Germany 2013 – Heidelberg

We left on September 27 to Germany.  We flew straight from Houston to Frankfurt, and one of David’s friend, Kai,  was nice to enough to drive out and pick us up from the airport.

At IAH, waiting on our late flight.

We flew out on the new Airbus 380.  OMG huge plane.  It’s the double-decker one.  Super cool, but planes that big freak me out.  It just doesn’t seem right for something THAT heavy to be off the ground!

The wing on this plane is long enough, with enough flex that you can barely see the edge of the tip when it’s on the ground.  The above pics are on the ground vs. in the air.  Pretty crazy.

We immediately left Frankfurt and headed to Heidelberg to stay a few days with Kai, his wife Anna, and their new baby girl!  The first day was pretty rough.  We arrived early in the morning, after an awful “night” of sleep on the plane.  We wanted to stay up all day, so fairly soon after we arrived, we went out for a walk to see the town.  The main street of downtown was crazy packed, with food vendors, shops, and even some live music.  We walked the main stretch, took some photos, and then headed back to the house.  David and I were total zombies by that point.

My favorite thing in Heidelberg was the run I did with Kai on our second day there.  He’s a runner, and when he heard I’d be running while in Germany he immediately asked if we could run together.  Of course!  He took me on one of his favorite routes that goes straight from his front door, up a mountain, and back down.  I’m a flatlander, so the mountain running thing was a bit crazy.  Fun, but painful.  The view on top made it totally worth it though.  By far one of my favorite runs ever.  Unfortunately we got a late start, so the photo is a bit blurry, and we had to finish our run in the dark.  Always interesting running a trail in the dark while your friend tells you stories about wild boars in the area….

RacECAP: Bayou City Classic 10K March 9, 2013

Ok.  I owe you kids a quick recap from my race last weekend.  The Bayou City Classic 10K was my very first race ever, way back in 2010.  I finished in 1:13:46, which left me placing 140/196 in my age group, and 1472/1859 overall.  Not great, but I finished, I loved it, and couldn’t wait to do another race.  I’ve done the race every year since and PRed every year.  Last year I accidentally attached the wrong piece of the timing chip to my shoe, so I didn’t have an official finish time, but I’m fairly certain I finished in ~1:06.

Of course I wanted to PR again this year, and I was fairly certain I could do that fairly easily since I’m so much more trained for it than I have been in the past (Thank you IMTX training!).  In the back of my mind I had I a much bigger goal though.  Last year I aimed for a sub 30 min 5K, and I did it.  This year I wanted a sub 1:00 10K.  Due to the construction of the light rail downtown the course was changed up a bit this year.  Instead of running up and down Memorial, the course went along Allen Parkway.  Still hilly as hell for us flatlanders here in Houston.

It was a little warmer than my ideal racing temp, but still nice weather.  Sunny, clear skies, cool, but a little humidity.  I warmed up a bit by running a couple of easy laps around a block of downtown, and then waited for the start.  My only race plan was to take it a little easy for the first mile, and then push the pace as much as I could.  I won’t bore you with too many details… my shins felt really tight for the first couple of miles, and the last 1.5 miles hurt like a mofo, but I got it done.  Here’s the splits:

First 5K- 29:47 902/1664 9:33/MSecond 5K- 28:51 656/1664 9:15/M
Total- 58:39
AG- 66/168
Females- 266/845
Overall- 781/1664

Another finish in the top 50%!  And a HUGE PR on both my 10K and 5K time if you count that second half split.  And I wasn’t even sore the next day 🙂

 

That’s me tired at the end of a race…

RacECAP: Houston Half Marathon 2013

Yeah yeah.. this is way late, but better late than never, right?  I had originally signed up for the full marathon since I had deferred last year because of that damn stress fracture.  Though when I committed to doing IMTX, I decided doing the full probably wasn’t the best idea.  I just didn’t want to have to take that much time to recover from 26.2 miles of torture.

I should preface this by saying that back in November I started having troubles with the same foot that had the stress fracture.  As in the same sorts of pains that eventually led to the fracture.  I freaked out a bit, and drastically cut back on my training runs.  I went from a couple of weekends with 10 mile runs to a whopping 7.5 miles for ALL of December.  I finally gave in and saw a podiatrist in early January.  Long story short, my feet are all kinds of messed up, with high arches and weird angles, so I got fitted for some custom orthotics.  I saw the Dr. the week before the half, and he told me I should be ok to race it, but to take plenty of rest time leading up to and after the race.  I ran 5 miles the week before the week of the half, then no runs leading up to the race.  My foot was still sore on Saturday, so I was a bit worried I’d have to pull out of the race early (which I was 100% prepared to do).

Anyone that lives in this part of the world know how crappy the weather was race morning.  It was cold, and wet.  I got to George R. Brown early, and hung out in the porta-potty lines as long as possible trying to avoid the awful weather.  With about 10 minutes left before the guns went off I headed outside into the cold.  It wasn’t too bad… a little windy, but not really raining… yet…  I got into the open corral and tried to work my way up to the 10:00-11:00 minute pace groups.  Even though I wasn’t really trained for this race, I really really wanted a PR (2:28:50 from way back on 12/10/10).  The corrals were crazy.  I heard the guns go off, and we slowly started shuffling towards the start line.  It took me something like 22 minutes to actually cross the line.  I did end up next to a super nice guy that was wearing an IMTX finishers’ jacket, so we chit-chatted and he gave me some advice about the course and training and whatnot.  And then the rain started.  I was about 3 minutes from the start line when it started pouring.  I was soaked before I even started to run.

Although it sucked to be wet, especially the wet socks (gross), I usually run faster in the rain, and the temps were fairly close to how they were when I PRed those many years ago.  I didn’t have too much of a race plan other than to keep my paces below 11:00 for the whole race, and run the whole thing.  The race itself was fairly uneventful.  I was pleased with the clothing choices I made.  Lulu crops and tank, covered up with North Face Flight Series jacket, some 2XU running gloves, a fleece ear warmer thing, and my Lonestar 70.3 hat.  Although the jacket isn’t actually waterproof, it does a great job of blocking wind, and the ear warmer hat combo was perfect (even though it looked a bit silly!).  I felt great temperature-wise the entire race, and never felt cold until I was waiting for David in the convention center after the race.

I crossed the 5K mark at 33:16 feeling great, and 10K at 1:06:40 still feeling awesome.  I had forgotten how not flat the course is compared to the roads I train on.  By the 15K split I was starting to get tired.  My legs just weren’t used to running that long.  I only walked the water stations up until the last one.  After that I gave myself a quick walk break of about 30 seconds to get to the mile 12 marker, where I told myself I wasn’t allowed to walk again until I was finished.  It may hurt now, but the pain is temporary and I really really wanted that PR!

I ended up finishing in 2:21:09, 10:46 average pace.  My foot never bothered me a single time, and even felt BETTER the next day than it did the day before.  I was sore as hell everywhere else, but it was like the miracle cure for my foot!  Given the lack of run training I was super pleased with my time.  I know if I can get a solid training plan under me I could finish much much faster.  I did the best I could on that day, and that’s good enough for me!  Plus, this was my very first time to ever finish in the top half of a strictly running race!  Progress!

 

Back in Session

Well…. Training officially began today!  I woke up bright and early at 4:30 am (ok, not so bright, but definitely early) to make it to my first day of swim practice for the Masters swim team.  The practice I attended goes from 5:30-6:30 am, perfect for getting in a good swim and making it home, showering, and heading out the door to make it to work on time.  But wow am I sleepy this afternoon! 

Swim practice was great though.  I’m wishing I had signed up for a team a long time ago!  I promptly informed the coach that I’ve never been part of a swim team, and completely self taught so I don’t know much about drills, strokes other than free, and organized swimming in general.  He was very accommodating throughout the session, and worked with me to explain why and how to use pull buoys, and a few different drills for me to try out.  There was quite a bit of talking, so I only got in 1500m in the hour I was there but it was a difficult workout for me (especially since I haven’t swum since October).

Then at lunch I hit up the gym to get my scheduled 30 minute run in.  I’m still struggling to get myself back to where I was in terms of running.  So frustrating to go from 14 miles to barely being able to hit 3!  At least the foot is cooperating for the time being.  Fingers crossed that it continues to do so as I ramp up the time and distance. 

Hooray Weekend!

I ran 1.25 miles yesterday, people!  Hallelujah, I think I’m back! There was no pain, no discomfort, no weird twinges, just beautiful running.  And no pain last night! And no pain today!  So. Excited!

Right now, all I want to do is go to sleep.  Having to work a normal schedule while living with someone that has a half month vacation is difficult.  Too much going out, and late nights.  David needs to get back to work ASAP.  At least my weekend starts in 13 minutes.

P.S.  I think David and I are going to check out some greyhounds next week. 

5 Random Things

1.  I almost ran a mile yesterday.  3 min warmup walk on my 1.05 mile loop around the house, and then ran all the way back to the house @ 9:42 avg pace.  I will hit a mile next week.  And best news is that my foot seems to be perfectly OK.  It’s sore, but not in the stress fracture kind of way.  Just in the, “Hey lady, you haven’t really used me normally in 3 months kind of way.”  This kind of pain I can deal with!

2.  My arms were sore from my gym trip last Tuesday all the way through Friday.  I forgot how good it feels after a hard strength training session… So yesterday I joined Planet Fitness.  $10 to join, $10 a month.  Can’t beat it.  I went again yesterday, and focused on arms and abs.  Going again tomorrow, and looking forward to it!

3.  After staring at this page for nearly a month, I finally gave it yesterday.  That’s right kids, if all goes as planned (and my foot continues to behave), I’ll be going 70.3 on April 1, 2012. I’m super duper excited, and a little nervous.  I need to get a training plan put together, and get this show on the road!

4.  Speaking of training, I’ve tried all sorts of ways of organizing and keeping track of training plans.  I’ve put them on Google calendars, on my phone, listed by date, etc., but I haven’t really liked any of these ways.  I decided I wanted something where I could plan out and track my progress, but not something on my phone or computer.  I wanted a physical journal of sorts, and I happened upon a set of Moleskine calenders.  There’s one mini notebook for each month, and a page for each day.  I’m so excited to use them!

5.  Christmas break was awesome.  I drank a lot beer, ate a lot of food, and spent lots of times with friends and family.  I got spoiled with great presents, and spoiled a few others myself.  🙂  This was definitely one of the best Christmases I can remember in recent years. Hopefully New Years can be great too!  What was your favorite gift this year?  Mine is definitely the watch David gave me.  I already knew about the boots he had ordered me (since I picked them out), so the watch was totally unexpected.  And I love it!

Back to My Old Self

Having a plan is good.  It works for me.  If I write down that something has to be done, I’m pretty good at getting it done.  If there’s nothing there, it’s so so easy to sit on the couch, or sleep in… A friend of mine mentioned doing a winter cycling program from beginnertriathlete.com.  Since my beautiful bike and trainer had been sitting all alone for at least a week, I figured this would be good for me.  Get me on the bike, without having to go outside in the ridiculously cold Houston weather (yes I know it’s not that cold, and yes I know I’m a total wimp), and hopefully improve my performance.  Plus, the idea of just sitting on the trainer pedaling out an hour sounded dreadful, and this plan incorporates lots of intervals!  It’s a 4 day a week program, 3 of which are between 45-65 minutes, and then there’s a long ride on the weekend.  I’ve been skipping the long ride, and just doing the shorter ones 3 times a week.  I’m on my third week now, and it seems to be working out quite well for me.  I’m riding, getting a good workout in a relatively short amount of time, and I’m keeping up with it.  Win, win, win.

December so far

I’m also still running (yay yay yay!!!!).  Not long distances mind you (yet), but I’m gradually upping my running intervals.  For the most part I’ve been sticking to the 1.05 mile loop around the house, warm up 5 min walking, run x minutes, walk a min, run x minutes, etc.  My longest was last Saturday when I upped my x to 3 minutes at a time, and repeated thrice.  (Yes I said thrice 😉 )  All at a nice 9:30 ish pace.  So far so good.  The past 3 days have been virtually pain free.  This is the first time since September with no pain.  I think I’m finally over this thing.  I’m hoping that within a month I’ll be back to my normal running self.

I also did something new today.  I went to the gym with a coworker at lunch.  There’s a Planet Fitness near my work that he’s been going to for about 6 months now.  It’s only $10 a month, so I’ve been contemplating joining him.  I really really need some strength training in my life.  He had a free guest pass, so I finally gave it a try.  It was kind of wonderful.  All of the equipment is really nice, and clean.  There’s multiples of every machine, tons of dreadmills, and not many people.  Only drawback was that the shower I used had ZERO hot water.  Ick.  I think I’m going to join though.  I’m feeling so energized this afternoon!

 

The Best 3 Minutes Ever

Soooo… I got home, and since David was still at his parents’ place, I decided to go out for a walk.  If the foot was still pain free after 5 minutes, I was going to run.  After 5 minutes it still felt great, so I ran for a minute.  No pain, only a little bit of tingly feeling right wear the fracture is/was.  I walked for another 5 pain free minutes, so I ran another minute.  About the same.  Walked another 5, then ran the last minute to get back to the house.  The last minute felt the best of the three.  Now I’m back at the house, and still no pain has arisen, so fingers crossed it doesn’t bite me in the ass in the morning.

OMG it felt to amazing to move my legs like that again.  That whole first 5 minutes I had a silly grin on my face (despite the loads of nervousness that it’d hurt like hell and I’d have to cry hobble my way home).

Today is a good day!

Today was what I hope to be my last trip to the foot doctor.  And he told me I can officially start incorporating some jogging into my walking!  Hooray!  What fun!  I’m so excited.  Now I’m just left with the decision of:

-Do I wait a while longer, just to be safe?
-Or do I trust him and give just a little running a try?

I’m thinking go for a 1-2 mile walk, and try to add in a couple of minutes of jogging here and there depending on how it feels.  I hope I hope I hope it doesn’t get worse if I do.

Wish me luck!!!

Running Buddy

I get these random whims of wanting things.  It doesn’t really happen all that often, but when it does I have trouble getting past it.  Sometimes it’s elaborate things, sometimes they’re small.  Sometimes is something like running a marathon… Earlier this year it was a new bike.  Now it’s a dog.  WTF?  I usually dislike dogs.  They’re too much work.  They poop in the yard.  You can’t leave them alone for a weekend trip.  The list goes on and on.

I’m not totally sure where the idea came from, but for some reason I ended up reading an article about which breeds of dogs are best for being a running buddy.  A running buddy.  Well doesn’t that sound like a splendid idea.  I know David will never jump on the running bandwagon, so why not a dog?  I’m not talking about for torturous 20 milers, but just for short weekly runs.  Or part of those torturous long runs.  Just some sort of neighborhood companionship.

So what do I see on this list?  Greyhounds.  The kind of dog that David has told me he’d like to have one day since I’ve known him.

So now I keep finding myself researching them.  I get these crazy ideas, but I promise, I do my research and think them through before I ever actually indulge.  But these silly dogs are so funny looking it makes them adorable.  And I keep hearing/reading that they’re really cool dogs.  Super lazy, docile, indoor dogs.

What’s a girl to do?