Working it out, one adventure at a time

Turkey Trot Done! Pie won!

Challenging 5 This wasn't all that fast, but it was the suburban version of trail running. My legs are not used to elevation changes. I also turned the wrong way 3 times trying to make the loop. If there were leaves on the trees I would've been in even bigger trouble. I had no idea what the distance would be since the area is new to me, but it was kind of fun to be exploring as I went. How do trail runners do this? Sidenote: I wish I could run outside in the middle of the day all the time. I also spotted them spray painting green the grass on the golf course!?! Do people really expect grass in Ohio in November to be green?

4 mile run at home Went on a very chilly mid-morning run from my parents. I had a disastrous travel day yesterday that involved a cancelled flight, but I ended up at home after a 6 hour drive through the snow. I forgot how hilly it is here. I am happy to have some new scenery for the week. It may help me find a little motivation. I'm excited for @theholidayhustle too! After I got my workout in, I went to lunch with my mom and Grandpa and picked up my race packet for Thursday. Very thankful for this week off!

Anniversaries and Monumental Half Marathons This training cycle was a bit of a mess due to asthma woes. To a certain extent, it is getting better. My breathing problems are largely related to pollen allergies, so once it gets cold, running improves. That said, it was 60 degrees out the day of the expo, and we did our shakeout running outside in shorts! I had modest expectations for The race. Mostly I wanted to finish and not feel terrible. Preferably in less than 2 hours. Race morning, we were up way early, and did all of the usual prep. Due to the whole "first Saturday in November" race date, this race is usually immediately before daylight savings starts. It was bizarre to start with it light out! Luckily it was a little cooler than Friday. The start was also moved and because I may have registered for this drunk on New Years Eve last year, I didn't have a corral so just started in the back. My first two miles were in the high 9's. After that I felt good, and my competitive nature kicked in. I also ditched my gloves. The crowd support was really good this year in the early part of the race too! It crazy how much better I know Indy now compared to last year. Most the course felt familiar. My hip felt the best it has in weeks. Taking it easy on the training helped with that too. Mile 3 to 5 went really fast cause the mile 4 marker was missing. I was sort of in the zone, so it was a nice surprise to be down 5 when I thought it should be 4. At about mile 7, I decided I could pick it up. I started cranking out slightly lower than 9 min pace. Around 9, the course is pretty much all in the sun, and I was wearing all black. I couldn't figure out how to remove my top layer without screwing everything all up, so it stayed on. Running back into the city was beautiful, even though the to end of the course was a little different due to construction. I was so happy to finish sub-2 and had enough to kick at the end. This was my 2nd fastest half ever (1:57:51 official) and I'm completely satisfied with that. I was immediately cold at the finish and desperately needed more water. I found Bryon easily, and we went home and napped and enjoyed 2nd anniversary pizza. I was sore for the day after, but this was a great race, and I'm excited for more cold weather running! P.S. half marathon = so much stuff

Easy 3 I forgot socks and the commute home was awful. This 3 miles was needed. The well-lit elevated trail that opened in my neighborhood is amazing for fall running. I probably should've worn a long sleeve, but wasn't out there long enough to care. I might go back and talk about last week's training in a later post, but the long and the short of it is I've had hip discomfort for a long time that was greatly aggravated by something I did in yoga. Honestly, running felt better than sitting has the last few days.

You get lovely views of the river and the lake since I haven't been posting much... Or really running that much. In good news, I hit 4 Sunday (down to the marathon course), 4 Tuesday, and 5 today. I might be on the trail back to regular running? Also I got a Fitbit! (Cause Bryon gave me his old one). I'm still planning on doing the half at monumental. I'm undertrained for me, but extenuating circumstances got the best of me this training cycle. 3 more weeks. My asthma is still being shitty (excuse the language). I sometimes think my inhalers make it worse. I've also been having breathing problems while just laying around, which is new. I can tell my doctor is a little confused as to why treatment isn't working. I also have a bum right hip that seems to be slowly improving with anti-inflammatories. It's never throbbing, but always nagging, if that makes any amount of sense. I was so inspired by the Chicago marathon recaps, it's great motivation to keep it up.

All of the sudden sunset is an hour earlier! Well not really, but 6:20 comes awfully fast. Tackled a 5 miler at 9:33 pace. It was chilly and I battled keeping down my lunch (lovely, I know). Onto the next day...

Long time no talk. I've been running when I can: Today - 3 miles + yoga Sunday - 4 miles on campus Last Tuesday - easy 4 + yoga Last Monday - tempo 3 (that went surprisingly well) Not at the mileage I want, but I'm still confident I can run 13.1. I am having breathing problems regularly, and really only feel better post-run/post-yoga. I'm starting to think it's stress related. Work has been as busy as ever, which sounds like hyperbole, but it's really, truly a very busy time. Oh and I got a promotion!

What is this forecast? It's perfection! This was my 3rd straight day of running, and I attempted a tempo 3 that was surprisingly successful. I'm not saying it was easy, but I hit this naturally and felt good. I am finally starting to feel healthier. The cold hitting our office is taking people weeks to recover from, but things may be looking up. I am so thankful for a work week without travel!

Look I remember how to run! This last few weeks has been full of ups and downs. A high was celebrating a pretty great friend's birthday last night. Never a dull moment with the girls. Today, I went to yoga, which was in the smaller room and was very full. It was a great class though with tons of ab work. I came home and cleaned for over 2 hours. A clean apartment is one of my greatest joys. I wanted to get back out there today. I'm still in the process of getting my lungs back to a good place, but this run went well. Thinking about breathing constantly is pretty exhausting. I'm also a little out of easy run practice, so my pacing was inconsistent. Overall, I felt good. I was also laughing out loud to this week's Ask A Clean Person podcast. Highly recommend.

I did 3.5 before work today. I am proud of myself for getting up. The only downside is that I then forget to post. More miles this weekend!

I actually ran yesterday, just an easy 4 @ 9:31 but it felt pretty good. I then went to yoga which felt great. Class was a little gentler than usual, but I had many aches to workout. Today I walked Lacey for 30 minutes. I've started tracking steps with my phone, and I do not get enough activity during the day. Nothing like quantifiable data to make me competitive with myself.

Notes from Labor Day Weekend I had a stressful work trip to San Francisco Weds/Thurs last week. I will unapologetically say the hotel we were in was sh*t, and I didn't sleep at all. I also had a meeting/flight schedule that made running impossible, and then 5 hours of sleep after a 1:30 am landing and a long Friday of working from home. Then, I spent 3 hours on a flight delay to go home to my parents (new) house for wedding dress shopping for my sister. During the flight delay, it became apparent my immune system was failing me. By the time I landed in Columbus, I was miserably sick with a cold. As previously mentioned, my asthma has been causing substantial issues, so I decided not to run through this respiratory junk. We were also very busy at home with appointments and seeing family. I slept as much as humanly possible (30 hours in 3 days, yes please), and I'm feeling a bit better. I also snuck a visit to the pool in today. It was my favorite! I'm hoping to get back to seriously training this week, but still taking it easy, until I get to the specialist Friday. I've got 9 weeks until race day, so I'm very hopeful this weeklong interruption will just be a blip on the radar. We did find a dress, so that was a huge success. And, my parents (once again) moved in across the street from a Notre Dame grad deep in Buckeye country. I finally finished Alan Turing: The Enigma, mostly due to quality outside reading time. Not my favorite of 2015, but interesting and an important work. Hopefully, we'll be back to regularly scheduled half marathon training tomorrow!

W10D2: 3 x 800 (7:40 pace target) Before and after the run pictures are telling. 86 in the evening is too hot for speed work. My heart rate was certainly out of control, so all 6 intervals weren't realistic. Please fall, get here soon. Despite new warm up techniques and a honey stinger, I'm still struggling with my speed. Here's to hoping I find it among football season and pumpkin pies. I'm off on a West Coast work trip tomorrow. It's going to be a crazy 36 hours.

The run went much better today, and I needed the confidence boost. I was also covered in bugs when I was done. Won’t miss that part of summer.

W12D4 & W12D5: easy 4 + easy 6 Yesterday, I ran easy 4 near work to see how my lungs were reacting to the new medication. It wasn't great. I still had a lot of struggle finding rhythm and really breathing. I was happy to be out there. Today, I did easy 6 and it was much better. I don't know if it's the new inhalers or just a better day. Note: faster runs aren't always better. There's a boatload of departures at work, so running is a release right now. I'm in San Fran part of next week and that also makes the whole work week a bit crazier. I'm trying to slowly get back on track with training. Happy weekend!

W12D2: yoga The iPhone camera just doesn't capture the Chicago skyline from yoga like it should. The class was pretty small, and not as sweaty as usual. I am fighting some type of respiratory issues (doctor appointment tomorrow), and I'm refraining from running until I get some relief. I hate hate hate taking extra rest days, but I can't justify running right now. Breathing hurts. I had more of my random ingredient Italian wedding soup for dinner. I wish it kept better. I need some more practice on how to best cook with lentils.