You Know You're a Runner When...

I realize the title of this blog is Pedal Faster. My first fitness love is always going to be spin, particularly teaching it.

However.

I've recently discovered...I am a runner.

Run the Rocks 2012 - running it again next weekend!

Yesterday, I rode Jam the Damz in support of Adaptive Adventures, Craig Hospital, and US Handcycling. I'd originally signed up to ride 100k (about 62 miles), and the course looked like this:

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRide

So there's a little bit of a...hill...around 40ish miles. The hill right before 33 pretty much killed what little motivation I had left, so I opted out when the course took me past the parking lot.

It wasn't a bad ride.

The scenery was gorgeous, and the ride was all on nicely-paved bike paths. It was a really great event, overall. The SWAG was awesome (socks, shirt, headphones, and a water bottle), and the after party was easily the best one I've been too. The Craig community is small and everyone either knows each other or gets to know each other. The parking lot felt a little like a car show, with everyone showing off their sweet mods on their cars. Suffice it to say, the toys geek in me was, well, geeking out.


But that has nothing to do with running.

While I was on the course, there were a lot of runners. I was blowing by them on my bike, and all I could thing was "man, I wish I were running right now". I feel like if that doesn't make me a runner, I don't know what does.

So I guess that's that. I'm a runner.

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Tomorrow morning I'm teaching tabata cycle again. Last week was kind of low - just 3 folks showed up, and no one came to abs. I was in a bit of a funk too, so it was just a blah class. Tuesday night had 2 people show up. I love teaching Spin, but it is really hard to motivate to a crowd that small. I think I need to figure out how to make small classes like that feel more like small group personal training than group ex. I haven't led small group personal training before, so I'm not 100% sure of how to do that, especially on a bike. But maybe it's time I come up with some profiles for fewer than 4 people.

So my question to you (all 2 of you who read this), is this: if you were in a small group training cycling class, what would you want to see/hear/do? If you've taken a small group training class before, what parts did you like? What didn't you like?

MIA

As expected, PT school has once again taken over my life and the first thing to get ditched is the blog. Honestly, I just feel like I can barely function as a normal human being in IRL social situations, making anything "virtual" just about impossible to fathom. I'm really not super interesting lately. I've been running a lot of races (a LOT of races), but they've been largely unremarkable...or at least not really "first post after a long hiatus" blog-worthy.

So rather than try to live up to what I'm thinking should be some grand reentrance into the blogging world, I'm just going to jot down a few things that I remember thinking during the Sand Creek Half Marathon yesterday.

Mile -0.5: "That's a hot spot. I should change shoes. But my car is far away. And I already put the timing chip on this pair. Maybe my heel will bleed this time and then I'll be a real runner."

It didn't bleed. Just a nickel-sized blister on the back that I keep popping because I'm gross and that's what I do with blisters.

Mile 7ish (aid station with Gu): "Gu gels are the grown up version of Otter Pops."

Took me a couple tries to figure out you slice your cheeks less if you just squeeze the stupid things.

Mile I don't even know anymore I just wanted it to be over: "I just want to be done. Please just let me be done."

It wasn't an awful race. It just wasn't awesome. I ran a 2:10:02, which was meh. Slowest half yet. In my defense, my feet hurt and I'd gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before. I have an anatomy exam (or 3) this week, and I hadn't run basically at all since my last half 3 weeks ago.

Oh yeah.

I run half marathons like they're nothing now. So there's that.

In June I ran the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler

Then my 4th Tough Mudder

I can't tell you how much I love that picture. I ran it with a few friends/classmates and my brother (the kid in the orange), and it was maybe my favorite one yet. Turns out having a bigger group is WAY more fun.

Then the next weekend I ran the Slacker Half Marathon, which is all down hill

During that race, I made a friend who, it turns out, is as addicted to races as I am. She's also a Sparkler, so it's easy to find each other.

I ran a whole mess of races in April and May too (and a couple in March as well)...here are a few other pictures:

Graffiti Run 5k

Drop Your Drawers 5k

Bunny Bolt 5k

I guess that's all the ones I have pictures from. Thought I had more selfies but I guess not. Oh well. As you can see, the skirt has been making its rounds. I think I've run 16 races this year and I have 11 more left through December. I guess that's probably enough, huh? One of those 11 is my first cycling event, Jam the Damz, to benefit Craig Hospital. They do amazing work with people who've sustained spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries, and I'm hoping one day I get to join their team. If you're at all interested in helping out, please consider donating here!

What else...

Log n Blog is still going. Log your miles!

I'm almost to the point that I'm circling back on races...I'm already registered for Run the Rocks again.

I also started a facebook page for my running team (which has been 90% just me), The Gait Keepers. Every time a race has an option to register as a team for cheaper, I do. I decided that we should also have a tshirt option, so I made one.

Customized Women's Standard Weight T-Shirt

So that's going to arrive on my doorstep any day now. Can't wait.

Anywho. I'm sure there's an article I should be reading or a blood supply I should be drawing, so I'll leave it at that. Hopefully I'll be better about updating, but no promises. We'll see.

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.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

It's a known fact that I don't like choosing the easier path.

Pretty much by definition, if there's a harder way to do something, that's probably the way I'll do it. Sometimes it ends in disaster (see: first anatomy exam) but sometimes it ends in awesome (see: Tough Mudders 1-3). In this case, at the very least it ends in funding for the American Lung Association of Colorado.

Last night I signed up to run the Run the 'Rocks 5k in a few weeks. It's at Red Rocks park/amphitheater and seems like a normal 5k at first...except that the end is UP the amphitheater.

Please note: The last mile of the course has a steady incline and finishes by going up the amphitheater stairs.  Please train appropriately.  

My lungs are crying just looking at that. My legs are excited. For now.

If you're interested in contributing to the cause, you can donate here. Please note that the text there is prefab. The real reason I'm running it is because it sounds hard. It's a bonus that it goes towards a cause that helps a friend breathe easier so she can laugh at me while I struggle up that last hill.

A mile of incline. Sheesh.

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Aside from that lapse in judgement, it was a good weekend. We (hubs, bro, dog, and I) went to Red Rocks on Saturday morning (hence the inspiration) to meet up with my classmates who'd hosted some Japanese exchange students over the weekend. We doinked around the amphitheater, then went and had lunch at the Blue Cow Eatery. Good food, snotty staff...it balanced out to an acceptable experience.

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So that's what's up.

Oh and there's some rumblings about running a marathon next year. Probably the Denver Rock n Roll marathon. There's a reasonable chance I'll do another triathlon again too, after seeing pics from a friend's race this weekend.

Probably means I should start running/biking again at some point. Dang.

Puppy 5k

Ok, so according to mapmyrun, it was more like...1.7 miles.  But it felt like 3.1 to me.  And to Kini, I'm sure.

But that's not important.

What's important is, WE RAN!!!  I have a confession...I haven't been on a trail run in probably years. It may be that college was the last time I went on one, and that was probably a pretty sad one even then.  Not that this one was anything grand, but oh..my...goodness.  I have been missing out.

Before the run, all happy and uninterested, respectively.

This trail is a couple miles away from our house, but it's a fantastic network of trails...everything from pretty much paved, wide roads to a genuine trail that's wide enough for one...and I don't mean one plus a dog. I mean one.

No seriously, when are we going and why the heck  are you taking pictures of this??

We just did a short loop around the lake, with the way out being on the nice wide paved trail and the way back being on the narrow, bumpy trail. Kini was unimpressed on the way out (she also had to pee and poop...a lot of running blogs talk about mid-run bowel movements, so guess who has two thumbs and jumped on the running BM bandwagon!)  She was slow (which is my excuse for being slow...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) and pully.  However, once we got on the bumpy trail, she lit up and ran right next to me, or even in front of me!  I think that might have been a trick though, in retrospect...she might have been trying to trip me into the water, I'm not sure.  Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Regardless, she ran the whole way back, which was about twice as long as the way out.

Trying for the jump shot.

When we got back, I took a few more pictures, trying to get in a sweet jump shot.  How is it that all you running bloggers out there can look so cool in your jump shots?? I just look like an overexposed nut job. Oh, as soon as I typed that I went and edited all the pics so I didn't look so pasty.  Before, my legs literally blended into my shoes. Horrifying.

Speaking of my shoes, you may notice that they are not on my feet after the run. That's because I let Little Girl (as hubs calls her) go into the lake.  She doesn't swim, but she'll drink her way in up to about chest deep...just far enough for me to not want to get my flashy new Adidases all wet, so off they came.

Post-workout pup.  Looks about the same as pre-workout pup, except happier.  Seriously, that's her happy face.

I'm super pumped about this new pastime. The leash worked well (though I will say...a full stomach of pasta + running + a pully dog on a leash belted around my waist was nearly a disastrous combination) and the only thing I wish I'd brought was her backpack...because I REALLY hate carrying her poop.  REALLY.

Quick Rehash

Overall, a good night. I completed everything I set out to do, and then some.

Strength class: check
Pilates: check
Watch Biggest Loser on the treadmill: check - ran/walked 5.1 miles in about 57 minutes. Boom.
Situps max out: check...but after pilates/strength/running, so I ended up at about 25 and just felt miserable so I stopped.
Dips max out: check. While waiting for something to get done at work, I did 32. Not great, but you have no idea how much my arms hate me right now.
Squats max out: not check. Oh sweet baby jeebus not check. I can barely walk right now. I think I've done about 400 squats in the past 24 hours...does that count? I think I'll start the squats thing next week.  Oy.

Funny thing is, I'm not really tired...just sore beyond all reason. I drove home thinking "maybe I'll pop in one of the new BL DVDs I just got.

Did I not mention that I'm a BL junkie?  Guess what. I am.

Then I got home and went to get out of the car and nearly decided to sleep in the driveway, to avoid the walk to the house (10 feet and 2 stairs). Tomorrow may be an easy day.

Also, I won't lie...those A&P flashcards have me a little spooked about the class...but it doesn't start until June, so I've got a little time to make my preemptive strike.

In any case, bed time. Tomorrow morning is another pushups day (whimper) and the first day of dips, situps, and maybe squats. We'll see.

What'd you do today?

Running, Or: Endorphin Enlightenment

I've started reading a lot of running blogs lately, and I swear one of these days I'm going to start pounding pavement again.  Maybe I'll even tready it up tonight before class.  Yeah...and if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its @$$ when it hopped (brownie points if you can name the movie sans Google aid).  

I love this part of my relationship with running...it's that phase where I forget all the reasons I hate running and start thinking it's this glorious, mind-blowing, enlightened activity which, if I manage to stick it out long enough, will wrap me in its warmth and whisper all of life's secrets in my eagerly awaiting ear.  I get new shoes (check), new socks (check), maybe even a gym membership (check) and I wait for The Perfect Day on which to rejoin the fold of Runners Everywhere.  (You know the day...sunny, mid-60s...body well-rested, well-fueled, and well-hydrated...sidewalks free from snow and debris, early enough in the season not to risk dodging dogs, children, and idiot drivers...mmmm...)  Maybe that perfect day is tomorrow.  It won't be Friday, since we're supposed to get snow.  But every Perfect Day seems to be tomorrow, or in half an hour, or after dinner or or or. 

In the end, one of two things happens...either I keep finding reasons why today is not TPD, or I finally settle for a day that's good enough (but never perfect...though sometimes I only decide that post-epic-run-fail) and go about a mile (maybe two) before coming back deflated, dragging myself back down the driveway, and cursing the lion who forced the first human to decide that running would be a good idea.

But then again, I could use a little endorphin-induced enlightenment today...