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Little Things I Look Forward To Each Day

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7/13/11
8 miles temp0 / 1:06 / 8:15 avg pace
*6 miles at 7:50 pace

I was thinking a few days ago about all the routine things I do each day that make me smile, bring me out of a bad mood, comfort me, etc.  If you sense a list coming up, you’re correct!  Here’s my list of little things that I look forward to each day (most likely in order of appearance!).

1.  My morning run:  If you couldn’t tell from my 5:00AM wake-up calls, I’m an early bird.  Running in the morning is so peaceful (and necessary in the summer).  It’s the best way to start the day.

2.  Venti sugar-free vanilla non-fat misto:  I swing by Starbucks on the days that I go into work (I work from home 2 days a week).  Delicious!  I know my drink order is super high maintenance but this is way cheaper than a Skinny Vanilla Latte but tastes the same.

3.  Readers’ comments:  I LOVE reading your comments!  I get so excited when my Gmail lights up!  Keep ’em coming 🙂

4.  Blog reading:  I also love to read all of your blogs!

5.  Walking in the door after work and seeing Hawk:  How can you not love a dog that is so happy to see you every day?  He practically looses his mind when I walk in the door.

6.  Having dinner with Matt:  I love to sit down and eat with Matt (bonus if it’s summer and we can grill and eat on the deck).

7.  Taking Hawk for a walk:  Bonus if Matt comes along.  I enjoy going out for a walk but don’t get the chance to do it very often.

8.  Watching a TV show with Matt:  We don’t watch much TV so this is a real treat.  Usually we watch a show on Netflix (just finished up Friday Night Lights – so so so good!).

9.  Bed:  Yes, I’m serious.  I love to sleep and go to bed early – between 9:00 and 9:30.  Yup, call me grandma.  But that 5:00AM wake-up call comes pretty fast!

What are some routine things that you look forward to each day?  

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 6 Recap

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I hit the big 5-0 last week and, overall, had a great week with the exception of Friday’s steamy 20-miler.

MON:  8 easy
TUE:  7 speed (fastest 800s to-date!)
WED:  7 easy
THU:  rest
FRI:  20 long
SAT:  rest
SUN:  8 tempo

Now I’m noticing a pattern with my dehydration. My left quad was sore Friday to Monday just like it was during the NJ Marathon. During the marathon I got pretty dehydrated, just like Friday’s 20-miler. Since I’ve never had any issues with my quads I definitely think there’s a link. For me, the NJM and Friday’s 20-miler are what I dubbed “stage 2” dehydration – headache and nausea. As opposed to my usual post-long run “stage 1” dehydration – just an annoying headache. Seem like stage 2 creeps in and so does the quad soreness.  Thankfully the soreness goes away after a few days but it’s a pain in the ass.

Since this is starting to get on my nerves, I’m going to increase my water intake the night before and the morning of a long run. I must admit I’m pretty bad with this. During my long runs though I’m a model hydrator…drinking water like crazy, Shot Blok-ing, and electrolyte popping!

What are your must-haves to prevent dehydration during the summer? I tried nuun a few times. It didn’t see any real difference and I thought it was gross!

A Fun and Productive Weekend

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7/11/11
8 miles easy / 1:17 / 9:37 avg pace

Let’s recap the weekend!  Friday night was my friend Wendy’s wedding.  She looked beautiful and her dress was amazing (it was so Wendy!).  The ceremony took place outside on this beautiful covered terrace.  It was perfect.

Here is Wendy getting ready to walk down the aisle…

She was a little emotional!

Back view of her dress…

The food was awesome:  mini cheeseburgers and a mashed potato bar?!  I can’t think of a better way to refuel after 20 miles.

Group shot:  Sheryl, Wendy, and me.  Not sure why we are all squatting down (especially me).

Saturday was my first weekend home in awhile and I was prepared to tackle some of my to-do list.  Matt has been asking me for some time to go through all my pictures (pre-digital age…about 3 1/2 boxes worth) and trash/consolidate.  We live in a small house so the less boxes lying around, the better.  This took all day.  And I’m not even finished.  I separated everything into piles based on time but I still need to organize more before placing them in storage boxes.  I got rid of 3 garbage bags worth of pictures.  Who needs that many pictures of your senior prom?  I also got to relive how much fun I had in college 🙂

This is the treadmill's purpose during the summer months

On Sunday I had a 8 mile tempo run planned with 5 miles at 8:00 pace.  I’ve been doing my tempo runs on a shaded trail so my Garmin is always a little off; it often tells me I am running faster than I am.  It’s difficult for me to accurately track my pace so I just aim to run in the “comfortably hard” tempo zone.

image

I got back to my car and took a peek at my times.  Holy crap!  That was comfortably hard?!  I finally found my groove and hit my pace on laps 5 and 6.  I obviously need to reign myself in more and control my pace but I do love to see progress!

20 Miles, Take 2

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7/8/11
20 miles / 3:07 / 9:21 avg pace

One of my Dad’s favorite sayings is “no one ever drowned in sweat”.  I think I came pretty close today.  90% humidity is no joke!  I was planning on doing this run as a long, slow distance anyway but the weather gave me no choice.  By mile 10 my shorts were drenched and sticking to me.  Shortly after that, I started getting exhausted and my stomach started to cramp up.  I dehydrate pretty easily so I always carry my handheld water bottle with me…and I refilled it 4 times!  So after a 4:30AM wake-up call and 20 miles, I feel completely hungover – headache, nauseous, etc.  Awesome.  On days like today, it’s unavoidable.  I drank a ton of water, ate Shot Bloks every 4 miles, and even took electrolyte tablets pre- and post-run.

But I need to recover quickly because tonight is summer wedding #2. My friend Wendy is getting married! I’m so happy for her!

Are you dealing with this ridiculous humidity too?  Please feel free to vent!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Random Thursday

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I love these posts since, on any given day, I have a number of random running thoughts in my head. Nothing significant enough to warrant an entire post…just random musings.

  • Apparently, many of you wear underwear (thongs) with your running tights (if you have no idea what I’m talking about see here). I’m shocked! I’m in the minority!  I still don’t think I could do it; I would be so uncomfortable. I feel like I’m left out of a secret club!  Who knew?!
  • I finally finished Born To Run. LOVED it. I won’t do a book review or give anything away though. All I’ll say is this book should be on your must-read list. I really had no idea what it was about (and I think it’s better that way); all I knew is that everyone raved about it. Now I know why!
  • Many of you were interested in the North Face Stow-n-Go Sports Bra that I reviewed last week but were concerned about size.  The bra is recommended for A/B cups.  Amanda suggested another pocketed-bra from Gracie’s Gear.  I’ve never tried them but they come in all sizes.
  • Please help out fellow blogger Claire win the Cheribundi Vegas Marathon Challenge.  She’s currently in second place!!  All you have to do is “like” the Cheribundi FB page and then “like” Claire’s picture.

What is your favorite running book? Or a running book on your must-read list? I keep hearing that Running On Empty is good.

Lehigh Valley Marathon: Week 5 Recap

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7/6/11
7 miles easy / 1:07 / 9:34 avg pace

Week 5 went surprisingly well, especially after a weekend of bachelorette festivities.  The lack of sleep did me in and I practically dragged myself out of bed for each run.  But, as always, once I got moving I was fine.

MON:  6 miles speed
TUE:  6 miles tempo
WED:  8 miles easy
THU:  rest
FRI:  18 miles (so happy about this run!)
SAT:  4 easy miles at the shore
SUN:  rest

42 miles for the week (it’s a drop-back week).  I’m hoping to hit the big 5-0 this week.

So here’s a really random, so-not-related-to-this-post question:  when you wear running tights (or yoga pants), do you wear underwear?  I’ve gotten asked this question a few times (I don’t) and I have pretty strong feelings on this one.  First off, why would you?  I can’t think of anything more uncomfortable.  And unsightly.  I’ve been behind women in races and all I can see is panty lines.  If you do don the underwear, I would love to hear why!