A Sunday Quickie.. Not like that, ok?

10/6: 4 Miles. 37 Min. Treadmill. NTC AB Burner: 15 Min.

My rest days are becoming Mon and Fri, and since Saturday is Long Run day, Sunday is usually an easy 3,4 miles. I had a busy day today and woke up later than planned, so I opted to jump on the treadmill instead of running easy outside.

UGH. I can't believe this treadmill has made me the type of person to skip an opportunity to run in the gorgeous fall sunshine. Punches from all directions, please!

I was going to do 4 easy miles at a 10 min pace but decided to push the last two miles. I don't know, I think there is something quite satisfying in getting as sweaty as possible in a short amount of time. Needless to say, I was drip, drip dripping sweat everywhere. Ended with a quick but painful (fl)AB session, courtesty of Nike Training Club App. Oof.

4 mi

distance

18.7 ft

elevation gain

610

calories

36:59

total time

9:14

pace

Happy new week to y'all!

Also, congrats to all who rocked the Portland Marathon this weekend. Am inspired by all of you!

Orting Trail? YES. Chocolate Milk? NO.

10/5: 10 Miles. Orting Trail w/ J. Flat. Easy. Crisp and sunny.

Today's run kind of makes me want to punch myself in the jaw.

Because it was kind of fantastic.

*Punch*

It sounds so annoying, reading that doesn't it? But today's setting was pretty perfect.

Sunny. 42 degrees. Shorts and a l/s shirt. J for some company. No music (On the fence with this one, really). We were I was able to talk through much of our run and J just patiently nodded or grunted a response every now and then. J has ridden his bike on that trail a number of times, but it was all new to me so I was like an eager kid with tourettes.

Where are we again?
Where is 167?
Hey look, a Christmas Tree Farm!
Ducks! Someone is selling ducks?
Pumpkins! We really need to go to the pumpkin patch soon.
Those houses are big!
Squirrels!
Oooh SHINY...

I wouldn't have minded some music but I have to admit it was nice to be able to chat and laugh a bit together while running, and also I think it was probably safer to be unplugged since the trail was pretty desolate in certain places.

Also, my wireless headphones are broken.

So, the decision was a little easier to make. Sad. Oh well. Time for some new ones!

Like every other run, the first few miles are always a bit challenging. It takes me quite a while to warm up and get into the groove, and my mile splits are testament to that. J called me a "drunk runner" because I kept drifting to the left, right in front of J and his stocking'd, and neon feet. Clearly I have issues finding a warm up pace, or any pace at all really. However, one major improvement from this past week's treadmill running is my ability to increase pace in the later miles. We ran five easy miles, stopped because J needed a quick breather and then turned back around to our car. Miles 5,6 definitely felt easier because my body had loosened up and I was able to finally find my stride. Around mile 7 is when J decided to turn some music on his phone that he was keeping zipped up in his back shorts pocket. So, there we were, running steadily back towards our car, with music blaring from J's ass. 8 and 9 were steady and brisk. Finally we hit mile 10 and I turned to J and said "Let's go". We picked up the pace for the last mile and I actually out sprinted him for the last half mile or so. So THERE.

The first few miles felt good, easy and steady and I felt really strong the last half of the run.

***

Garmin Splits, oh how I've missed you so.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:34:31.0	10.01	9:23
1	9:51.3	1.00	9:51
2	10:03.9	1.00	10:04
3	9:43.1	1.00	9:43
4	9:41.2	1.00	9:41
5	9:51.3	1.00	9:51
6	9:31.8	1.00	9:32
7	9:10.6	1.00	9:11
8	9:01.4	1.00	9:01
9	8:55.9	1.00	8:56
10	8:37.6	1.00	8:38
11	:03.1	0.01	6:29

No fuel. Water.
Piece of toast w/ PB and lots of coffee beforehand.

***

Lesson of the day: Chocolate milk is an easy, no brainer recovery drink for most people but not. for. me. Or, that is what my rumbling tummy has been telling me all day. Let's just say it was a good thing we were close to home...Holy "Harry Dunn", my friends.

Unrecognizable, this here me

9/29: 3 Miles, 26 Min. NTC 30 Min: The Shredder
***
9/30: Rest
10/1: 7 Miles, Treadmill. 1:07
10/2: 4 Miles, Treadmill. 40 minutes. Random. Accidentally reset TM. Twice. Whoops.
10/3: 5 Miles, Treadmill. 45 min.
10/4: Planned Rest Day

The workouts highlighted in purple took place at the ungodly hour of 4AM.

FOUR. AYE. EM. 

As in, the MORNING. When it's real dark outside. And smart people are still sleeping soundly in their warm, inviting beds. 

Not sure quite what's come over me, but I am really getting used to the idea of getting the run out of the way first thing in the morning, and not having to worry about fitting it in the schedule after a long work day. Not gonna lie, it is very difficult to get up when the alarm blares at 4, and I lie there playing mind games with myself for a good 10 minutes - there I stay, curled up in a ball trying to convince myself maybe to sleep an extra hour and run after work, and then I start a mental debate of whether or not I'll have the energy or time to run after work and if I'll be mad at myself the entire day if I skip out and blah blah mental battle blah. Eventually, once I resign myself to roll out of bed, wash my face, scrape my hair up in a ponytail and headband and get (hastily) dressed, I feel marginally better. I admit, it is not easy to wriggle on a twisted sports bra that early in the morning. The first mile of every run is always a bit rough but I just push myself to keep going. Not an easy thing to do when the clock still says 4:something or other. But I just turn up the music, zone out and keep moving my legs.

It's always a battle to get started, and often times the battle never ends. But it never fails, when I'm done?

I feel great.

Go me! *shakes tiny pom poms*

***

Tomorrow is a rest day. Plan is for work, then rest, and a lot of pizza and candy in between.
Saturday's plan is 10 miles with J. That should be interesting. He's only ever run 10 miles twice - One during the half (well, he hobbled from miles 8 to 13) and then once around our neighborhood. Good times to be had by all.

Special shout out to this Bomb diggity trio running their first FULL MARATHON on Sunday. GO GIRLS GO!

4 Runs X 1 Treadmill = 4 Treadmill Runs. So good at all the math.

9/24: 6.25 Miles Treadmill
9/25: 4 Miles. Treadmill. 4 AM, people.
9/26: 5 Miles. Treadmill. 4 AM. Yuh uh.. I said it. Twice.
9/27: Rest
9/28: LR. 9 Miles. Treadmill.

This week: Alternating days of pizza and subway. Is becoming kind of an awesome problem.

The new treadmill and I have become fast friends. Since last Saturday, I have done all my runs (6) on the treadmill. Saturday's long was done on the rusty, crapped out one (extra points for me!) and the rest have been on the new, fancy I-love-it-so-much-I-want-to-marry-it machine.

I've decided to attempt the early morning workouts so I can have some free evenings when I get home from work. It's tough enough to fit in a a proper dinner, with baths, homework, and some family time let alone squeeze in a decent workout. I've been managing for the last year but now that all three kids are in school, the mountain of paper work, lunches and laundry feel like they've grown exponentially. Some days I feel like I'm on the brink of losing the mind. Like a crazy. What's new. Carry on.

For those of you who've known me for a while, you know that I dislike mornings like Kim K. dislikes Kris Humpries.  As Kim K. would say,

"Like.. a lot.. like....".

Anyways, the last two mornings have actually been... dare I say, kind of exhilarating? Seriously, I should just punch myself in the face, that sounds so annoying.  Once my alarm blares in my ear at 4:00am, I spend about 10 minutes on the office floor "stretching", and when I say stretching, I mean slumped over with my shoes half on while I attempt to pry my eye lids open with toothpicks. But when I finally get on the treadmill and get going, it's actually not... that bad! The first couple of miles are always a struggle but then again, it's like that when I run outside too. Once I get over the 2-3 mile hump, the later miles seem to be more manageable, physically and mentally.

Let's see if I can do it again this week. We'll see. Sleep, it has its way of luring me back under the covers. I love sleep.

***

Had grand plans to run outside today for my weekly long run - 9 miles for training week 4 -  but waking up (late! whoops) to giant drops of steady rain convinced me to stay indoors and run on the treadmill - for the fourth time this week.

Not quite sure what's gotten over me. Crazy treadmill person over here. *Points to self*

Anyways, here is my workout summary. Not quite as enjoyable as the splits from my Garmin but this is the best I can do.

9 mi

distance

94 ft

elevation gain

1401

calories

1:25:13

total time

9:30

pace

9 Miles. Used iFit program to run a course through my neighborhood and had to power through some tough intervals/inclines. Kind of slogged through the first 4 miles and really hit my stride around mile 5 on. Relatively easy, steady pace with some ass hauling the last mile. No fuel, only water. Lots and lots of water.

Like running outside. But totally not...

9/23: Rest
9/24: 6.25 Miles. 58 Minutes. Treadmill.

Dumping rain. Not feeling a run outside today. Especially after I was tidal waved by a large truck the last time I ran in a monsoon.

Today's run was... interesting. J's been obsessed with this treadmill since we brought it home. It has IFit capability so he was able to sign up online, and figure out how to hook the treadmill up to the IFit website.

Don't ask me.

I think he may have explained it to me a zillion few times.

I wasn't listening. D'uh.

Squirrel!

Anyways, he mapped out a local course that was 6.25 miles. The cool thing about the IFit is that you can physically see the road you're running via the website. The best worst painful interesting thing about this is that the treadmill accounts for the inclines on your route, so if you're virtually going up a hill online, the treadmill will compensate and increase as you're running. At one point, I was running up a pretty steep slope and the treadmill inclined all the way to 15%. I now understand why treadmills have handle bars....

And an emergency off switch.

See? IPad floating in mid air.. Or, the plastic casing screwed into the garage shelving in front of the 'mill. Don't worry, the IPad slips right off but is very secure once snapped in.

The one thing I can't seem to figure out is how to display pace. I can roughly gauge how fast I'm going and yes, I'm Asian so clearly I could probably calculate pace based on time and distance - Good at all the math! Plus, I'd totally use a calculator and/or the internet. But sometimes it's just nice to see it in your face while you're running. I took it easy the first 3 miles (15% incline in mile 2? Yeah...) and then kept it at around 7.2 mph for the last 2-3 miles.

Also, the calorie burn count is off. I clearly did not burn almost 1000 calories running 6+ miles.

However, I did end up eating dinner like those numbers were indeed true.

All the food.

Have I told you.. lately.. that I love you...

9/22: 4 Miles Easy. 37 Minutes. New Treadmill.

No more broken, stuck on an incline treadmill! J found a treadmill for a steal on craigslist and I took it for a test run on Sunday.

LOVE. IT. SO. MUCH. I want to MARRY. IT.

It's a Nordic Track Pro C900. Did I tell I like it? I LIKE YOU A LOT.

***

Jumped on Sunday morning. Four easy miles. Watched random YouTube clips and some Falling Skies.

I LOVE IT SO MUCH YOU GUYS.

Seriously don't even know myself anymore.... *punches self in face*

Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend

9.20: Rest. OCB for dinner at bday girl's request.
9/21: Treadmill. 80 minutes

Das right.

80 Minutes, beyatch.

The end.

Enjoy the weekend!