Life and Stuff

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Melissa

This post is, at best, moderately interesting, but I feel like I haven’t talked about much of interest lately, so I figured a random mash up of things on my mind wouldn’t hurt. It’s just, you know, life stuff.

1. I now take the Metro (DC’s version of the Subway) to work. Somehow, I just kept my head down on the bus and paid as little attention as possible to the people around me. This is not the case on Metro. For one, I’m underground so my phone doesn’t work. For another, I’d get too motion sick trying to read anything. This leaves one choice remaining: people watching. I am alternately appalled and fascinated by the things I see. Like the Patrick Swayze doppelganger? Truly remarkable. But the number of grown, adult, professional women going to work with their hair wet? Appalling. I know. I’m awful.

2. I know a lot of people think the Before Sunrise and Before Sunset movies are ridiculous and pretentious, but I just love them. So romantical. But, like, real life romance, you know? Anyway, I came across this list of An A-to-Z Guide to Celine and Jesse’s Conversations in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, and I love love love it. Like really really love. I know. I’m so descriptive.

3. Today I had a (vegan) Baked Falafel and Chickpea salad from Sweetgreen for lunch, and it was omgdelicous. I’m already scheming about how I’ll recreate it at home. Or hijack the Sweetgreen folks for the recipe.

Chic P

4. It is a great aspiration of mine to have a fantastic self-tan that is more Jennifer Aniston than Kardashian on the spectrum. I’ve always been a fair, freckly girl, so an actual tan has never been a real possibility for me. I hated this as a teen, but the fact that I will (probably) ultimately have fewer wrinkles because of it makes me happy now. Anyway, I recently picked up some St. Tropez bronzing spray at Sephora, and while I occasionally find myself weeping over the exorbitant price tag, I am mostly totally and completely smitten. It’s golden and natural and lovely.

5. I tried a not-to-be named brand of kombucha in a can the other day. You know by now that I am a confirmed kombucha lover and find its puckery-ness delightful, but this variety? Was like straight vinegar. I’m typically too cheap to waste anything and pour it down the drain, but this stuff was so awful that I couldn’t even make my thrifty self drink it. Kids: just say “NO!” to mini cans of kombucha.

6. D.C. has decided it’s cold, and I don’t know–March? so we’re having a lot of cold and wind happening this Memorial Day weekend. It is, however, somewhat fun to think that a year ago I had just moved here and was running around making a spectacle of myself. Seriously, though, this year has gone by so quickly and so slowly all at once. I daresay it’s been one of my best yet. Apparently, I dig my 30s.

Training Update

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Melissa

It occurred to me the other day that this training cycle is a lot different from other times I’ve trained. Typically, I have a good sense of how I’ll feel during a run beforehand. There’ll be a noticeable progression in my training. I’ll eventually get into a groove where I feel really ready–perfectly trained and prepared for a race. This time around? It’s not happening, folks. I never know how I’ll feel and can’t predict when I’ll have crazy pain vs. an amazingly loose, relaxed run. It’s a little disconcerting since the whole point of training is to feel prepared, and I feel anything but. Still, I know logging all these miles has to be doing something, right?

Positive self-talk. It’s a thing.

It’s also time I thought about what I want that something to be. I’m hesitant to set a definite goal for this race since it’s the first thing I’ve trained for since the marathon that wasn’t, and I still don’t feel like my hip/hamstring are operating at full capacity. Still, I think I’m one of those people who always has a PR in the back of her mind–who doesn’t, right?–and would love to show myself that this training has done something for me. More realistically, I know a PR probably wouldn’t even be smart to shoot for given my injury. Instead, I have a more conservative time in mind that’s slightly slower (but still plenty fast for me) than my PR. And no, I’m not going to tell you because I’m too big of a wimp to put it in writing and have to face failure if I don’t meet it. (<–REAL TALK)

Anyway.

I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for this week’s training update, so let’s get to it, shall we?

Half Marathon #7 Training–Week 5

Monday: 4 miles @8:11

Tuesday: 4 miles @8:59, full body strength training

Wednesday: 7 miles w/5 miles of tempo

This run was particularly crappy. It was humid and hilly, and I generally felt like crap. Can’t win ‘em all.

Thursday: 4 miles @9:18; this workout

My hip was in bad shape for this run and continued to hurt pretty badly until Saturday morning. Lucky for me, Manfriend helped me stretch it out before my long run on Saturday. I can stretch it myself, but it’s a huge help to have some pressure on it to help it release. That, I can’t do myself. So thanks, MF.

Friday: REST

Saturday: 14 miles @8:03

Inexplicably fantastic run. I was absolutely spent by the end of it, but it did give me some confidence that I might still have my speed somewhere in there!

Sunday: REST

Yep.

Here’s what else I’ve noticed: since I started my new job, I’m back at a desk all day. My hip doesn’t like it. At all. In fact, I’m generally uncomfortable sitting unless it’s sprawled out on the couch or floor. I stand up as often as I can and even stand at my desk sometimes, but it’s still pretty bad. Anyone else experience this? I’d love to know if you have any tips on how to deal.

BTW, if you really want the play-by-play for this training nonsense, feel free to follow along on the Daily Mile. Or not.

Pain in the … Workout

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Melissa

I used to do the Daily HIIT workouts every day, but now that I’m training for a race, I’m obviously focused more on logging miles. Still, I like to draw my supplementary strength training from Daily HIIT exercises because I’m not original enough to think of these on my own.

Last week, I wanted to get some leg/lower body work in, but wasn’t feeling particularly motivated or creative, so I decided to do a mashup of Daily HIIT moves that were not only challenging, but left my legs and butt feeling like they were on fire. I’ll put it this way: it hurt to sit down the next day. But in the best possible “I worked out hard” kind of way, you know? It was quite literally (yes, actually literally) a pain in the ass.

Think of this as a curated list of my favorite lower body exercises if you will (explanations and pics below).

Sliders: If you don’t have a bar, use a free weight or sandbag. Squat on one leg, sweeping the other leg behind you. It should rest, as shown in the middle picture below, diagonally behind you. Return to upright position and repeat for 8 reps on each side.

Twisting Lunge: Hold a weight at your chest or above your head. Lunge forward with right leg, bring the weight down, and twist to the right side. Return to start and switch sides. Repeat for a total of 8 lunges on each side.

Walking Lateral Squat w/Shoulder Press: Stay in the squat, moving to the right for four squats, doing an overhead press with each one. Switch and do four squats to the left with overhead presses. Repeat on each side for a total of 16 squats/presses.

Sumo Squat w/Side Raise: Squat low, then as you rise up, lift right leg out to the side. Return to squat position, then repeat on left side for 8 reps on each side.