The Big Move

My mom is mid-move. She's here in Canton, along with me, my sister, and my mom's cat. Her stuff will arrive tomorrow, and that's when her apartment will be ready and she can move in. It was weird going home for the last time, especially because everything looked pretty much the same - mom had packers come and pack everything, and movers the next day. I left with the cat as the packers began because she thought it would be better. I'm not sure why the cat couldn't just go in a bathroom, but whatever, I was happy to miss all the excitement, even if it meant 3 hours in the car with a crying cat. They've got me bunked up in an apartment with a cot and no other furniture. It's spartan, but I seem to think that's an excuse to binge on gluten and carbs, and be a lazy bum. I'm not looking forward to weighing in on New Years, and getting back to paleo.

I did leave my cat sitting post today for some crossfit. We started with front squats - 5 sets of 5. I got up to 70 on my fourth set, and did 70 again on my fifth set. So, 10 squats at 70 pounds. I even felt like I was sort of holding the barbell correctly.

WOD: (I totally modified and did Level 1)
12-9-6-9-12 (the regular workout called for 15-12-9-12-15)
Squat Clean Thrusters - I did 35 pounds
Chest to bar pullups
my time: 19:11

I was totally not getting the pull-ups this time, I don't know why. Maybe because I didn't have a new band? One of the coaches kept trying to help me, until he was basically lifting me up. I just have no arm strength - even with a kip and a band, I can't do a pull up! So then he was like "you just need to build upper body strength, lets add another band and you can do strict pull-ups." So I had enough bands that I was probably lifting only 30 pounds or so of me for the last dozen pull-ups. Those I could do.

After I went home and hung out with my cats. They were pleased to see me I think, though they could smell that I was cheating on them.

Staycation!

Deadlifting my weight went straight to my head. Today we were doing thrusters which I can't lift my body weight. In fact, when doing 42 of them (or 36 which is what I did), I can only do 35 pounds well. The coach was helping me change the weights and was like "remember white for light" on thrusters because the 10 pound weights have white marks on them. I nodded and made a "mmm" sort of noise - I didn't want to ruin the moment by telling him the only reason I knew which one was a thruster was because I had googled it before going to class.

WOD:
50 pullups (I did 25 with a band. I actually really did them, sort of because I think I'm getting the hang of them a little, and sort of because I found a new band that was super springy).
run 400 meters (I passed someone during this!!)
21 thrusters (I did 15. 3 at 50 pounds and 12 at 45 pounds.)
run 800 meters (10 min mile!)
21 thrusters (I did 21 with 35 pounds)
run 400 meters
50 pullups (again, 25. Last.)
20 minutes, 45 seconds.

I went to yoga yesterday, really good class, but when we were supposed to do Child's Pose I realized how BIG the bump on my knee from the Great Box Jump Fail was! I couldn't do it. Sad, I love Child's Pose.

I'm now on vacation until January 4. Ten days, no work! But, my mom is moving here. A new phase in life (who are we kidding, my sister's going to do all the work.) She's very obsessed about her cat during the move, so my job will be to dope up the cat and bring it to the new place before the movers arrive. I'm pretty psyched about that role, driving 3 hours with a crying cat sounds better than the move. It's going to be weird when the house is sold - it was the house I grew up in. Strange to have someone else living there.

PS. I just realized that after January 1 the place will be full of people who are much slower than me!

Deadlifted More Than My Weight!

I was pretty psyched today because we did deadlifts and I actually lifted more than my weight! Once. But still! We started pretty low because I can never remember what I lift, and then were working up, so for the first several rounds it was two lifts. The last few rounds were just one lift. I did 155 for one lift, then was like "I bet I can do another 10 pounds." It was super heavy for me, but I did it!

WOD:
5-10-15-10-5
Box jumps (my legs still aren't healed from the last set of box jumps, I did step ups on a 20" box)
Kettle Bell Swings - I used the second smallest kettle bell!!!
time: 4:44

rest 5 minutes (I rested almost 5 minutes)
6-12-18-12-6
Toes to Bar (I did knees up, who are we kidding)
Wallballs
time: 9:45

I felt pretty good about the first WOD. I was second to last, though the guy who was last was actually jumping on the high box, and I was stepping on the lower one. In the warm up I did 8 actual box jumps on two green stools, but my leg is still sore from crashing last week. Ouch! And, I was proud of myself for not wimping out on the kettle bells and getting the smallest one. It was hard, but I did the entire thing without stopping.

WOD #2 not so much. I bought some gloves so that my hands wouldn't hurt so much when I'm hanging from the bar. Which did help my hands, but not my toes to bar very much. I did get a little more leg swing and shoulder movement in the thing, but 54 is a lot of T2B, especially at the end of the workout. I think I'm getting better at wallballs - on of the coaches told me you have to throw it up and then keep your arms up and receive it when it comes back, then squat. Like you are waiting for pie to come down from the sky and you don't want to break it (OK, I added that last part.)

I only did one class again last week, which of course I wasn't happy about because I'm so cheap. But, I wasn't feeling well and was going from bed to couch to bed for four days, so I have an excuse. Poor me.

Box Fall Overs

Today was the day to try the real box in box jumps. I was such a total wimp about it, I made one of the coaches hold my hand when I did it. I bet he was thinking "they don't pay me enough for this." I did actually do a real box jump on the real box! With the coach holding my hand. But just because if I hadn't done it after that it would have been a new low moment for me in Crossfit.

We started our real workout with front squats, you were supposed to get to your weight and then do four sets of 5 reps. I wound up doing the first set of 5 at 75 and then the next 3 sets at 70. I can't remember what I've lifted before, if that's more or less. To be honest, my squats were still sore from Saturday's wall balls.

WOD:
50 calories rowing
30 box jump over (I used two green stools because the coach wasn't there to hold my hand)
60 kettlebell swings (I did the smallest size kettle bell)
30 box jump overs
50 calories rowing
My time 16 min 32 sec (but some of that was knee pain time)

Everything was going in it's usual way, with me dead last, doing box jump overs with two green stools (I think 16 inches - landing on them and then jumping off) while some of the guys were actually jumping over 24 inch stools without actually landing on them at all! On box jump #30 of the first round I didn't jump high enough, caught my foot on the stool, and fell with a very loud THUMP. Not only was it embarrassing, but also painful. I had to take like 20 or 30 seconds to shake it off. Needless to say, my second round of jump overs were step overs. Now I have a bag of frozen peas on my knee. I think it may look kind of grim tomorrow. If so, I'll post a pic!  People like blogs that have pictures . . .

IT Band Fail

So after Wednesday's WOD my IT band was complaining. I was lazy yesterday and didn't go to Crossfit (largely due to excessive burpees, combined with the assault bike), and so I was committed to going today. Of course it was a partner workout with tons of running with a sandbag. Ugh. I was hoping for an odd number of people in the group, so I could row and not impact anyone else, but of course that didn't work out. So my partner ran by himself, and he carried a medicine ball because there weren't enough sand bags! That's hard core.  I rowed. Much better for the IT.

WOD:
1070 run with sandbag
50 clean and jerks (I did 45 pounds for real)
800 run with sandbag
60 toes to bar
600 run with sandbag
70 wall balls
Each partner takes a turn with the weight lifting, toes to bar, and wall balls, so you actually only do half.  Our time was 30 min 20 sec. I think I did about 120 calories on the rower, though it's hard to know for sure because I forgot once I got off the thing...

I did about 30 clean and jerks, and by the end I was sort of getting them right I think. And I was definitely doing 45 pounds and it wasn't killer, unlike when I was doing 35 pounds and thought it was 45.

It was really nice out today, but it's still December. I'm such a blob this time of year. I can't wait for the days to get a little longer!

9 minute mile!

Another WOD with lots of running. I'm starting to get how they go - I deliberately start at the back of the pack because I can keep up for the first 200 meters, and then I fall back. We ran 800 meters 3 times (plus 500 meters for the warm up). The first time we all started together, I was dead last at the end, by a long shot. When I looked at my time, though, it was exactly a 9 minute mile!  For a half a mile - but still I'll take it! The second and third rounds were each about a 10 minute mile I think, my brain was a little fuzzier with exhaustion by that point, so I can't be sure.

WOD:
800 meter run
10 Power Snatches (I did 35 pounds)
20 pushups (I used a band to assist)
10 back squats (again 35 pounds)
3 rope climbs (didn't even try, did the thing where you drop down to the ground and then pull up with the rope.)
Rest 3 minutes, repeat 2 times (I totally cheated and only rested 2.5 minutes)
My time was 34 min 38 seconds.

All this crossfit has definitely helped my hiking - I totally rocked it up the mountain this weekend, I was in the front of the pack (though some people were complaining that we were moving slowly.) The weekend away was fine, it seemed like a lot of the people already knew each other, they were very nice though. There was a conversation about where they were when JFK was killed, I felt young! I felt like I made a good effort to go outside my comfort zone :)  There was no heat and the beds were just wood slabs, so I was cold and smelly by the end (no showers either). I was kind of glad to get home and sit on my soft warm couch with the cats!

Dirty 30

I read today's WOD and knew I couldn't do it, which was a bummer because it was my day to go. Then I saw the modification for wimps like me, and was like, that will work. It was still evil.

WOD Dirty 30 (the real one was call Filthy 50)
30 Box Jumps
30 Jumping pull-ups
30 Kettlebell swings
30 walking lunges
30 knees to elbows
30 bench press (I did 33 pounds)
30 back extensions
30 Wall balls
30 burpees
30 double unders (I did 60 regular jumps)
My time: 23:10

Modifications: I was going to do three green stools but then realized that was the same as a box, and freaked out. I did 20 jumps on 2 green stools and 10 step ups on a box. Maybe next time I'll get the box.  Jumping pull ups I really did! Because, you get to jump, it's legs not arms. I used the smallest kettle bell. I actually got my knees to my elbows about 10 times! The rest of the times they were somewhere in the area of my forearms. My burpees sucked and I seriously considered stopping at 10, then 15 then 20, but I did them all. I didn't even bother trying double unders, just jumped. I'm actually getting pretty good at that.

This weekend I'm going to stay at a cabin in the White mountains with a meet-up group. We're hiking Mt. Hedgehog on Saturday. I could do a 4000 footer on Sunday, but probably I'll just do this other hike that's lower and has a better view and a waterfall.  Now I have to bake pie and cookies for the weekend. People to eat my cooking!  :)

There's something in the way on this lift...

Today we did power snatches, which involves hoisting the weight bar up the front of your body, more or less. Well, I got the girls there...ouch...oooch, I see nose bumping potential, but not with my nose. Not the best lift for me. OK first thing was a strength drill:
1 power snatch
1 hang squat snatch
1 overhead squat
EMOM (that's every minute on the minute) for 10 minutes. Other people were adding weight, I was just trying to remember which of the lifts we were doing. It was hard!  (I'm not good at squatting either, though I did use a squat toilet in Peru successfully, and considered it a growth experience.)

WOD: 21-15-9
Overhead Squats
Pull-ups
Box Jump
I did 35 pounds for all the weight lifting and not really deep squats for the squats. A green band on the pull-ups, and they were pretty bad. But I did get the whole momentum thing going on a few pull ups. And, two green stools for box jumps (gonna try three next time.)  Time 12 min 12 sec.

Last week I only went once to Crossfit! I'm so cheap, I never do that, but I was feeling kind of crappy during the weekend. I think it was the stuffing. Now that I'm Paleo woman, I think the carbs made me feel bad. I have made it through my month! I'm going to try to keep up with the paleo thing for Dec, but add rice and peanut butter (almond butter is crazy expensive). I did cheat all weekend with stuffing and pie on Thursday, pie on Friday, ice cream on Saturday and Sunday. But I did say when I started that Thanksgiving was allowed.

On Friday I went to the supermarket and they still had a couple turkeys left( super cheap), so I bought one and cooked it up Saturday!  My first turkey that I cooked. It was super easy, and now I have turkey to eat for the next month or two.

Thanksgiving Weekend!

I'm so psyched to have a long weekend for Thanksgiving!  I took Wednesday off because the students have the day off, so no one will be there anyhow, and I really wanted a nice 5 day weekend. The beginning of September vacation seems like a long time ago. I was going to go to crossfit tomorrow, but then my friend who I was going climbing with had car trouble, so I got to go today instead. Which means that tomorrow I don't have to leave my house :)

We started with deadlifts today - the coach was like "do you know what you usually lift?" and I though "I was feeling all smug that I know which one a deadlift is without googling it. Way to rain on my parade." I started at 75 pounds and that was really light, so then I did 95, then 105, 115 and I ended with 125!  Each weight was 5 reps.  I felt pretty good about it, though of course some of the guys were lifting like 3x that weight.

WOD:
Run 800 meters (which I did in 4 min, 37 sec which is a 9 min 14 sec mile!!!)
30 handstand pushups (haha! I did 30 band assisted pushups)
Run 800 meters (second time was way slower, 10 min mile)

I was dead last in the running the first time. So far behind everyone else, but I was pretty psyched when I finished and saw my time. I knew 800 meters is a half mile, so for me it was fast. Since I did band assisted pushups instead of handstand pushups I was faster then most people at that, so I didn't have as much pressure on the second running. Everyone else was behind me except these two super beefy guys who apparently can just pop out 30 handstand pushups like, whatever.

Bear Complex

Bear Complex's sound like something that would involve running, scaling trees, clawing opened trash cans and catching salmon. But, they aren't. They are a freakish series of weight lifting drills that we do at Crossfit. Lift the weights up, front squat, overhead, back squat, overhead again, and down. That's one bear! They are complex, I can never remember the whole routine.

First we did push press and push jerks. A series of 5 push presses and 2 push jerks.  Somehow I wound up with these women who were starting off with 75 pounds.  I was like "maybe I'll just go over with that wimpy looking group." We finished at 75 pounds, and it was heavy!

Push press - 60 pounds max for 5 reps
Push jerk - 75 pounds max for 2 reps

WOD
1 Bear complex (I did 45 pounds which was level 1. Could have done more, but level 2 was 65 pounds and I couldn't do that.)
2 box jump overs (I used two green stools)
2 bear complex
4 box jump overs
3 bear complex
6 box jump overs etc
As many as possible in 10 minutes

I did 5 rounds plus 4 more bears.

On the second round I freaked out on the box jump over and had to do single stools for a few jumps. I went back up to two stools on the fourth round. Such a mental block on those!

I'm thinking I might try to do three times a week for January - March. Less hiking time, I could go one day on the weekend. Plus, I wouldn't be working Monday evenings.  I've been going Thursday and Friday a lot, which doesn't spread out the workout very well. Only one more late Monday this year!

Rankel

Today we did hero workout Rankel. It was a beast:
6 deadlifts (I lifted 75 pounds)
7 burpee pullups (I used a stool to get high enough to jump to the bar so I could pull up)
10 Kettle bell swings (smallest kettle bell, but I should use the second smallest)
200 meter run
As many reps as possible in 20 minutes
I did 5 full reps and a 6th set of weight lifting, 5 full burps, and a sixth burpee without the pull up. There was a guy there of my same vintage and he was slower than me! Of course, he was lifting more and doing real burpee pull ups.  Whatever.

Rankel was 23 when he was killed in Afghanistan. Why can't we stop killing kids?

Late Post

I went to Crossfit on Friday, but then I went to visit my sister in CT right from Crossfit, and went to NYC for the day on Saturday, and completely forgot to blog! So, this is really a post from November 13. NYC was great fun, I love going there! It would be fun to live there for a little bit, but I love my little Boston... I went to this American Medical Student Association conference, really just so I could go to the city for the day for free :) There were only 4 sessions, so it wasn't that long - as always, one session was pretty lame (I blew out early to spend a little city time), one was so-so, and two were awesome!  One of the really amazing ones, this MD who's a geneticist was talking about her work, and where we will be going with big data in medicine in the future. It's so cool - one you start gathering a ton of data you can see patterns in healthcare treatments, and you can look at how the genetic makeup of one person might require different medication from another. I don't really understand it all, but what I do understand is amazing - I hope we are around for this future.

Anyhow, at Crossfit, we did Benchmark workout Christine:
3 rounds:
500 meter row
12 Bodyweight Deadlifts (I lifted 95 pounds which is not my bodyweight)
21 box jumps (I jumped on two green stools which is 16 inches instead of 20 inches)

My time was 10:54.  It was a partner workout, one of the ones where you have to cheer your partner on for half, then they cheer you on.  My partner actually does crew, and she gave me some tips on the machine - you're supposed to keep this one number below 125. You do that by using your legs. I don't exactly know what the number is, or really how to keep it down, but she seemed to think pushing with my legs was a good thing. I did speed up on my rowing, so she must be right.

Carb flu

I've been down for the last week or so with the carb flu, it's been brutal.  Hopefully I'm over the worst of it now.  Amazing how awful paleo can make you feel.  All the websites say you just have to push on through it, which is what I've been trying to do.  Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and I confess I barely left the couch, I watched like 5 hours of my new guilty pleasure, Scandal.  My one thing on the agenda for the day was Crossfit, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, so it's going to be a Thursday/Friday week for me.

Today's workout was supposed to be a timed one mile run, which I wasn't looking at all forward to, seeing as how I was going to be dead last.  Happily it was raining, so we got to do rowing instead!  Much better.  Of course, I was still last, so last that they turned off the music before I was done :/
(There was one other person actually who was on the same pace with me, so it was slightly less embarrassing.)

First we did the Clean and Jerk, and I was pretty happy with myself because #1 I kind of was able to do it right, without hitting my nose and #2 I lifted 65 pounds, which I was happy with.  But then I looked at the board and saw that most of the women were lifting twice that. Hmm.

WOD:
Row 1000 meters
30 hang cleans (I really lifted 45 pounds this time)
Row 750 meters
20 shoulders to overhead lifts
Row 500 meters

It took me 17 minutes and 17 seconds.  I was pretty happy with myself because I usually wimp out on the 15 pound weights, and put 10 pound weights on my 15 pound barbell, but today I actually did the 15 pounders!  Go me!

9 min mile!

Today's WOD had a 535 meter run to start. Of course, I was dead last at the run, and was totally dying by the time I got back to the gym.  And some of the people had already finished the weight lifting part.  It took me three minutes to do the 535 meters, actually slightly less because there was a little bottle neck at the door.  I was sort of trying to let everyone else in front of me, since that was were they were eventually going to be anyhow, but it didn't totally work out.  When I finish - last by a long shot, it was 3 minutes, which is a 9 minute mile!  I was pretty psyched when I worked out the time.  My other runs were slower because we didn't all start out at the same time, but still they were around 10 minute mile.  I couldn't run that fast for a full mile though.

Today's WOD: 4 rounds
535 meter run
15 back squats (I did 35 pounds - I realized today that what I thought was 45 previously was actually 35. Boo.)
10 Ring Dips (real WOD called for 5 muscle ups, but I needed bands for a ring dip for heaven sakes!)
Rest 1 minute.

My time was 23 minutes 14 seconds.  I could have lifted more on the squats, and I really used the bands as an assist for the ring dips.  (I'm going on an 8 mile hike on Mt. Major tomorrow and I didn't want to totally kill my thighs and be dying all day tomorrow. That's my excuse on the squat weight, and I'm sticking to it.)

Before the WOD we did front squats and I lifted 85 pounds, though my technique at 85 pounds wasn't so good I don't think.  At 80 pounds it was much better.

I realized that they sell paleo snacks and energy gunk at the box.  Of course they do!  No excuses about being hungry next time, I can get something to eat there.

Fight Gone Bad

I really liked the title of today's WOD, Fight Gone Bad.  If I was ever in a fight, that's how it would go, I'm pretty sure of it. I was going to go to Crossfit yesterday, but I was so hungry that I had to go home and eat. The Paleo thing is a little bit of a challenge.  Now I have two days in a row of crossfit because I can't go Sat, and I gotta get in my two times for the week.  Happily FGB has no pull ups, though they did make us do push ups before the workout.  I did them on my knees. Poorly.

Fight Gone Bad:  Three rounds of one minute at each station. One point for each rep, one point for each calorie rowing.
Rowing  (my score 16/15/15)
Sumo Deadlift High-Pull  (20/16/18) 35 pounds
Wall Balls  (16/16/15) lightest ball
Box Jump  (9/10/13) I used two green stools instead of a box
Push press  (16/13/10) 35 pounds
Rest (quite successful at this!)
Total Score = 218

It doesn't seem like a killer workout, but it totally was!  They had us do it with a partner so that it took the entire class basically - one person did the entire workout, then the other.

I have a mental block about box jumps.  The first set I was freaked out because I was jumping up on two stools instead of one.  Seriously.

Saturday will be my three year run-a-versary.  I'm not exactly still running, though I did run 300 meters today, carrying a wall ball for half of the run.  And tomorrow it looks like I will be running 1.3 miles at least (they'll prob have some running in the warm up.)  Saturday I'm planning to hike Mt. Major.  So, although I'm sort of shifting in activity, I'm still counting this as a success.  I may stop at the Lulu outlet in Kittery on the way home from the hike to celebrate :)

Paleo

I decided to try a paleo diet challenge and see if that makes any difference in my weight.  If not, I have no idea what to do except give up and shop in the fat store. It sucks. I paid for this program called Paleo Challenge that gives you menus and a shopping list for a month. Probably stupid, and I felt silly walking around Trader Joes with the list.  But, WTF?  I sort of started this evening, but I had granola in my yogurt, so not totally.  I love granola.

Crossfit tonight wasn't totally killer.  We started with deadlifts, and I lifted 140 pounds!  But, just once. I lifted 135 once, and 130 once. Well, I was impressed with me, though my technique still needs work.  

The WOD was 30 sec work, 30 sec rest, complete 4 rounds, then rotate:

1. Shoulder to overhead lift

2. Kettlebell lunges

3. Sit-ups

4. Airdyne bike

Not a single burpee or pull-up, which made me happy.  I couldn't do everything super-well, but I can at least do everything.  I did:

1. 40 shoulder to overhead lifts, lifting 45 pounds

2. 45 kettlebell lunges with the smallest kettle bell in the place

3. 64 sit-ups.

4. A complete unknown on the air dyne because I couldn't figure out how to get the thing to track correctly.  At the end you are supposed to add up all your points.  I have 149x.  Everyone who posted things was around 200 +/-.  Which is maybe where I was, but I lifted less and lunged with less.

I was going to lift with 15 pound weights on my barbell instead of 10's, but then I wimped out.  I prob shouldn't have, I could have lifted them.

I realize that this is post #200!  They aren't all running, there are some stadiums and some crossfit, but still I'm happy with it. Without even realizing this momentous occasion was arriving today I was at Lululemon and bought some cute capris on super-sale!  Fate.  (Plus I felt good about it because Lulu had a warehouse sale where people waited in line for like 3 hrs to shop, and this deal was just as good. No waiting.)

New Shoes

There was rep from Reebok at Crossfit a few weeks ago asking our opinions on their new crossfit shoes, and everyone who joined in the conversation got a coupon for 50% off anything on their website. Ha! Like my opinion was worth 50% off, I had no clue what she was talking about.  But, I was glad to take a coupon, and now I have new shoes that only costed $65, which really is pretty good. They're a pretty blue with kevlar on top and awesome treading to help with rope climbing (and the way I climb ropes, I need any possible help.) Sadly, they don't help with pull-ups.

Today's WOD was:
Row 50 calories
25 Thrusters
25 Pull-ups
rest 3 minutes
Row 40 calories
20 Thrusters
20 Pull-ups

rest 3 minutes

Row 30 calories
15 Thrusters
15 Pull-ups

I actually like rowing, though I sort of forgot that during the rowing and had to keep reminding myself.  I also kind of like thrusters, though sometimes I hit my nose with the barbell (hazard of being Jewish), and of course then there were the pull-ups. With the warm up I rowed for 145 calories (good news because I have pumpkin pancakes from yesterday in the fridge), did 60 thrusters at 45 pounds, and did about 20 really bad pull ups with bands assisting.  Total time 25 minutes and 56 sec.  Oh, and I only took 2 minute breaks because I didn't want to be totally last.  Which I actually wasn't, but I didn't do the pull-ups....

I'm planning to try a paleo challenge for the month of November and see how it goes.  That means lots of carbs to eat in the next few days :)

Crossfit

I was at crossfit today and I noticed this woman was writing down her times and I was like "why don't I do that?"  I mean, sometimes I write them on the board, but usually I'm last and I've made some modification or another, so it's a little embarrassing.  But, here on the Lazy Cretins I can be in competition with myself, and I might actually notice some improvement over time!  It's not running per say, (though it was today).  Anyway, it's my running blog, it can be a crossfit blog too.

Today we did this evil WOD called "Pyramid Helen"
Run 1200 meters
63 Kettlebell swings
36 Pull-ups
Run 800 meters
42 Kettlebell Swings
24 Pull-ups
Run 400 meters
21 Kettlebell swings
12 Pull-ups

I modified my Pyramid Helen by using a lighter kettle bell (the lightest one they have, who are we kidding?) and by doing 12/9/6 pull-ups using bands for help (and still doing most of them pretty badly).  Total workout time was 26 min 6 sec.

I was second to last in the longest running part.  But the end of the1200 meters I had hit my stride, was feeling ok cardio-wise.  Also, everyone else was so long gone that I was no longer trying to keep up with them.  I looked at the clock when I finished and it was 7 min and something seconds, I don't remember what, which I remember thinking was slow - even though I had no idea how far I had run.  Turns out it was pretty much 3/4 mile, and I was running a 10 min something pace, so not bad for me.  Oh, in addition to the workout, we ran 500 meters as a warm up.  So, total running distance was 2900 meters (1.8 miles).  Total kettle bell swings with warm up = 151.  Total decent pull-ups = 0.  Crappy ones = 12.

I'm baaaaack!

Such a bad runner!  I've been so busy with hiking, crossfit, and my trip to Peru that I haven't been running at all.  Today I didn't have anything I needed to do after work, and I just decided, I'm gonna do it!  Go for a run.  But, I did a short one because my body isn't really in the habit.  I was going to go to the Charles at the free parking spot, but it's Head of the Charles this weekend, so there was no parking allowed at the free parking, so I went to Fresh Pond. I decided to try to do 2 miles, but then my IT band was killing me, so I settled for 20 minutes (and 39 seconds.)  It was a slow run, I went 1.79 miles, which is like an 11 min 43 sec mile, which is slow even for me.  But, whatever, I'm out of practice.  Aerobically it was fine, but I guess that's because I was going so slow.

Peru was amazing, but my brother and I got really bad altitude sickness and couldn't finish the Inca Trail, we had to turn back.  So we took the train and the bus.  After all that hiking in prep.  Waa! Machu Picchu was amazing, it was so nice there.  I loved the jungle.  Lots of hiking and awesome animals.  I'm horrible at Crossfit, I mean, sometimes people finish the WOD and I'm only like 3/4 of the way done.  I'm pretty much always last.  I think I'm getting better, though I could be wrong.  It keeps my ego in check, because otherwise my ego is so HUGE. I bought an inflatable SUP, so now I can go paddle boarding someplace other than the same section of the Charles.  I took it out for the first time on Monday (Columbus Day).  I went to the same place in the Charles, of course.  Hmmm.

Real Run but Super Slowly

I was going to go to Cross Fit this afternoon, I almost made it there, but traffic was awful and I was late, so I decided I would go for a real run instead - it had been way too long!  Only little snag, it's hot and humid out, that's always bad for me.  I ran by the Mystic River, nice running spot.  I thought I was in one place, but I always get twisted around and confused by that river!  Anyhow, it didn't matter, I knew where my car was.  I wound up going 2.5 miles in pretty much exactly 30 minutes, which is really super slow, a 12 minute mile.  Which is where I'm throwing in the humidity excuse.  I was HOT.  When I got home, 10 minutes after finishing and sitting in my car with AC, my face was still bright red.  So, it's good I didn't push it much harder.

Only 4 more runs until my 200 runaversary!  That's huge.  I wonder what I will get myself??

Cross Fit

I decided last month that just running wasn't enough, the thighs are still getting bigger, so I joined a Crossfit Gym.  Ouch.  I got the two times a week plan, which is about all I can limp through so far.  I decided today I could do a legit blog because at the end of our totally killer workout I ran a mile, and by ran I mean jogged.  The only thing that I felt good about was that although I was the absolute last person in the class to finish the WOD (as we cross fitters call the Work Out of the Day) I did pass a person running.  And I think she only ran a third of a mile.  It's not much, but it's all I got.

So, I haven't done any other running for over a month which is bad.  But, in addition to 3 1/2 weeks of crossfit, I also climbed Mt. Monadnock, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Isolation, so I'm actually not feeling so awful about the running.  Monadnock is a pretty OK hike, I've done it before, steep in some places, pretty from the top.  It was my first time up Washington.  It's of course the highest mountain in NH.  You can drive up it, or there's a train, so of course there are people in flip flops at the top.  I'm not going to lie, I asked how much it was to take the train down but it was $46 and #1 I'm too cheap and #2 I forgot my credit card and only had $15, so I hiked on down.  It was tiring, but OK.  Mt Isolation was 13.2 miles, a couple of which the trail was a stream bed, and I hiked with people who were faster than me, so I got very little rest time.  There were black flies for some of the time.  I had a few dark thoughts - eventually I had to make myself think of things that make me happy - "Macchu Pichu won't be like this, I will get to stop for lunch."  "I have these lovely hiking poles."  "The earth will keep spinning around the sun, and sooner or later I will be in my car."  It was a little pathetic, but effective.

Charlie Horse

Managed to hurt myself in a totally new way today!  After 2 1/2 years I thought I had hit all the running injuries I was going to, but nope.  I was out running by the Charles today and got the most vile Charlie Horse ever.  It was a real bummer, too, because it was at the point when my lungs and heart had finally hit their stride and were like, "running, oh yeah, we do this."  The pain was in a totally new place on my leg, and I thought I was just full of it, but eventually I had to stop and once I massaged it a little I realized it was actually hurting!  I had gone from the new place I found to park by MIT to the Museum of Science bridge, but I decided I better not go over and back and just make it a little shorter run.  I massaged it out for a few, ran in a loop around the water at the Cambridgeside Galleria, and then went back.  I had to stop again, though maybe that was just being a wimp?

I thought it was the shortest and slowest run ever, but when I mapped it out it was actually about 2.7 miles in 29 minute, so about a 10 min 40 sec mile.  Of course everyone in the world was running past me, some of them were running past me in pairs, chatting!  Whatever.  Not my finest run, but I tried.

Last weekend I went with my friend Kerry for training hike #5 (I think).  It was raining out, so we just went to Mt Wachusett, in case we had to cut it short.  It was supposed to be a 7.5 mile hike, but on the way down the mountain, at about mile 2, Kerry slipped on some mud and sprained her ankle.  Scared the crap out of us (or, at least me)!  Because we were on the side of a mountain, in the drizzly rain, and she couldn't really walk.  Fortunately there was a road pretty close by and she was able to make it there, and then I went back and got the car.  So, total hike was more like 4 miles, but we did climb the mountain at least.  It's supposed to be nice out Sunday.  I'm going to look for a nice 10 miler or so, with some elevation gain :)

Davis Square Run

Today I worked from my Friday office, also known as Diesel Cafe. I love summer Fridays!  After work I decided that I would go for a run on the bike path to Alewife, then around to the Cemetery on Broadway, and back down College Ave.  Of course I took a wrong turn and wound up in Arlington, but in the end it was still about the same distance as I was planning, 3.6 miles, which I did in 38 min and 32 sec, for a 10 min 38 sec mile.  There was a certain amount of hill, so I felt OK about my pace.

Only 4 runs this month is a little lame.  But I did do another big hike last weekend, 10.3 miles, with 2700 feet of elevation gain.  No black flies, which made it way more pleasant.  The one thing that wasn't so nice is that there were 4, that's right, FOUR false peaks.  Which is just mean.  The hike was by Diana's Baths in North Conway, the North Moat Hike.  After I stayed at my friends Greta and Eric's, and then Sunday we went climbing.  We did this 3.5 pitch climb in Whitehorse called Hotter than Hell.  It was 5.7-5.9, but there was a huge crack at the top.  An easy crack, but waaaay the fuck up, when I was totally terrified.  And I don't climb crack.  Only, now I do because I really wanted to get off that cliff :)  I was so scared.  Meh.

Memorial Day

It's not Memorial Day yet, but they have this display of flags up on the Boston Common, apparently one for every American killed in battle since the Revolutionary War.  It's a lot of flags.  Someone had put a pic up on FB, which reminded me that it's not just a long weekend.  So, I thought it would be nice to run by and see it.

I got caught in some really bad traffic and was sitting there thinking that I should just park and run to the Common, since I was close enough, if I could find a space.  Then I looked next to me and was like, "wait, that's a space right next to me."  Of course I almost didn't believe it, because there were actually two spots there, and what were the odds?  But really it was parking!  It actually turned out to be kind of a good thing that I parked at a meter because I can't find my watch again, so I had to go by the meter time.  I was gone from the car for about 26 min, but there were a lot of lights, and I did stop for about 30 sec at the flags, so I guessed I was running for about 22 min.  Total run was about 2.09 miles, which is kind of short, but I was really hungry.

The flags were sad.  Why can't we just stop killing each other?

Passed Someone!

I thought I was the slowest on the Esplanade today, but then it turned out I was the second slowest, I passed the slowest :)  It was a beautiful day so I went for an after work run on the Charles.  I thought I had found a spot in the same area on Mass Ave, but this woman in the car was sitting there texting, and there was a cop right in front who was knocking on people's windows and pulling them over, so I figured that I better not lurk and block traffic.  I went around the block, though, and found another awesome parking place that was in MIT, about a block from Mass Ave, pretty close to where I got lost the time I got lost trying to take a short cut.

I decided to go towards the Longfellow instead of over Mass Ave first, to go in the loop in the opposite direction, and it turned out to be an awesome idea!  As I was coming to the Longfellow I realized what a pain it would be to get to it, with the construction, and then I thought, "I can just go one more bridge, to the Museum of Science."  Turns out it's a lot easier to decide that in minute 8 or so of the run than in minute 20 or so.  So, that's what I did!  I did the MOS/Mass Ave loop, which wound up being 4.1 miles.  I ran the entire way (slowly), no stopping.  It took me pretty much exactly 45 minutes, which was about an 11 min mile.

Since it was so nice out, the whole world was on the Esplanade, it was so nice being out there!  There were people flying a kite (it kept getting caught in a tree), runners, walkers, bikers, dog walkers, kids, skateboarders, sailboats.... The trees are all green, and there are flowers everywhere, there were like 5 different blues, the water, sky, Prudential.  Since I was running a little slow, I felt awesome, breathing was good, no cramps.  Yeah, good day.

I did training hike #3 last weekend, 10.3 miles, all covered in black flies.  Not the most fun hike I've ever done, though it would be nice if it were less buggy.  Pawtuckaway was the area, there was climbing and camping there too, good place.

I notice that I'm coming up towards my 200th run-a-versary.  9 more runs.  I don't even know if there's anything that I need.  I'm sure I'll find something at Athleta for a celebration :)

Spring is here

Did my second Machu Picchu training hike last weekend. The Meetup posting said it was 6 miles, but my fitbit said I had walked 9.  We were walking for about 5 hours with a few breaks, so I'm guessing maybe 8?  It wasn't the fastest hike ever, more downhill than up (big group so we were able to park cars at the end), and one of the hikers got sick mid-route and vomited (not me, thank heaven, that would suck).  It was in western-isn Mass, really nice trail with waterfalls!  I'm doing another hike tomorrow with the same group at Pawtuckaway in NH that also looks pretty nice.  It looks hillier, and maybe 10 miles?

Even though I'm hiking tomorrow, I still had to go for a run today.  It's the 8th and I hadn't been yet this month. Lame! I did my little loop at home, which it's been forever since I've done. It's much hillier than what I've been running, which I guess is good for me to do.  I was puffing away, though, that's for sure.  In the end I did 3.1 miles in 32 min 37 sec, with a couple pauses for traffic (which of course I enjoyed) which is like a 10 and a half minute mile.  It felt like I was running really slow, so I was glad to map it out and see that it wasn't that bad.  Of course, I walked up my hill in the end.

It was graduation today at work. Sadly, no LL Cool J this year, but we had David Muir.  He's some news dude who I'd never actually heard of before.  He was good, though.  Then I came home and took a nap :)

Officially Training

I went for my first Machu Picchu training hike on Sunday, 6 (and maybe a quarter) miles in the Blue Hills, but not in a hilly part.  Which was a good thing, because it was a pretty fast pace for me.  We did the hike in 2 hours, with a couple of stops (just water stops, and a quick port-a-potty break.  I can never resist a good port-a-potty.)  I'm going on another this Saturday that's about the same distance, six miles, but I think a little hillier.  It has waterfalls, so I guess we will stop some?  Both are meet-ups, which are great because you don't have to plan, just show up an follow like a pack mule :)

Today after work it was so nice out!  A little windy, but sunny and warmish, the trees are all flowering, the sky was blue, everyone was out running on the Charles.  I did the Mass Ave to Longfellow loop.  I got almost the exact same parking spot as I got last time I did that loop, which was exciting.  I had to parallel park in some kind of crazy traffic, and this pizza delivery guy in the car next to me was directing me a little, it totally cracked me up!

Anyhow, I was thinking I would make my loop longer, and go to the Museum of Science, but I think I jinxed myself, because then I got all crampy again.  Boo.  I did the same thing as last time, stopped running, and walked a little before I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.  And then I started running again at the Longfellow bridge.  It was so nice out, and everyone was so happy to be outdoors, it was actually pretty nice to be walking for a bit and enjoying the day.

Total distance 3.52 miles, total run distance, 3.07 miles.  Running time 33 min and 07 sec which is a 10 min 47 sec mile.  Certainly slowed down by impending cramps :)  (Not really, with all the millions of people out running, I didn't pass a single one.  At least no walkers passed me.)

Brrrrrr...

Cold and windy today, I so didn't want to go for a run.  I put on my running clothes at work and walked out to the parking garage and was so cold, I thought it would be miserable to go for a run.  I decided I could wait until tomorrow, but then I was all dressed for it, and told myself that I could just do a short run.  I parked over by MIT.  My parking karma was in overdrive and I got a spot on Mass Ave, not too far from the bridge, so I did the loop from MIT, over the Mass Ave bridge, up to the Longfellow and back.  It was freezing on the bridges!  There was a pretty good wind, which was awesome as I was running east, because it was at my back helping me out.

Sadly, just as I was at the furthest point (of course) I started getting cramps.  This time I actually decided to stop and walk before I got to the point where I wanted to curl up in a ball on the sidewalk. Novel!  I walked for about a third of a mile, on the Longfellow Bridge (yes, the uphill part) until I felt better, and then ran again.  Total running was just under 5 K in 33 min and 4 sec which is about a 10 min 40 sec mile.  Other than the cramps it was fine.  The sun was setting and the city looked amazing!  So glad for spring.

I dropped the one class today.  It will take me an extra year, but whatever.  I couldn't deal with the awful group that I was assigned, and the professor sucked.  Plus, I want to be able to enjoy life, and this was getting in the way.  I think this will be a good way to learn new things and expand my horizons without over stressing myself.

Weird

Went back to the free parking section of the Charles. It was so nice to go there today, it was all spring-like outside!  Everyone was out, running, walking, training their dogs.  Lots of people passing me. I passed walkers. >sigh<  So, for my run I went a total of about 3.3 miles in 36 min and 46 sec, which is like an 11 minute mile.  Slow, but it was windy out, and I was running into the wind on the way back, on the long side.  Plus, I really didn't want to go for a run, so I get props for going at all.  It felt about the same as the last run I did, the super speedy one.  Weird.

So, for one of my classes I was randomly put into a group with this uber annoying kindergarten teacher woman who's always like "yippee skipee! we can do it!!" I'm not sure I can handle it.  Also, she said that she spent 20-30 hours a week on her coursework last quarter, and that's excessive. I'm thinking about dropping the class and just taking one class at a time.  It would take longer to finish, but I would have to take this summer off, and it would be more manageable.  I think taking two classes is making me cranky.

Did I run fast today?

So, I may have broken a record for me!  Or, maybe I stopped my watch at a light and didn't start it again until the next?  I did the loop from my office again today, up the Southwest Corridor, through Copley, down the center of Comm Ave, past the Summer Shack (wind was in a different direction today so no smells), through the Christian Science plaza, and then back to NU.  There was some big hockey event at the arena, big college honors being given out apparently.  As I got to Mugar and stopped running I bumped into (not literally, fortunately) President Aoun and his court of bigwigs.  He was all "looking good!" and I was like "hhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhh" trying to breathe.  I was pretty beat at the end.

Anyhow, on mapmyrun it's exactly 3 miles and according to my watch I did it in 29 min and 15 sec which is a 9 min 45 sec mile which for me is crazy good!  I'm not totally convinced that I actually went that fast, because it felt pretty slow when I was running and I did have to stop for traffic a few times (which I quite enjoyed).  There was this one guy who fleeew past me on at one point, and then waited to cross the street while I took a different way so I wouldn't have to stop (see, I don't intentionally stop for traffic).  Then a few minutes later he passed me again - which made me feel super slow.  I would think that my watch battery is just dying, but my last run was so slow :)

Sadly, my tendon is pretty sore again.  I have an MD appointment in two weeks.  If it's not better I may ask to go to a PT.  Meh.

Spring!

Signs of spring are popping up!  It's hard to believe after this winter, I thought it would never come.  But, there are buds on some of the trees, and little flowers poking out.  And, crazy enough, most of the snow is gone.  Even the cars in Back Bay are pretty much clear, I never thought that would happen.

Today's the last day of staycation, sadly.  I wasn't feeling so great for the last couple days, I didn't leave my place yesterday, just spent pretty much all day on the couch reading a book.  And finished grouting my shower :)  Can't wait to use it again... baths are nice, but kind of inconvenient.  So, today I really wanted to get in a run to end staycation well.  It's pretty warm out, like 45 degrees, but super windy.  I was considering the gym, due to the wind, but then decided to go outside.  I've been planning this new route by the Mystic River, there's a bike/walking path there that's wood and gravel, so easier on the knees.  Of course it's been under snow, but I figured now it would be clear.  Parking at the cemetery in Somerville I was able to make it pretty much a perfect 5K, though I could have run over the river and on the other side to make it longer.

Good run today!  Slow, like an 11 min mile, but I blame the wind in part for that.  I ran for a total of 35 minutes, 3.17 ish miles.  It felt good, not like I particularly wanted to keep on running, but not like I wanted to curl up and die.  I would definitely run there again, pretty flat, easy on the knees, nice scenery (though not as good as the Charles), and lots of different options for length.  Hopefully the start of getting back into a regular routine!

One More in March

I was feeling very lame about my March running, so I decided to squeeze one more in.  Sadly, I'm feeling no better about it now.  I am on stay cation this week.  This time last year I did my Krapalu week, not doing that this year, but I decided that a yoga week would be really good for me.  So, I went to a new yoga studio where you get two weeks for $25 when you are a newbie.  Perfect!  It's in Davis Square, so the plan was to run to Davis, do the hour lunch yoga, and run home.

I did a slow run there.  I think that it takes me a little while to warm up, and when I start running I am running slower, then I pick up the pace in the middle.  It would be interesting to do some interval timing on a longer outdoor run to see if this is true.  I'm not sure how I would do that, I'd need a couple watches maybe?  I ran 1.7 miles to get there in 19 minutes, which is an 11 + minute mile.  I feel like the first 5-10 min are warm up, then I get faster.  Maybe I'm just kidding myself about that, though.  Anyhow, yoga was awesome.  I felt great at the end.  But not totally like running back.  I ran 5 minutes of the way back and then was like "Meh, it's a nice day out.  I've exercised.  24 minutes of running counts."  And I walked the rest of the way home.  A little lame, but it was a really nice walk.

I don't think I will follow this plan again because I did stop running just as I was in the groove of things.  And because I had to pay $1 to rent a mat (OK, that doesn't exactly break the bank.  But still!) And the mat was super slippery - I thought I was going to go from down dog to broken nose.  Also, there's this totally amazing bubble tea place in Davis now, can't get bubble tea and run.  It's kind of pricy, but if I'm not renting a mat....

French Fries

Total french fry failure on my run today.  I had been a total slacker for the last few weeks, though I have been climbing, yogaing, and getting in my fitbit steps.  Not to mention finishing the first quarter of classes (yay!).  But still.  I was going to go for a run yesterday, but I was so cranky and it was pouring out, I just couldn't deal.  So I decided I had to go today.

I had "Staff Meeting" at work today (I say that in quotes because it's just me and my boss and we didn't really have an agenda today, we were both sick of underachieving, over demanding students, so we sat and complained for 20 minutes.)  And, she had french fries which she demanded I eat.  They smelled so good, I couldn't help myself!

Bad move.  I got about a 1.6 miles into the run and cramps completely overtook me.  I was on the Charles, at the free parking section.  So, of course I was about as far from my car as possible, and I thought I would die.  I had gone up the short side of the river and was going to run back down the long side, but instead I walked over the Weeks Footbridge and back to my car.  Total distance was about 2.9 miles, but 1.3 walking.  Waaaa!  Next week I'm on Staycation, so hopefully I'll get in a good run then.

Like Spring!

Yesterday we broke the record for the most snow in one winter.  The old record represented more than a month and a half worth's of snow, of course.  Today it was in the upper 40's, the snow had melted from all the sidewalks, and it was practically spring-like.  I think I even saw some buds on the trees!

I was at work late (partly because yesterday was a big deadline and the kiddies are going nuts, I wanted to put them out of their misery and partly because I kinda overslept and got in late).  I really wanted to go for a run outside, and thought before dark would be better.  So, I decided on a route from my office.  It was actually pretty nice!  I went up the Southwest Corridor to BackBay, through Copley, down the center part of Commonwealth, past the Summershack (not a Boston Landmark, but it smelled really good), thru the plaza at the Christian Science Church, and then back to my building. It was almost exactly 3 miles, and I did it in 30 minutes and 55 seconds!  That's a 10 min 18 sec mile!!  I was very pleased :)

I had near perfect light timing, hardly had to stop at all.  Lots of people were out, but not so many that they were in my way.  I felt really good!  Of course, I was very happy to stop, and thought about taking the elevator up to my office after (I'm on the 4th floor) but then decided that would be beyond lame, so I walked.  Def will do that route again, and it would be easy to add a little more distance (or less.)

Losing :/

I was doing really well in my quest to beat my boss, but then WHAM, mega migraine on Sunday.  I call my poor sister who came and took me to the ER, this time the BI.  I believe I have had a pretty thorough tour of ER's now, and liked the BI.  Larger than Somerville, much smaller than The General, bed was reasonably comfortable.  And, they had copies of my medical records so they didn't waste time making me pee in a cup.  And, apparently when I go there my doctor calls me for a follow up.

Anyhow, end result is I did barely any steps between Sunday and Tuesday, and am now 30000 behind.  That may be hard to catch up on, unless she just sits still for 3 days.  In an effort to catch up I decided to hit the gym today.  I did a slow run, 5 mph for the first 15 min, then up to 5.5 mph for the second 15 min.  Only 2.8 miles at the end of 35 min, so I walked a little more to get 5K.  Stewart was on, really funny.  Can't wait to get back outside, thought.

You can't win all the time.  You can't win all the time....  Serious hike planning for this weekend.

First March Run

That's a little lame, it's already March 6!  Last weekend I went for a hike with this LL Bean Meet-up. It was someplace new, so that was cool.  Really big group, though.  And when we started the woman in front of me was telling this other person about her recent bladder surgery, and how hard it is on the body, even if it is orthoscopic.  That was my first clue that it was going to be a slow one....  Should have just gone to the gym, but it was so nice out!

There's still so much snow, it's hard to run outside.  The sidewalks aren't clear and the Boston drivers are crazy.  So, back to the gym.  My boss challenged me on the Steps program, and she's on vacation this week!  I should be a good employee and let her win, but I'm like obsessed with beating her.  And it's only day one of a 14 day challenge.

Anyhow, I did 30 min on the treadmill.  When I got there the treadmills were pretty full, and there was this woman running pretty fast on one of them, or so I thought.  There was a free one next to her, so I want over there, and then I realized that she was running the same pace that I do!  Hey!!  I did 20 min at 5.7 mph, then realized I could go faster, so for the last 10 min I did 5.8.  It felt good, or at least like I didn't want to die, and I wound up going 3.1 plus a little miles, so I felt good about it.  I think I'm getting my aerobic conditioning back.

Winter again

That was a short reprieve.  It's totally winter again, there were snow flurries today, and we got an inch or two of snow yesterday.  Now everyone's numb to it.  It's like, whatever, an inch or two.  Can't scare me!  Traffic is still a nightmare, I'm starting to feel like I will always spend two hours a day in my car.  On the weekend I don't even want to go anywhere.  I have two meet ups planned for this weekend though, gonna try for some snow shoeing again Saturday, and Chinese New Year and Dim Sum Sunday.  It's the year of the Goat.  Mmmm, goat.

I went to the gym again today, it's actually worth the membership this year!  30 minutes on the treadmill.  Happily, The Daily Show was on for the first 22 minutes, so at least that was funny.  But then there were still 8 minutes after it was over, and I wound up watching the Weather channel, which isn't as riveting as it sounds.  There was a woman two treadmills down who I kind of hate.  I was going 5.7 mph and dying, she was going 7.5 mph and talking on the phone.  I bet she kicks puppies and doesn't recycle.

Anyhow, I went the usual 5K in 35 min.  I got my new Fitbit, and it buzzed while I was on the treadmill.  I realized that I get more points for wearing the Max Pedometer from work, so I'm all double pedometered for running.  It ruins the line of my outfit, but whatever.  I can be bribed for cash!

Spring Like!

It's a balmy 40 degrees out, everyone was outside at the Charles running.  There were a couple people (guys of course) in shorts.  Brrr, not me.  I had my patagonia ninja hoodie (with the hood down - convertible style!) and my Athleta lined pants.  Just perfect.  The Boston side of the river was a little soggy in a few places, but the Cambridge side was a mess!  Totally snowy, I mean, there was a woman cross country skiing.  I started to get worried that it was a little too much like trail running and I might hurt my ankle, so I wound up walking for most of the way on that side.  I admit I enjoyed it, but it's the short side of the river, so it wasn't that far. In total I think I went about 5K, I wound up walking about 3/4 of a mile of that, but totally legit.

I've been working on this killer literature review for this class I'm taking.  Yesterday I finished the bulk of the body of the thing, so it now just needs a little fiddly work done on it. So, it will stop taking over my weekends, and just be something I work on a little every day.  For a Puff D, it's a lot of work!

Post Blizzard #2

Blizzard #2 was pretty tame.  Only like a foot of snow, just really windy.  Now is too cold out to be running outside, it's like -6 F which is just cold.  I shoveled my car yesterday when it was warmer out (16 F ish) and I wasn't really cold at all.  Of course, I wore my Patagonia Ninja Hoodie, that's probably why :)  We're expecting more snow tomorrow, 4-7 inches I've heard.  I have 14 appointments scheduled at work tomorrow, so I actually hope that we won't be closed.  Too much rescheduling!

I was getting a little cabin fever topped with tired-of-writing-paper-itis today, so I had to get out!  I decided to test the tendon and go for a run again, just a few days after the last one.  It was a pretty good run!  30 minutes, I started at 5.5 mph for 2 minutes, then bumped it up to 5.7 for a while, then up to 5.8 for the rest of the run. Total distance 3.17 miles, so a little more than 5K.  It was immensely boring, of course.  I got rid of cable at home, so it should be cool to watch on the treadmill.  But all they have is news and reality TV.  I felt really good running for most of it, nothing hurt and aerobically it felt good.  Of course, the last 5 minutes I was still just dying for it to end.

5K!

Snow snow snow.  I was listening to the weather report (as I was sitting in traffic) and it was "snow tonight, just a dusting. Tomorrow, more snow."  There's supposed to be another blizzard on Sunday, which will be the first time in like 50 years that there have been two blizzards in one winter here!  We're up to like 6 feet of snow, and all since the end of January!!

I've seen some intrepid souls out running, but I think they are nuts. The sidewalks aren't all clear and drivers are so cranky.  It's hazardous, and slow.   

I went to the gym today, and I was pretty psyched because I finally ran for a full 30 minutes again.  I started at 5.0 mph for a minute, bumped it up to 5.5 for four more, and then up to 5.7 for the rest of the run.  It was seriously boring, and a little tiring, but my tendon didn't hurt and I did ok aerobically. I didn't really want to run any faster, but I was fine at that speed.  Yay!

I'm planning to go snow shoeing on Sat morning before the next big storm.  Good way to get some exercise, and way more fun than the treadmill.

It's Winter

It's been storm central here.  There's so much snow, no one knows where to put it!  The city has "snow farms" where they are driving truck loads of snow to melt.  Crazy!  On the bright side, I got one snow day this week and two last week, which was pretty awesome.  And, I only have to uncover my car, which isn't that much shoveling.  The dark side has been the traffic.  Today I got in my car at work at 5:23 and at 6:00 I was still about 2 blocks from Northeastern.

Anyhow, with the snow and ice and freezing cold (it was -2 last night!) it's been impossible to run outside, even with my ninja wear.  I did go snow shoeing for an hour in the Fells last weekend, which was pretty awesome.  And I went to the gym last weekend and spent an hour on the elliptical, which was beyond boring.  Today I decided to hit the gym again, and run!

It was tough.  I started at 5.5 mph for 5 min, then bumped it up to 5.7 for about 20 min, then I had to go back down to 5.5 again.  Then I slowed to a walk at 28 minutes.  Total time on the treadmill, 30 minutes, total distance 2.58 miles.  Which proves that it's not always 5K on the treadmill.  It was hard.  I've clearly lost some aerobic conditioning.

I iced my tendon and my right  IT band as soon as I got home.  Right now it feels ok.  But maybe I'll ice again before bed.

Charles, how I missed you!

Went for a short run at the Charles today. I did the Museum of Science to Longfellow loop, it was just a little over 2.5 miles. It took me 26 min and 50 sec, which is my usual pace.  The run felt good, but now I notice that my tendon is a little sore again, even though I iced it twice.  But it's not really sore, just "hello, I'm a tendon and don't you forget it!" sore.

It's pretty much winter, though no snow yet and today was pretty warm (around 30 ish). I wore my new Patagonia ninja hoodie for the run, with the Athleta winter tights and the gloves with the snot wipers and I was just perfect.  After running I went to the pet store because it was right there. I've been thinking that my cat Tiger might like to be an indoor/outdoor cat, so I bought a cat leash to see.  So there I was, all sweaty in my ninja wear, buying a cat leash. Awesome.

Anyhow, it was a beautiful night out! Calm and peaceful, bright new moon, the Charles is a little icy, and the City looked great. Perfect for a run.  It felt nice to be out there, not too painful for most of the run!

Forgot to Blog!

Yesterday I did a short run at the gym, it was freezing out and I wanted to get some running in, so I decided that the gym was the way to go. I did 21 min on the treadmill, still slow, 5.5 mph for most of the run, for a total of about 2.3 miles. I was breathing pretty hard, I'm not gonna lie! In fact, I had it up at 5.7 for part of the run and that was killing me, so I had to move it down.  At least I could run, even if it was slower.  My tendon is still there, so I'm trying to increase time slowly, and to keep icing and doing the exercise that my MD showed me. It's a work in progress.

So, I didn't run this week, though I was going to on Thursday.  I got home from climbing on Wed night (much improved night from the previous climbing night, and I flashed this climb that I just couldn't do when I went with the Meetup). Anyhow, I was making lunch for the next day and my mom called me saying "I think I'm having a heart attack, and I just don't think that I can take care of my cat any more. I think that you should come get her and take her to live with you." I was really alarmed because #1 - the heart attack and #2 - she called me and not one of my sisters.  So, I talked her into calling 911 and I wound up going to visit her in Schenectady (hence no running.)  Turns out it was gastritis, she's fine. Bad break up/stress/geriatric drama at the synagog and I don't think she's ever been dumped in her life. Anyhow, I talked her into keeping the cat for now (it's the ex's cat and my sister thinks she's worried he will get it back if something happens to her. Drama!) Frankly, I'm not to psyched about being a middle aged woman living alone in 500 square feet with 3 cats. It puts me in a category.

Outdoor run

It's been so cold out, I didn't want to do anything!  Today it was finally nicer outside, it's like 24 degrees out, but sunny so it feels better.  Also, once again I've been shopping, and I bought this hoodie from Patagonia that's super warm and makes me look like a ninja! So, I got to wear that for the first time, which was cool.

The tendon is still tight and every now and then feels a little like "don't push your luck, woman." So, I only ran 2 miles.  It wasn't bad!  I did a somewhat flatter route, from here to Ball Square and back.  I was a little puffy on the slightly hilly parts, but it wasn't bad.  I had a major iPod malfunction, so I'm not sure exactly how long it took because I stopped to fuss with my iPod but didn't stop my watch.  Total distance was 1.97 miles, total time was 21 minutes and 47 seconds, but I bet I was fiddling for almost a minute.  Which actually puts me at my regular pace, even though it felt way slower.

I'm planning a trip to Peru for late summer, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and then going Iquitos (the largest city in the world that you can't drive to) and from there up the Amazon river 5 hours to a tributary to stay at a jungle lodge for a week.  I'm so psyched about it!  It's gonna cost a fortune, though, so no more Athleta/Patagonia clothes for me for a while!

Running again!

I decided that today was the day to test out the tendon!  Actually, yesterday was the test day - I was at the climbing gym for yoga and ran on the treadmill there.  I had forgotten how crappy their treadmill is, it really sucks, it's squeaky and rattly and I always think it will fall apart.  But, it's so cold and windy out, I decided to go for it.  So yesterday I ran for 7 minutes and went .66 mile and things weren't too painful, just the squeaking and a little tendon tightness. So I decided to test it a little more today with a slightly longer treadmill run.

I went to the gym and did 20 minutes on the treadmill at 5 mph, so very slow.  I wanted to make sure to ease back into things.  So, my right IT band is kind of like "WTF, I thought we stopped with this crap?!??" and my tendon is a little tight, but I think it's OK. In total I went 1.75 miles, so not a long run at all. But, I think it was a success!  I'm going to see how things feel tomorrow.

It's supposed to be cold out all week, maybe warming up Friday. So, maybe I'll try for a Friday run, or Sunday would be the next time it's supposed to be reasonable out.  Yay!

Half the Stadium!

Happy New Year Readers! (Kit)  My tendon is finally starting to feel better.  I've been icing twice daily and doing stretches.  It now feels weaker but not sore.  I'm going to keep doing the stretches/icing for another couple weeks, and then gradually start running again.  Starting with like one mile.  So I don't hurt it again.  What a pain!  In the mean time I've been walking and hiking.  No elliptical (because it's been nice out and that's just boring).

For New Year's yesterday I went for a drink with a friend at 6 and then went to yoga from 10-12.  It's an awesome way to bring in the new year, I walked a mile to class, two hours of yoga, ending with an om circle at midnight, and then walked back home.  No hangover, no desperate party attempts, no hanging out with a bunch of people I don't know playing beer pong.  Very zen.

Today to start my year out right I decided to try to do half Harvard Stadium + one step.  I got there and the usual gate that I go in was locked, and I thought that I would be locked out!  I walked around the stadium, and finally climbed a fence.  Of course on the way out I discovered that there was another gate opened, and if I had walked another 15 feet I would have gotten to it.  But whatever, I felt hardcore.

I decided to start at the halfway point, so I went to row 19 and went up 16 steps of the 31.  Then I want down to 18, 17, 16, etc.  Again I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to complete the goal I set, especially around row 13 ish.  But then I was like "I can't start my new year by quitting!" and so I kept going.  I had to take a couple minutes at the base of a few of the rows, but whatever.  By the end my legs really felt like spaghetti, and I was so ready to be done.  The nice thing about Stadiums is that they do only take about 30 seconds a row.  I can do anything for 30 seconds.  I mean, it's just 30 secs.

Next time I'm going to try for the full 19. :)