Sunday, July 24, 2011

Life, training and Oops 22.4......

Well, I finally signed into my blog after a bit of a hiatus here....Sometimes we need a break if we can't keep up with everything else in life and I think that's OK:)

Life ramblings:

I was back to work full time this week which is only 4 days but long ones. The county fair was in town which meant I went pretty much directly from work to the fair every evening. This is such a big deal around here. Everything you would imagine a podunk County Fair to be. My girls pretty much take off on their own but Max needs someone over 48 inches for the rides so I had to swallow it up and ride the Ball of fire, the Zipper, the Sizzler. I HATE spinny rides. I love rollercoasters etc. but post children I CANNOT handle this spinny shit. I felt so nauseous after the Sizzler that I literally had to stand bent over with my head between my knees. Oh-the things I do for my child....

One of my duties as a hockey parent includes flipping burgers at the arena stand at the fair. It is really a lot of fun to flip burgers over a hot grill when it is already 105 degrees outside. I was SO hot and greasy and disgusting!!!! We're supposed to butter the buns and then put them on the grill (heart attack??) so after about an hour I stopped buttering them and just started wiping them across my forehead.

Max won a Goldfish on one of the games. I had been held up for the THOUSANDTH time by bumping into someone I knew and chatting away (this is hard in a small town, I know everyone and I like to talk) Joe took Max and Reese over to play this ping pong Goldfish game while I yapped. By the time I made it over Max was holding this fish in a bag of water with the biggest smile on his face! I got a big smile on my face too until Reese piped up that Joe had spent $50 to win this fish. FIFTY freakin' dollars-ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! I tell you, I spent the rest of the night prying the diamonds out of my wedding ring to go in the bottom of the fishbowl....How does my son rate here!!! I wanted Joe to buy me a bottle of water and it was $3 so he thought I could probably wait until we got home....

Weather has been absolutely CRAZY this week. Record high temps and humidity early in the week which made for a sweltering hot house. We don't have AC and I actually considered sleeping in an ice bath one night. This morning 57 degrees-GO FIGURE!! Only in Minnesota!

Yesterday I headed to the Northwest Angle which is just a gorgeous part of MN with my two best friends. Last minute plan but it worked since Joe was not traveling! We stayed overnight and spent most of the night gabbing and drinking wine. Actually, I was NOT drinking wine, just kinda pretending to drink wine....Easier than making a scene to my non running friends about how not only do I have to leave early in the morning to run but now I'm not going to participate in the wine drinking.....the things we do for our sport..... Honestly I really WANTED to drink wine-a lot of it! Anyway, I had a wonderful time.

Do you ever "fake" drink because of running or am I the only 35 year old coward here-ha!

Training:

So, I just completed week 3 of my marathon training plan. I finally feel like my legs are coming around and my confidence is climbing a bit. SO much better than last week both mentally and physically. Just over 71 miles (not what I planned for) and some good quality workouts in some DEATHLY heat and humidity (even at 5am when I run). Thank God we are finally cooling down around here!! Hitting paces (other than MP) is sometimes a challenge for me and I struggled through a hill workout on Friday but I'm managing to do OK here and I'm feeling good:)

Headed out on my long run this morning after sneaking home from the cabin by 5 am. My husband joined me. We almost NEVER run together. We are both pigheaded and do much better on our own-ha! Once I started running I couldn't even remember exactly what my plan said I was supposed to do (somewhere around 13 miles with some MP intervals) Frankly, I didn't care. The long run is generally my favorite run of the week and sometimes after following this structure all week I just want to RUN even if it means breaking away from my plan and doing my own thing. Now, I really DO plan to stick to my plan this time around and not CONSTANTLY do my own thing but I think I will be a little flexible with the long run. The route we took has options for 12, 14, 16, 18 miles or a complete loop of 22.4. Joe doesn't follow a plan so he was game for whatever although his longest run in almost a year has been only 13 miles. I anticipated we would run about 16 (funny though how when I went to throw out water bottles prior to the run, I snuck one at mile 18 of the loop....) Gorgeous weather-the humidity still at 93% but only 57 degrees which felt so AWESOME and truly made a huge difference in my pace vs. effort. I knew by mile 15 that we were going the whole loop. Just one of those days and I capitalized on it whether it was stupid or not.

SO-that's all my news. I'm back to only 2 days of work this week so hopefully I will have a little more free time. I still plan to get out my answers to the Q and A post but a little behind here:)

Some big races this weekend. IM Lake Placid today, a couple of HM's and I'm sure many others! So excited to see how they go!!

17 comments:

Caroline said...

oops 22.4...? who says that? not me!! ha ha!!!

I am the same, since the kids rollercoasters and all those rides make me sick! that is so weird...

Fake drinking..that is funny..I fake eating that is just as bad I guess!!!

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

Woot Woot! I say good for you for going for it, since you felt great! Why not? Awesome Jenn! I want details on that long run. Did Joe go the entire 22.4?

Fake drink! I used to do it, bc I don't like alcohol (except really sweet mixed drinks). Not any more, though!

Chris amazes me with regard to how much crap he gets for Petru. At the same time, he is super thrifty with everything else. And yes, he would surely not spend $3 on a bottle of water:) I would, of course!

Really thrilled for your training Jenn! I will say this again, but the marathon is your event, for sure! This October will be huge for you! And April 2012...the sky is the limit!

XLMIC said...

I am with you... I used to love all kinds of carnival/fair rides, but now I get sick just going on the Merry Go Round! You and your ooops... you kill me!

Cory Reese said...

We have 105 degree heat in our area but no humidity, thank goodness. That is a killer!

Allison said...

I am the same way with that spinny ride shit! Forget it!!

Great job on your training. Crazy weather for you, huh? I mean, at least here... I know it's going to be hot pretty much until the end of October!! We have our fair in April because having it in July would equal DEATH for most of the fair goers. HA!

Britt @ Chicago Runner Girl said...

Well hot dog...22.4!!! What a great way to start the day. Heat let up a bit around here today as well, it felt so nice.

You always give me a good chuckle.

I fake drink all the time. People are on to me and remind me how long I've been nursing the one beverage. But hey, I'm a cheap date that way.

Hope your $50 goldfish lives at least one week, those things never seem to last long.

KT80 said...

Something happened around the time I lost weight and got in shape because on my honeymoon I realized I got motion sick. Our puddle jumper ride was awful for me and I had an awful experience on the whale watch we went on during our honeymoon. Weird.

Christie said...

22.4! You go girl!!! Faking drinking is SO much easier that trying to explain why you don't drink and get that deer in the head lights/puzzled look from people!

always love reading your posts:)

Raina said...

My husband does that fake drinking thing...I don't think he wants to offend people who give him a beer- and contractors have that image, I guess. I would have a hard time with self control! Wine in hand is as good as wine in the gullet. SO I just offend people. ;) I get it though! I feel like I need something in my hand.

WT HECK?? about the 22 + haha. I can tell you had secret plans by planting the water. :)

I can relate to the goldfish story in so many ways. But you won't catch me digging out the diamonds. haha. The water - 3 bucks ? Don't you love how the fair likes to gouge!! Way to do your duties above and beyone, Jenn. I bet those sweaty burgers were tasty and made with LOVE!

will email soon...:)

Amanda@runninghood said...

ha ha, when you told me about the 22.4 in your text I was thinking "ARen't you following a plan this time Jenn?!" ha ha! You go! And Joe...what a stud and so funny how different you two are with him not planning or fueling really...just doing whatever. ha ha.

We have a fair coming this week to the town/city next to us. Who knew? And I never knew about the free track nights that I could have been doing...right by my house...a half a mile!!! This thursday is the last freaking one!!

I'm not about spending so much money at the fair if we go! Especially since I just booked a ticket to Colorado along with all the money I've spent on shoes. wooo wee.

missed you this week. hope we can keep catching up.

And I've done the fake drinking before.

ajh said...

I am seriously LOL at the you can drink water at home but $50 for a fish!

Julie D. said...

HAAAA!!! That is hilarious. I thought I was the only one who 'faked it'! :) Luckily, most of my friends run, so I don't have to do it often but still a requirement to not look like a total runner nerd sometimes!! 50 bucks on a fish?? LOL- I hope he is a golden fish and lives forever!! and I WILL NOT do the spinny rides...you are a better mom than me!! :) Great job on your 71 miles!! You are amazing, Jenn!!

Teamarcia said...

Spinny shit and $50 goldfish and fake drinking! You have me rolling on the floor girl!
As for fake drinking, I'm pretty much cooked after about 2 sips of wine so all of my drinking is fake. Ha!
Glad to know the training is coming around. I'm hoping mine will any week now...

dawn @ running the dawn said...

i'm pretty sure i would give just about anything to have my 105 degree weather pay out with some 50's. that would be pure heaven. so, way to make the most of it and get in such a great run. *jealous*

Lindsay said...

Mmm. Can I get one of those sweaty buns? And by that I mean hamburger buns, not your post-22mi buns.

That was one pricey goldfish!

Denae said...

You are funny! Good for you on the wine! I usually just drink and then feel like crap on the run the next day. I will try your idea next time :)

Jess @ Blonde Ponytail said...

Jenn, you are legit! Eh, we'll just do the 22.4 loop, why not? I mean, it's not a marathon or anything. Amazing!

I kind of like your fake drinking--I feel like an uptight guest declining!