Freeze Your Thorns Off 5K Virtual Race

Once again, Adam, the Boring Runner, offered us the chance for a race in the freezing month of January.  Freezing?  I think Virginia has forgotten what freezing is.  Even worse, I ended up having to do yet another virtual race on the treadmill.  Our weekend was insanely packed and I was left with one 30 minute window on Saturday morning to knock this race out and I had Shoo with me during that time.  (I could have run it on Sunday, but I had a hangover penciled in LOL)

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That's one of the fastest 5K's I've ever done and I did it barefoot.  I'm in training for a 5K race in a couple of weeks and, based on my treadmill speedwork, I'm hopeful that I'll hit my second best 5K ever.  (My PR was set on a wickedly downhill course when I was in awesome shape.)

Thanks, Adam, for giving me a reason to run fast.  I apparently only do speedwork in virtual races.  Who has one for me this coming weekend LOL?

Running, Loving, Living Virtual Race Report

Happy Birthday and Happy Blogiversary to Toni at Running, Loving, Living. In honor of both, I ran her 3.5 mile virtual run. It was icy outside and I've been wearing Vibrams lately (pretty sure that's not a good shoe choice for ice...), so I decided to do her race as speed work on the treadmill. The only truly notable part of the run was mile 2 was my fastest mile ever at 7:25 and I did it barefoot!!!

 

I was just a little sweaty!

I had a little road rash on my feet at the end.

Thanks, Toni, for giving me an excuse to push myself!!

I've survived the most stressful parts of this week.  Just two more meetings today, the Pinewood Derby tomorrow, and then I can focus on our annual Holiday beer tasting that we are having tomorrow night.  You know there will be pictures from that.  ;o)

Three Things Thursday: yoga, sleep, and mantras

1.  Yesterday was my third time taking the jivamukti yoga class.  I find this class both extremely challenging physically and incredibly mentally freeing at the same time.  My arms were trembling by the end of the class from the poses.  I'm mildly sore at this point, but thinking that more will hit soon.  But what really got to me yesterday was the chanting and the talking by our instructor.  We chanted "Hare Krishna" (more than that, but I don't remember all the words) at the beginning and then later while we were doing a particularly intense pose the chant was playing loudly in the background.  She encouraged us to chant loudly/yell/really get into it while we held the pose.  I surprised myself by totally getting into that.  And, surprise, it did help me hold a pose I didn't think I could do.  Wonder if I'll be chanting that loudly as I get to hard spots in my long runs LOL.

2. I used to have wicked insomnia back when I had a full-time job.  I tend to internalize the stress from work and it keeps my mind racing at night.  I haven't had it very often in the last few years.  Last night, I had full-on insomnia.  I just could.not.stop.my.mind.  I hate nights like that.  It was one of those nights when I probably would have been better served to have just gotten out of bed.  Instead, I flipped and flopped all night long and then struggled to get out of bed when the alarm went off.  Why does the sound of my alarm trigger an exhaustion that I wasn't feeling prior to it going off?

3.  Jivamukti means "Liberation while Living".  There's a lot of spiritual talk during the class and we are frequently told to open ourselves up, to take chances, to offer our best to the world.  Two things the instructor said yesterday really stuck in my head.  One she'd said before (about some of the challenging balance poses) "So what if you fall?  At least you tried and you can get up and try again."  I've been embracing that concept since the first class and trying to be more willing to say yes to new things.

Yesterday, though, she said something that really resonated with me.  "You don't have to wait for your life to be perfect to be enjoy it.  You can be happy now."  This really struck me because I spend a lot of time "waiting", a lot of time thinking about things that will be better in the future.  When I finish paying off my car...  When I get my mileage where I want it to be...  When I get all the paperwork filed... When the boys are a older...   

There's always going to be something.  There will always be more things I need to get done.  There will always be more wants than there is money.

I need to embrace the now.  I need to embrace the comfortable 5.5 mile run and not beat myself up that it's not longer.  I need to appreciate the good in my children and my husband and my life.  Because otherwise, I have a feeling that insomnia is going to be my new BFF.

It's all about priorities

Have you ever had one of those weeks?  You know the ones.  On top of your normally busy life, a couple of out of the norm or unexpected things come along.  This week is insane.  The boys' annual physicals (that I booked 6 months ago) were yesterday.  Two meetings (that I've been pushing for)finally came through this week.  My boss has me doing a training for him (and I'm a little nervous).  None of these is a huge deal, but to have them all fall in one week has made this one of those weeks where the only way to get everything done is to either skimp on sleep or skimp on working out.

I'm not skimping on working out.

Sunday night I sat down with my calendar and figured out my plan for the week.   My workouts are marked on my calendar, right alongside my work meetings, appointments, and actual projects.

It looks something like this:

Monday: Kids at home = workout when Beer Geek gets home (done.  3.8 miles barefoot on the treadmill)
Tuesday: Grocery store, run, work, annual physicals for the boys, 1.5 hours with them at the park (done. 5.5 miles in vibrams)
Wednesday: Half day of school, yoga, work, playdate for S
Thursday: Long Run, major grocery shop for weekend event, meeting at school, chiro, Cub Scouts
Friday: Run, work, work meeting, another meeting, collapse exhausted on the couch

Crammed in around that are all my normal chores and responsibilities, plus getting ready for the Pinewood Derby this weekend and friends coming over Saturday night.

What's my point?  In the past, I would have dropped the yoga class or dropped a run.  But I'm loving that fact that I ran 20 miles barefoot or in vibrams in the last 5 days, I'm about to take my third yoga class in a row, and that I hit the gym for an easy bike ride on Friday (where I was entertained by watching the fire department guys play basketball).  I've done some form of workout for at least 30 minutes every day since December 1.

The question is:  how long can I keep this streak going?

A new kind of race: 1K Beer Walk

On Saturday, Beer Geek and I participated in the Washington Wine Academy/DC School of Beer's Beer Walk.   It was a walk through the Crystal City Underground with multiple beer stations.

After our designated driver dropped us off (and took our kids - talk about a good friend), we stopped at the registration table aka Station 1, where we got "race" t-shirts, bibs, tasting tickets and tasting glasses.  The volunteers were super efficient and we were quickly on our way.  

At the Station 2, I tried the Baying Hound Aleworks Long Snout Stout (which turned out to be my favorite beer all evening ) and New Belgium's Snow Day.

Wonder just how slow this 1K will be...

The next station offered Port City beers where (as people who know me would guess) I enjoyed their porter.

Station 4 had Ommegang, Duvel, and Harpoon.  Why yes, I could have just moved in there.  They also had a decent selection of wine (not that I had any) and BBQ pork sliders  (YUM!) from Memphis BBQ.

Smiling big about the Duvel being poured for me

We skipped Station 5 because, umm, I don't like light(ish) beers.  (It was Yuengling - perfectly acceptable if you are into that kind of beer.)

Station 6 was a winner.  Bathrooms, a few seats, and Spaten and Magic Hat.  Magic Hat Howl was definitely in my top 5 beers of the evening.

I think the camera man had a few beers too.

Station 7 was the water station.  Luckily I didn't want any LOL.

They were trying to find the keys to the gate.

I think we skipped Station 8 (Anchor Steam and Bock), but I really don't remember LOL.

Station 9 was Sam Adams, where I had a beer.  What beer?  Couldn't tell you.  I also ate a bunch of Cabot cheese.  Kudos to WWA for free food stations along the way.

Station 10 was awesome as well.  I had two favorites - Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and Flying Dog "Gonzo Imperial" porter.  I also ate more than a few m&ms.  Just sayin'.

Woohoo, I finished. 

Because of our DD arrangements, we "had" to walk the course backwards.  This worked out really well for me as I was able to get a second and third taste of my favorites.  We finished back at the Long Snout Stout, where I used my last two tickets to get a double pour and called our driver to pick us up.

I was feeling just a little blurry LOL

All in all, it was an awesome event.  It was sold out, but the layout made it so it never felt crowded.  I never had more than a minute or two wait for a beer.  The number of tickets was perfect for me to enjoy myself without imbibing too much (although Beer Geek said he saw that you could buy more.)  I highly recommend this event and will be attending next year.

And now I have a 1K PR to beat:  1:05  - yes that is one hour and five minutes LOL.

Disclaimer:  I paid for our tickets and Washington Wine Academy did not ask me to review it.

How to sneak up on a long run

To say that my long run mojo has been lacking would be to put it mildly.  I know why it's missing:  cold weather, pain in my toes, and number of hours it takes.  I've crossed over the 1.5 hour time frame (and really with getting ready, etc, it's taking two hours) and that's the point where I start feeling like I'm "losing" a big part of my day.

Yesterday morning, I didn't want to run at all, much less a long run.  I was just in a mood.  A crappy one.

Step 1:  Tweet - I whined about not wanting to run and got lots of "you can do it".  I publicly reminded myself that I could go slow and even accepted that I wasn't going to go far.   The support I got, pushed me out the door.

Step 2:  Grab a handheld and a Honey Stinger.  Just because...

Step 3:  Run easy.  Take Garmin only to track mileage.  Do not look at pace.  Instead, look at the sunny day around you.  Ignore the fact that you are running so slowly you aren't even warming up.

Step 4:  Hit your "short run" distance and realize that you only need 1.5 more miles to hit your minimum mid-length run.

Step 5:  Break it up.  In my case, I changed shoes from my Saucony Triumphs to my Vibrams because SURPISE!  My toes hurt.  (If you don't need to change shoes, walk for few minutes, stop for a drink, change the music on your ipod, whatever - if you are seriously considering being done, shake things up!)

Step 6:  Tell yourself you only have to run your x mile loop that puts you at the minimum distance you'd call a long run.

Step 7:  Trip and fall.  (OK, I wouldn't recommend this one as I have a wicked bruise and scrape on my knee and bruises on my hip bones from hitting the ground so hard.)  But I was so embarrassed and mad that I ran an extra mile.

Step 8:  Realize you are only 1 mile from your goal for the day and that you can always do that last mile.

Step 9:  Trip again, but don't fall.  Realize it's time to head in.

Step 10:  Realize that in .7 miles you will hit your goal.  Get on treadmill.  Be unwilling to do less than  a mile on the 'mill...

And that is how you go from not wanting to run to finishing 9.5 miles.  It involved two shoe changes (Triumphs > Vibrams > barefoot) and a venue change (outside > treadmill), but I got it done.

And at the end, running was no longer the enemy.  It was the solution.

Just call me Cinderella

Wait, that was many feet, one pair of shoes.

So, maybe Goldilocks.  But that only took her three tries.

Crap, I'm not up on my fairy tales.  What can I say, I'm the mom of two boys - all I hear about are legos and ninjas LOL.

But, seriously, I do feel like I'm on a quest for the perfect shoe and I can't quite find the right one.  I love all of them, but each and every pair comes with a drawback.

Here's what's currently in rotation:

 Mizuno Wave Riders

 Newton Gravitas

 Brooks Pure Connect

 Merrell Pace Glove

Vibram Five Fingers

My feet

After running in vibrams the other day and barefoot on the treadmill for my speedwork, I'm pretty sure that my other shoes have become too small. Become too small, you ask?  Yep.  My feet have gotten wider since I started running barefoot/minimalist.  The pain seems to be a result of my toes hitting the side of my shoe on my right foot (my right foot also measures a lot bigger than my left foot.) I'm not sure if the solution is a wider minimalist shoe or a bigger size of one of the ones I have.

My solution for now:  slowly increasing my mileage in the options that seem to be working best right now: Vibrams and my feet.  I'm sure I'll bore you regularly with the progress.

On tap today: 8-10 miles, likely in a combination of regular shoes, Vibrams, and barefeet.  Should be interesting.