Triathlon Tuesday

Today was a good day. Clinic was good - I spent most of the day watching a knee replacement surgery, which was just crazy. It was so much more violent of a procedure than I expected...it just never registered that, in order to put hardware in your body, there's gotta be some bone crunching. Yikes yikes yikes. I definitely have a new appreciation for what my patients go through to get to the point that I'd be seeing them. Yikes.

So today started early, with a 30 minute run:

I've been running for distance for a while, and every couple of miles I find myself bored into stopping. This morning I decided to just go for time and told myself half an hour was all I needed to do, but I needed to do it. I brought a book (Warm Bodies, in case you're curious) and read while I ran, which helped a LOT.

I did it.

I know after seeing all these races this seems like no big deal, but if you look at the Nike+ logs, you'll see that there's usually at least one dip in there. Translation: I haven't actually run a full 5k. Every one of them has had at least a short break, somewhere in the middle. So for the race this weekend, my goal is to knock that off - I want to run the full 5k without stopping because, in the end, I can. I just get bored.

So that was this morning.

Tonight, I caught the 6:30 spin class. It was meh. Not my style I guess. But I got it done, so that's that.

After spin, I hit the pool for a while and put in half a mile (which Log n Blog counted as a full mile, so I'll be back in the pool later this week to make up the difference). I was a little bit kicking myself for quitting at half a mile, but then I went to get out of the pool and ate it and knew that was the right choice. My poor knee has some minor road rash now, courtesy of the pool deck.

Ah well.

I think today's going to be the start of a tradition though - Triathlon Tuesdays. I'm going to aim to run in the morning, then bike and swim in the evenings. We'll see how long that keeps going once classes start up again next week.

On that note, I'll leave you with the music video for the song that got me through the last few laps:




 Possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. "Ladies, you just lay there while we look rich on a boat with sweet dance moves. Yeah, just like that."

Double or Nothing: Frost Giant 5k/10k Race Recap

It's a Sunday, so I must be running.

Today's training schedule had me running 9 miles. A couple months ago I found the Frost Giant 5k/10k race, which conveniently had an option to run BOTH races for a measly $33.

Umm...yes please.

SO I signed up and hoped for the best. The race took place up in Estes Park, CO.

As you can tell, this is just the armpit of Colorado. So ugly, right?

But seriously, today could not have been a better day to race. 45 degrees and sunny the whole time. Perfection. I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to handle summer races at this rate...my poor thermostat is calibrated for "winter" running by now!

The 5k started at 11 AM (god bless them for not making it earlier...I slept until 8 and still had time to take my time getting up there) and looked like this:


 It's hillier than it looks on a map. Also, it's at 7500 feet, which is NOT sealevel. It was basically a giant hill out, then down it back. There were cow pies and dirt to be had, and it was probably 2/3 trail run, but it was fun. Slower than my usual (my official time was 28:34 I think), but that's to be expected.

After the 5k, I had about half an hour to kill, so I sat in my car to keep warm. 45 isn't that cold, unless you're already soaking wet. Then it starts to be an issue.

The 10k looked something like this:

A lot more cow patties on this one. Also, a lot more hills. The first mile or so was pretty much all up hill...and it started snowing. Granted, it looked more like someone had thrown glitter over us than actual snow, but still. Principle remains.

Once again, my time was pretty lacking and my pace was abysmal. But my official time was 1:06:10, so at the very least I beat my time from the 6th grade Battle Road Run fiasco (I don't want to talk about it).

But here's the best part...

I ACTUALLY PLACED!!

Now, granted, they were giving prizes to the top 5 in each age group. And the 5k had roughly 150 runners, while the 10k had only about 80. And the age group was 26-32 so I wasn't competing against all those kids fresh out of college (or still in it). But still! I placed!!!!

The ribbons are totally the same ones you used to get for placing during Field Day in elementary school. Love it. I've never been so proud of a piece of cheap fabric in my life.

It was a good day.

Triple Threat Kind of Day

Today was rough.

Not like "oh no, I forgot about that 20 page paper due tomorrow" kind of rough. Nope, more like "so that guy I saw one time nearly 2 weeks ago is back in the hospital and now he's much worse, but seriously why do I care this much?" kind of rough.

Long story short, the first patient I got to sort of "take the lead" on, who we discharged 10 days ago, is back and is much much worse. And it hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. I'm sure this will get easier, but for today all I keep thinking is "practicals did not prepare me for this".

SO in order to cope, I hit the gym. Hard.

This morning, I biked 15 miles before the sun even came up. After work, I put in 2 miles on the treadmill (the yahoos at the front desk couldn't figure out how to put NBC on the TVs...ugh), then went and swam a mile.

Had to walk for a bit because my right leg went numb. That's generally not a thing to ignore. It worked itself out though, and I kept plugging.

I've discovered that I'm actually ok with running on a treadmill if I have a book to read. I can make the text super big on my tablet, so I can read while I'm running.

So on that note, any suggestions?

Polar Bear 5k Race Recap

Today was race #2 of the RunDenver series - the Polar Bear 5k. It was at Washington Park, which I'd never been to before today. It's pretty similar to City Park, but the course is simpler...just a loop and a bit:

I ran with both toys today too - the Nike+ and my new Garmin. According to Nike, I ran 3.4 miles. According to Garmin it was a regular ol' 5k. The race results line up with the Garmin, so as much as I'd rather believe Nike...well...

It was an ok run. It was cold cold cold starting out - when I left my car it was 27 degrees. By the time I got back, it'd warmed up to 50 - crazy!

This series has 2 more runs at the same park in the next 4 weeks, so it'll be cool to see how my times compare. I'm going to throw some speed work in my training to see if that helps. It feels like there's this wall at 8:30/mi that I just can't seem to get through up here. I can rock a 7:45/mi at sealevel, but at altitude? Nothing doing. Argh.

Today also started a 4 weekend streak for me. Next weekend is the Frost Giant 5k/10k up in Estes Park - and I'm running both, just because I can. Should be fun since it's even higher altitude than here. After that, there's the Superbowl and the Valentine 5ks, which are at Washington Park and part of RunDenver. Then there's a break, then on March 3 I have my half! So far I'm feeling confident that I can plod along and finish it. I'm hoping I'll be able to run the whole thing without walking, but we'll see. As much as I can't seem to go any faster than 8:30/mi, I don't seem entirely capable of going much slower than that either. So we'll see.

Anyway, that's the latest.

I got an email from a gym this week asking about an audition for spin instructor...I haven't set up a formal date yet, but keep your fingers crossed that this is the one - it's on campus, and I'm about ready to hold up a cardboard sign saying "will spin for free" or something to that effect. Every new top 40s boppy song that comes on makes me think of a new spin ride to teach...I'm dying here. I miss it.

And the shameless plug:

Logging for Log n Blog has officially started, so if you were considering joining but hadn't signed up yet (Lara?), the gun has gone off and we need your help! It's cheap and quick to sign up, and gives you unlimited bragging rights for a full year - every time you get out and move, you get to brag about it for a good cause!

What's on your race schedule? How's training going? What are you up to?

The Haps - Running, #LognBlog2013, and Possible Employment

Lotta stuff going on around here.

First up, I ran again. It was not miraculous. But I think I've found a gym. Possibly even one I could work at. (Everyone go call 24 Hour Fitness in Broomfield and tell them you want Kat to teach spin. Don't worry if they don't know who I am. That's pretty much how Beiber got famous, right?)

Yep, I even walked a couple of times. It's been almost a month since I ran in Denver, so I feel like maybe I don't feel so terrible about that.

Tomorrow I have a 6 or 7 mile run planned, depending on which training schedule I'm looking at. Basically, I'm going to go to the gym and run while the Biggest Loser premier is on. Jillian is back, did I mention that? Don't get me wrong, I know the show is rife with things that you SHOULD NOT DO, but I still love it. Guilty pleasure.

Also on the running front, I signed up for another half, this one in June, the weekend after Tough Mudder.

Apparently this is what happens when I've had a glass of wine now. My impulse shopping is...race entrances.

What the heck have I become???

---

The good news about all that though, is that my miles will officially count towards something! As of Thursday, the CU DPT Log n Blog page is LIVE!!!

You can now join the team (click here), donate to the general team (click here), or donate to yours truly (click here). It costs $10 to join the team, and the mile logging doesn't start until the 22nd so you have some time to ramp up and get back into healthy habits before I start sending the nagging encouraging emails. There's no mileage goal (aside from "as many as possible") for the team, but we have set a paltry $1000 as our fundraising goal. All funds go directly to the Foundation for PT (so aside from helping me not flop as a team captain, you'll also be chipping in towards my future salary - thanks for that!), which funds research in physical therapy. Making great PTs even better or something to that effect.

Anyway, so this is kind of a big deal to me, so you'll be hearing a lot more about it as the year progresses. I've been dreaming up ways to "make miles" - like "Measured Mile Monday" where everyone who wants to comes out at lunch and jogs the measured mile on campus. Bam, one mile for everyone for that day, and it'd only take like 15 minutes absolute tops. Granted, we'd all be a little sweaty by the end on some days, but still. Worth it.

Similarly, there's Timed Mile Tuesday where you just time yourself doing a mile of your choice. Ideally, you'd pick the same course/equipment/pool/whatever so it'd be the same mile every week, but then you get to track your progress over the course of the year.

Anyway, that's the story there.

In case you missed it up there,

JOIN THE TEAM HERE

That's all I got.