Fall and My return

Happy Fall everyone! It's my favorite time of the year, fun fact. 

Well in theory it is.

If I didn't live in Atlanta I would get a real fall, instead of today's high being 80+ degrees. One of my favorite parts of fall is fall-styled beer. Oktoberfests and Pumpkin beers. Pumpkin being number 1. Today's pumpkin beer is by Heavy Seas.

 

Crafty beer!

It is, so far, very good. Actually much better than I anticipated. Not overwhelming pumpkin but can definitely taste the cinnamon/fall flavors desired.

Now away from beer.

Yes I still run. No not as often. I'm 6 weeks out of my sprained ankle and it's still giving me a lot of hate and discontent. It swells every night, especially when I'm on it a lot, and I've been having to ice it regularly. I originally thought this was just a 4-6 week recovery but it's looking to be a lot longer.  I still cannot even come close to wearing heels, the angle hurts, and it some days my ankle is tender to the touch. 

All bad news.

So tomorrow I have a DR appointment at 10am to get it looked at and hopefully get a referral for physical therapy.

I did run 4 miles twice last week and it wasn't too bad.  The after-swelling is pretty rough though.

So this explains, not excuses, my absence from the running world/my blog.  So I've been a little bitter, yes. 

I'll be around now though. Because the BF, seen here (yes with me, classy photo):

is finally on my ass about it. 

He says he has his eye on me...

See you guys around!

IM GOING TO SCHOOL

This whole summer has been wrought with anxiety and working to be able to afford to pay for my 14k$ tuition bill for my last semester at Georgia Tech.

Well it's all over and everything is golden. And I could not be happier.
Stressful summer with a lack of running but a whole lot of fun and memories.


Currently I am dealing with a very bad sprained ankle and will probably be out of running for a few more weeks.
But that's ok.
Why?

BECAUSE I'M GOING TO GRADUATE IN DECEMBER!!!

I hope everyone has a glorious day and can find something that puts them in as equally a good mood as I am currently in.
Run happy everyone!

Shopping!!

As a Bday present to myself since I've been so good training thus far AND because I got paid a nice paycheck this week I splurged and bought...all of this :

I just do not own enough running gear. I only have 2 pairs of shorts! and I workout 6 days a week!!! SO MUCH LAUNDRY.  So, I finally decided it was time to drop some big bucks and gear up like a proper Brooks ID runner. I will probably be building my wardrobe like this every other paycheck (once a month) just so I have enough clothes on a week to week basis. I ALSO paid 5 whole extra dollars (oh my!) to get it 'expedited' here. I have no idea when they're going to ship it but pinkies crossed for today so I can get it by next Friday. I am SO excited!!! Mmmm clothes. In other, more upsetting news, I was planning on going to ABC (brewery) tonight with a bunch of friends for my birthday (I know it was Tuesday but I'm a college girl, I can't take time out of my classes to party on a Tuesday!) however I needed to get out of work from 4-8 to be able to do this.  Of course, none of my coworkers will cover it. 2 semesters I've been working the dreaded Friday Close shift and yet, no one will throw me a bone for my birthday. Such is life. On to study. Happy Friday everyone!

Birthday Week

Alright people. 

My 22nd Birthday is on Tuesday.

For some reason my friend's all want to take me out separately so I am haveing 3+ birthday dinners, which means I have a lot more running to do next week

I don't even care I'm SO excited about it! My best friend evvaaa is making me a sugar free cake from scratch! 

yay no sugar coma! 

In other news, I'm already past 11 miles for this week. I had a lovely 6.5+ mile run on Wednesday that felt like someone had literally lit a fire under my ass somehow. I was movin' out there. Maybe it was the perfect mid 40's weather or the fact that I was craving BBQ? Not sure, but it was a wonderful run.

I can really feel my speed picking up each month I'm still running.

Now for a random funny/Awkard tech boy story, I was at the gym last night up at the track doing my speedwork and I stopped in front of this guy...boy. Anyway I stopped to walk my half lap and he was passing me (walking) and turned around to talk to me. I thought he was asking if I was ok because I probably sounded like I was breathing through a straw at the time but he really was just going to do this:

Awkward boy: "Hey, you doin sprints"

Me: *wheeze**die*"yeah"

Awkward boy:"ohhh killer dude"

Me: *wheeze* "thanks?" *die*

Awkward boy: *awkward smile/wave/turn around to keep walking in front of me*

I love tech boys. They're just so cute. 

Long day ahead of me and long long run ahead of me tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get more than 5+change hours of sleep tonight. 

Hope everyone is having an amazing Friday so far!

Sitting Down

So, in case you haven't heard, Atlanta has been covered in ice/snow for a few days now. I haven't been in school for THREE days. Georgia Tech is like pulling a prank or something. 

Anyway despite the snow and ice and awful conditions I've been getting back into the swing of a training routine for my second half. Last night my roommate Thea and I sat down and really worked everything out for the next 10 weeks. It was a lot more involved and intense this time than it was for the first half marathon. My first one was really more for completion than for time. This time around I'm trying to shave off 17 minutes and run it in 2 hours or less.

Monday, Day 1 of the Snowpocalypse, I ran some hill workouts on the treadmill and did a few thera-ball exercises with the BF in his baby gym in the house complex he lives in. I sweat my little ass off. Clearly I've been running outside in the cold too much because I forgot how much sweating I do inside.  Tuesday I got on the stationary bike as a XT and did legs.  This involved some lunges...and some machines...

I can NOT sit down without pain, my ass hurts so bad. 

Today I ran 3 miles with some speedwork thrown in, a bunch of abs, and arms. 

These first few weeks are going to SUCK. But I'm fully ready to commit to the work that I will need for this. I want to run this well. I want my time cut down. I want a PR. And I know that by adding lifting, some speedwork and hill work will do it. I think it's going to get me past the plateau I'm on.

This morning I was up at 6:15. Alarm went off and after 3 weeks of sleeping in, it actually felt GOOD to get out, get back showered and out for breakfast and back before 11am. I feel like a champ today.

Time to try and be even MORE productive in the snowy ice snowpocalypse that's struck Atlanta.

The Biggest Muscle

Today shall be remembered in all of history.

Ok maybe just the history of my school career. 

It is monday, the first day of finals week, and today I had 2 finals, in the first two time slots offered. 8am. 

I woke up to take a final at 8am. It was like 10 degrees here. 

10.

And snowing. 

"It snows in Atlanta?" you might ask.

Yes. yes it does. 

So after a total of about 4 hours of testing, one final in Mechanics of Materials and the other in Heat Transfer (yes, it is all as hard as it sounds), I am at work. Vegging.  My brain feels like mush and I have 2 more finals to look forward to.

I haven't ran since Thursday. For one its been so cold here I can barely feel my face outisde and two I've been so stressed out and crammed for time I just couldn't do it. I had a few (my first!) panic attacks yesterday and knew I just couldn't sacrifice the hour or so it would take me to get a run in. I know, it sounds lame, but being an engineering student is really busting my ass. This weekend was either sleep and study, or run and study, but I couldn't do both. And my one rule for finals is, always sleep.

Ok, time to start the gauntlet for the next test.

Hopefully I'll get a run in tomorrow. 

Till then, stay warm everyone!

My Pro/Con list

First, discussion of my run this morning. I woke up at 6:30 with my BF trying to shoo him off to work after which I prepped for a nice early morning pre-atlanta-heat-humidity-run. I discovered my ipod was dead and WAS starving so I didn't actually get out the door till 7:45. I knew the time addition was going to make it HOT on my way back.

As punishment for not running this weekend, and also pigging out most of the time in-between, I challenged myself to a long run on my own.  Meaning sans my favorite running partner: the BF.  The toughest route I have in my arsenal goes to Piedmont park via 10th street. 10th is hilly and traffic heavy. And when I say hilly I mean really hilly, and long hills nonetheless.  It's 2 miles to the park exactly and I had decided to run around and then run back. At first I thought I might be able to get a 10k in..but that just wasn't happenin.

Let's just run the totals:

Miles: 5.53

Time: 51:24.22

Avg Pace: 9:17 (UH? was I being chased??)

Avg BPM: 159

Max BPM: 194 (Near Death)

The 2 miles there were nice and easy, surprisingly. I also almost got lost in the park..failure. The heartrate strap of the BFs Garmin popped off my body (er?) which gave me a much needed little break to put it back on. I got extremely lucky on the way back as well with stoplights and traffic. It was like Atlanta was saying "no wait, take a break here!".  That was the only reason I probably held that absolutely ABSURD pace listed above.  I was on the way to crushin my 10k time.  The breaks make that null and void though.   Either way, I'm very happy with the run. My knees are a tad achy today but nothing a fantastic dinner of waffles and some IB profin cannot fix. 

Now time for my Pro/Con list of running. 

I grew up a swimmer. Recruited for Fort Belvior's Swim Team (FBST) when I was 7 I immediately immersed myself in the swimming world.  Even after moving off the military base I continued to swim till I was 13.  I then took a 3 year hiatus and restarted on my high school swim team my junior year.  Junior year, senior year, summer after...I just swam all the time. I loved it, I loved training for it, and I love the people.  I continued to swim in college on GT's swim club for two years.  Intense training lead me to even faster times than in high school and drove me deeper into my obsession with it.  After a horrible championship meet I had had enough though.  I had trained for months and months and suddenly none of it was worth it. No PRs, not even swims that felt good. I was extremely discouraged.  I decided to shy away from swimming.  Running was my next route. 

It has taken a long time to get used to it. It's completely different than swimming and is even worse for my asthma.  I don't know why, but I'd always wanted to be able to run.  Now I have been running on and off long enough (on now, off before this summer) that I can compile my proper Pro/Con List...

First the CONS

1. Sweat. Holy crap do I sweat a LOT. Even with proper running clothes and non-coton shirts...and men's deodorant.  In the pool, I don't sweat. And if I do I sure as hell can't tell. 
2. Atlanta is not flat. Anywhere. That's more of a location problem then a running problem, but it's going in here because it's true.
3. When I first started, I was hungry all the time. I mean ALL the time. I now carry about 100 calories of snacks per hour I'm away from my apt if it's going to be a long day. Otherwise I go into heinous bitch mode.  No one likes that mode.
4. This will sound strange, but my swim club nickname is muffins. It's for my boobs. I'll just say it outright, I've always had big boobs. Now that I run? Well my body fat percentage has gone down a lot. So have those. Only I would be so whiney.  
5. Seriously, last whiney thing. My clothes don't fit. They're too big. I need belts. I need pins. I need a personal tailor. It's annoying. It's expensive. Sounds like a great problem. It's not. 

 Ok That's done. Not too long, but true. I now understand why all the runners I know are so skinny. You literally have to try to keep body fat on yourself. I think about eating fatty food. And I pray it goes all to my boobs and ass. Instead I continue to turn into the runner-stick-figure. Ballin. 

PROS

1. I can eat whatever I want. Almost whenever I want. When you're running 15+ miles a week, that hunger every few hours may be annoying, but it's fantastic for food lovers. I happen to be a food lover. 
2. I have finally lost the weight I've always wanted to. I am currently smaller and fitter than I've ever been in my life, even at peak of swimming. The lack of clothing choices I have right now (One pair of shorts, almost no skirts.) is worth how much healthier I am now compared to high school.
3. The runners high is everything and more of what people see. There is nothing like getting up at 5:00, running, being showered and to work before 8:00AM and feel amazing.  It's better than coffee, it's better than chocolate (...maybe..) and It's worth having to go to bed early for. 
4. I get to think, or not think. To organize my life, or not. My brain kind of floats wherever it wants when I'm going at a pace where I'm not dying up hills. It's think time. 
5. It's something I can do with the BF. The love of my life, who coincidentally actually got me into running as well, is my favorite running partner.  I love getting up at 7 and running with him.  He may be a lot faster, and can run a lot further, but knowing he's there to help me and train me is the best support I've ever had. I may have yelled at him a few times during some training runs in the beginning but he obviously knew more than I did how far I could push myself. I'm glad someone knew. 
6. Not-so-free-T-shirts. Unlike college where you really do get free T-shirts, there's an entry fee..but races are amazing and the T-shirt is a bonus. I love races because everyone is so happy. No matter how early the start, runners are some of the happiest people I've ever seen. 
7. I'm out of my party phase. I hate feeling sluggish in the morning or on a day where I want to run. And I definitely hate ruining a day of a good run with too much beer. Consequentially I'm a lightweight and don't go out as much. Instead I cuddle up with the BF, watch a movie, cook some pasta, and get up with the sun to run around the trails. It's worth it.

So despite the fact that none of my clothes fit and I'm constantly hungry. Despite that I go to bed early to get up early for no apparent reason to outsides. Despite that I'm not the most social and party 21 year old college student, I'm absolutely in love and stuck on running.  And can't wait to keep going and get better. It's worth every con because every pro counts twice.  

Speaking of run, I'm thinking 4 miles tomorrow?

10$ Margarita Pitchers: AVOID

Friday marked a wonderful day of the beginning of a free weekend. Free of the robot I've been working on for a long time now.  My team and I, all suited up for success, only had a few more hours before we were done and I knew afterward I would most likely be finding somewhere to consume bountiful amounts of alcohol.  I also knew my usual Saturday morning long run was probably out of the question.

Murphy's Law was our name. Ultimately our downfall..

The Arenas.  They look silly right?
The colors made me feel kiddish.

I'll be the first to say I absolutely love this class but DAMN is it time consuming. It's finally a hands on ME class with coding, machining, tinkering, trash talking and presenting.

Jeeves prepared for battle

The trash talking was mostly done by the boys.  In a class with only 4 girls out of 35 of course any competitive atmosphere is going to turn into a "my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours".  Luckily I had four other teammates to let do that so I didn't have to.

My team left me to fix Jeeves.
Picture thanks to BF

Anyway, it was stressful.  Lots of technical difficulties. Lots of yelling.  No cussing though, that would be a DQ (Wow was this a hard one for me).  All in all it was good clean competitively mean fun.

Is there even is such a thing?

The BF and I went out for mexican and some margaritas at La Fonda and were pleasantly surprised by 10$ pitchers.

Oh buddy do I love margaritas.  I however 1) do not drink anymore and cannot hold my alcohol and 2) have very adverse effects to lots of sugar.  Two pitchers later I was stumbling around in my too-tall-heels and thinking "this is going to hurt tomorrow".  I didn't get out of bed until 11 and proceeded to live off of Powerade Zero and saltines for the first few hours of the day.
Obviously I didn't run that morning, or do much of anything that entire day.

My plan was to get up Sunday then and run with the BF for a long, slow, loving and recovering 6 miles. The alarm went off at 7 and we proceeded to wake up at 9. And I woke up with a headache and backache. I ended up relaxing by the pool for a few hours and read on BF's couch-ton (the couch-futon)...so this was an anti-running weekend.  Actually this was more of an anti-productivity weekend.

I ran this morning (oucchh) , I'll discuss it later after I mull over a post I've been thinking about for a while: my likes and dislikes of becoming a runner.

Oh yeah, just like the wind.

So my 4 mile run this morning (yes I did complete the 4 miles I assigned myself) felt like it was going to kill me. I woke up with a slight headache, I'll blame the excess food and 2 mojitos from dinner last night, and just a bad feeling of tired that I couldn't shake. Now mind you, no one is happy about 5am. NO ONE should be happy about 5am unless you're getting paid boatloads of cash for it. Instead, I am paying for it in calories and hours of sleep. Good to know I've gone crazy.

Anyway, got up, stretched a bit, drank some powerade and popped a few of those new sport jelly beans (they're awesome) and headed out with the goal of 4 miles. By the time I hit .5 I knew I was in for a painful run. My body just did not want it this morning. I also think I was going a bit too fast. My pace turned out to be 9:30 min/mile. Which I'm super pumped about considering that about 8 weeks ago 4 miles would have been at about 11+ min/mile pace (I also would have been dying and had to stop many times) but I should have eased off. My pride definitely got in the way of training.

I've been on cloud 9 and feeling invincible after last week I ran 16 miles total and was starting to crank out 3 miles at a time without really thinking. This morning I've already got my weekly tally (since Monday morning) up to 12.66. Since I've realized I can run 4 miles I don't really like running anything less, unfortunately I don't think my body agrees with my logic.

I'm currently in the process of bumping up my weekly training to 15 or more miles a week. Last week felt pretty easy, it was a breakthrough week for me actually. I'm starting to see I can do a lot more than I think I can. Now I just need to know when I can't do everything.

I hurt, I'm exhausted, and I ran out of coffee this morning. Needless to say I lack my usual runners high this morning.