Virus

Guess whose computer has a virus and can't be on the internet for more than 30 seconds at a time? 

Times Up!!

I'm Still Alive Bonus Post

Boy, if the rest of the holiday season is like the past few weeks, I apologize in advance!  Things have, as usual, been a little crazy and this blog has suffered.  You should be happy to know though that my fitness has only suffered slightly.  I have been living it up in the yoga studio (5 classes in 6 days - woot!) and I managed to actually lift some weights, so overall I'm feeling pretty good.  And I managed to make all my scheduled runs with the exception of 2 miles though they have been lacking in quality (worst 7 mile run in history). 

Which leads me to one of my favorite sayings - Perfect is the Enemy of Good.  Sometimes, if we want to be good at many things (and enjoy them!), we must stop trying to be perfect. 

I like to run.  I like to run less when I feel guilty for missing a few miles.

I love yoga.  I like yoga less when I injure my wrist trying to support a perfect posture.

I like writing this blog.  I like it less when I feel guilty for missing a few posts. 

For more on Perfect versus Good, check out this article.

Yoga Splits (for runners)

I think that everyone has been feeling a little bit of the winter blues lately – I know I have! The last two weeks were a bit of a wash – I was living at the dentists and I had a ton of post-work events to attend. I squeezed in a few workouts where I could and did my best to make it to the yoga studio. But alas, last Wednesday I realized that (with the exception of one class) it had been over a week since I last saw a glimpse of my yoga mat. When I don’t get to the studio, I really feel it…I am talking achy, cranky nastiness. It is an awful thing, this yoga dependency.


I had to make some big decisions and, though it did pain me, I skipped a big wine tasting event (for which I had actual tickets) to go to power yoga last Wednesday night…No time like the present right? And it was a FANTASTIC class – I immediately felt better. Thursday was another schedule disaster but I made it to Friday's vinyasa class, I got in another 6 miles with Meri on Saturday, made it to Sunday's power class AND went to gentle yoga last night. That’s 4 out of the last 6 days and man do I feel a million times better. And tonight, I’m going again…and hopefully Wednesday night. Thursday I am taking the day off because I am so not into yoga/step/dance class right now, but I have a vacation day Friday and plan on hitting up Revelation's 2.5 hour yoga block on Friday morning and dragging my butt to power yoga on Saturday. Big yoga plans going on here.

I know what you are thinking “Wait, isn’t she supposed to be running?” Ah, so very true. And I am, for the most part, entirely on schedule with my training plan. Actually, I was finding that the lack of yoga was hurting my running – these muscles need to be stretched! I could feel my hamstrings, glutes and hips tightening to the point where it was painful. Kim must have had some kind of bizarre sixth sense because on Wednesday she suddenly introduced ‘yoga splits’ to our class. What is a yoga split? It’s a regular old split…except if you can’t do it you prop yourself up on blocks, balls and whatever else you can grab from your mat. These splits – though they kind of suck and hurt – are really working on my hamstrings and hips! In fact, I think all runners should be doing yoga splits…though really, I just think all runners should be doing yoga in general!

Baby Carrots

You have heard me ramble on before about how I do not really like baby carrots.  And I don't - they taste funny and they are wet.  And they appear to last way too long in the refrigerator.  Basically, they creep me out.

But alas, they are a cheap, convenient snack and I often resort to them with the basic idea of  'If I'm not hungry enough to eat baby carrots, I am not that hungry.'

So this week, I am eating baby carrots and I am miserable.  I want celery, peppers, apples, pears, grapes, clementines.  But baby carrots it is - my budget allows me pretty much one 'snack' fruit or veggie a week.

I decided, out of sheer boredom, to figure out exactly what a baby carrot is, why it is slimy and why they seem to last forever.  Now, I am not going to give you a bunch of links (okay, well, here is one) - I literally typed the questions into my google search bar and read the first few relevant web pages that came up...this is not a scientific research page people...just a blog by a chick that doesn't like baby carrots but eats them anyway. 

Here's what I found out:

What are baby carrots?  Baby carrots are made from big carrots that look too funny to sell in the grocery store, so they make them into baby carrots...or, as I found out, 'baby-cut carrots.'  No shocker there - onto the more intriguing stuff.

Why the heck are my carrots always wet and slimy?  Okay, this surprised me a little.  This is because the manufacturers add water to the bags of baby-cut carrots because...wait for it...people actually prefer their carrots wet.  Okay - eeww.  And if I am offending the wet carrot lovers of the world, sorry.  But really, eewww.

And finally, why do they never go bad?  Now, I clearly prefer big, normal carrots but I find that they go rubbery pretty quick.  So what is the deal with baby-cut carrots?  Why do they last so long?  Okay, this took me a little longer to find the answer to and it has me a little skeeved.  The carrots are rinsed in a bleach solution to preserve them.  Bleach.  Okay...so apparently this is perfectly fine and harmless and whatnot.  But...

I think I am officially over bad tasting, slimy, wet bleach carrots forever (as soon as I finish my current bag).

A Real Run

It was a Halloween Weekend Running Miracle.  Meri and I had an actual, successful long(ish) run! 

So lets get some perspective here, okay?  If you are new to running, or training for a 5K or some other shorter distance, any miles that you log are fantastic...I do not in any way want to downplay those miles with this post.  I can still remember, clear as day, the first time I ran 4 miles.  It sucked...until it was done and all I could think was "Holy crap, I'm a runner - I ran 4 miles!!"  Those 4 miles were nothing to sneeze, wheeze or cough at.

Flash forward a ways to when I was training for my first, second and third half marathons.  Long runs were 10-13 miles...those are the long runs where, now, I can really pat myself on the back.  I have not had a long run of that distance since last January or so. 

For me, there is a certain threshold to cross before real distance training begins...it is the magic 6 mile mark.  The first 3 miles of any run suck - it takes at least 3 miles for my legs and head to start working together.  Once my body figures out that its running, it begins to cooperate for miles 4 and 5.  Those are pretty good miles.  But oh to get to mile 6...by mile 6 you are in rhythm...and once you are in that rhythm, miles 7 and 8 feel pretty good.  So the threshold is to complete the 6 mile run...then tacking on miles gets a little easier.

This Saturday morning, Meri and I completed our first 6 mile run in a long, long time.  And it was great!  We felt like runners again!  I still have a hard time calling 6 miles a 'long' run.  But I have no trouble calling 7 miles a long run.  So here we go miles - I have crossed the threshold - bring it on!