Craptastic

Today I had a spectacularly bad swim. If I swore on this blog (which I do not because I know my mother reads it), I would have several choice words to use as descriptors. When I woke up this AM feeling tired and less than 100% (but really, who feels 100% at 4:55am?), a little voice inside my head said, "you should just go back to bed now." At the time, it sounded like the voice of laziness talking. But partway through a really ugly 1600, when I was on the verge of getting lapped (okay, I did get lapped, whatever), it sounded like the voice of reason. The arms wouldn't turn over, the legs felt like dead weight, I felt like I was working hard but going nowhere fast. I don't think I could've kept up if I had a jetpack strapped to the back of my Splish. THAT is how slow I felt. After the relative success I've had with swimming the past few months, this was a little slap in the face.

At the end of practice, I got out of the pool and wanted to take a nap. My brain immediately started thinking, "you're overtired, you just need a break, you should TOTALLY skip that scheduled run and use that time to rest up for camp instead." Now I was all ears to the voice of reason. During my commute to work, I grabbed the trusty iPhone and tapped out a frantic e-mail to Jen, trying to make my swim workout sound as pathetic and sad as possible, hoping she'd respond back with - "yup, you are tired, you should take the rest of the day off and eat bon-bons." Of course she actually said nothing of the sort, providing me with no excuse to skip my run. This is all made more awesome by the fact that the run was about 20-25 minutes longer than I had thought it would be and included intervals. Oh the drama. I cajoled myself onto the treadmill, saying I didn't have to do the whole workout, I didn't have to do intervals if I didn't want to, if I felt crummy, I could get off in 30 minutes, blah, blah, blah. Wouldn't you know, once I started running, it didn't feel so bad. My warmup came and went, the intervals started (a little slow at first, but eventually I stopped being a wussy sandbagger), the intervals finished, and the whole 70 minutes of the workout were suddenly over. I still wanted a nap, but I felt decent about my run and I was glad I didn't make excuses to skip it. The decent run workout semi-canceled out the craptastic swim (or at least gave me something else to think about). And really, when have you ever gone for a swim, bike, or run that you regretted later? I think the only regrets are for those workouts that you skip. I'll make sure I tell myself that next time I am tempted to skip out.

The Non-Winter Winter Run

Today I got into work a bit early with the intention of cutting out earlier than usual (after putting in my full workday, of course!) so I could run around DC and enjoy this beautiful spring, I mean winter, day. With the days getting noticeably longer (hooray!!), it felt really strange to leave my office, running shoes in hand, at 4:15pm with the sun streaming brightly through the windows, making it feel like it was mid-afternoon and I was playing hooky.

I started my run with a few of my co-workers and we jogged down to the Mall as a warmup. I had a progression run on the docket for today and I was looking forward to tackling it. Three miles, get progressively faster so you are working hard when you finish. I was going to try to go by HR but it was giving me all sorts of wacky numbers, so that idea when out the door and I went on effort instead. It was a beautiful, perfect evening to be running around the Mall, time zipped by and suddenly I was on the last bit of the workout. I've been thinking lately that I need to put a bit more effort into running, really work hard to stay in the appropriate HR zones and try to see what pace I can push in those zones. I'm so used to Ironman training (long slow distance) and the fact that I get to do a bit more speedy stuff right now (hooray for no spring marathon!!) is kind of awesome because it kind of makes me feel like I'm ahead of the game. I am seeing numbers I don't usually see. Case in point: there was a 6:xx on my Garmin for my last mile. I haven't seen a 6-something in ages upon ages! And I certainly didn't expect to see it in January. Even better was the fact that I didn't feel like I was dying or had maxed myself out. I think the consistent strength training is helping to mold me into a better athlete, I can't believe I waited this long to get serious about it. I'm so excited for this season, SO EXCITED! I've never felt this way in January. Maybe some of it has to do with the warmer-than-normal weather, but I think alot of it has to do with the fact that I am consciously trying to make the right choices (I said no to triple cream brie cheese for a snack and yes to hummus. I said no to the second bowl of ice cream and had an apple. I'm going to bed early. I'm getting my workouts in, even the strength training). The little things that, as I'm realizing now, matter so much.

Run Test & Check off that First Book of 2012!

So yesterday I had a run fitness test - an assessment to see where I am, basically. While a 20 minute all-out run on a morning whose temperatures hovered at 17 degrees isn't really where I feel my happiest, things went better than I expected. After my warmup, I gave myself a final pep talk ("You are fast, fast like the wind" "You love to run" among other silly mantras) and clicked "start" on my Garmin. I didn't let myself look at my pace - just like in a real race, I didn't want to know because then I would get inside my head and havoc would ensue. I ran with music and figured I'd run out for four songs and then turn around and head back towards home, so I concentrated on the music not the time. Oddly enough, my forearms (??!!) felt the most fatigued - too much strength training? (haha, that will be the day). All I kept thinking was "if I could only take my heavy gloves off, my arms would feel so much lighter and my forearms won't be sore anymore." When all was said and done and I looked down at the Garmin after clicking "stop," I wasn't thrilled with my overall pace but I wasn't overly disappointed either. My spirits were further buoyed later when I took a look at the results from my two earlier tests from one and two years ago, the data was better on all counts on my latest test. So even though I sometimes feel like I am slow because I'm forever in Ironman training mode, this test shows that maybe I'm headed in the other, faster direction.

What's the term in football when one player runs smack into another and totally flattens him? Mowed down? Clotheslined? Bowled over? Flattened? Well, whatever it is, that happened to me today on the Metro platform. Some guy literally ran into me full tilt (did not even slow down) and knocked me on my rear. And I saw him coming at me too late to do anything effective to prevent it - it was either jump onto the metro tracks to get out of his way or brace for impact. He didn't even stop after he knocked me over. Oh, and in case you are wondering, he made his train - I HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT YOU JERK.

Rant over. I finished my first book of 2012 today - Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Overall I thought the characters in this book were more likable than in Pride and Prejudice and it was an interesting look at relationships and courting and marriage back in the day (like 200 years ago back in the day). Truthfully, I'm glad I live in 2012, not 1812. Before 2011 ended, I made a booklist of 25 classics that I'd be interested in reading this year. Her other book, Emma, is waiting in the wings on my Kindle, but I think I might read something fluffy and easy next before tackling that one.

3 Miles to the Pentagon

So last night I met up with a few co-workers for happy hour. I can't even remember the last time I went to happy hour. It was great to catch up with everyone, but in the midst of catching up, I somehow managed to down four drinks... ooops. Double oops because I'm a lightweight and four drinks is more than sufficient to send me on my way. Triple ooops because I had swim practice the next morning. I did manage to get to swim practice on time, feeling just fine, but I think that will be the last Monday night happy hour where I actually drink alcohol in any amount.

Swim was good, I'm really happy to be back in the pool.

Tonight I also had a run on my schedule, on hilly terrain. Fortunately, the area to where Mark and I just moved has a fair amount of hills. I decided that I would run a straight shot down the street I normally take on the bus to get to the Pentagon Metro station. And I discovered, with the help of my trusty GPS, that we literally live just three miles away. AND it took me less time to run there than it takes me to ride the stinkin bus during rush hour. I think I'll be running or biking to work when the weather is warmer and the icy patches are fewer. My favorite part of the run, however, was when I was just coming up to the top of the last hill and I got a great nighttime view of Washington - the Air Force Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Pentagon, the Capitol - it was gorgeous.

Bedtime again - I have a date with the bike trainer at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning!