Moving commences

The last time I ran was June 12 a 10k on the Rock Cut Trails. The last time I did any exercise was on June 19 and that was the bike ride in Janesville. Yet, in spite of all that, I signed up for a 5k and an 8k this weekend (July 3 & July 4).

I'm going to die.

That's why I haven't updated this blog because I actually haven't been running. Been so stupid busy packing, then t-storms have plagued this area and then too hot. But mainly packing. Moving sucks. And apparently, I have too much 'stuff.'

I'm starting to get stressed about not having everything moved out in time. My lease ends June 30. Yes, I realise that's today and I haven't nothing moved out yet. Can't even move into the new place yet. Plus, I don't have any boxes. Did you know that Target won't give away their old boxes anymore? Lame-o.

So a little stressed and that's affecting me in more ways than one.

Categories: moving, races

Pie Ride

OK, I had this typed up and ready to publish, just had to get my pictures from the ride but it seems I keep forgetting my camera at home. So this post will be updated later with just a few pictures.

Over the weekend, I went on my first organised bike ride of the season. And the great thing about this one was I got a pie at the end!! Just too bad that I don't like pie.

I rode with Luke and a good friend Kevin. Kevin & I had road bikes while Luke had his mountain bike with huge tires on it but it didn't seem to slow him down. He stayed with us very easily. I was impressed. As you can see by the map below, we started in the town of Janesville and then went west and south. That was a tough part. And especially going north. It felt like my bike was going to blow over a few times as the wind caught my tires. But the best part was going west, we really picked up speed and was on a road had some good switchbacks hills on it so it was kinda fun. I wore a knee brace on my left knee like I always do. But my right knee started to hurt about Mile 28. I had to keep saying 3 more miles to go. It especially hurt on the uphills when I putting a lot of force on it and then it started to hurt just everytime I pedaled. But I stuck it out. I think the clips on my shoes are crooked so it was putting more pressure on my knee in a not so good way.

After the ride, Luke chose the apple pie and I chose the blueberry pie because his mother was making homemade cherry pie for Father's Day. We spent the rest of the day in Madison with Kevin & his wife. Drove back to Rockford so Luke could run a 10k that evening in the park while I chilled on the dock with my feet in the warm water enjoying the sunset and not enjoying the sounds from the Rockford Speedway.

I was surprised at how good my legs felt after the bike ride so on Sunday, we both went for another run in Rock Cut. About 10am. He was thinking of doing 2 laps. About less than 2 miles in, I started seeing a rotating fan like in my vision. I was worried that I was hyperventilating and getting dizzy so I tried to control my breathing and slow it down a bit. The rotating fan went away and I didn't walk in the first 3.1 miles. I promised myself that if I didn't walk, then I could walk whenever I wanted to in the second half. Right before Mile 5 beeped, I saw Luke running back towards me. I thought he was going to go backwards on the run but he turned around and started running with me. He said that he had a lot stars in his vision and practically couldn't see anything also about 2 miles in. So he decided he'll only do 1 and run a while with me for a cool down. He keeps a gallon of water in his trunk and I have a handheld bottle that I carried with me. I think it was just the warm weather and the breathing that got to us both. Our bodies hadn't yet gotten used to the weather & running and after 2 miles it did.

I did tell him that we are not going to run after 9am in the park again though. We have to go earlier. We'll see how that ends up. For any runs this week or next week (if any), I'll be in DeKalb. My lease runs out on the 30th so I'm staying and cleaning & packing like crazy. Plus, my father is staying with me so I want to spend time with him. We sign the new lease this week! Big step in a relationship.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 810 ft Location: Janesville, WI Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/19/10 Up/Downhill: [+1450/-1450] Time: 09:20 AM Difficulty: 4.4 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 33.65 miles Time: 2:22:37 Speed: 14.2 mph Pace: 4' 14 /mi Calories: 1811 Map Elevation (ft) Speed (mph) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 6' 12 +1' 58 9.7 -4.5 -4 ft 2 4' 37 +0' 23 13.0 -1.2 -7 ft 3 4' 22 +0' 08 13.7 -0.5 -3 ft 4 4' 29 +0' 15 13.4 -0.8 +52 ft 5 5' 12 +0' 58 11.5 -2.7 +10 ft 6 4' 15 +0' 01 14.1 -0.1 -19 ft 7 5' 02 +0' 48 11.9 -2.3 +49 ft 8 4' 46 +0' 32 12.6 -1.6 +13 ft 9 3' 43 -0' 30 16.1 +1.9 -82 ft 10 4' 35 +0' 21 13.1 -1.1 -10 ft 11 4' 35 +0' 21 13.1 -1.1 +30 ft 12 4' 07 -0' 06 14.5 +0.3 -6 ft 13 4' 51 +0' 37 12.3 -1.8 +30 ft 14 3' 25 -0' 48 17.6 +3.4 -23 ft 15 4' 00 -0' 13 15.0 +0.8 -20 ft 16 4' 02 -0' 11 14.9 +0.7 0 ft 17 4' 27 +0' 13 13.5 -0.7 +10 ft 18 5' 26 +1' 12 11.0 -3.2 +13 ft 19 5' 42 +1' 28 10.5 -3.7 +40 ft 20 17' 51 +13' 37 3.4 -10.8 +102 ft 21 2' 35 -1' 38 23.1 +8.9 -72 ft 22 2' 33 -1' 40 23.5 +9.3 -33 ft 23 3' 49 -0' 24 15.7 +1.5 +99 ft 24 3' 17 -0' 56 18.2 +4.0 -20 ft 25 3' 11 -1' 02 18.8 +4.6 +10 ft 26 3' 27 -0' 46 17.3 +3.1 -92 ft 27 3' 32 -0' 41 16.9 +2.7 +42 ft 28 2' 55 -1' 18 20.5 +6.3 -33 ft 29 2' 58 -1' 15 20.2 +6.0 -7 ft 30 5' 25 +1' 11 11.1 -3.1 -82 ft 31 4' 16 +0' 02 14.0 -0.2 +3 ft 32 3' 54 -0' 19 15.3 +1.1 +3 ft 33 4' 16 +0' 02 14.0 -0.2 +7 ft end 6' 23 +2' 09 9.4 -4.8 0 ft Versus average of 14.2 mph

Posted from bimactive.com

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 846 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 06/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+639/-643] Time: 10:41 AM Difficulty: 3.1 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 6.17 miles Time: 1:06:55 Speed: 5.5 mph Pace: 10' 51 /mi Calories: 653 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 39 -1' 12 6.2 +0.7 +3 ft 2 10' 37 -0' 14 5.7 +0.1 +10 ft 3 10' 29 -0' 22 5.7 +0.2 -98 ft 4 11' 50 +0' 59 5.1 -0.5 +62 ft 5 11' 41 +0' 50 5.1 -0.4 +62 ft 6 10' 19 -0' 32 5.8 +0.3 -62 ft end 10' 33 -0' 18 5.7 +0.2 +19 ft Versus average of 10' 51 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: biking, Luke, Pie Ride, Rock Cut State Park

New bike path

Well, since I've been living in Geneva, I have been running on the Fox River Trail that goes between Elgin and Aurora. Personally, I only run from St. Charles (or a little north) to Batavia and past it, once to N. Aurora. But I've always driven down to the parking lot in Geneva and then start my run. Unfortunately, I get to Luke's place (can't quite comfortably call it home/my place yet) 15 minutes before 5pm. by the time I'm ready to go, it's 5pm, rush hour traffic. And it's still rush hour at 6pm when I'm done running.

When we first started dating, Luke told me that he rides his bike to work cutting through neighbourhoods and then onto the Fox River Trail for a little bit. I told him when we were talking about moving in that he'll have to show me how he goes about getting down there to the trail. Well, on our bike ride Monday night, he finally did.

So tonight, when I went on my run, I got to leave from the parking lot. Which is great because that's what I enjoy doing on my runs in DeKalb. I got to leave straight from my apartment without having to drive anywhere.

It's 2 miles exactly from his parking lot to the bridge that goes across the Fox River. And I was going to do just that and go back to make it a 4 mile run. But I had some frustrations I needed to pound out (thus my 8:41 min first mile) so I decided to just keep going and run on the trail for a little bit and find the 3.11 mile marker and that I did. At a good spot too, right before a bridge. And so then I turned around and came back.

Now the roads that I ran on to get to the trail are not flat unfortunately. So going to the trail was good since it was downhill and I was going so fast. But the run back, not so much. It's all uphill from the river. It'll be interesting to see how my body reacts. When I was at the beginning of my marathon training and doing a lot of those runs at Luke's parents, my body got used to the hills a lot faster than I thought I would and I had some pretty good quick runs up there. So it might be good thing after all.

But at the same time I also have to remember that this is the summertime and I will have some bad runs (like today) where my times are slow, slower than I would like or expect. You'll see what I mean below.

Now the thing that was sucky about tonight is that I am sharing an apartment with someone now. When I leave my apartment for a run around my neighbourhood, I leave my door unlocked so I don't have to carry any keys with me. I'll be gone for an hour max usually. So that's what I did tonight. Luke wasn't home from work yet. But when I arrived at home, I found the door was locked. I knocked. Unfortunately, I realised Luke had gone to the gym. He ran there and I wasn't sure of the path he takes so I couldn't go there because I was afraid I would miss him if he was on the way back. So I waited and waited and waited. Ended up waiting for 45 minutes, arriving at 7p. All the while I had plans to meet up with someone between 6:30p and 7p in Geneva. And my phone was inside. I thought Luke would know to leave it unlocked since he came home to it unlocked but alas, can't trust him to remember that now. I hate carrying keys or anything with me, if I don't have a pocket for it, but I guess I'll have to from now on.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 712 ft Location: Geneva, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/16/10 Up/Downhill: [+285/-285] Time: 05:16 PM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 0:59:16 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 34 /mi Calories: 494 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 41 -0' 53 6.9 +0.6 -16 ft 2 8' 56 -0' 38 6.7 +0.4 -85 ft 3 9' 34 +0' 00 6.3 -0.0 +13 ft 4 9' 41 +0' 07 6.2 -0.1 -10 ft 5 10' 19 +0' 45 5.8 -0.5 +66 ft 6 10' 21 +0' 47 5.8 -0.5 +23 ft end 10' 00 +0' 26 6.0 -0.3 +6 ft Versus average of 9' 34 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Fox River Trail, Geneva

Playing catch-up

I know, I know. I haven't been a good blogger lately. But I have been a decent runner, y'all just don't know about it. :)

I have been running. In fact, I ran just 6 days after my marathon and that was a 10k in the middle of the afternoon on trails (read: rocks & hills). Just over an hour time too. Needless to say, this has been, by far, the best marathon & recovery period of my life. I might actually say screw pace groups from now on. I know my body best after all. Phil (my Garmin 405) and I all the way baby!

I have actually only been running 10k distances in the month since my marathon. However, I decided after dropping off my nephew with his parents and driving back to northern Illinois (7 hour car ride round trip), I'm going to get back to it. And I ran 10 miles at 7:30p Sunday evening. That was epic. I was sore that night but it was great to hit double digits again. Even my first 4 miles were really consistent at 9:35 pace!

But now I'm thinking forward. I really have no plans for any races this summer. I haven't signed up for anything yet. I have a few in mind. An 8k in Rockford. Found out about a 5k the day before the 8k. I figured that will be a challenging weekend and might be good to test. Other than that, I really don't know of any races to do. Nothing really stands out as something I want to do. I'm still debating whether or not I am going to a fall marathon. If I do, it's going to be the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November. (Which will be tough to train for with a 2 week trip to India happening at the end of August but we'll see.) So yea, if there's a race out there in the far western suburbs, let me know about it. I would still like to try for a half marathon PR sometime as well. Preferably while NOT training for a marathon. :-)

Then I've been thinking more and more about a triathlon.

Now, I haven't been swimming in months, thanks to canceling my YMCA membership. But I might join Luke's here rather soon (more on that later). But I would like to see a triathlon happen first before jumping in. I especially want to see how a transition is done between the swim & bike part. (What exactly do you wear under a wet suit?) There was one last weekend but I had my nephew and couldn't drag him out of bed at 7a to go stand around watching a bunch of people do crazy stuff. There's another triathlon at the end of July. However, it's the day after Luke's sister's wedding. And the one that I actually want to do, is August 1. So I don't think I'll be able to do a tri this year. But I would still like to see one happen.

I have my first official bike ride this weekend. I plan on getting together with my good friend, Kevin (with whom I've done many bike rides with -- RAGBRAI being one of them) and we're going to go around the southern Wisconsin countryside for 31 miles. Luke will be joining us on his mountain bike but I don't think he'll have any problems keeping up with us.

To get my saddle bones ready for the mileage, Luke & I went on a bike ride Monday night. We went almost 18 miles. And we both felt really good afterwards. Even though he had a high mileage weekend (30k total) and I had ran 10 miles the evening before. The only part of me that's sore is the top of my shoulder/neck muscles. That's just from having my shoulders so high up by my ears. I really want to get aero bars and I will one day!

I haven't lifted any weights in 2 weeks and Monday after work was my first time so I only did the circuit twice. I also opted to go down in weight by 10 pounds for each machine. Except for the butterfly. I still managed to do that at 30 pounds! My abs are a little sore but other than that I feel fine.

Tonight is going to be packing and packing. That counts as weight lifting right? :-) But really, I'm going to be getting out of DeKalb and moving to Geneva. I've already been living there since the beginning of May, which is why you haven't seen any of my normal running routes and why they've all been over there. It's an interesting transition for both of us. I remembered why I decided to go broke my 3rd year after they raised the rent on me quite considerably. I hate packing & moving. What sucks is that I've helped several people move but of course, I helped them all move OUT of town, so they can't come back to help ME move. Luckily, I now have the boyfriend's friends to help out if needed. :-)

Categories: 10 miles, biking, Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, moving, races, triathlon