Monthly Archives: July 2009

Back in the Saddle Again

Posted on by Run DMT
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I must have burned myself out with my sprint work on Tuesday, because I seem to be lacking some steam over the past few days.  I can’t seem to summon the energy to even get out of bed, which could be a sign that I’m overtraining in this ridiculous heat.  Plus, my allergies have been taking a toll on me over the past week, but at least I haven’t had an asthma attack! :-P

 

Usually, I’m an early riser (around 5:00), but as of late, I find myself waking up around 7:30.  When these rare occasions of oversleeping occur, my body needs the rest therefore I give in to it and sometimes without choice.  Unfortunately, it screws with my training schedule, but if I am indeed overtraining, then the rest is necessary and truly welcomed.

 

Since I missed my run on Wednesday, my BFF Sharon Mann tortured me with a boot camp muscle conditioning routine.  Between squats, lunges and sore calves from my sprint work on Tuesday, my legs were killing me.  Two days later, my quads still hurt.

 

Thursday, I wanted to fit in a 4 mile run since I intend to run 8 miles on Saturday.  But once again, I woke up late which caused me to run after 7:30 a.m. and would hinder any runner’s performance.  Florida runners have a rule of thumb to avoid the brutal summer heat: not after 7:30 and not before 7:30 p.m.  Running at 7:30 a.m. was definitely a struggle for me to say the least.  With the humidity, the blazing summer sun and sore calves, I forced myself to finish the four miles.

 

4 miles

Time 40:47

Pace 10:07

 

At least while in the blazing sun, I could work on my tan as I have a lovely tan line across my waist from my running shorts.

 

Today, I wanted to run 3 miles and bike 10 miles, but slept through that work-out too.  So although I skipped the run, I did ride 10 miles.  Since my quads are still sore, it was a really tough ride.  Somehow, I seemed to perform better last week with a bruised who-ha.  Not that I want to repeat that, mind you!  I will happily go slower to keep all my girlie parts in tact.

 

Bike-10 miles

Time 43:19

Speed 13.9 mph

 

And in case you’re wondering…no, I did not fall off my bike. 

 

 

At the start of my ride, Kelly, drove passed me and I gave a little wave.  It got a bit shaky there for a moment, but I didn’t fall.  Note to self: give a cordial nod when riding bike to avoid a nasty spill.

Push-Up Challenge, Day 7

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I am a little behind wth my Push-up Challenge post.  Truth be told, I did not even have a spare moment on Wednesday for even one push-up, so I squeezed out my push-ups on Thursday.  I even made sure to follow the right plan (Week 4, Day 2- Column 2) and the correct amount of reps.  It was definitely tough, but I managed.  

 

As I mentioned before, I will stick on Week 4 one more day this week, which will be Saturday.  There’s an exhaustion test on Day 3 of Week 4, which depending on my results, may cause me to follow Week 4 again or change the column I follow for Week 5.

Fast(ing)

Posted on by Run DMT
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This morning, I ran 3 miles.  Although I had to drag myself out of bed to run, once I got moving, I felt pretty good about my run. 

 

Isn’t funny how some days are good running days and other days you feel like you are dragging?  Some days you feel like a gazelle and other days you feel like a turtle and some days you’re just moving along.  But when you download your Garmin stats, there is no evidence of a struggle or any proof of a good pace or sometimes you’re just blown away that you managed to move faster than you thought. 

 

Well, today I felt fast and I’ve got the stats to prove it.  I incorporated ¼ sprints into today’s run and the results were comparable to my performances at the past few 5K races.

 3 miles

Time 27:17

Pace 9:05

 

After my sad performance last Saturday, today’s run helped boost my ego a bit.

We Dig Dinosaur World

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IMG_0212My pretty paleontologists and I trekked over to Plant City to spend the morning at Dinosaur World.  We love field trips to this no frills theme park, but with its location an hour from some of Florida’s largest attractions (such as WDW and Busch Gardens), our prehistoric neighbors are often overlooked. 

 doors

More of an outdoor museum rather than a theme park, Dinosaur World offers a hands-on education of prehistoric life.  The overgrown foliage along the paths of the park offers welcomed shade as well as a realistic backdrop for 150 life-size reptilian replicas prominently displayed through out the park. 

 TRex

 

Bracchio

 

skeleton

 

Petite paleontologists can dust off the dinosaur bones in the boneyard, but most children look forward to the fossil dig which is included in the admission to the park.  During the fossil dig, children sift through sand to search for small fossils and each child may select three to keep as a souvenir.

 

IMG_0166

 

digpics

Although the hot summer months make visits to this museum a bit much, I highly recommend visiting the dinosaurs during the cooler months.DW_Girls

Push-Up Challenge, Day 6

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For Day 6 and the second day of Week 4 of the one hundred push-up program, I decided to go all girlie.  No real struggle today, but then I didn’t mix any manly push-ups into sets. 

 

I thought I was doing great until I visited the hundred push-up challenge site to verify the number of push-ups for each set.  That’s when I realized that I am still on Day 1 of Week 4 and did the wrong number of reps today and consequently have been only following Day 1 for the last two weeks.  AND SOMEHOW, I’ve also missed the last set of each day, which means I’ve only been doing 4 sets instead of five.  In other words, I haven’t really been following the program correctly and now as a result, I am forcing myself to wait to start Week 5 until Monday to make sure I completing the right number of push-ups on Wednesday and Friday.  UGH!

 

I blame it on mommy brain.  Or maybe I’m not breathing properly while doing my push-ups and the lack of oxygen has prevented me from reading the program correctly.  Yeah, that’s it.  It’s the lack of oxygen.  I have been suffering from quite a few asthma attacks lately, you know.

Running with Two Tiffanies

Posted on by Run DMT
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Two days with no activity due to my injury, I decided to play it by…um…ear…(yeah… we’ll go with ear) for Saturday’s run with the Striders.  When I woke up this morning, I felt ready to run 6 miles.

 

As Tiffany and I set out to start our 6 miles, we met another Tiffanie, who looked familiar to me and we played “Six Degrees of Separation” to find out how we knew each other.  Turns out, we are both members of a huge on-line organizer’s forum on Meetup, *Not Just Moms*.  I am always amazed at how the on-line community makes a small world even smaller.

 

During our run, Tiffanie mentioned how she has a hard time labeling herself as an athlete.  Typically, she runs 4 miles and she feels her runs don’t fit the athlete label.  I shared my own experience and told her it took awhile for me to consider myself an athlete.  Now I believe it’s my commitment to the sport that allows me to wear the label proudly.

 

Further along the trail, I spotted a deer during our run and of course, Tiffany and I busted out the Do Re Mi’s again which caused the deer to run off into the woods and I envied its speed and grace.  Some runners in the Striders seem to sprint like cheetahs or gazelles.  I would be happy to pace with a deer.

 

As we stopped for a water break after our first mile, a small group of runners quickly caught up to us.  “I knew you ladies were fast, because you looked fast!” shouted Doug.  Doug’s declaration only validated my loosely fitted athlete label.  When we started running again, I believe we picked up a little speed despite our egos growing a little larger, but still not quite as fast as a deer.

 

Even though my asthma has been giving trouble lately, I forgot to use my inhaler before our run.  About 2 miles into the run, I felt the tightness in my chest and the rest of my run was quite a struggle and I found myself needing to walk more than usual.  Tiffany and I finished 6 miles, but it wasn’t our best performance.

 6 miles

Time 1:06:48

Pace 11:08

Next week, Tiffany and I will try to be at the trail around 6:00 a.m. to get an earlier start on our run and avoid the heat.  We’re going for 8 miles next week.

Push-Up Challenge, Day 5

Posted on by Run DMT
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For Day 5, I began Week 4 of the one hundred push-up program.  I attempted my first set of 18 with manly push-ups but after about five of them, my arms gave up.  So, I finished the set with girlie “alternative” push-ups.  (To appease my friend, MTAE, I will refer to them as alternative push-ups instead of girlie.)  For the set of 25 and 16, I did alternative push-ups.  For the last set of 16, I tried once again to add some more manly ones in and I did about 8 before my arms started to shake.  I ended today’s challenge with 8 “alternative” push-ups.  For Monday (Day 6), I think I will just stick with the girlie alternative push-ups.

 

My upper body strength seemed really week today.  It might something to do with the fact that I slept really poorly last night and I ran 6 miles this morning.  The 6 miles were tough and felt pretty wiped after it, but more on my run later.  It could also be that I was putting on make-up in between sets.  I guess I should do push-ups before make-up, but powdering between push-ups just seemed natural to me.

Finding My Courage (But If I Only Had a Brain)

Posted on by Run DMT
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A few months ago, I registered for a local triathlon, Faces of Courage, but even with the date of this triathlon drawing closer and closer, I have been avoiding my bike.  If you are a loyal reader, you will remember some of dismount issues here and here and here. 

 

On Wednesday morning, with the date of the event only a few weeks away, I decided to stop procrastinating and finally ride my bike.  My goal was 10 miles.

 

I started the first five miles with record speed for me: 12 mph.  I zoomed around the neighborhood.  I impressed myself with how I maneuvered and circled the cal-de-sacs.  It seems my balance has improved.  Maybe the time off the bike did me some good?

 

Then, I hit a dead-end, figuratively and literally.  Lacking the ability to circle square corners of a dead end street, I attempted to dismount and turn around.  “Just hop off”, I told myself, which seemed like a pretty good plan.  Like a bad slapstick comedy, I hopped off the seat and landed in the center of the bar. 

 

Feel free to cringe at the thought, but be warned before you continue reading.  Viewer discretion is advised.  The following segment contains graphic description and girlie parts.

 

 

When I landed on the bar, I slammed my pelvic bone, which of course, caused excruciating pain.  But apparently, I also slid across the bar, because I tore my…eh hem…*cough*…well, let’s just say I tore stuff that should only be ripped during childbirth.

 

In agony for the rest of the ride, I tried to push the pedals but the pain slowed down my pace quite a bit.  The upside to my dumb dismount: I properly dismounted when I finished my ten miles and managed not to fall over.  Unfortunately, my labia lesions made it difficult to push out some push-ups for yesterday’s challenge, but I did it.

10.07 miles

Time 42:53

Pace 14.1 mph

 

This morning, I was still sore from my injury and unable to run.  I am feeling a little bit better this evening, so hopefully I can run at least 3 miles tomorrow.

Push-Up Challenge, Day 4

Posted on by Run DMT
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I started with a set of 12 manly push-ups and it was quite a struggle to push through them.  I thought I was going to die. Now, one possible explanation could be that I did today’s challenge at night after dinner when I typically do my push-ups in the morning.  There is another possible reason, but I will explain that all tomorrow.  I have a killer headache and I need to lie down. 

 

So, to recap today’s challenge: first set of 12 were manly with much struggle and sets of 17, 13 and 13 were all girlie push-ups.  I really hope to start week 4 on Friday and I may be able to if I only do all girlies push-ups.