November 2011 Recap

November totals

Bike: 0

Run: 33.19 miles

Walk: 3.22 miles

Yoga workouts: 2

Rest days: 15

Races:  5K4Life in which I was on track to PR and was misguided to the finish line so I fake PRed instead; 5th Annual Gobble Wobble in Southborough – a new Thanksgiving tradition for sure!

5K4Life

Gobble Wobble...hence the turkey on my head.

The good:  I ran for a half mile straight several times in a row during my first ever 6 mile run. Longest I’ve been able to run continuously EVER in my life. Also 33.19 miles ran in one month!! Wow. If I had been doing my Marathon Month challenge in November, I’d have kicked it in the pants!

The bad:  My fake PR.

Did I meet my November Goals?

I wanted to fix myself. Eh. Well, there will always be aches and pains I guess. On my way home from the Witch City 5K at the end of October, I stopped at PR Running and bought compression socks. I now wear them during every run and I no longer have calf pain while running. I suppose that’s a start right?

I wanted to start kickboxing. I didn’t. Fail. My Groupon expires in January, so it’ll be sooner rather than later!

I wanted to run outside more. I did!! But not as much as I’d like. I did several of my runs on a trail near my house in NH. I also did some on the trail behind my work. And of course my 5Ks were outside. I’ve been doing my best to get at least 1 run outside per week, but I’d like my goal to be 2. The speed workouts (or my attempt to be speedy) I feel more comfortable doing on a treadmill where I can control the pace and make sure I stay at that pace for the entire interval. I can’t control that outside. Same with tempo. Can you? If so, how?

You Searched What??

More crazy searches that lead people to this blog. Funny stuff! Search queries are in bold. My comments are italicized.

0 degree haircut - I don’t know what that means. Maybe I should Google it.

yellow fire hydrant - Someone actually searched for this and found MY blog....??

drunk woman at races – hilarious!

12 days of Christmas workout - I have to admit, I’m curious.

some people go crazy - And I’m one of them!!

famous Christmas songs - I don’t think I’ve even discussed Christmas on my blog. We’ve still got time people!

meatball costume – At first, I was confused. Then I remembered my 5K costume race.

teach my ass – This sounds like a scary boot camp workout. Sign me up!

What are some of your funny search queries?

For December

Races:  Reindeer Run Festive 5K; Winter Classic 5K – not only are there T-shirts...there are fleece hats!; Jingle Bell 5K – medals! (I’m up to 3 medals now!)

Goals:

1. Continue to run for longer intervals. For my 6 mile run, I ran .5 miles at a time. For my tempo runs, I run for 10 mins at the end of the run instead of a shorter 3 or 5 min interval. I want to bump that up.

2. PR at one of my 5Ks. Right now my current PR is 49:03. My “official” PR is 47:something, but I don’t count that because I ran the wrong way during the race. Still upset about that. If I could beat that 47: something time, it would take away all the pain!

3. Complete the first half of the 30 for 60 Challenge. NO REST DAYS!!

What are your December goals?

October 2011 Recap

October totals

Bike: 9.44 miles

Run: 25.92 miles (highest ever! Whoop!)

Walk: 3.47 miles

Yoga workouts: 3

Rest days: 15

Races: Cambridge5K Oktoberfest (As a volunteer because there was an issue with my registration); Witch City 5K through the streets of historic Salem, MA

And although it wasn't a race, I attended the Light the Night Walk in Boston Common to support a close friend of mine. It was a great night

The good: I started yoga and it’s been a great tool for getting me back on the path to stretching. Also, even though I had some trouble with the foam roller, I’ve embraced it for some areas and I started using The Stick for other areas.

The bad: Ridiculous hip/back pain. Still searching for a new chiropractor in my area that might actually help. Or a massage therapist. There are several that work with runners and do massages specifically to help running issues. Maybe that’s all I need.

Did I meet my October Goals?

I wanted to create a workout routine and I did. I’m following Jeff Galloway’s half-marathon training plan for beginners. I haven’t added in much as far as cross training except yoga and a rouge bike ride. I’m working on it.

I wanted to start yoga. I did and I love it! My Groupon is going to run out soon and I need to figure out another payment plan. Boo.

I wanted to start kickboxing. I still haven’t. Maybe next month. Or at least before the Groupon expires!

I wanted to meet more fitness minded people. I have! I went to a Boston Blogger meetup! The ladies I had dinner with were a lot of fun! We have plans to meet up again soon.

And in the next few months, I’ll be seeing a lot of my tri-training buddies because we are all doing some 5Ks together!

You Searched What??

More crazy searches that lead people to this blog. Funny stuff! Search queries are in bold. My comments are italicized.

gross hotel – I can only imagine that this is because of this post.

shirtless jogger -  I can promise you, I will never. Never.

cambridge 5k yulefest -  I’m so sad that I probably won’t be able to do this one.

stressed out my ass – at first, I thought this said ‘stretched out my ass’ and I was concerned.

double crossed legs -  I can barely cross my legs once...how the hell do you do it twice?

peeing women – most women do, but I sure don’t blog about it.

pizza sprint – I would sprint for pizza, yes.

creepyville – I’m not the only one!!!

5k t-shirts – it’s all I want out of all this

big butt – yes, I know. Thank you.

What are some of your funny search queries?

For November

Races: 5K4Life on November 6th – a race the I chose because it’s on National Running Day and medals to all finishers!! They also raise money for ALS research; 5th Annual Gobble Wobble on November 24th – They have a 5K and a 2-mile walk. Last year I did the 2-mile walk with my mom. This year I’m doing the 5K and my mom is doing the 2-mile walk again.

Mom & I at Gobble Wobble 2010

Reviews:

This is a new thing. I've been contacted by companies to try out samples of certain products and you know me, I love free stuff! So I agreed. I also randomly review things I love. Your welcome.

Crystal Light Pure: Are you Pure? Crystal Light Pure review and GIVEAWAY!

Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS): If you don't love EMS, you should.

Goals:

1. Fixing myself. Figuring out a way to run and not hurt or limp my way through the runs. I need to get stronger in running, not hurt myself even more.

2. Kickboxing, maybe.

3. Run outside more. It’s hard because it’s cold and it’s way easier to run on the treadmill, but none of my races will be on the treadmill!

What are your November goals?

September Recap

September totals

Swim: 0.99 miles (1742 yards)

Bike: 12.79 miles

Run: 6.13 miles

Walk: 9.55 miles

Spinning: 20 miles

Elliptical: 0

Core workouts: 0

Rest days: 22

Races: The one and only Title 9 Women’s Only Sprint Triathlon. The one race I’ve been training for, for the past 9 months. The one race that prompted me to start this blog. The one race that got me interested in all this running business. Who would have though 5Ks would be fun? (well, not the actual running part, but you know what I mean).

The good: I kicked ass in my triathlon and beat my goal time of 2:15 by finishing with a time of 2:14:53. Very proud.

SWIM 

BIKE

RUN

The bad: Feeling slightly out of the game for the second half of the month. After my triathlon I wanted to take a week off and really relax. I did that but only came back into it less like a lion and more like a lamb. Consider me the end of March. I’ve been walking to keep myself moving until my half-marathon training starts because I don’t want to start day one having done nothing since the triathlon, even though it feels like I’ve done nothing.

Did I meet my September Goals?

• I wanted to hit my 2:15 triathlon goal. CHECK 

• I wanted to relax after my triathlon, and seeing 22 days of rest for this month, I sure did. For shame. 

• I wanted to start running with a friend in the morning for motivation. She backed out.

• I wanted to join a run club to get new tips on running: I’m still hesitant. I’m so not a runner. These people run 6-10 miles regularly (and easily). So basically I show up to the run club nights, say hi to everyone and watch them take off as I run by myself. Why would I pay money to join a club if I’m running alone? I need to find a beginner run club. But most beginners don’t join clubs. So I guess I’m SOL.

• I wanted to stretch more and I, in fact, stretched less. I hurt. My calves, hips, and thighs feel tighter and trying to walk it out hasn’t helped. I need a stretching routine and I need to find one that will work for me. I have no idea how I’m supposed to stretch. I’ve read so many articles on it and tried so many different stretches that I’m pretty sure all I’m doing is contradicting myself. Any ideas, tips or tricks are greatly appreciated. What is your stretching routine?

You Searched What??

I recently started using Google’s webmaster tools to see stats for my blog. In doing so I came across a list of search queries that led people to my blog, or even pulled up my blog in the search results somewhere. I think it’s only fair to share these, since I think some of them are hilarious. Search queries are in bold. My comments are italicized.

sara beach – I’ve been to the beach before

chunky dunking – Ok, I did that one duathlon, I get it

big butt showdown -  I didn’t know there were showdowns!

i miss you more and more each day – I miss you too. Who are you?

extreme workouts -  I don’t know who’s lying to you but no workout I’ve ever done has been “extreme”

runaround -  This makes sense. I’ll take it.

big butt -  Yes, I have one, thank you, I just didn’t think my butt would make it onto a Google search.

every damn day just do it – Sure, but I’m still taking my rest days dammit!

water swimming -  Is there another kind of swimming that I don’t know about?

sara lord – But you can just call me Sara

shirtless workout – This has not and will not ever happen. I don’t even know WHY this is here. Unless there’s a cute guy involved, then yes, I approve!

teacher going crazy -  story of my life.

mooning – um. ?? what?

kids mooning – an even bigger um. ?? what?

5K foam fest -  I’ve never been to that but it sounds like fun!!

There were a lot more listed that just didn’t make sense and I don’t know why my blog was pulled up for the searches, but they weren’t as funny. I guess I’ll never understand how Google’s search works. What are some of your funny search queries?

For October

Races: Cambridge 5K Oktoberfest (As a volunteer because there was an issue with my registration); Witch City 5K through the streets of historic Salem, MA; and I’d like to do another one on or around Halloween. We’ll see.

Goals:

1. Create a workout schedule. I already have my half-marathon training schedule mapped out and worked around other things in my schedule. But I want to add in other activities like spinning, yoga, strength training, and kickboxing. And still have time to sleep.

2. Begin yoga. I bought a Groupon for 5 yoga classes at a nearby studio. I know yoga can be a great workout and it’s a huge component to stretching. I am more interested in taking yoga as a way to help me stretch than I am to use it as a workout.

3. Begin kickboxing. I love hitting things. I especially love hitting things when I’ve had a bad day. It gets my aggressions out better than any other exercise and it’s a killer workout. Trust me. This is from yet another Groupon that I bought. The only problem is the gym I signed up with is 45 minutes away from me. They have night classes, and I don’t mine working out after work, I just don’t like working out too late. When a class starts at 7:30 pm, I’m not getting home til close to 9:30 or 10. Then it will take forever to wind down and get to sleep. Life is tough, I know.

4. Meet more fitness-minded people in my area. I’m a member of meetup.com but the groups I belong to are more social than active. I’m going to try to find more active-type meet-ups and get out there.

What are your October goals?

August Totals and Recap

August totals

Swim: 1.3 miles (2280 yards)

Bike: 14.5 miles

Run: 18.06 miles

Walk: 1.5 miles

Spinning: 73.8 miles

Elliptical: 1 lonely mile

Core workouts: 2 - Planks for 2 min 30 seconds.

Rest days: 15

Races: NONE! Can you believe it?? I had the Tavern to Tavern 5K planned for the 28th, but it got rescheduled because of “Hurricane” Irene. It was held on Sept 4th, but I couldn’t make it, so I did my own virtual 5K.

The good: Discovered a new love for spinning.

The bad: Did not meet my Marathon Month run challenge goal. Getting more and more stressed out each day because the triathlon is coming up. Slightly nervous here.

Goals: Marathon Month Run Challenge. I challenged myself to run 26.2 miles in a month. I only ran 18.06. I will do another run challenge in October.

For September

Races: MY TRIATHLON! It’s the Title 9 Women’s Only Sprint Triathlon. The one thing I’ve been training for since January. It’s kind of a big deal.

Goals:

1. Complete my triathlon in 2:15 or less. In reality I think I can do it in under 2:30. Actually, I know I can. As long as I don’t have any major troubles and everything goes smoothly and as planned, I know I can finish in under 2:30. My goal is to finish under 2:15. I’m hoping the adrenaline of race day will help me surge through and meet my 2nd goal.

2. Relax and stop biting people’s heads off because they hand me a fork the wrong way. Not that it happened or anything, but you know, I’m kinda freaking out here. (Race day is in 4 days). I’m welcoming Stress Free September 12th.

3. Start running with a friend for motivation and to get my butt out of bed at 0-dark-thirty.

4. Join a run club. See what they can offer me as far as group workouts and learn from people who have been running for a long time. After all, even though I started out on the journey because of this triathlon, along the way I hopped on the crazy train and signed up for a half marathon. But I’m only half crazy.

5. Still need to step up the stretching!

What are your September goals?

July Totals and Recap

July totals

Swim: 3.28 miles (5800 yards)

Bike: 64.89 miles

Run: 20.46 miles

Walk: 1.55

Rest days: 12

Races: 4K on the Fourth, Dog Days of Summer, Chunky Dunk Duathlon

The good: Chunky Dunk Duathlon. Even though I was sore for days (still am!) it was a huge milestone for me as I was able to “run” for 3 miles straight with minimal walk breaks. And I surpassed my finish time goal by 11 minutes!

The bad: Torn between my track workout at The Nick and my swim at Hopkinton State park; the swim was easy, but turned my suit brown and grossed me out.

Goals: 50 Mile Run Challenge. It didn’t happen. Halfway through the month, I changed it to the 31 Mile Run Challenge. I didn’t make that one either, but if you check, you’ll see that this month was my highest month for running mileage at 20.46!!

For August

Races: Tavern 2 Tavern 5K (medals for all finishers!!), maybe another one if I can fit it into my schedule.

Goals: Considering this month has been my highest run mileage to date and it was 20 miles, I don’t think I’m going to push it and try to do the 50 or 31 mile run challenge again. This month I will create my own challenge and I shall call it the Marathon Month Challenge. Meaning I will run a marathon within the month of August. Not run a marathon in August, you must be crazy, but I will challenge myself to run 26.2 miles in August. I'll be tracking my progress on twitter (@runaroundsara) using the hashtag: #marathonmonthchallenge. Please feel free to join me!

I also want to build up “run” endurance, now that I’ve figured out a shuffle-jog trick that seems to work for me.

I need to stretch better and more often. I’m so lazy at stretching.

And I want to learn how to fuel my body better for more energy during workouts and recovery after workouts by using the right carbs and proteins before and after workouts. If you have any advice or suggestions, please let me know!

What are your August goals?

June Totals and Weekend Update

June totals

Swim: 1.36 miles 

Bike: 70.38 miles

Run: 6.65 miles

Walk: 3.61

Elliptical: 7.32 miles

Yoga: 20 mins

Pilates: 30 mins

Rest days: 15

Yikes on the running numbers in June. I did not do well. But I was also having trouble with my shins and as you can see the walking and elliptical were added and have a few miles on them. Not an amazing number, but at least I was moving!  This month (July) I’m joined a running challenge (again, Yikes!). The challenge is to run 50 miles in the month of July. Of course it’s not going to be 100% running, but I’m going to count my running workouts towards it. Maybe when I can run consistently I’ll re-try the challenge to actually run 50 miles in a month. But for now, I’m doing it this way because it’s the only way I can do it and at least I’m doing something! 

This weekend has been a plethora of training and I loved it. I finally got to get in the lake and swim! I’m so tired of swimming in the pool, it’s boring and annoying to fight for a lane or get pushed into another lane in the middle of my swim because of swimming lessons or they are changing the lap lanes, or something else ridiculous. I might start heading down to Hopkinton State park and swimming there during the week. I don’t know how much more of lap swimming I’ll be able to handle now that I’ve been in the lake this summer!  And as a preview for July’s totals, I’ve already swam more this weekend than I did in all of June. Oh yeah!

I bought bike shorts last week and got to test them out this weekend on the Cotton Valley Trail. I did NOT bike toward SpookyVille, but I did go into town and back on the trail twice, because once just wasn’t enough.

 Although the bike shorts do cut into my legs a little bit, the comfort in the seat area definitely outweighs that issue. Why didn’t I own bike shorts before now? I did 13 miles on Sunday and I felt no discomfort at all.

I almost didn’t get to ride my bike this weekend. I packed the bikes up on Friday night, locked them to the car, and took off. Once I got to my place in NH, I realized that I had thrown the bike lock keys on the back bumper of the car and forgot about them. So I had to find a bike store in town and have them cut off my cable.

I have an extra key at home for the lock so I can use the lock again if I get a new cable, but it wasn’t doing me any good at home. I bought a new cable with a combo lock built in so I don’t have to worry about keys again. Because this isn’t the first time I’ve left something on the bumper of my car and took off. It was the 3rd. And probably won’t be the last. I’m smart, I know.

Although I know I should probably get another run in tonight to up my totals for my 50-mile run challenge, I’m letting myself have a rest day today. I’m exhausted from this weekend. And Bruno Mars just says it best:

Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song

I love this song, but this is the first time I've seen this video and I'm torn between being hysterical or horrified. Maybe both.

April vs. May: The ultimate showdown on National Running Day

April totals

Swim: 1.45 miles

Bike: 42.16 miles

Run: 18.5 miles

Rest days: 12

Yoga: 20 mins

May totals

Swim: 2.62 miles

Bike: 25.27 miles

Run: 18.03 miles

Rest days: 15

Compared to April, May sucked. I mean, it wasn’t horrible, but my running was less, my biking was almost half, and I had more rest days. I need to work on that hardcore. Swimming looked pretty good though! I really felt like I did more in May. And seeing the numbers puts me in my place. So I need to cut it out and stop with so many rest days. I mean, I know I need to rest my body, and I think I really only took rest days when I was in pain, sick or utterly exhausted (or unless I hadn’t taken a rest day that week and it was scheduled). Except for last weekend. Two of those rest days were complete laziness. But 2 out of 15 isn’t too bad. Should I really be putting myself down for this? Or is it normal? I feel like I should have done better.

I’m stepping up my game in June. I swear. Maybe.

I started that enthusiasm with a run this afternoon. I had a vet appointment for my mom’s cat at 6pm. I get out of work at 5pm, So, I planned to run after I got home from the vet at around 6:30 or 7pm. Instead, I got out of work early around 3:15 and called my vet to get an earlier appointment. They didn’t have one for the cat doctor, but I needed to take my dog, Snickers, in for her yearly exam anyway and scheduled a 4pm with the dog doctor.

Meanwhile, a huge storm front was moving through.

The white X is where I live. On the outskirts of the storm.

By huge, I mean severe thunderstorms and tornado watches. Since it was only sprinkling when I left the vet’s office for the first time, I decided to get my run in before my second vet appointment. I took my other dog, Finn, with me. He’s 7 months old and not a good leash dog, but I figured, practice makes perfect, right? So we set out. It was barely sprinkling as we started and figured I wasn’t going to melt so why not? Well, after about 3/4 mile, it started downpouring. That’s why not. One of my neighbors saw me go by and opened her door and yelled out to me “We’re under a tornado watch! You should get inside!” I replied “Yes, I know, thank you!” and continued on my way.

See those 3 blue spirals? Yup, tornado touchdowns.

Finn actually did quite well on the leash.
New running partner!

Completely soaked.

What was I thinking? I have to admit, I was more concerned with getting hit by lightening that I was with a tornado. I was counting the seconds between lightening and thunder to make sure I was safe. All of a sudden, I saw lightening and counted to ONE, before the thunder snapped all around me. Finn was jogging slightly behind me at this point and he hightailed it up to me and tried to go between my legs, almost toppling me in the process. I was already soaked, I didn’t need to fall into a puddle, thankyouverymuch.

I took that as a sign to turn around and go home. After vet appointment number two, the sun came out. My timing is amazing.

But about the actually running. I re-did Couch to 5K week 2 day 3, since I hadn’t run in a week, but I felt like it was easy. I mean, not easy, but I probably could have done week 3 day 1 which goes from a 1:30 running intervals to 3 minute intervals. And, this was outside and not on my treadmill where I’ve been doing the C25K program. I thought it was going to be harder. I was pleasantly surprised. However, my biggest critic (myself) had been analyzing everything. Either my biking last weekend really helped strengthen my legs and made my running stronger, or, I was running a lot slower than I do on the treadmill. My pace on my Garmin says that I was running slower. WAY slower. Yet my average times are right on point, even faster, than what I was doing on the treadmill. Whatever, who knows. Blame it on the rain. And really, isn’t the point to keep running for longer periods of time, and work on the speed later? Right, I thought so.

I guess it was only fitting that today is National Running Day

I found that out tonight after my run. No, that’s a lie, I heard about it earlier today on twitter, but I forgot about it until I saw people talking about it, and showing off their badges, when I was reading blogs tonight. So of course, I got my very own badge. I mean, really, If I’m gonna do it, I want a medal badge for it.

Uh, not really. I run because I have to. Because it's part of the triathlon. It doesn't feel great. Whoever tells you that is lying. It hurts.