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Friday Favorites

February 25, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

2/25/11

60 min yoga

I went to RYAH for their lunchtime vinyasa class today. I walked in, rolled out my mat, and glanced up at the teacher. NO! Remember the mm hmm lady? Well I totally forgot she teaches the Friday lunch class. D’oh! Thankfully she kept her “mm hmms” to a minimum.

Time for Friday Favorites – Music Edition!

Pearl Jam
Love, love, love Pearl Jam…and have since high school. I’ve seen them close to 20 times. No lie. When they come to Philly (or in the surrounding area) I often go to at least 2 shows. I’m in the fan club (super fan!) so I’m eligible for pre-sale tickets and can get some pretty good seats. And don’t get me started on Eddie Vedder. Saw him solo = amazing show!

EXIF_JPEG_T422 — At the Tower Theater - June 2009

For a really long time, I didn’t like any other bands. I would just listen to Pearl Jam. I’m making more of an effort these days to listen to the radio so I’m “in the know” musically. I rely on my friends Michelle and Trish to tell me what is “cool”. I don’t know what songs Katy Perry sings and I only know a few Lady Gaga songs (and this is all because of Michelle and Trish). Matt says I haven’t updated my iPod since 2005!

A few months ago I found a band (well Matt started listening to them first) that I love almost as much as Pearl Jam (no worries Eddie, you’ll always be number 1)…the Airborne Toxic Event!

Airborne Toxic Event
This band has been around for awhile but, as I already stated, I’m a little slow in the music arena. I cannot get enough of them! Matt and I went to the Keswick Theater last June to see them and they were incredible. I have been looking all over for a chance to see them again and found out they are playing at the Trocadero in May. YEAH! Actually, Matt was going to surprise me with tickets but I heard about it on the radio and ruined the surprise. BOO!

I don’t have a 3rd favorite band…yet. Maybe after I listen to the radio some more I’ll find one…

Have a great Friday!

Impromptu Long Run

February 24, 2011 by Kristy 11 Comments

2/24/11

13 miles

1:56

8:55 avg pace

So what prompted me to knock out 13 miles after work on a Thursday?! Let me walk you through the inner dialogue I had with myself this morning (don’t be scared)…

OK, long run on Friday morning. Need to check weather. Crap, 100% chance of rain all day and lots of wind. Well maybe I can run 13 miles on the treadmill? Oh that will really suck. I could barely stand 8 miles on Wednesday.

I can’t move the run to Saturday morning since I’m going to Sarah and Aidan’s basketball games (my niece and nephew). I could run after the games but I know that will set me up for a bad run.

I could do it really early on Sunday morning and come home, shower super quick, and head to brunch (I have plans to go to brunch with my friends). But I want to sleep in on Sunday…

WAIT. I can do it today after work. 13 miles is practically a short run these days. Weather is perfect too.

And there you have it. Please tell me other people think this much about their running schedule!

I had a really good run. Which was surprising, given my dislike for running after work. My training plan called for 9:00 average pace but I really wanted to keep it under 9:00. I’m pleased 🙂

This is a drop-week in my training plan, meaning my long run (and thus overall mileage) is decreased to allow my legs to rest. The intensity is still there – I still had a speed and tempo run this week – but the mileage is lower. It’s very similar to tapering before a race. But it’s back to business on Monday.

For the rest of the night, I’ll be doing this:

Matt took this picture after the Philly Rock n’ Roll Half last September. You would have thought Hawk ran the race too!

Happy Birthday Hawk

February 23, 2011 by Kristy 3 Comments

Today Hawk is 1 year old! Here are some pics from his birthday celebration. It was crazy, let me tell ya. He’s partied out.

DSCN0019 — It's my birthday and I do not look happy about it

DSCN0021 — My birthday present - a SJU collar (my namesake)

DSCN0054 — No more pictures, please. Let me enjoy my cookie.

Check Me Out!

February 23, 2011 by Kristy 3 Comments

Today I was featured on Healthy Living Blogs’ “Workout Wednesday”! Check it out here. Pretty cool 🙂

The timing is actually funny since I wrote about how I may be a believer in speed work after all this week (read about it here).

Tempo Wednesday

February 23, 2011 by Kristy 6 Comments

2/23/11

8 miles tempo

1:11

8:52 avg pace

I woke up at 5:00AM not really wanting to do this workout. Most of that had to do with running on the treadmill. I’m so over it at this point and can’t wait to get back to running outside in the mornings.

1 mile warm-up, 3 miles @ 8:24 pace, 3 miles @ GMP (8:45 pace), 1 mile cool-down

I’m glad it’s done and out of the way because….

today is Mr. Hawk’s birthday! Our little furball is turning 1! We have some birthday activities planned tonight so I’ll be back later to post some pictures.

I May Be A Believer After All…

February 21, 2011 by Kristy 4 Comments

2/21/11

6 miles speed

I get nervous every time I do speed work. I worry that I won’t hit my splits and that I’ll never get faster. I tell myself that I’m built for endurance, NOT speed. I’ve said numerous times that I was on the fence as to whether speed work makes a difference. I’m giving it a real, fair try this training cycle to see what happens. In the past, speed work has been very taxing on my body. I tend to take longer to recover and often my tempo and long runs suffer because of it. I was just reading in Brad Hudson’s Run Faster that runners whose strength is speed generally recover faster from speed work and runners whose strength is endurance (me!) recover faster from longer runs. The converse is also true which explains my prolonged recovery after speed work and my speedy recovery after 20-milers.

Today’s speed work called for 6×800 at 3:33 (7:06 pace). I did 5×800 (the 6th one so wasn’t happening…I was exhausted). My spilts: 3:34, 3:34, 3:33, 3:32, 3:32! Woohoo! Why was I so happy? Let me explain:

1. I have never done 800s this fast before. I generally hover around the 3:40 range. I was surprised I was so consistent too.

2. For the past 7 weeks, I’ve been doing speed work on the treadmill because of the weather. Today I went to the track (yeah!) but I was concerned about my ability to adequately pace myself. It’s so much easier on the treadmill – just set the pace and stick to it. The track is much harder.

3. I did a 20-miler 2 days ago! Now I’m wondering what my splits would be with fresh, rested legs!

So maybe all this speed nonsense is helping?! Could it be that I’m a believer in speed work? Nine more weeks of speed work plus a little bit of confidence in myself and who knows what’ll happen?

I’ll leave you with this picture from SF (technically Stinson Beach, CA). This is how I felt after my run today…