Meanderings and Hedgehogs

It’s weird... this year I’ve done two Olympic distance triathlons, and set a huge PR in my very favorite running distance, the half-marathon. 

However, my pants are tight and I can’t seem to get it together to exercise consistently, and in a manner than will actually make me healthier.

So I just sat down to put together some long and short term goals (and rewards, because those are my favorite part). Here they are, for accountability’s sake:

Long term goals

1) Finish the New Rules of Lifting for Women - by May 2016

I picked up this book in 2014 on a recommendation from my husband, had plans to do it, and never followed through. Strength training has just never been a thing I cared about. Until recently, when I hit thirty and realized running 15 miles a week doesn’t keep my weight down like it used to... Wompity womp. 

2) Run a sub 2 hour half marathon - by May 2016

I got my PR down 10 minutes to 2:03 this year despite not perfect training. I can totally do sub 2:00 if I actually train and maybe do some fricking weights.

Short term goals

1) Run a 5K under 27 minutes (my pr is 27:50 on a super hilly course) - by January 12

I can totally do this, I just need to remember how to run fast. Triathlon training this year did not help with this. There’s a turkey trot I’m signed up for that I hope I can do this at, but there are also a couple of other 5K’s I’ve eyeballed in case the turkey trot doesn’t work out.

2) No beer November 

I love beer. LOVE beer. But loving it means I have it way more than I’d like, and way more than is helping my pants fit. I want to see how long I last in No Beer November (last time it was like 1.5 weeks). This obviously does not include Thanksgiving drinking...

3) Pack three lunches a week through Dec 1

I suck at eating healthy and preparing food ahead of time.

4) Strength train 2 times per week though January 1

NROLFW. Enough said.

5) Finish Stage One of NROLFW

See above

Rewards, because I am a princess

1) Stage 1 of NRLFW done - massage

2) No beer November (except Thanksgiving obviously) - facial

I vote to honor my father, who doesn't always support my politics but always supports me. I vote to honor my mother, who has taught me always to strive toward being better educated and less judgmental. I vote because my grandparents still send me newspaper clippings to make sure I am aware of issues around the world. I vote because they grew up in a world where you could be killed for being Jewish

One of my very favorite mantras and one that I try to remind myself of all the time is don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. For a long time I would get so discouraged by failing to do something absolutely perfectly that I would just give up. This applied to eating, working out, cleaning my apartment, etc. I refer to this as being f*cking crazy - I will explain this below. 

I think I'm a lot better at not getting discouraged by imperfection and throwing in the towel, but today I had a setback. I ran four miles at lunch, including four 800 repeats, and they completely kicked my ass. Sidenote: I'm finding speedwork haaaaaard these days and I think it's because I'm actually doing it at a challenging pace for once?! 

So, I had these grand plans to ALSO go to Crossfit after work. I LOVE the Tuesday/Thursday night instructors at my gym because they're super helpful with newbies and I hate missing class, but damn, was I zonked after my run. 

I decided not to go, and then of course, I started beating myself up and getting frustrated about not being able to do both.

Anyways, I think in some ways, reading running/triathlon blogs can really exacerbate this kind of thinking for me - when I'm reading about apparent superhumans who frequently work out twice a day and go without a rest day for months, I start to believe somehow that that is the norm. Instead of celebrating completing a totally challenging workout, I'm disappointed in myself for not finishing two. Not to mention how shitty I feel when I realize my speedwork pace is an easy run pace for many bloggers. See why I call going down this rabbit hole being f*cking crazy? 

I wish I could find more blogs about real, normal people with normal people amounts of time to dedicate to training. Normal people get tired, and have to work late, and sometimes just would rather hang out with their friends than go for a run. Real people are slow, cranky, and sometimes can't help but eat the free donuts (I only had 2.5, ok?!). Training is way more fun and rewarding when you're not f*cking demoralized by reading blogs written by people with completely unrelatable lifestyles.

So crazy blogger people who never miss a workout and never eat the wrong things and OMGLOVEEVERYRUNTHISMUCH, I raise my glass of Schlafly Pumpkin Ale to you (from the couch, obviously), but I no longer want to be one of you. I promise from here on out to write the kind of blog I want to read. 

Ever since I can remember, I've liked to plan ahead for stuff that might happen in the future. Not in a productive or helpful way like making lists of things I want to accomplish, etc, but essentially by day-dreaming about the future.

Right now, that future is about as open-ended as it could be. My boyfriend is filing his residency application tomorrow night. He's applying to x amount of schools, all over the country, and will spend the next four years of his life at one of them learning how to be the best doctor he can be. 

We've been long distance for 4/5 years at this point, and suffice it to say, that's about enough. I know that wherever he decides to go, I will eventually follow. I say eventually, however, because I really like my job and I really, really dislike the idea of being unemployed. 

But all that not knowing about where I am going to live in a little more than a year is making me batshit crazy. I have, in the last week, Zillow-ed the crap out of New York City, Baltimore and San Francisco. The part of me that likes to daydream about the future is going fucking haywire. Part of me wants to LOCK THAT SHIT DOWN and start, like, saving for moving costs, and another part wants to dream about all the cool things I could do in San Francisco and NYC.

Part of me wants to stay in Baltimore, a comfortable mid-sized city that's easy to live in and where I won't go broke, and part of me wants to move to NYC because I don't feel like all my crazy days are over yet. 

I really don't know where we'll end up. No one does at this point, except for possibly a computer algorithm. But not having control over it is making me like a fourth grade girl doodling her crush's name on the inside of her notebook. 

My absolute favorite place in the DC area to run is the C&O Canal. I love running on the C&O Canal so much that I will drive 30 minutes each way in crappy DC traffic for a four mile run.

Who could blame me? 

There is something so beautiful and peaceful about this trail, and it is a fantastic place to get lost in your own thoughts (or an audiobook!) while pounding out some miles. 

Logistically, it's not tough to get there from DC but it can take a while because of stupid traffic. I used to live in Takoma Park, which made it a lot easier because I could just hop on the beltway and park at Carderock. Now I have to do complicated surface road traveling (and dodge be-kitted cyclists on MacArthur) but, you know, it's worth it.

This weekend I did my longest "long" run in months - 6 miles on the canal. Harry Potter audiobooks got me through training for my first marathon and Saturday I started the Order of the Phoenix. I zoned out to Jim Dale's amazing voice and all the pretty trees, and ran from Carderock to Great Falls and back. 

What the what?! I have a blog? 

Sorry to the probably two people who read this blog (hi Kat! hi Miemo!), I haven't been feeling much motivation to blog lately. I haven't been feeling much motivation to do anything, to be honest.

But I sucked it up anyways and found the motivation to do the the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon on Saturday! I'm still totally bowled over by how great an experience this tri was - it was beautiful, incredibly well-organized, and super inspiring and absurdly fun for this newb. 

And in a move that will surprise literally no one except for me, I'm totally considering signing up for September's Nation's Tri. Brett had some good advice though - considering my aforementioned motivation issues, if it's a good idea to sign up for an olympic distance triathlon, it'll be a good idea in a week. So give it a week I shall. 

In addition, I'll put together a race recap in a few days, once they release hilarious pictures of me choking on the Schuykill and looking like I'm going to die. Just you wait! 

For now, here's one photo to prove I finished the tri (please ignore the hair).

It's tough for me to get up in the morning. I'm going through a stretch where I don't even register my first alarm going off, and the only thing that gets me out of bed is Brett calling to wake me up. This usually means I'm running late to whatever morning workout I'm trying to get in, and puts me in a pretty nasty mood. 

So when I'm already in my cranky place, the last thing I want to have to do is deal with someone's snotty attitude. And maybe it's because I'm a newer swimmer and cyclist, but I can totally spot swim and bike assholery a mile away. 

You know that guy/girl flying by you without as much as an "on your left" fully kitted out and on a tri bike at 8am in the bike lane? Asshole.

How about someone telling you they "don't want to circle swim," even though every other person in the pool is, because they're "really fast" and you'd just slow them down? 

That's exactly what happened this morning at my (public!) pool (Marie Reed for you DC residents out there) to someone trying to get in the lane next to mine. 

I hate circle swimming (because I'm one of those obnoxiously slow people), but with the pool as crowded as it is in the morning, you cannot just tell someone you don't feel like sharing a lane responsibly. It's rude, belittling, makes newbies hate the sport, and it makes you an asshole. 

But here's the great thing: you don't have to be a jerk. It's a choice. So those of you who are old hats at swimming, biking, or even running (although I definitely see less of this crap running), remember the good ole days when you were a newb and the sport was still scary, and someone was really nice to you and how awesome that was.