The good, the bad and the unclassified

The good news: I cranked out a quick 3 mile run on the YMCA treadmill tonight after work and got home just in time to tune into "The Bachelor." Seriously Ali, why'd you walk away? He almost begged you to stay?

The bad news: I was trying something new for dinner. A baked potato with a side of corn. Sounds simple. The corn turned out great (how could I mess up frozen corn). The baked potato? Let's just call that an epic failure. Yeah. It was in the oven for an hour! And it still tasted and looked like it was a raw potato! And yes, the oven was on. So my dinner turned into corn and some cinnamon toast. The dinner of champions. I might try a second attempt at a potato tomorrow.

The unclassified news: We're supposed to get 9 inches of snow tomorrow. I know that's nothing compared to what you folks in the DC area are dealing with. And honestly, we haven't gotten much snow lately, so I'm kind of excited. But even though I'm going to try my hardest not to leave my office tomorrow once I get there, I'm still packing my gym bag and planning on hitting up the YMCA after work. I've gotta catch a glimpse of the Badgers somehow :)

Football, running - I'd say that's a super Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone. Sigh. Football's done until late summer when training camp kicks off.

I went to a Super Bowl party at my brother's house tonight. I think of the 12 adults, I was on the only one in the room cheering for the Colts. I honestly didn't care who won as long as it was a good game (which it was), but I guess my tendencies lean towards the Colts. What can I say, I was a sportswriter and wrote about them during that awful year I lived in Indiana. And three of my starters on my fantasy football team (which won the league championship this year) suit up in the blue and white (Peyton Manning, Joseph Addai and Dallas Clark).

We had two pools going - which team would score first with how much time remaining and the final score. My final score guess was the Colts would walk away with the victory 31-21 (so close, wrong team) and I picked the Colts to score first with 7:34 remaining in the first quarter.

I was off by 5 seconds and I walked away with the door prize - a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt to pull out next season. Sounds good to me!

And while a good chunk of the day was spent watching football, I did manage to head over to the YMCA earlier to sneak in a run (gotta make up for some of those Super Bowl goodies I'd be consuming later). Since I spent a good chunk of last week dealing with the brick on my chest and the gremlin living inside my chest, this was my first run in nearly a week.

I started feeling better Saturday and went to the YMCA with thoughts of wanting to run, but not really knowing how far I'd make it. Best case scenario? I'd be able to sneak in the weekend's long run - 5 miles - worst case? I'd barely make it a mile before dying. Guess it was my lucky day. I kept the pace nice and slow, but I pounded out 5.1 miles on the treadmill and the run actually felt pretty good. Now it's just time to get back on track.

And the last thing I did today? I made a purchase on Amazon.com that is going to make Badgergirl very very happy when the postman brings it to her door. Stay tuned to find out what it is!

Three Things Thursday

1. I'm sick. Again. This time it feels like there's a brick sitting on my chest and some gremlin living in my body. Skipped the YMCA last night. Tried to go to work today. Lasted 2 hours. Came home and slept for 3 hours.

2. My landlord apparently doesn't believe in plowing my parking lot. It snowed on Tuesday and the lot still hasn't been plowed. Granted, it was only 2 inches, but still. That's 2 inches I've got to walk through to get to my car every morning. And let's not talk about the layer of ice that's formed as a result of the mid-day thaw and overnight freezing.

3. I've got nothing else. Time to watch TV and fall asleep.

I left my frustration on the treadmill

I had an utterly craptastic day yesterday. And trust me, it had nothing to do with having to go back to work after a week-long furlough.

I don't even want to get into it. Let's just say I was upset. And if looks could kill? Well, there might be fewer people on earth. Just sayin'.

So when quitting time rolled around I knew I had to go to YMCA. I needed a treadmill. I needed to run. Take all of the frustration I had out on that unsuspecting piece of gym equipment. But mostly I just needed to run so I could zone out, not have to think.

And of all days, this was the day I walked into the YMCA and every. single. treadmill. was. taken. Grrr. Not helping my day. I looked at the board, found one that was going to be opened up in 10 minutes. I scrawled my name across the board and went to stretch and pedal on the bike for 5 minutes (got a whole mile done).

So I'm sitting there, pedaling. Keeping my eye on this teenage chick who's walking on the treadmill that's got my name on it. I glance up at the clock. Two minutes left. Guy two treadmills down gets off. She keeps walking. One minute left. Still walking. Time's up.

She keeps walking.

Huh? Don't you understand time limits? Does she not realize this is not the day to mess with Badgergirl? That I'm a wee bit cranky?

Meanwhile there's the empty treadmill, calling my name. I hop off the bike, go over to the board.

Score. No one has claimed it yet. I erase my initials from treadmill that's still occupied by the oblivious teenage girl and scrawl them next to the one that's lonely.

I jump on. Start to run. And start to not think. I zone out. Can't even concentrate on whatever college basketball game is being shown on the TV in front of me. I just run - for 3.15 miles - and it feels good. Almost didn't want to stop, but I knew I had an errand to run before settling in front of the TV for The Bachelor. So I stopped running.

Oh and the oblivious teenage walker? She stopped walking TWO MINUTES before I stopped running. That's 28 minutes over the allotted 30-minute time limit. And I admit, I push the limits myself, but not on days when every single treadmill is occupied.

So two people almost suffered as a result of my lethal glares yesterday. Good thing I ran.

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Today I opted to actually follow my training plan and take a rest day. Probably needed it after running 7 of the last 8 days.

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And head over to Running Off at the Mouth for a great handheld water bottle giveaway!

January Reading Recap

Remember when I started off the year last year with a big fat zero for the number of books I finished reading in January?

Yeah, I was hoping I wouldn't repeat that accomplishment this year. And luckily I didn't. In fact, I finished three books in January for a total of 1,226 pages. Not a bad improvement over last year's zero books and zero pages. Of course I'm neglecting to mention that I was midway through Gone With the Wind and it only took men a month and a half to finish it.

What'd I read this month? Have a look:

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Comeback 2.0: Up Close and Personal by Lance Armstrong
Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald

There was a lot of hype surrounding Dan Brown's latest book. I liked the first two (Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code) so I thought I'd give The Lost Symbol a read. It was good, don't get me wrong, but it pretty much followed the formula of the first two - secret cult-like organization with a mystery to solve and putting the pieces together while some group/person is after Robert Langdon and his female sidekick. But it was an entertaining read.

I couldn't rest with that number within my reach

And on the rest day? There was no resting.

Let me back up a bit.

I had plans to join up with a local running group Saturday morning to get my long run in. The running group is doing training runs for the Oshkosh Half Marathon that's coming up in April. And even though I'm doing the Green Bay Half Marathon a month later, I figured it might be a nice change of pace to run with other people for a change. And since they get together at 7:30 in the morning, I'd get the run out of the way super early.

So I had plans. Knew what I was going to wear and everything. The alarm went off and it was 1 degree outside. With a wind chill below zero. Um, as much as a running with others sounded like a tempting idea, there was no way I was going to do it when it was that cold out. Remember, I'm a wuss when it comes to running outside in the cold.

So I skipped the group run. Which meant I headed over to the YMCA later in the day to pound out my 5-mile run on the treadmill. There wasn't anything too exciting to report about the run. Kept it nice and steady (and slow) during the first two miles and putzed around a little bit with the speed during the next three. Never anything faster than a 10 minute mile though. Once the 5 miles were up, I walked for a few minutes and then threw in an extra half mile.

Run done. Time for a girls night with some old friends (who I hadn't seen in over a year). That was fun.

But today I was entering the run in my running log and noticed I was 1.7 miles short of hitting 50 miles for the month. And even though it was supposed to be a rest day, I could resist the temptation to head over to the YMCA and log a couple of miles to break that 50 mile mark.

So I did. Snuck in a 2.5 mile run at a nice easy pace and hit the milestone. Followed it up with a quick 4 mile spin on the bike. Then the rest day began.

That's one month down for 2010 (seriously, where'd January go?). Eleven more months to tackle the Tall Mom 1,000+++ Mile Club Challenge. Let's take a look at the numbers for the month:

Run: 50.8 miles
Bike: 67 miles
Swim: 338 yards (yes, I've been slacking on the swimming)

And by the way, the 50.8 miles I ran this month? That's the highest monthly mileage total since July 2007 when I logged 62 miles during training for my first half marathon. I think me and running and starting to get along again. I like it.

Race Report: YMCA Indoor Triathlon - January 2010

Sorry this is a few days late. I wanted to check on something before I posted this. The checking is done though, so here's the report.

My YMCA puts on two indoor triathlons a year. They started doing it last year and I participated in both of them, taking home a third and second place in my age groups. So when they came around with the registration info this year, I knew I'd be signing up, in an attempt to see how much I've improved during the last year.

This indoor tri also happened to be on the day before my 30th birthday. So it really would be the last race of my 20s. Kind of scary. But maybe a good thing. Because while parts of my 20s were fun, parts of them literally stunk. I guess maybe this race could be a bit symbolic.

Anyway. The tri had the same format as last year: An 8-minute swim followed by a 10-minute transition time. Then a 22-minute bike, a 5-minute transition and a 15-minute run.

Given the kind of week I had at work last week, I didn't get a whole lot of workouts in. But in my mind I considered it my "taper." Because you totally need a week long taper before a low-key community YMCA indoor triathlon. Just nod your heads in agreement.

I get to the YMCA Saturday, pick up my T-shirt and get myself ready. While walking to the pool I was kind of zoning out. Not really thinking about the race ahead of me, but not really thinking about anything in particular. All of a sudden I hear my name, I snap out of the zone and realize I'm standing there, in a swimsuit, talking to one of the guys I work with on a regular basis from the fire department.

We chatted for a bit. He was volunteering by counting laps. Given the fact that I'm pretty sure he can count, I decided to choose the lane he was working with. Got in the pool - which was way too warm. Almost uncomfortable - and got ready to swim. The whistle blew and I started to swim.

Now, I haven't been in the pool since before Christmas. And for some reason I think I forgot about that, because I totally went out too fast. I finished the fist lap and felt like I was spent. I adjusted my pace, slowed it down and just settled into a rhythm. The 8 minutes seemed to take forever though. When the whistle finally blew, I finished 13.5 laps - about 338 yards. Eh. I'll take it.

The transition was uneventful. Went into the locker room, changed and actually made it to the spin studio early.

The bike was on spin bikes and we had 22 minutes to go as far as we could. I settled into a good pace very quickly. I think I kept my cadence between 120 and 130 rpms the entire 22-minutes and actually logged more distance during the second half of the bike. I was comfortable, in a zone. Just listening to my iPod, not really caring what was going on around me. Every 5 1/2 minutes I had to unplug myself just to let the race people know my distance, but other than that it was just me, my music and my thoughts. I finished 10.5 miles on the bike during the 22-minutes.

Our 5-minute bike to run transition was more like 2 minutes. But oh well. Just needed to get up the stairs.

The run started and surprisingly, the legs didn't feel like lead. I settled into a decent pace and just ran. Of the eight people in my wave I was one of the slowest. But I'm happy to report that only six people lapped me. And the one who didn't? I lapped her. I did a little happy dance in my head when I passed her twice. The run went well. When the man in charge of keeping time told me I had two minutes left, I picked the pace up. And it wasn't that hard. Made me wonder if maybe I was running too conservatively. Because even when the 15 minutes were up, I still felt like I could have kept running or gone faster. Maybe that's something I'm going to have to work on: Running at a pace that's actually a bit uncomfortable. Those are the things that I thought about while running around in circles for 15 minutes. Anyway, I finished 27.25 laps in the 15 minutes. It was essentially running circles around an elementary school-sized gym. Who knows what that means in terms of mileage.

And just like that, my last race of my 20s and my first triathlon of my 30s (and 2010) was done. I wasn't able to make it to the awards ceremony, so I wasn't sure how I finished until I got a phone call early Monday morning from the race organizer. Apparently I won my age group (23-29).

Huh?

I've collected a few medals over the years, but the last time I actually took first place? I'd have to go back to my senior year in high school when my doubles partner and I won the No. 3 doubles flight at a four-team tennis invitational. It's been that long.

But Saturday I did it again. The results say I finished 12.705 miles during the indoor triathlon which was good for first place in my age division. And I checked, there were other competitors in my division. In fact there were five of us and I barely beat out the second place finisher who had 12.673 miles. I don't have the medal in my hands yet, still have to pick up from the organizer, but once I do, I'll be sure to share it with you guys.

So I guess that wasn't a bad way to end my 20s. Hopefully that means things will be looking up for me in 2010 (and my 30s) in terms of performance.

Three Things Thursday

How is it Thursday of furlough week already? I'm kind of enjoying the time off and don't really want it to end.

1. Furlough. I haven't been doing anything super fun during my time off of work. Honestly? Most days have consisted of lounging around in my pajamas until I change into gym clothes and head over to the YMCA in the early afternoon. So far I've made four days in a row and have really enjoyed my time as a Y-rat. There's been four runs (15.05 miles) followed by four short cool downs on the bike (18 miles). What has been lacking has been the strength training and stretching. I'll get to that in February.

2. Yesterday my YMCA trip was late in the day because I spent most of the day waiting for my brother to come down and deliver me a new (to me) TV. I still had my 24-inch TV from college. About a week ago, his wife told me they were replacing their 32-inch TV in the basement and they asked me if I wanted it. Ummm, an upgrade? Yes please. Free TV? Not going to argue with that. My cousin even gave me a TV stand, but I ended up going over to Wal-Mart and getting a cheap stand because the one from my cousin was a bit too wobbly for my liking. Trust me. The last thing I wanted to do was get woken up in the middle of the night because of a loud crash that killed not only the TV stand, but also my (new) TV and DVD player.

3. It's almost been a week and I still haven't gotten you guys my race report from the indoor triathlon last weekend (I know, I have no excuse since I haven't been working). I wasn't able to make it to the awards ceremony and I have to check on something. Hopefully I'll have a report up for you guys by the end of the weekend or Monday at the very latest!

Hope you all are having a good week!

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An added bonus on Three Things Thursday, head over to Endurance Isn't Only Physical for a great Nathan Hydration Belt giveaway.