Biking with Beanzie

Sunday on the bike was long and early since Brent & I didn't get to DeKalb from Chicago until 11p and back to my place by 11:30p. Headed on down to the high school here in DeKalb at 7:30a. Was supposed to meet up with Kevin by that time but I, of course, was running late. Luckily, Kevin ran into construction so he too was late and we both ended up getting at the parking lot at the same time. I left Brent at home as he didn't want (nor need) to do the ride.

Off we went by 8am. Brent called me at that time asking if we had left yet. I said just getting ready too. Come to find out he was thinking of joining since it was overcast and cool that morning. Well, he was heading home so he said that we should just go on and have fun. So of we went. I was trying to keep up with Kevin with his new spiffy road bike and we were going about 18mph. I have a mountain bike and I usually go about 12-15. So I was huffing and puffing and he was hardly breaking a sweat.

At 10 miles, came our first SAG stop. I decided that I was going to Twitter that day and hopefully remember to do so. It help me get into it at RAGBRAI. So I got out my phone and as soon as I did I see that Brent was calling me. He said that he did decide to join after all but not to worry about him, keep going with Kevin and we'll meet up later. Well, after that Kevin pretty much left me as I told him to. He needed to open that new ride of his up to see what he could do. It worked out well for him as I was puttering way behind him.

I kept my cell phone in one jersey back pocket and my camera in my other pocket. I was texting with Brent, letting him know when I reached certain areas. He surprised me and decided to do the 43 mile loop. Kevin called me up and said that in order to extend the 43, lets go down to Shabbona State Park and just come back. So I figured by that time, Brent should pass us and we'll meet back up with him on the ride back. Well, after a few more texts from Brent, it sounded like he was only a few miles behind me. And sure enough that was the case.

Kevin & I spent some time down in Shabbona because the bike store people were down there and he needed his brake fixed and seat raised and I needed my gears to stop squeaking. Then when I got back on the road, I text Brent to let him know and he said "I guess I'll just see you in DeKalb." I said why, where are you? He said he was already on the last road back to the town. I asked if he was going to wait for me at the High School. He said "Guess so." That's when I knew something was wrong. So I asked him. He said that he was trying to catch up with us and ride the last 10 miles back. Well, I ended up breaking down emotionally out there on the road cause of that. I was upset that he told me not to slow down and stay with Kevin and he was mad at me now for doing this ride and then my knees were killing me by that time. I ended up stopping along the side of the road in the hot sun, tears streaming down my face. I was actually saying to myself, that I didn't want to go on RAGBRAI and I just want to quit. Seriously, I was in miserable pain.

I got out the map and looked to see where the next SAG stop was and I was only a little bit away from it. So I kept going. Kevin was there waiting for me. And as soon as I got there, he left since he had already been there for 10 minutes. I got another cup of trail mix and some ice cold Gatorade and decided to forge on. It wasn't long before I myself was on 1st Street. And then I was seeing the overpass and I knew I was there. I saw Brent at the corner of 1st and Barb St, down by the high school and at first thought it was Kevin. But I was so happy when I saw that it was him!! I finished about noon-ish I'm guessing. 53 miles in 4 hours. I guess that's not bad timing.

The first day of RAGBRAI will be doing 76 miles alone. That will take me a while I'm guess. Gotta get up early for that day's ride. Saturday's ride is the shortest at 51 miles.

I went on Craigslist today looking for road bikes today but alas I didn't see anything in Rockford or Bloomington or even Quad Cities. Most of them are mountain bikes. I guess I'll just be "turtle" again on this event as well. I just hope my knees will take it. I start my marathon training on the 4th of August. Wish me luck. I think I'll need it.

Categories: biking, Brent, RAGBRAI

Training route

Tomorrow is a training ride for RAGBRAI. I'm riding up to Belvidere. That's 25 miles one way and then riding back! I think what I'll do is have Brent follow me up later and we'll go to Old Chicago in Rockford or something. Then like I said Biking for Beanzie is Sunday. We're either doing the 46 or the 64. I think we should do the 46 but kevin is leaning towards 64. Then it's RAGBRAI from Wednesday to Saturday!! I was reading the RAGBRAI forums and apparently most girls don't have to pay for beer because there are a ton of men out there willing to buy it for them! Brent was getting a little jealous last night. I think he was joking though, with a slightly real undertone, if you know what I mean.

This is the route I will be taking from DeKalb to Belvidere.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/ride/united-states/il/dekalb/373264369

Categories: biking, Brent, RAGBRAI

Sturgis Falls 5k

Apparently, I like my races in Iowa. This is the third one I've ran in now!

I ran a 27:12 this weekend as well. Which was tough considering that I didn't sleep well the night before, got up freakin early as the race was at 7a. Also, around the 1 mile mark I got terrible stomach cramps. Like I had to go to the bathroom or something. They kept up until just after the water station and the 2 mile mark. I ended up not having any water either as I reached for the glass and she let go of it too soon. I managed to catch back up to Brent at that time and ran with him the remainder. It was our first time finishing the race together! And we ran an 8:45 min/mi pace! He thinks that if I hadn't gotten that stomach cramp for a little over a mile, I would have beat him. but it was fun to finish together and totally kicked butt in the end too! We turned the corner and Brent asks "Are you ready?" I said "Yep!" and we turned on the afterburners!

It was a fun time!

Categories: Brent, Iowa, races, Sturgis Falls 5k

Tempo Run

So I think I did my first tempo run free running, as in without having to get on a treadmill!

Last night Brent & I went running. He only wanted to do 2 miles. I said that I'll do it with him. So because it was only 2 miles, I wanted to try something different. I changed up my running style.

I shuffled. Well, not old man shuffle but I kept my upper body as still as possible and really focused on moving my ankles around each other. I ended up running faster! Brent was feeling a little under the weather so I ended up leaving him behind before the first mile mark.

Then I hit the turn around a little after 1 mile. Kept up the same pace and style. It was pretty fun. When I could tell my legs were failing, I would just say go faster and my legs went faster!

I got to the end around 2.1 mark and decided to end it and walk back to Brent. I couldn't find him though. Got a little worried, walk and run back to the bike path. Still no sign of him. I was thinking of the worst possibilities. Decided to run back to my house again as I had walked for a mile and cool down. I started a new run on Nike+ and picked up the pace again. Things were good. Then I spotted him near the end. And that's when I really picked up the pace. I was going a 7 min mile at one point! Insane!

All in all, I think it's cause I ran the 5 miles the day before I knew that I could run 2 miles easy and fast. Get it done and over with was my thinking.

Categories: Brent, tempo run

Awesome

I just came back from a 5 mile run today (yes another one!) and weighed myself. I am currently 132lbs! Yay baby! I haven't been that weight since I ran the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon last December! It could be because I just lost a freaking ton in sweat.

Today's run was rather harsh. I left a little after 5p. Later than I would have liked but I should be thankful. It was warm and humid today. Also, thankful that I was smart and decided that since I wanted to run 5 miles, I should bring with me something to drink. I put on my water belt with 2 bottles for it. I drank a little of the water, pouring most of it on myself; on the back, over the head, on my neck and chest and then after the run I poured what was left on my face.

Also, before I left work today, I mapped out a new run of 5 miles. I take my usual route of Greenwood Acres to the bike path, take that towards 1st Street but then when I cross the other road, I take that road back north and go around the bend and take that back toward the bike path again only to continue on the bike path to 1st Street, turning around and taking it Rt. 23, turning around again, then back to Greenwood Acres and back to the start. Well, I didn't pay attention to the map of what road I was supposed to follow around the bend, so I turned too early once I got on the Country Club Rd. Still managed to finish it with only slight backtracking at the end.

When I got back around 6p, it was 81 degrees. Yea, warm. I was spent by the time I was done. I think I'm going to start running later at night now. Maybe not leaving until 6p. I also checked into the Kishwaukee College's Wellness Centre. They have 2 treadmills. I think I'm going to sign up for the year and then use them at lunch time or after work since I get out at 4p.

I printed off some rice recipes on allrecipes.com. I'm looking forward to trying some of them out. Some has chicken in it but luckily, I can substitute that for my soy stuff. I have decided that rice is my secret to racing well the night of eating it. Specifically rice and beans!

I wish I could say that this was from running, but alas it was from biking. I have seen plenty of runners with that same tan line too. But luckily, the majority of my shorts come down to that tan line so you can't even tell too often. It makes it look like I have on thigh highs! Since I was peeling last week, most of it has faded away now.

Categories: 5 miles, pictures, tan

Dedication to be a morning runner

So I didn't end up running on Saturday morning. Bleh. I need to have more dedication and be more stubborn about getting up and out of bed.

But I did go running last night. 5 miles. Pretty cool! I was running the last bit around a 10min/mi gaunt. Pretty slow. But I was also a little lost. I was way off the path I should have taken. I was running in the city streets too so I would go north a block, east a block, north a block, east a block until I finally hit the street I needed to be on.

My hair is finally long enough that I can pull it back into a ponytail. Only a few pieces fall out of it but that's when my hat comes in handy to keep it out of my face. It's short and bouncy but it's off my neck.

I'm going to do 4 or 5 miles again this Wednesday and Thursday and then off on Friday and Saturday for my 5k race on Sunday. It's at 7am. I've never had a race that early before. ICK!

Categories: hair

Middle of June

I haven't done a run on Saturday (besides races) in forever and a day. This Saturday will be my first. I need to get back up to 6 miles before the end of July. I ran 4 miles last week and this week did 3.5 and 4.25 miles. At least I'm averaging over a 5k but my times for the 5k races are getting slower it seems.

My run on Monday was fast. I was listening to a soundtrack that my ex-boyfriend gave me. I'm not sure if that helped or not. Anger makes me run faster maybe?

Nike+ has this new thing calling Training. They are allowing you to either pick a prearragned training plan for specific distances or putting in your own custom plan. I chose the Marathon training and it's a 28 WEEK PLAN!! Holy cow. I don't think ANYONE needs that long to train. So apparently my marathon will be around christmas time because it does not let you go BACK in time to adjust the end date. The Custom program you can pick the end and start date but you have to put in your own mileage for each day. The cool thing about both of these is that if you run that mileage on that day, it will count towards the goal and you can see the progress. However, again, a bug in that if you decide to skip your run on Tuesday and run on Wednesday instead it doesn't count towards the final goal. So there are still quite a number of bugs. You cannot have more than one program either. I might just go with the Hal Higdon Training plan and input that into Nike+ to see what that will get me.

Categories: music, nike+

SkirtChaser 5k

Well, I've pretty much given up on the Food blog. It kinda wasn't doing anything. I did lose a few pounds, but was that from running & biking or my eating? Who knows.

I did a 67 mile bike ride on June 7th from Preston, IA to Dubuque, IA going through Savannah and Galena and even into Wisconsin. Was supposed to follow that up with a 44 ride on June 8 but it was raining so we hitched a ride back to Preston and drove up to Dubuque to pick up our bikes. :-) It was hilly so I was fine with just doing the one day.

I did the SkirtChaser 5k on Saturday. Women wear skirts with a 3 minute head start ahead of the men. It was fun until .66 miles into it. Then the skirtchasers started catching up. I felt like I was running backwards. On the back of one guys shirt says "I make myself hurt to see you in a skirt" in reference to him running fast.

I only caught one guy who passed me. Near the end he was walking. I felt a little justified after that. Brent never caught up with me though. But he was only a minute behind me though considering that I had a 3 minute head start he caught up quite a bit. My average was 9:20min/mi, his was 8:45min/mi. Way faster than mine. I suck.

It was hot and only one water station half way. Luckily some guy had a sprinkler hose and I ran under it. As I was running, I kept seeing the asses of several girls. I was so worried that people could see mine! I made sure mine was sitting low on my hips though. The pocket of the skirts didn't work well with the ipod. Came out and I almost kicked it! It's best for gels I guess. I also had a wedgie the entire time. I didn't exactly want to pick it out in the middle of the run!

They also had a fashion show at the end. I like the cycling shorts and the shorties and panties. I might have to pick up one of each. I don't like wearing my cotton undies on my runs when I wear my tights (and I haven't worked up to going commando yet).

I don't have a race for the rest of the summer until end of August. I might have one on the 28th but only if we can make it back to Iowa. There's one on July 12 but it's hot and we might be going to St. Louis that weekend as well. I'll be fine with that though, save my money so I can buy more running outfits! ;-)

Categories: biking, Brent, SkirtChaser 5k, TOMRV

Food blog 6/2

Breakfast:
Light Black Cherry = 90cal

Snack:
2 cereal bars = 260cal

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine Santa fe-style rice & beans = 290cal

Dinner:
4 slices pizza (Corn Fest mtg) 210 ea = 840cal ...too many...
Small Cotton Candy Blizzard = 540cal

Activity:
Running 4 miles = 402cal
Biking to Dairy Queen = 200

2,020 - 602 = 1418 cal (ew)

Categories: calories

Food blog 5/30

Off work today!
Breakfast:
None

Lunch:
4 Red Baron 4-cheese pizza bagels =

Dinner:
Subway?

Activity:
None, rest day.

Today I'm feeling it from my activity at the gym last night. I still can't believe I did all that. The elliptical was hard though. Only reason I stopped at 20 minutes was because the bottoms of my feet started to burn and get all tingly. This weekend I'm going to Iowa so I'm sure I won't be able to write down all that I eat, it will be another bad weekend. :-(

Categories: calories