Fashion Friday

I didn't do a Fashion Friday post last week (did anyone notice/care?) which is good because this week revolved around wearing shoes that didn't rub my possibly suicidal big toenail the wrong way. So not much that was photo-worthy. Good thing I have last week to fill in.

Red & Black/White & Animal Print
I really like this scarf. It always drapes well. I feel like with most of my other scarves, I spend way too much time trying to get it to drape nicely and usually I give up.

  

Gray Blazer & Yellow Scarf
If I'm wearing a scarf, that usually means I was too lazy to wear jewelry

  

Colorblock & Print
I wear this dress all. the. time. It's my lazy go-to outfit. As in "I want to look put-together, but I also want to be comfortable." The dress has pockets!

  

Vertical Stripes & Can Finally Wear Cute Shoes
Most of this week was spent wearing and old pair of Asics or Danskos. By Thursday my toenail could handle flats, as long as they were a little roomy. Also, I picked up this dress at last week's clothing swap.

  


Did you notice??? I'm wearing a different pair of shoes with every outfit! That NEVER happens in these posts.

ALSO - if you like purses and purse-like things, I'm doing a virtual party with Thirty-One. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society.

First World Problems

My office is very small and we don't have a functioning coffee maker. I cannot afford Starbucks twice a day every day, so I have to get by with the instant options. (Not drinking coffee is not an option.) In case you too have to deal with such a travesty: Double up on the Taster's Choice Hazelnut instant singles. The Folgers tea-bag style singles are also suitable, and you don't need to double up. Nestle makes creamers that you can buy in 20-packs (or just steal from restaurants) and they don't have to be refrigerated (not pictured). I would look for my French Press, but then I'd have to clean it out twice a day! The horror.

I drive my husband's car to work and it doesn't have an Auxiliary hook-up. I have to listen to the ACTUAL radio or ... get this ... CDs! I know, how retro. My car has an Aux hook-up, but I also don't trust my car to drive 94 miles per day. Although I've been listening to a lot of NPR and it's probably making me smarter, so that's a win.

This picture has port-o-potties in
the background, therefore it is relevant.

I used a really disgusting port-o-potty at the trail the other day. Seriously, I don't think it had been serviced since last fall. I should have known better though - I could smell it from the outside. And it didn't have toilet paper ... I would have been better off peeing behind a tree. I've never been so glad that my husband keeps generic Lysol wipes in the trunk. (Like the ones for cleaning your countertops, not hand wipes ... but at moments like those, who cares?)

I think I might lose a toenail. Oh wait, this is first world problems, not runners world problems. But still ... summer is coming! I don't want my feet to look freaky.

I had Naf Naf Grill for lunch today and I'm sad there isn't one closer to home. Because it was delicious. OMG. South suburbs, why do your dining options suck so bad? A million taquerias, but no falafel. (Although I do love the taquerias.)

No one got me an Easter basket this year. Although I'm pushing 30 and could stand to not gorge myself on chocolate and jelly beans. Although my mom had a "communal" Easter basket, and people have been refilling the office candy jar with various chocolate eggs, so it's not like I've gone without candy.

I'm going to a bachelorette party this weekend and there will be no naked men. I mean really, what's wrong with most women? What is with the "no naked men" moratorium that so many put out there for their bachelorette parties? BORING! It's a bachelorette party! It's SUPPOSED to be cheesy and tacky and embarrassing. Speaking of which, my bachelorette party was five years ago as of this weekend. And there were [partially] naked [dancing] men. And there was embarrassment.

And I had a BLAST. I'm pretty sure everyone did.

I was holding a blow-up doll. 

A different kind of Dollar Dance.

... and those are all the pictures I will post from that night. My dad reads this thing.

I've changed

2004: Back when I knew everything. 

So I'm turning 30 this year. The big three-oh.

This post is probably the first in a series of "oh hey I'm going to be 30, let's reflect" posts. You've been warned. My birthday is August 22, so we have a few months of this to look forward to. 

Anyway, I realized that I've changed over the years.

(Shocking, I know. No one EVER does that.)

How have I changed?

I regularly wake up before my parents. During the week doesn't count - I wake up early because I have to for work. (And with the exception of Wednesdays when my mom teaches a 12-hour nursing clinical at the local junior college, I am the first one awake.) What surprises me is that on the weekends I'm often the first one up. It took me a long time before I became one of those runners who wakes up early on the weekends to run. "Waking up early to run" used to be 8am. Now? I usually leave on my weekday alarm (which starts ringing at 5:20am) to make it to an early group run or race. My parents? Might still be asleep when I get home. In their defense, my dad currently works evenings and doesn't go to bed until 2am. My mom is partially "retired" and I think tries to keep a similar sleep schedule (although not staying up quite as late).

I'm married. When I was a wise 21-year-old, nearing college graduation, wrapping up a 1 1/2 year relationship (which I liked to think of as a part-time relationship), and obviously knew everything, I thought to myself "I just want to have fun in my 20s. Maybe when I'm 30 I'll start thinking about marriage." I will celebrate 5 years of marriage in a week.

Related: When I was 18 and my parents moved me into my freshman dorm, I told them "who knows when I'll be home again ... I mean, maybe I'll come home for Christmas ... we'll see." OH how my parents love to bring up that declaration of mine. Now? I just don't say I'll do anything. [Who am I kidding? That doesn't happen.]

I'm not as certain about kids. I used to be 110 percent certain that I wanted kids. The question wasn't did I want kids, the question was how many. At one point in my life, I thought five kids sounded fun. Now? After spending more time with small children, and the parents of small children (best friends, siblings, siblings-in-law), the thought of kids in my future isn't quite the certainty it once was. We still talk in terms of "when we have kids" and not "if we have kids," but my thoughts on when and how we're going to have them is changing. I won't put anything in writing though (see above).

I'm more outgoing. I spent most of high school following around BFF Ultra Vera, becoming friends with whoever she became friends with first. I purposely picked a college that no one from my high school was going to, because I wanted to be able to make my own friends, not continue the habit of following someone else around and making friends by default. However, I was really shy. And I didn't really know how to make friends. Luckily I did manage to make some really awesome friends in college, but they were all women I met in my freshman and sophomore dorms (which is the easiest place to meet people in college). But somehow, since college, I've become more outgoing. More often, when I met new people, I find myself thinking the other person is the awkward one, not me. I'm usually the one keeping the conversation going. (Tip: keep asking the other person questions about themselves. People love to talk about themselves. HELLO BLOGGING.) Anyway, I blame credit my years of working in public relations for forcing me to come out of my shell. When you're "the PR gal" you kind of have to play the role of outgoing, even if it feels so forced. Fake it until you make it. And now I regularly find myself talking like a PR person when not at work (it's good for dealing with my in-laws).

Everything I know about going fast

Here's a picture of me running not so fast.

Most runners want to go faster. It's a natural desire. You run and run and run, and you want to see improvement. In both speed and distance.

But how do you go faster? Easy. You ... go faster.

I've gotten a few questions lately via DailyMile and comments on this blog about tempo runs and track workouts, so I thought I would share my knowledge.


Let me be clear, I am not an expert. This should be obvious, but just in case you weren't sure ... I'm just a blogger who runs, or maybe a runner who blogs. Either way = not an expert. 

If you want actual expert advice, check resources such as Runners' World Smart Coach or a Hal Higdon training plan to learn how and when and for how long to do these workouts properly. 

Also, before adding speed workouts, you should have a good "base" before you start these. But I don't know what that is. If you can run for an hour without stopping and/or walking, that's probably a good indicator.

And the basic rule is only do one speed workout per week. And not the day before or after another "hard" run (like your long run).

For all of the workouts below, my warm up and cool down is usually a mile at my easy pace. 

Tempo run: Warm up, run for a few miles at a "comfortably hard" pace, cool down.
From what I've read, "comfortably hard" is around your 10K pace. If you don't know what that is, consult the McMillan pace calculator, or run by heart rate. (This is how I calculate my heart rate.) You want to maintain the same pace throughout your tempo miles. So don't start off too fast. 

Track workout: Warm up, run sprint intervals with recoveries, cool down. Most speed workouts call for sprints of 400m (1 lap around the track), 800m (2 laps) or 1600m (4 laps). Recoveries should be at your easy pace (sometimes I go slower) and can be done by distance (1-2 laps) or time (maybe half to 3/4 of the time you sprinted). I definitely recommend checking out the McMillan pace calculator to figure out sprint paces, and check out Runners' World Smart Coach or a Hal Higdon training plan for suggestions on distance and number of sets. The big thing to remember about track workouts is that all of your sprint intervals should be at the same pace. You don't want to push too hard on your first one and then have each one get slower. You want to hit the same pace each time, for the duration of the sprint.

If this sounds like a lot to remember, one really easy way to do speedwork is with a fartlek (it means "speed play"). It's similar to a track workout, but without as much structure. Warm up, and instead of doing sprints structured by pace and distance, just sprint to a point in front of you - the end of the block, the yellow house, a mailbox, etc. Then jog (recover) for a bit. Then sprint to the next point. Then jog. Repeat. Cool down when you're done. This is also good if you are out on the streets/sidewalks and get slowed down by things like intersections and stoplights.

Or, just go run some hills. I've always heard that hills are "speedwork in disguise."

There are more workouts you can do for speed - pick-ups, progressive runs, hill repeats, etc. I haven't really done much research on those, and that's where I draw the line on pretending like I know what I'm talking about.

If you know more about running than I do and anything above is incorrect, or you have more to add, please correct me in the comments. Or, if you're not correcting me, let me know what kind of workouts you do to get faster. 


ALSO - if you like purses and purse-like things, I'm doing a virtual party with Thirty-One. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society. 

Training, April 2-8

I never do training log posts, but Kim revised her weekly training post format to include lessons learned, and I liked it, so ... let's see how long this lasts :)  This is my current "training plan."

Workouts (you can also follow me on DailyMile):

Monday: "Rest" day after the half marathon. Rode my bike! 8.43mi in 55 minutes (9.2mph)

Tuesday: Met Kim after work for 5.15mi in 45 minutes, 8:38 pace ... and great conversation :)

Wednesday: Met Kelly J after work for 6.42mi in 1:02, 9:40 pace ... and more great conversation :)

Thursday: Rest. Actual rest this time. Wanted to be fresh for the following morning's hilly run.

Friday: Group run at Waterfall Glen. 9.34 hilly miles in 1:31, 9:45 pace. Beautiful morning for a run! Was smart and brought chocolate soy milk, pretzels and other snacks to eat post-run.

Saturday: Rest. Unless you count going to the gun range. Those things are heavy, so maybe it was a little strength training?

Sunday: Track workout. 6.02mi in 53 minutes, average pace = 8:44. Goal was 3x1600m at 7:33 pace with 800m recoveries. Actual splits were 7:29, 7:38, 7:41. WU was 9:51, 800m recovery paces were 9:55, 9:50, 9:25 and 1/2 mile CD was 10:33 pace.

Total miles: 27 running, 8 biking.

 

Lessons learned:

Bring snacks for hilly long runs that are about an hour from home. It really does help!

Stick to the goal pace during track workouts / speed sessions. Clearly, my sprint paces during this morning's run got slower. That's not the goal. The goal is to keep a consistent pace for each interval. I actually noticed I was going way too fast during my first sprint and forced myself to slow down. Had I not done that, my sprint splits would have been even more inconsistent.

For the past few months, I've been rotating between three pairs of shoes. The oldest are Brooks Adrenalines which are nearing 400 miles, the newer two are Mizuno Wave Nirvanas with 292 (blue) and 167 (yellow) miles on them. The yellow Mizunos are currently saved for races, and I rotate the blue Mizunos and the Brooks for training. I think I might try Brooks again for my next pair. I know I've ramped up the mileage a lot in the past few months, but I've been getting some minor aches and pains, and that never happened before the Mizunos. Right now I'm worried the nail on the big toe on my left foot might fall off - it's been sore/tender since last Sunday's half marathon. Also my ankle never felt painful, but it's finally starting to feel back to normal (and I've been wearing my Brooks a lot more lately). And I got my only blister ever in Mizunos, although that might have been due to double socks during a very cold 5K. All of these aches might not be the shoes, but my Brooks have served me well, so no harm in going back to them.