the refrigerator while Mr. R&R ran and I hit the bike for 45 minutes.  I took a few extra minutes to implement Brent's suggestion of how to make the awful creaking noise stop - and it worked!  The workout may have only been 45 minutes long, but I was dripping sweat inside of 10 minutes.  It was composed of 4 intervals, each 7 minutes long - designed to improve both muscle endurance and pedaling economy.  I did my best to match my wattage and cadence to what was on the screen, but it was tough! When it was over, the sushi was devoured at an alarming rate.

Friday:
Note to self: Friday night is rugrat night in the exercise pool.  My gym is adults only, but they allow family swim for a couple hours on Friday night.  Fortunately, the kids are relegated to the small exercise pool.  There was a handful of people in the lap pool, but we were each able to get our own lane and I banged out my 1000 yards.  I was even slower than I was on Tuesday night, but I was pretty pleased with how I felt again.

On the way home, Mr. R&R and I were both hangry.  If you've never heard that term before, it's that feeling of being so hungry that you become angry and snappish.  Obviously this situation called for dinner - fast!  We debated going home, getting cleaned up, and going out to dinner, but it was already 8:30pm and going out would have meant waiting at least another hour+ to eat.  We swung by Trader Joe's, grabbed a few things, and headed home and into the kitchen.  I dealt with chopping and Mr. R&R manned the grill pan.  We were eating delicious fajitas in under 30 minutes - and for less money and fewer calories than we would have had we gone out.

Steak and Chicken Fajitas

 Saturday:

One word to describe today: Busy.  Mr. R&R had a meeting with a personal trainer (they throw in 2 sessions when you join) and while he was out, I ran around to pick up coffee, groceries, and all the crap we needed from Target.  When I got back, we unloaded the car, put all the groceries away, changed into bike clothes, and hit The Cave for another 45 minute sweat/suffer-fest.

We crawled off the bikes, hurried through showers and getting all dressed up, and stopped to pick up one of my coworkers on the way to a somewhat mandatory work event.  It was a nice party (chilled crab claws on the buffet and open bar with designer cocktails), but by 10:00pm we were both struggling to keep our eyes open.  Lucky for us, my coworker was ready to call it a night as well, so we excused ourselves, dropped her off at home, and we crashed as soon as we got home.

Sunday:
Sunday = Run Day.  I really didn't want to run this morning.  It was cold, my legs were really tight, and the gravitational pull of the couch was insane, but I knew that the only thing standing between me and another perfect week of workouts was 30-ish minutes outside.  After some coffee I piled on the layers (fleece-lined tights, wool socks, 2 shirts, fleece jacket, mittens, ear band, and hat) and headed out the door on a 2 part mission.  Part 1: Get My Run In  Part 2: Stop at the crappy grocery store on my route and pick up green onions (my usual grocery store didn't have any on Saturday).  The first mile wasn't fun, but the second sure was - it was downhill and at sub-9 pace.  I darted into the grocery store, grabbed my onions, jammed them in the inside pockets of my fleece, and hauled my ass uphill for a mile - while hoping I wasn't steaming the onions in the process.

Distance: 3.1 miles

Time: 29:03

Avg. Pace: 9:23/mile

Mr. R&R and I scarfed a late brunch of eggs and chicken apple sausages before getting started on all the laundry/cleaning/food prep we needed to do.  He took over laundry duty while I hit the kitchen.  This week I made Ambitious Kitchen's Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread (made exactly according to her recipe), Skinnytaste's Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup (modifications: left out the celery, used full-fat freshly shredded sharp cheddar, skipped the American singles), and Iowa Girl Eats' Mongolian Beef Noodle Bowls (modifications: used broccoli slaw instead of coleslaw mix).

The Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread came out great.  I ran all the numbers and it comes out to just 207 calories per slice (assuming 12 slices per loaf).  This will be consumed as a pre-workout snack.

I'm a soup snob - or at least very particular about soup - and the Potato Broccoli Cheese soup tastes exactly like a baked potato topped with broccoli and sharp cheddar.  That just happens to be one of my favorite ways to top a baked potato, so I was happy.  It's approximately 275 calories per bowl, so it will be perfect for Mr. R&R and I to take for lunch early in the week.

The Mongolian Beef Noodle Bowls were kind of a project to make - lots of careful timing, searing in batches, etc.  I'm very happy that Mr. R&R joined me in the kitchen for this one.  The finished product was incredibly un-photogenic, but tasted phenomenal. My only complaints were: A) The rice noodles were a little gelatinous (I think they got a little overcooked ) and B) The rice noodles and sauce were a pain in the ass to clean out of my wok.  Overall though, I'd make this recipe again and I look forward to having the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night.

All my food prep is done through Wednesday morning and it's time for some bunny nose bumps and bed!

Week 2 Totals:
Swim: 2025 yards (1.15 miles)
Bike: 18.71 miles
Run: 6.28 miles
Total Time: 3 hours, 43 minutes

Back To Basics: Week 1

What do you do when you feel sluggish and cruddy after the holidays? When you haven't worked out in a month and you've been eating all the things? In my case, you go back to basics and rebuild your base.

After rediscovering my love of multisport racing last year, I think I'm finally ready to end my break with triathlon (yep, we're getting back together).  I'm also ready to stop lugging around the winter/holiday fluff that I put on while being a total sloth after the Last Call 5k.

Obviously, there's a plan here - there's always a plan.  I came across a really interesting triathlon base building plan on my bike trainer app/site (TrainerRoad), so I've committed to following it for at least the next 4 weeks.  I may actually do a second round of base building before moving on to the build phase since it's been a long time since I tri trained and I need all the help I can get!

The plan looks something like this:

*Mon: Rest

*Tue: Swim

*Wed: Bike

*Thu: Run

*Fri: Swim

*Sat: Bike

*Sun: Run

This seems pretty reasonable to me and it's acceptable to rearrange things to suit your schedule so long as you don't do the same sport on back-to-back days.  I'm in!

I'm also making a concerted effort to clean up my diet.  I've been skipping breakfast, eating too many meals out, and drinking far too much.  I've decided to do a lot more meal planning and weekend prepping - and only 1 cheat meal per week.

So here's how Week 1 shook out:

Monday:

It may have been a rest day on the workout front, but we were definitely busy around here.  Mr. R&R and I finagled our schedules and got out of work at a somewhat reasonable hour and promptly drove over to a local gym to take a tour.  This particular gym has multiple locations in the area - and most of them have the thing we need most in a gym - a pool!  After a tour and some chatting, we signed up.  I'm officially a gym rat again.  

After that, we headed home and had dinner: Butternut Squash and Apple soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.  I didn't love the soup, but it did the job.

Tuesday:

The gym location we toured on Monday has a pool, but it's only 16 yards long and is mostly meant for water walkers and AquaZumba types.  It'll do in case of emergency since it's open 24 hours, but there's a location about 20 minutes away that has a standard 25 yard pool, so after a long day at work, we headed out there.  My first pool workout in 17 months was only 850 yards, but it kicked my ass all over the place - it felt so good to be back.  We didn't get home until 9:30pm and we were both freaking starving!  Dinner (tacos) was thrown together in between showers and we were eating by 10pm. I'm pretty used to eating dinner late, but this was just silly!  I'll definitely have to make plans for fast dinners on swim days.

Wednesday:

Today started with a valuable lesson: I will not take 17 months off of swimming ever again.  My abs hurt like a mother and my arms were ready to fall off.  Trying to wash your hair when your arms hurt like that really sucks!

Dinner (cheater chicken, potatoes, and green beans) came first tonight, which is a very good thing because the first bike workout was brutal.  I've done it before and every single time, I'm reduced to a quivering pile of goo.  In one hour on the bike I went through 2 bottles of water, half a package of Shot Blocks, and my shirt was repurposed as a sweat mop.

Back in The Cave

Thursday:

The arm pain continues. In fact, I think it intensified. I guess it's a good thing that tonight's workout mostly beats on my legs. 

It's been over a month since I laced up my running shoes.  In fact, the last time I ran was the Last Call 5k - and it was about 20 degrees warmer.  Mr. R&R and I both bundled up and went our separate ways.  Not. A. Good. Run.  Between dodging ice, unshoveled sections of sidewalk, being out of shape, and being dressed like Randy from A Christmas Story, it was a slow jog (slog?) not a run.  This doesn't bode well for Saturday's Frosty 5k.

Dinner was a couple of eggs and some toast - because I had to eat, but had no motivation to do anything more involved.

Friday:

It's Friday!  That means beer and all manners of fried bar food, right?  Nope.  Mr. R&R and I checked out the pool at another gym location - this one is only 5 minutes from home.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to swim at all given that my arms still felt like they were going to fall off.  I was slower than slow, but the pain let up once I was in the water and I made it through the 800 yards, hauled myself out of the pool, and called it a day.  We rolled in the door around 9pm and dinner (spaghetti) was cooked, showers were taken, and we crashed as early as possible since Saturday was both run day and race day!

Saturday:

I ended the 2015 race season on an incredible high by breaking my 5k PR by 8 seconds.  2016 started out in the toilet.  We bundled up, drove to the race site, and hid in the toasty warm car until the last possible second before doing the usual pre-race warm up and stretch.  I was shocked at the number of people who showed up!  We hoofed it about a quarter mile to the Start Line, listened to the race director's warnings of ice and narrow spots on the path, and then the gun went off.  I flew for the first quarter mile (low 8's) and then my nose started freezing up.  I seriously could not breath in through my nose, which doesn't work at all.  I spent the first mile breathing mostly through my mouth (not good) and it clipped by in 9:08.  It was all downhill from there and I'm not talking about the course.  I was in such bad oxygen debt that I finally had to slow to a walk, cup my hands over my nose and try to thaw everything out. Mile 2 was a pedestrian 10:03.  The misery continued for another mile.  Every so often I had to walk and thaw out my nose. Obviously this meant a pathetic performance on my part.  Not only was it the slowest 5k I've run in a long time, but I fell to 4th overall in my age group for the series. Mr. R&R, on the other hand, won his age group and is now assured of winning his age group for the series (it's mathematically impossible for anyone to overtake him as long as he shows up for the last two races), and he's the second place male overall!

 Time: 29:37 (9:33/mile pace)

Overall Place: 88/190

Gender Place: 43/128

Age Group Place: 10/20 (F35-39)

I also had a 90 minute massage on Saturday night and my arms and shoulders feel much better and my lousy mood disappeared while listening to music and snuggling with these guys.

Saturday Night Cuddle Puddle

Sunday:

Sunday is always about preparing for the week ahead. On the food front, I made a big pot of chicken pot pie soup and a giant pot of spanakorizo (greek spinach rice), so we'll be eating that for lunch/dinner for the next few days.  The soup turned out okay - a little bland for my liking.

Soup for you!

The spanakorizo turned out great - it was almost identical to the version made by a restaurant I used to love.  I also made up some tzatziki sauce to go with the rice and a few pineapple yogurt messes for breakfasts. We're set through at least Wednesday.

The workout du jour was 45 minutes on the bike for a workout called Goddard.  I was a sweaty mess inside of the first 15 minutes and my bike was making a weird creaking sound whenever I put a lot of pressure on the base bars or the aero bars.  Looks like I'll be making a call to Emery's tomorrow because I'm 99.99% sure that my bike is not supposed to be making that sound!

Week 1 Totals:

Swim: 1700 yards (.97 miles)

Bike: 20.51 miles

Run: 6.05 miles
Total Time: 3 hours, 39 minutes

2015: A Year Of Rediscovery

Every year I swear I'm not going to do one of these posts, but somehow I always end up feeling compelled to write one.  Looking back at 2015, I feel like it's been all about rediscovering things that I'd forgotten about/let get away from me - and other adventures followed.

There was camping - which I hadn't done since April of 2013.

On that camping trip, I also rediscovered hiking - particularly the Ice Age Trail - which led to hiking a few more segments and trail running another!

Rediscovering the Ice Age Trail

Knocking off the second half of the Lapham Peak segment

Trail Running Perfection

I also rediscovered how much I like riding my bike: I hit up the Ozaukee InterUrban Trail and the Glacial Drumlin Trail.

InterUrban Selfie

I fell so in (back in) love with my bike that I decided to get back into multi-sport racing by entering the Lake Country Duathlon - and ended up acquiring some new wheels in the process!

Bringing Home The New Baby

This led to a nail-biting morning of learning to control my new ride and ride in aero - accompanied by Mr. R&R, YadaYada, and EuroGuy.  The rest of the summer was filled with long, fun rides with the guys and Texas.

Aero: The New Way To Ride

Pretty Rides All In A Row

Then came my return to multi-sport racing at the Lake Country Duathlon - and a finish I never would have dared to dream of!

The Closing Sprint To My First Age Group Win

I also rediscovered a friendship that had fallen by the wayside.  Having my once-upon-a-time BFF back in my life has been great.  We both agreed that it's a testament to our friendship that we didn't see each other for almost 4 years and yet somehow we picked up right where we left off (with the addition of her 2 kids)!

Two Key Symbols of Our Friendship

There was also rediscovering how damn good it feels to set a new running PR.  The The Firecracker 4 was an automatic PR since I'd never raced that distance - and I freakin' earned it at the The Last Call 5k.

Finally, there's music.  Mr. R&R recently acquired a vintage stereo receiver and we've both been rediscovering our love of music - particularly on vinyl.

Somebunnies have also been enjoying the tunes:

There were so many amazing things happened in 2015. I can't wait to see what I discover/rediscover in 2016!

Last Call 5k Race Recap

3 Series Races Down. 3 To Go.

Last night I realized that I was severely under-prepared to run a half marathon and in the interest of not injuring myself to the point of not being able to finish the series/being sick for days/limping for a week in the name of being stubborn, I opted to drop down from the half marathon to the 5k distance. I wanted to run a race I could be proud of, not one that made me question why the hell I run in the first place. It turned out to be a very good decision.

It's been a fairly warm winter so far - like 50 degrees yesterday, so Mr. R&R and I were a little surprised to wake up to 30 degrees and fog!  We did the usual coffee/water/choke down a Clif Bar on the way, parked, and headed for the timing table to make the switch from the half to the 5k.

We went back outside to do a quick warm up run before retreating to the nice, warm building to stretch and keep warm while the half marathoners took off.  3 minutes before the gun went off, we made our way to the start line, fired up the watches, and listened to another little kid count us down.

Off we went.  Mr. R&R was off like a shot and I was way too close behind him - meaning I went out waaaaaay too fast!  About .17 miles in, we hopped a curb and headed out onto the Glacial Drumlin Trail - yes the same trail I rode on a bunch of times over the summer.  The course was almost pancake flat and I let my ego run away from me for the first mile.  Mile 1: 8:40 (see what I mean about the ego?)

Of course I paid for that 8:40 big time.  I did my best to tuck myself behind a dude/human windshield at the turnaround, but he managed to drop me and I was on my own.  I passed the time watching the rear of the pack still heading out and ended up doing a little walking to catch my breath. My mile split showed it.  Mile 2: 9:33.

Somewhere after Mile 2 I remembered that I wanted to run a race I could be proud of - even if it wasn't a PR - and decided I was willing to hurt for it.  I picked it up and kept telling myself, 'It's okay to be uncomfortable' over and over again.  I stopped looking at my watch, knowing that if I did, whatever I saw would get in my head and screw with me.  I just pushed as hard as I could and when I saw the finish line, I pushed a little more.

Ready to die now.

I was all thumbs afterward and couldn't get my watch to stop immediately, so I wasn't really sure how I actually did.  All I really knew was that I ran something faster than a 27:39 - which is what my watch read when I finally got it to shut off.  I grabbed a cup of water and waited for the 'I'm going to yak/pass out/die feeling to pass and Mr. R&R and I walked back to the car to pile on a few more layers before heading back to check the results.

Mr. R&R turned in another amazing performance - taking 3rd in his age group and PR-ing by 36 seconds!  I ended up 4th in my age group - with a totally unplanned 8 second PR!  I wasn't happy about missing the podium by one spot, but I was over the moon about the PR.

We hung out through awards, gulping coffee and munching on Twizzlers, and then headed home - both of us having had races we were proud of.  What a way to end the year!

Time: 27:25 (8:49/mile pace)

Overall Place: 42/92

Gender Place: 19/53

Age Group Place: 4/8 (F35-39)

Up Next: JanBoree Frosty 5k

Great Gobble Wobble 5k Race Recap

Did you know that the average American consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day?  To give you a better idea of what that is, imagine scarfing down 8 Big Macs in a single sitting.  Eek!  I wasn't planning on eating quite that much on Thanksgiving, but I still wasn't unhappy to start the day by running a 5k - and as an added bonus, I convinced my mom to do the 5k walk.

The Great Gobble Wobble was the second race in the Chilly Willy Run Series and I was actually pretty excited about it since the temperature at race time was predicted to be around 50 degrees - and maybe some light rain, but really...50 degrees in late November is nothing short of miraculous! Mr. R&R handled packet pick up for all three of us on Wednesday afternoon and once again, I was a little disappointed with the cotton t-shirt.  I was, however, amused as hell by the saying on the back of the shirt 'All About That Baste'.

On Thursday morning, I woke up feeling a little iffy after 2 beers the night before, but figured it wasn't a big deal.  We picked my mom up around 8am and headed for the race site while doing the usual coffee/water/Clif Bar (getting harder to choke these things down) on the way.  We parked and my stomach got ugly - really ugly. Ugh. Not how I really wanted to start the day - and not a good omen for things to come. After that unplanned adventure, I went back to the car, put on my race belt, gloves, etc., and got on with the business of a short warm up run and lots of stretching since every muscle in my body felt tight.

I haven't really run at all since the day after the 'Stache Dash  and since my stomach was a hot mess, I wasn't really expecting much from myself.  My mom asked Mr. R&R and I how we thought we'd do and he said: 25-ish minutes. I said I expected around 29 minutes (because I really hate running over 30 minutes in a standalone 5k).  She figured it would take her just under an hour to walk the 5k course, so I said that as soon as I finished, I'd take off my number, turn around, and start walking back to find her.

I really suck at taking selfies

They called us to the line and since this was another net gun-timed race, Mr. R&R and I pushed our way near the front.  He worked his way up farther and I hung back by a dude dressed in a full turkey costume (spoiler alert: the dude in a bird suit out ran me by a lot)!  A small child counted us down, the race director blew a whistle, and we were off!

I had no idea what was coming on the course since I've never run in that part of town before.  The first third of a mile was downhill, so I found myself running in the mid-7 to mid-8 minute range. Far too fast, but at least I wasn't dodging people.  Naturally, what goes down, must go up and the course headed up a steep hill, so my pace leveled off quickly.  I was comfortably uncomfortable - if that makes any sense.  I tried not to look at my watch too much and focused on making sure I was breathing well.  Mile 1 clicked by in a very speedy (for me) 9:03.

I fell in next to a guy and used him as a pace rabbit for a little while before he fell off my shoulder.  I pressed on up and down the hills.  Each uphill started feeling harder and each downhill started feeling shorter. And my stomach was starting to get iffy again.  I walked through the water station about half way through and then picked it up again.   Mile 2 was considerably slower at 9:38. Just past the Mile 2 marker, my stomach started cramping.  I started taking short walk breaks through the worst of them and then did my best to come back up to a reasonable pace.  My Garmin data shows that when I was actually running, my pace was in the low to mid 9-minute range, so if I'd felt decent, I think I would have been really pleased with my splits.  Those damn walking breaks messed it up!

Finally, around the 2.5 mile mark, there was a monstrous looking hill.  I was tired and feeling like crap, so that thing friggin' looked like Mt. Everest.  In the picture below, it's where the course separates from the straight line.  I could see walkers still streaming down the hill leading to the "tail" and heard an ear-splitting whistle that I know very well - it was my mom.  I jogged over to make sure she was okay before walking up part of Mt. Everest with my evil stomach cramps.

About half way up the hill, I'd had enough of my stupid stomach and the bullshit voice telling me I couldn't run, so I gritted my teeth and decided that there would be no more walking.  I was running this damn thing to the end. I brought it back down to the mid-9's and kept telling myself that as long as I kept running, it'd be over sooner.  The course leveled out and the assistant race director was standing at the top of the hill directing people around a corner.  Imagine my surprise when the finish line was right in front of me!  The course was short!  I did my best to haul ass to the line and be done.

Borrowed from the race's Facebook page

That last ass-hauling was not a good idea.  I didn't even stop for water as I pushed my way through the finish area looking for a trash can or a place devoid of people.  I. Felt. Horrible.  The only thing I hate more than actually puking is dry heaving.  I guess I should be happy that I didn't actually puke, but when Mr. R&R (who turned in an awesome performance) found me, I was still in dry-heave mode.  He pointed me toward the water table and after a few more minutes, I was able to drink it, rip off my numbers, and go in search of my mom while Mr. R&R waited for results to post.

As I walked back along the course, I started getting really cold and then it started raining.  I felt bad for everyone still on the course (and a little bummed that I wasn't in a dry, toasty warm building waiting for results).  I spotted my mom at the base of the Mt. Everest hill and decided to just wait for her about half way up it since I wasn't really feeling the idea of having to drag my ass up that thing twice!  She was red, sweaty, and tired.  I tried to motivate her by telling her that the course was short and all she had to do was make it just past the top of the hill and it would all be over.  This seemed to cheer her up a little and when we made the final turn together, I scurried ahead to get a picture of her finishing before heading inside to find Mr. R&R and the official results.

There was a pretty fierce crowd around the results table, so I squeezed in between some dudes and made my way back to Mr. R&R to let him know that I had finished 7/18 in my age group - and that we had to stay for awards because he was 2nd in his age group! I think the only thing better than winning an age group award of my own was watching him get one.

We collected my mom, jumped in the car, and headed home - with a stop at Starbucks!  Once we got home, it was 'all about that baste'.  I tossed the turkey in the oven, took a shower, and spent the rest of the time before dinner feeling far more worn out than I should have.  I also got to deliver some good news to my mom when she arrived for dinner later in the day: she was 3rd in her age group!  I'm not sure if they'll give her an age group award since she entered the 'Walk Division', but still, in an age group of 5, she was still 3rd!  Her results didn't post until after we were already home, otherwise we would have stayed for the female age group awards.

I will definitely do the Gobble Wobble again next Thanksgiving.  The course was really challenging. The race was well managed. And I really want to see how I do on that course when when I'm not battling stomach issues.

Time: 28:09 (9:04/mile pace)*

Overall Place: 79/206

Gender Place: 34/128

Age Group Place: 7/18 (F35-39)

*Average pace was actually more like 9:23/mile since the course was short

**I'm currently in 3rd place in the F35-39 age group for the Chilly Willy Series. 

Next Up: Last Call Half Marathon.  This is likely to be a disaster because I haven't run a step over 7.5 miles in months!

'Stache Dash 5k Race Recap

The first race in the Chilly Willy Series started with packet pick up on Friday night - at a bar!  I rarely drink on the night before a race, but since one of my coworkers mentioned happy hour, I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone.  Two Sierra Nevadas later, I was on my way home.

I was a little disappointed with the t-shirt.  Cotton? Really?  Have race directors learned nothing in the last 10 years? I really prefer technical shirts that I can use while training - not things I end up turning into dust rags.  

Mr. R&R and I decided to go out for dinner and were in bed by 10:30pm and I enjoyed 9 1/2 glorious hours of sleep before the alarm went off.  Did I mention that this race didn't start until 10am?  No Stupid O'Clock wake up!  

It was the usual pre-race coffee, water, and Clif Bar in the car on the way to the race - which was so close to home, I almost didn't finish munching the Clif Bar before we arrived!  We parked about a quarter mile away and took a chilly walk to the start. As we were walking, Mr. R&R realized that he'd left his watch at home, so he'd be running blind.

Race Morning Trinity: Coffee, Water, Clif Bar

We found the Start, stretched a little, did a short warm up run, stretched some more, and tried to stay warm until athletes were called to the line. While we were waiting, I figured out that this race wasn't going to be based on chip time, but rather on net gun time.  In a regular chip timed race, there's a timing mat at the start and another at the finish.  When you cross the start mat, your time starts and when you cross the finish mat, your time stops.  In this case, when the gun went off, everyone's time started and didn't stop until you crossed the finish line chip mat.  Knowing that, Mr. R&R pushed his way to the front and I wasn't too far behind him.  The gun went off and it was go time. 

Since I"m still working my way back after Hell Month, I had no real plans for this race other than to do my damnedest to run a sub-30, which kind of felt like it might be a stretch. The course started along the same parkway I ran last weekend (the one that I always find really tough).  I went out a little fast, but quickly found a pace that felt challenging yet manageable. After the first quarter mile, I stopped getting passed as people settled into their paces. The course followed the parkway for about a mile before looping back on itself.  As I was headed to the turnaround, the speedsters were already coming back at me, so I started counting guys until I saw Mr. R&R, who was about the 24th guy overall at that point. I felt pretty good as I hit the turnaround and was trying not to look at my watch too much because I was afraid I'd either be really frustrated by what I saw (too slow) or start freaking out (too fast).  Mile 1: 9:19

About a half mile after the turn around, we took a right and headed up a very long hill.  I ran up 99% of it and used the last few feet of the hill to slow down for about 10 seconds to catch my breath before picking up the pace again.  We wound through a residential neighborhood and back to the hill - to run down it! Mile 2: 9:19

I love long, gentle downhills because they're basically free speed.  I flew down the hill, marveling a the number of people still heading for the uphill portion of the course - and noting that I hadn't been passed at all since the initial surge of people in the beginning, but I was actually passing people. The final part of the race was back along the parkway.  I found myself actually enjoying that stretch!  I looked at the total time on my watch and my current lap pace and realized how close I was to my 5k PR time (27:33).  There was no way I was going to beat my PR, but it became my mission to see how close I could get.  I was getting tired and starting to hurt, but I kept pushing the pace.  I took the final turn and the finish line was in front of me.  I pushed a little harder, but not an all out sprint because it was a pretty short stretch.  Mile 3: 8:53

I hit the line, reached down to stop my watch, and finally looked down and immediately had a 'holy $#!% moment'  My watch was reading 28:03, but it always takes a couple of seconds to hit stop, so it was possible that I ran a sub-28.  I located Mr. R&R (who had run his ass off and missed his PR by 27 seconds) and we waited for results to be posted.  When they were, I was really happy. Final Time: 27:59!  To go into a race hoping for a sub-30 and ending up only 27 seconds off of my PR was awesome! 

Time: 27:59:  (9:01/mile)

Overall Place:87/212

Gender Place:33/119

Age Group: 3/15 (F35-39)

There was a bit of a mix up during the awards ceremony, so I didn't receive my age group award (a sweet looking medal) on site, but a quick email to the race director resolved the situation and my award should show up in the mail this week.

Up next: Gobble Wobble 5k.  First we run. Then we feast!

Chilly Willy Run Series

After a month of crazy, I'm slowly working my way back into a semi-decent fitness routine.  I ended up sleeping right through the Discovery Run 15k - and I'm pretty okay with that after hearing from friends about running in the rain and 50mph wind gusts!  Maybe I'll try again next year.

Part of my plan to get back into racing shape and keep running over the winter was to enter the Wisconsin Chilly Willy Run Series! 

Chilly Willy is a series of 6 races between November 2015 - April 2016 including:

* 'Stache Dash 5k (November 7th)

* The Great Gobble Wobble 5k (November 26th)

*Last Call 5k/Half Marathon (December 6th)

*Janboree Frosty 5k (January 16th)

*Pi Day 5k (March 12th)

*First Call 5k/Half Marathon (April 10th)

Mr. R&R and I are both signed up for the series and we've both elected to do the half marathon at Last Call and First Call.  I've run a couple of cold weather 10k races circa 2011/2012, but a half marathon in December and another in early April will definitely be a whole new challenge.

For my registration fee (I got to knock $25 off for being a TriWi member), I get:

* entry into all 6 events

* a sweet Chilly Willy Series hoodie (see above)

* professional chip timing for all the races

* a shirt from each race

* bling for the 'Stache Dash and both Half Marathons

I'm really excited for the series - and can't wait to see how it all turns out.