i'm callin' it 3.5 - by abby

don't really know how far it was, but i was out for about 37 minutes so it's somewhere between 3.5 and 3.75. much better to be out when it's 50 degrees than when it's 90. and then weights, the 21 pushups i'm up to and stretching with the puppy, which is always interesting.

3.5 and some weights - gerlinda

ah, 3.5 miles feels almost like nothing now...
afterward, i did some light hearted weightlifting. just some curls and stuff.

i'm trying to decide whether or not to get up @ 5AM tomorrow & go to boot camp to make up for not doing my crosstraining yesterday... (((wafffffflllling)))

er...stumble

i was supposed to crosstrain today...instead, i met the cleaning people at my new house. i assumed it would take, like, an hour to clean my house, since its the size of a postage stamp - but they were there for 3 hours. i should've gotten up when my alarm went off at 6 this morning. that's what i get for procrastinating...so, basically, the only physical thing i've done all day is wash some dishes.

cross - by abby

60-min mtn bike because really i've never known the point of a 2-mile run in the middle of all this, except for the day or two before a race.

ride 10.5/run 3.5 ... by abby

CONGRATS ON THE HOUSE GERLINDA!!!!!!


10.5-mile (~50-minute) easy mountain bike at 6am. allergic to everything. sneezed my way through the ride.

3.5-mile run (~35-minute) at 10:30am. sneezed my way through that too. also, it's freakishly hot here. i think my skin is shriveling up.

stretches and weights after the run. i am up to 3 sets of 6 pushups. how in the world can anyone do 165? i hate pushups. i always have. they hurt my wrists. does this mean i'm doing them wrong? my wrists are like twigs.

today - gerlinda

ran 3.5 miles in 36.5 minutes

bought a house


thankyouverymuch

stretch & strengthen - gerlinda

ok - on HH's website, he gives links to several stretches & strengthening exercises. i suppose, down the line, it will be more important to do the stretches. But today, i skipped the stretches.

i did do some "strength" exercies. i did a version of this thing called 'the pyramid' that we used to do in boot camp. it goes like this: 1 pushup. 2 pushups. 3 pushups - all the way up to 10, and then back down to 1. And then we do it with tricep dips. Mountain Climbers. Situps. Whatever. My version went like this: 10 pushups. 11 pushups. 12 pushups - all the way up to 20. Then i did situps. Then tricep dips. I was planning to do 2nd sets where i went back down the other side of the pyramid...but my arms were literally, like, quivering and twitching - and i decided it was OK to not bother. If you do the math, that's 165 of each exercise (i think.) it'll be interesting to see if i can lift my coffee cup in the morning.

then i went out for vegetarian indian food with my best friends, rama & lauren, who are running the 1/2 marathon with me in virgina beach - and they made fun of our training blog!! they said i was getting too obsessive! ha. wait till they choke on my dust in virginia beach!

thanks for the tips & links abby. that one about marking your course miles with spray paint was inspired!

tips ... by abby

i should've done at least some stretching and a few weights today, but i'm ... not. anyway, i typed up these tips, which you can download here. i was going to post them as a link on the sidebar, but i'm not entirely sure they're all that useful. they are more just observations, i guess, than anything.

i went to the local running store, fleet feet, this afternoon, to talk to them about my right hip. it's a problem i've had before, and – like my left hamstring (pulled, badly, a few years ago) and left ankle (sprained to the point of breaking, also a few years ago) issues – it will probably never go away. damage to soft tissue just really never heals, so all you can do is figure a way around the symptoms. i had been having this issue with my hip as early as a 6 weeks ago, when i was riding my road bike a lot more and running a little less. anyway, it's safe to say it's not the 2-3 extra miles a week that's causing the pain. it's more that my body's off balance with itself. the fleet feet kid put me on the treadmill to watch me run for a little while and decided that it looks basically like i am favoring my right leg slightly due to the hamstring and ankle issues on the left leg, and that's what's causing the discomfort. i left with a yet another pair of shoes that will hopefully keep me from over-pronating on the right side, thus allegedly keeping the ball of my hip in its socket, where it belongs. so we'll see about that. the hip will be fine ... i just want to kill any issues right here and now before i start getting into longer and longer runs.

5 miles + float ... by abby

so, after posting this morning i conferenced with the float group and we decided i had time for a run. but because of where i'm staying this weekend, i had to do a slightly different course, all on gravel. also, i didn't have proper running gear, so i headed out in my river shorts and a cotton tank top and my salomon
trail runner and/or light hikers. (my regular running shoe of choice these days is an asics shoe -- i can't remember the model -- a departure from my favorite adidas shoe that they don't make anymore, and so far, perfectly acceptable, though i am having some trouble with my right hip, which means i should probably get into a more cushioned shoe ... but more on that later). not ideal, but i managed. since i didn't have a course pre-planned from here, i basically just ran for 25 minutes and then turned around. i clocked it on my way home from the river and it turns out it was actually just under 5 miles, but that's okay. plus the all-gravel terrain should count for at least another mile. at least it was flat. but sweet lord it was hot. i left around 11 -- the heat of the day these days -- and plus it's been so dry here that every car that passed kicked up a massive cloud of dust, so i came back dripping and dirty.

which was fine, since i proceeded to throw myself at the yellowstone. so, i'm sunburned and tired, but also showered and happy. i'm fixing to have whole wheat pasta w/ tofu and salad w/ homemade dressing. it's late, i know, but a girl's gotta eat something besides chips and grapes on the river.

i have more to add w/r/t clothing, etc., and will post that plus some more tips tomorrow, my real, true off day.

Running, Food and Gear - by Gerlinda

RUNNING: Today, I did the "Long" Run - 4 miles. Because I was out till 2AM playing a show last night, there was no way I was getting up at 6 to run before the sultry Georgia summer heat kicked in... So, I slept in and then knocked out the run at the gym. I did the 4 miles in about 43 minutes, which is a good pace for me. I was tired from lack of sleep, so I took an EnduroShot before the run. Say what you will, but I think those things make a difference. I also like Amino Vital, in the little packets. Anyway, the run felt good; I felt strong and I still had a lot of juice at the end.

FOOD: Sunday's, I try to cook stuff to eat through the week. I started doing this when I joined Boot Camp - because, being required to eat 6 times a day (3 small meals & 3 snacks) makes eating more of ... well, you eat just for fuel, you know? Not for pleasure. Having stuff prepared ahead of time makes it easier. So, on Sunday's, I grill salmon fillets, whip up sweet potatos, make a big bowl of broccolli with grape tomatos & feta cheese, stir fry my fake version of Saag Paneer (I use tofu instead of the paneer, and I season it with a couple teaspoons of red chili curry paste, then mix in a little reduced fat sour cream.) I'm also a huge fan of Boca and Morningstar Farms fake ground beef. I make salads, and then put taco-seasoned soy crumbles and salsa on the top. And I stuff roasted poblano peppers with soy crumbles and part-skim mozzarella, top them with salsa & bake for 45 minutes - yum. Soy crumbles are also a great way to add protein to spaghetti sauce. I sound like a vegetarian, but I'm not. I also eat chicken breasts and the occasional lean steak - but more and more, I really crave fish. I love, love, love sushi. Anyway, so that's my diet. It's not a "diet." It's just the way I eat. As for the "snacks" I'm pretty bad about remembering to eat the snacks between meals. I try to keep protein bars like AdvantEdge around. Also, I keep a jar of peanut butter in my desk at work. I also like cottage cheese with tomatos or berries. Maybe I'm a freak, but I really don't get cravings for chocolate cake or whatever. And, when I do want something bad (like chicken wings or tortilla chips or a certain pasta dish I ate the last time I saw Abby - with cream sauce and mushrooms, which I still dream about...) I just eat it and don't feel bad about it. You should have at least one day a week, I think, where you eat whatever you want. Eating healthy can be pretty boring - especially if you're bad at cooking, like I am. Everything I cook is burned, bland, or overdone. But, I keep trying and eventually, I'm sure I'll get better at it.

GEAR: My running shoes are Asics Gel Empire II's. I also have a pair of Asics 2110's Both are excellent. Beyond the shoes, however, I am stymied. I haven't found any other gear that I love. Sports Bra's, for instance, are a huge problem. I'm cursed with big boobs. I can't stand the "loaf boob" look of the cute little sports bras you find at Nike, etc. Plus, they don't eliminate the bounce. Right now, I wear a Champion, which I like, but I start to chafe at the bottom elastic after about 5 miles. Running shorts are also a problem - because the shorter ones that keep you cool also ride up and chafe on me. So I wear longer shorts, from the boys department. Or I wear compression shorts under my running shorts. Either way, I'm not very fashionable. I have a hard time with shirts too. I keep trying different ones, but I haven't found the perfect style yet. Dry Wick materials tend to fit tight or cling, which I hate. But, if I wear plain cotton, I am soaked in sweat within a mile or two - Gross.

Abby - thanks for the bike gear tips. I know nothing about biking, so all of that was helpful. I'll probably take my bike in for service this week, and maybe they can put on some of those toe thingies you mentioned, because my shoes kept slipping off the pedals the other day (the grips on the pedals and the grips on my sneakers weren't in harmony...)

IN CONCLUSION: I know all this stuff is deadly boring, so sorry to go on and on about it. I promise to be more brief in the future!

definitions, muscles, shorts and i'm a bad influence ... by abby

ok. active rest is where you do some *very* light aerobic activity ... hardly getting your heart rate up at all, but keeping your body in motion. bike rides are great for this, if you can find a trail or route that is pretty flat and doesn't demand much of you. the important thing is to remember that's it's not supposed to be a workout. swimming is also great active rest, and also just walking or hiking. basically you want it to be low-impact and low-demand. i prefer active rest to rest sometimes, because i'm restless. gerlinda, if you decide to do active rest, i would start with walking, and then move up to biking in another month or so. i think it's important to have true rest days too -- the thing is to just listen to your body and make decisions based on how you feel.

yep, that muscle is your quad. and it's good that it's sore! it's a different part of your quad than running, and it generally develops pretty fast. i think you won't get muscles that pop out (i don't have them), because it's longer muscle ... or something like that. anyway, developing that muscle by biking will help you when you're running. one thing to remember about biking is that you have to pull up as well as push down. that is, on the upstroke, pull up with one leg while pushing down with the other. it seems natural to do that, but if you really think about it while you're doing it, you'll feel what i mean. pulling up helps work your hamstrings and takes some pressure off your quads as well.

now, regarding bike clothes: go and get yourself some cheap bike shorts. nashbar.com is a good place to find them for cheap, or rei.com, or if you have a local bike store you might pay more but would be supporting local business. you'll feel silly and dumb in them, but you'll get over it once you realize how much more comfortable they are. another thing that can help with comfort is a good saddle. if you have a trek, it probably came with a decent saddle. i've found that the most comfortable saddles are hard and narrow; the wide and cushy ones just spread your pelvic bones and that gets painful on a long ride. the narrow, harder saddles are made to not spread your pelvic bones. a bike jersey with a pocket in back is a good thing too ... so if you are our for over an hour you can take your cell phone in case something happens. (i punctured on my road bike about two weeks ago, and did not have my cell. i could have replaced the tube, but the tire was actually ripped and there's nothing to do about that since it's pretty impossible to carry a whole extra tire. luckily, i was only 2 miles from home, but hoofing it in bike shoes sucks. i learned my lesson and will carry my cell from now on.) and also, get your bike tuned up, if you haven't. it's cheap and worth it; it's good for the bike and also helps it last longer. if you decide that biking is something you want to become semi-serious about, we'll talk pedals and shoes. for now, though, if your pedals don't have cages, you might want to get some. they help you on the upstroke and definintely make you more efficient on the bike.

i have a bunch more tips for you, about all this stuff. i don't know how much you already know or believe or have figured out ... but there are little things that i can tell you that might make a difference. so i'll pull that together and post here in the next day or so.

today i'm scheduled for a 4.5-miler, partially on gravel. i'm up in the air about it, though .... which makes me a bad influence. let's just say this: floating the yellowstone with a cooler and friends on a hot summer day is a *much* more attractive proposition. but: the nice thing about higdon's schedule is that you can get away with switching things around a bit. since tomorrow is a rest day, i could take my rest day today and do the 4.5-er tomorrow. but .... i depends on how today shapes up. right now, for both of us, these 3 and 4 mile runs are just building a base. where it gets really important to stick to it is the about 5 miles and up. at that point, no more excuses!

and more bike rides - by gerlinda

Abby, what is this "active rest" business? is 'rest' not supposed to actually = literal rest?

ANYWAY - so yesterday, i partied with my bootcamp friends. all the instructors have stories just like mine where they've had bad breakups, or deaths, or lack of confidence, or something bad that propelled them into boot camp. and, like me, they've transformed their minds by gutting it out, doing pushups in the mud at 5:30am...

today on crosstraining day, i did what abby did on her 'active rest' day - took an easy bike ride. well, ok, i occasionally huffed and puffed, and i defininitely got sweaty. but then there were the downhill parts in between where i hurtled through space on wheels. i'm not much of a biker. my bike is 11 years old, has never been serviced, and is covered in dust. but it's a Trek, and it's light, and it's green, and it has road tires (smaller, less knobby ones than mountain bike tires, but beefier than 10-speed tires.)

things i learned today:

1. biking really hurts whatever muscle it is that connects to your knee. is that your quad? you know how squats make your quads hurt in the front-middle of your thigh? biking makes your muscles hurt in the front-bottom and mine were screaming. i hope this eventually results in muscles that pop out like you see on TV.
2. running shorts are horrible for biking. i managed to avoid the chafe by spreading my legs wide and opening my crotch to the breeze... (ok, just kidding - but srsly, note to self: wear longer shorts next time.)

i biked up the freedom parkway trail for a few miles, then detoured through candler park to east atlanta, where i stopped to buy guitar strings. then i headed home via ormewood park, past my new house, which i am supposed to close on tuesday. i noticed the current occupant is still in it. wonder when he's moving out??

right now i'm eating a salad that would disgust even someone who hadn't eaten in 3 days...lettuce, bluecheese, cranberries, pecans, tomato (and here's where it gets gross), tuna, topped off with balsalmic vinegrette. it was all i could find in the fridge. now i'm off to a pool party, and later tonight, my band is playing a show at a birthday party for the woman who wrote and directed The Adventures of Oicee Nash.

bike rides ... by abby

friday i did active rest as a 50-minute easy mountain bike ride. and then i ate about half a can of pringles. so i figure those cancel each other out. i think i will start swimming on fridays soon. today is a cross day, and i just got back from a 19-mile road bike ride to the aptly named town of churchill, where there is indeed a church on the hill. (view from the bike at right). we've been having this flawlessly beautiful days, and it's so peaceful first thing in the morning. i always enjoy my road bike rides, but i particularly enjoyed this one. nothing much to report except a lot of dead gophers, one unlucky bunny with its guts all on the road and a left hamstring that is not cooperating fully.

but i would like to dispel the myth that i am a fast runner. gerlinda thinks i am, but i'm not. the only things i do fast are shower and spell. i'm not even that *good* of a runner. it's just i've been doing this longer. if i knew i had to run only one mile, and i really really went all out, i could probably do it in 7 minutes. but then i would collapse and die. i haven't trained to be fast. i have all this lsd training (that's Long Slow Distance, not to be confused with the drug), so i've built up a lot of endurance over the years. i've never been fast; i can just go and go and go. this i believe i inherited from my baseball-player dad -- some kind of slow-twitch muscle thing or something. it's also partly why i'm better at individual distance sports than i am at team sports or sprints. the point of lsd is to go slower over longer periods of time -- like only 60% of your target heart rate or anaerobic threshold or one of those terms like that. so. see. not fast.

ANYWAY. now, i'm going to float the yellowstone.

Free Day - by Gerlinda

Friday's are rest days according to ye olde training schedule... of course, i was on vacation in Maine earlier this week - so i really should get off my arse & go for a short jog, at the very least. But - instead, I think I'll attend the "boot camp wrap up party." I want to say goodbye to all the inspirational folks I've met there.

Yesterday's workout was OK. I ran 3-1/2 miles...I think I was only supposed to run 3, but honestly - what difference does it make? I ran kind of faster than normal...a bit over a 10-min/mile pace (I'm way slower than Abby, you guys!) My plan was to crank up the speed in mile 3, but i started getting these weird lung cramps. almost like chest pains, but more under my ribs, and, well, they just felt different than a heart attack, i think. Anyway, I slowed back down in order to avoid dying. death would kind of put a crimp in my training. still, since it was sort of a short run, i pushed myself. Me pushing myself is like Abby taking a slow stroll along the beach... :)

Tomorrow is crosstraining... My bike is packed up, so I'll be borrowing a friend's. Maybe I'll try to bike downtown? Atlanta almost feels like a "real" city down there.

the big wheel keeps on turning ... by abby

i ran a little over 3 miles this morning. i couldn't settle in. it was sort of foggy and humid and the sun was just peaking over the bridgers. it was early, just before 6, but not earlier than i'm usually up, so i couldn't figure out what the problem was. i huffed and puffed and listened to "tunnel of love" by dire straits on repeat, which i am still doing now as i write this because i can't stop listening to it. when i got home, i realized i'd just ran the whole course at under 10-minute pace. so no wonder. let's just say i won't be doing that again. so i did stretching and weights and the five measly pushups i can manage these days and vowed to be better at pacing myself. my brain needs reconfiguring. when i know i'll be out for 5 or more miles, i have no trouble running at the pace i want to run. but when i know i'll only be out for 3, my body can't figure it out.

anyway, it takes a certain kind of person to do a marathon. it's a big commitment -- of both time and soul -- and most people think it's a pretty crazy thing. it's definitely not for the faint of heart, nor the faint of mind. actually, i think it takes a stronger mind than body. when you're out for 10 or 12 or 20 miles -- especially when you are training alone -- you really have find strength at your very core. the reward is amazing though, and i think you learn a lot about yourself along the way.

at some point in the next few days, i will post my schedule to a link. if gerlinda emails me her schedule, i'll post that too ... i have no access to that windows live mail thing. speaking of gerlinda: i just want to say for what it's worth that i'm really proud of you for doing this. i'm glad to have your back, and i hope the whole thing is a positive experience for you. and plus it'll be fun. ;)

What In The Hell Are We Doing? An introduction by Gerlinda

OK - so just in case anyone in the world besides abby ever reads this, here's the deal:

I signed up for 2 races - a 1/2 marathon in VA Beach in early September and a full marathon @ Disney World in early January. If you want to know why, go take a look at my fundraising page. Also, to give credit where credit is due, I would've never had the guts to sign up for these races in the first place if it hadn't been for Boot Camp. And, my reasons for joining Boot Camp (which I've done for the past 3 months) are personal.

Abby found out I was running & decided to run the full marathon with me. (and i think she's doing a 1/2 in late january as well.) Since she lives in Bozeman, MT & I live in Atlanta, GA, it's not like we can hook up every Sunday for a long run...so, in lieu of that, Abby suggested we keep a joint blog to record our training and keep each other honest. ("Abby - put down the tequila and get your ass out on the track!" You know - stuff like that)

ANYWAY, so, basically, this blog will be deadly boring and dedicated to our training. Beware.

I'm planning to follow Hal Hidgdon's novice training schedule, at Abby's suggestion. I've combined the 1/2 marathon schedule with the marathon schedule.

Links:
Novice 1/2 Marathon Training Schedule
Novice Marathon Training Schedule
I'm just finishing up boot camp this week, so my running training begins toward the end of week 2 of Hal's 1/2 marathon program.

Today, I'm supposed to do a 3.5m run. I'll probably go to the gym after work & knock it out on the treadmill. Abby is a bit of a jock, and totally fearless. But, this race training stuff feels really bizarre and scary to me. No one is putting a gun to my head - I know. But, trust me, I am not comfortable making these commitments. It feels really, really scary to me. I hope I don't fail. I'm grateful to have Abby watching my back. And my plan is to just shut up and follow the training schedule. All hurdles are mental with me - at least so far.

Gerlinda

PS-I input my training schedule into my Windows Live Mail (the new beta 'hotmail') calendar & set the share options to 'public.' I guess this means you can go find my calendar online if you want...I'm not quite sure how... my user name is gerlindgrimes, so good luck with that

21 june by abby

wednesdays now are 2 m run or cross. i picked cross and did a 50-minute mountain bike ride with wilson this morning. then i had to go to work and that was the end of that.