recovery

Today starts a recovery week! And at the end of this recovery week is the Spring Forward 15K in Mendon! I am excited for both! Last week wore on me both physically and mentally. But now I have my new car and some job prospects so I am good on the transportation front and less worried on the job front. After this race I will be ready to go again.. I love spring because I love the beginning of race season! I like going to races with new friends, and meeting new people at races, and seeing other friends there too! I still get recognized as "the girl from the bike shop" so that's kind of fun. I thought racing would make me sad since Andy and I split up but it's ok. We even ran to Johnny's together, but then I did a cool down with Train-This. It's a new year and my life is different but I am focused and on-track.

PSSSH. I got a 2nd wind and did my 1 hr recovery spin! Less failure now.

failure..

Yessss. So I am reviving this blog. I have been at this IM training for almost 3 months. It has gone quite smoothly up until this week. I ran Johnny's Runnin' of the Green last weekend. I ran over to the start with Andy. It was chilly and rainy. I felt GREAT during the race.. much much more in shape than last year. Mile 1 was pretty quick, 2 and 3 were a little slower, but then I picked it back up for miles 4 and 5. I was a minute faster than my time last year. I finished in 36:11 and I think that puts my pace somewhere around a 7:07.. which is great! Lots of Train-This teammates there!

So that was good news.. bad news is that I totaled my poor Ford Focus 2 weeks ago by pulling out of my driveway and into an oncoming car. So I freaked out for a week about how I was going to buy a car. Then my dad found me a car in Vestal and I wound up getting it. I just picked it up yesterday! It's an '09 Hyundai Elantra Touring (in the USA, touring = wagon but apparently Americans don't like wagons so they try to make it more appealing. Here in the US of A we only like giant SUVs and not sensible, practical cars). It's bright red, has TONS of room in the back for bikes/gear, can play my ipod.. I love it!

This week was my biggest training week so far but unfortunately I was just overloaded with things.. car shopping, appointments, going to pick up my car, and lack of sleep. I made it through Thursday and then I was so fried that I skipped my workout, intending to make it up today (Sunday). Just didn't happen. Ran 1:45 this morning and then my stomach started acting up and I am just exhausted. So Thursday's makeup workout didn't happen, and neither did my 1 hr recovery spin on the bike. This is what I hate. I hate missing workouts. I always feel super guilty but I know I have to listen to my body. It's still early. Missing a few hours in March is not going to screw up my Ironman. I know that. I just hate when I mess things up. I know I should at least do the hour on my bike but I am so tired and I have a very persistent headache and honestly I would just rather lie on my couch. I'm lazy, and I suck. :(

winter woes

Winter is here in full swing. Running now sucks because the sidewalks are not cleaned well in Rochester. Seriously, I'm running slower than 10 min/mile in this crap because it's soggy, slippery and really deep in some parts. Andy and I drove out to Mendon Ponds Park yesterday to snowshoe and the roads are clean to run out there, so maybe I will take some of my runs out that way just to feel like I am actually running and not struggling. I have now learned that snowshoeing in MPP is fantastic! The trails are pretty wide and they are groomed so well! We did 6 miles yesterday (I went over my 45 min run by 30 mins or so - oops) and I am getting more and more used to my snowshoes every time I go. The first time I went I was done after 4 miles. Yesterday I went 6 and felt awesome. It was also pretty warm out - I think it was 30 or close to 30 so that made things good. Running in the bitter cold is just awful and I try to subject myself to the least amount of below 10 degree running as possible!

I start my new job on Monday. As much as the time off has been relaxing, I have been BORED out of my freaking mind. I do my training, and that's it. And mostly I wind up putting it off because I have all day when I should just go in the morning and do it. I am not looking forward to the hours of the new job, but I'm getting paid more than my last job, so the money will be nice. I have an expensive race season ahead of me! Yay!

late!

I actually went out for New Year's Eve. I did not drink. I have no desire to drink at all anymore. I never really have felt that way but I used to drink socially a little bit. Now I could just care less! But I am very very very tired because it is WAY past my bedtime!

goodbye 2009

I am officially unemployed.. yikes! I have been doing lots of job searching and I filed for unemployment on Monday. It sucks that I've only had 3 days off and I'm already bored!

Today I finally got to use my new snowshoes! Andy had the day off so we drove down to Harriet-Hollister park (because there is actually snow there) and we ran on snowshoes for 5 miles. It's fun but hard and I have some blisters! Andy got me these neoprene booties from Fleet Feet which were a huge help and I did not get any snow down my socks. He did, and now he wants some of the booties also!

My brother is here for New Years for a wedding and he's supposed to be staying with me but I don't know how it's going to work, because he likes to go out and party and I do not. He's supposed to stay here tonight but I have to go to bed early so I can go to an appointment at a temp agency at 8:30 am tomorrow morning, and he's going out tonight and probably won't be done with that until 2 am or something. There is no way I'm waiting up for him. And then the wedding is New Years Eve. I had plans but now Andy has to work New Years Day, so I don't think that's happening anymore, and I really don't care at all if I have plans because I don't really care about drinking, but again, my brother is supposed to be staying here so I don't know how that is going to happen.. This is why I dislike having houseguests.

Maybe I will write a New Years resolutions entry soon!

lazy girl

Alright, so I still have not posted about the Philly Marathon, I know. I will get to it.

The marathon was 2 weeks ago yesterday, and today I FINALLY get to run! I have not taken 2 weeks off from running in several years (other than when I sprained my ankle).. ever since I got back into running after my hiatus during college. It's only a 30 minute run, but there is something about winter running that I love. I dread it all day because it sucks to run when it's dark out and it's soo cold when you first get going, but I love the feeling once I'm warmed up and breathing in the cold air feels so refreshing! I also got my Dions yesterday (early xmas present from Mom and Dad) and I'm hoping for some snow so I can try them out!! I have the Snow Cheap series lined up for this winter hopefully.. maybe some other snowshoe races as well.

Otherwise, I'm taking it pretty easy for December.. doing 30 min sessions of each sport 3x this week. I had been out of the pool and off the bike for almost 2 months until last week.

Getting back in the pool was rough. I'm a big slacker when it comes to swimming because I just get so bored. And I'm already an ok swimmer so I just assume that my fitness level will pull me through. Not going to work for IMLP!!!! When I was training for Musselman I was doing 20 mins in the pool maybe 2 times per week. Not great. So doing 30 after no swimming since Finger Lakes was not fun. And flip turns are not my greatest strength. I only learned how to do them last year when I was masters swimming with Dan Dubois. So they make me really tired towards the end of my set and I can really feel it! But it's good. I feel good when I get out of the pool!

I'm rambling. My job's end date is creeping closer (I have 3 weeks left) and I continue to get more and more nervous. The guys in charge of me at Kelly are working on finding me another position but I have heard nothing yet.