Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Plan Work Whine Reflect: Thursday 13.

13.  Plan. I'm going to spend some time getting good at 50-milers for 2011.  That's my goal.  I'm considering Old Pueblo again.  We'll see.  Baboo may not be available for Old Pueblo, so I'll have to find a way to get out there and back.  Normally, I wouldn't mind that, but the last time I tried to drive after being up late I nearly killed myself.

12.  Work. I was offered the teaching job after all.  However, it turned out to be a temp job with stimulus money.  I couldn't see quitting a permanent job for a temp one, so I turned them down graciously.  Meanwhile, I'm relieved to have been picked, considering the dismal performance I put on at my interview.

11. Whine. I have a cold, and it sucks. Turns out that running 100K does NOT boost your immune system in the short term.  In fact, I think the moment I quit running all the virii and baceteria in my body went, WHEEEEE! and ran through the unlocked gates to my respiratory system.  Everyone gets their cold somewhere a little different, with me, it's my voice.  I lost my voice yesterday in the middle of giving a kid an IQ test.

10.  Reflect. The other good thing about my experience: I did love the training plan. I was able to stick to it.  I became a stronger runner.  I'm going to be using that training plan again, starting at the beginning. Soooooo, next Tuesday: big 2 miles run.  Yeah, baby.
Another picture stolen from Raj.  

9.  Plan.  On the way home from JJ, we stopped at Dairy Queen. I had a salad.  OH YES I DID.  I will not gain weight during recovery.  I'm not saying that, as salads go, it was the healthiest.  I mean, it was Holbrook, Arizona, and it was Dairy Queen. It was middle-aged iceberg lettuce and some cheese.  I think I saw a tomato in there somewhere.  Still, I resisted.  I even threw away half the dressing.

8.  Work.  My one year anniversary is coming up at the children's hospital.  That means in another year, I might get a raise.  >:-(

7.  Whine. See above.

6.  Reflect.  I have new respect for the distance. (100 miles).  For the first time, stubbornness alone was not enough.  Which means I have to try again, some day.  I hate having a DNF that is unfinished.  So far, I have finished every race I DNFed in except one: Barb's Race.  My bike tire blew out completely that day, on crappy poorly maintained roads.  I finished the run, though.  Just not interested in going back to wine country and finishing a race on crappy roads in 96-degree heat.

5.  Plan. I am now searching for a good running jacket for winter.  It must be close-fitting, vented, have a zipper up the front, and reflective.  Any suggestions?

4.  Work. There are stairs leading up to my office.  Stairs.  I never really minded them until Tuesday morning.  It was a slow trip up that one flight of stairs.  I felt almost normal until I puuuuuuuled myself uuuup that third stair


--> For the record, I'm one of the few people where I work who consistently uses the stairs.  In fact, there's more than a couple people who use the elevator exclusively.  Even when coming down from the 2nd floor.  And no, it's not faster.  It's one slow-assed elevator.  

3.  Whine.  Actually, this isn't a whine.  It's an affirmation.  I publicly declare that I alone am absolutely 100% reponsible for not getting to 100 miles. I'm not going to blame the trails, or the weather, or the staff, or the race director, or any manner of things we are tempted to bitch about when things happen.  I trained for 100k.  I finished 100k. 
What I don't need is anyone telling me that I could have sucked it up and pushed harder to finish another 40 miles.  Or that I could have eaten better or drank better and finished another 40 miles.  I've accepted the fact that I wasn't trained up enough.  To say otherwise would be like saying that someone who hasn't trained for a marathon only needs to just eat and drink right, and show up, and they'll finish the whole thing.

Anyhoo....

2.  Reflect.  I was very curious about the magic wand that the guy at the Coyote Camp aid station tried to use on my knee.  I tried Googling lots of things: metal stick, metal healing rod, magnetic pain stick, magnetic rod.

Finally, just for fun, I typed in metal wand healing and started getting links to this product:

 It should be noted that, retail, this wand is $304.00.  But. if you are a distributor it will run you only around $284.00. 

Yes.  It's true.  Not only can you be scammed by the whole concept, but you can be scammed by being sucked into a multilevel marketing scheme. 
It's two-click-two-click-two scams in one!

I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking that my general wet-blanket skepticism kept it from working. Another reason not to buy it.  Advil and Tylenol work for me whether I believe in them or not.


1.  Relax.  Just for the record, the number of WeightWatchers points earned running a 60k for this GeekGirl was 82.  I didn't spend any, however, as they were all earned Saturday, and my tracking week ends Saturday at midnight.  :)



Just kidding.



You know me better than that.

I had a big-assed bowl of pasta from a decent restaurant Sunday, covered with a heap o' fatty old cream sauce.  Alfredo, I think.  I don't know.  And it was probably 3 servings.  I ate it all ALL.  Sweet Baboo ate a 16" pizza



> urp <

...

7 comments:

  1. First of all, you can not count a distance you trained for and completed a DNF. Especially when you have a way cool buckle that says you are a 100K FINISHER. Second, I think I'm almost more impressed you ate a salad at Dairy Queen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats on your successes...weight loss and a 100k is a no slacker need apply kind of feat! I am preparing to do my first 50k in March. What training plan did you use. Did you use the Santa Clara one..it seems to ramp up pretty quickly and I am kind of a wuss...any thoughts on a slower ramp up training plan(read...lazy, read procrastinating)????

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  3. Congrats again! You did a great great job!

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  4. Sunami, have you tried just Googling 50k training plans? The most important aspect of the Santa Clara plan is that it cycles up for 3 weeks, and then there is a recovery week. I suppose that if you wanted to ramp up slower, you could repeat some of the weeks in the beginning, right? Just my thoughts.

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  5. My running jacket is from Eastern Mountain Sports. I love it. Front zip, lots of vents and additional zippers you can manipulate to vent... but it's not reflective. So I bought a reflective vest to wear over it. I use the vest quite a bit anyway this time of year especially so it all worked out. Brooks makes some great jackets but they're not really vented. If you get a comprehensive answer to this question, please put it in a future "13" as I'd like to know!

    ReplyDelete
  6. In Canada we have the "Running Room" stores and they have their great running jacket which IMHO would meet your criteria and they come in so many pretty colors! :
    http://www.shop.runningroom.com/product_info.php?cPath=634&products_id=3060&languages_id=1


    Congrats on getting the teaching job even if it was only a temp one. At least you know to brush up on your math skills for next time ... just in case :)

    And I agree with JJ - you got the buckle and trained for the 100k race ... so enjoy your victory!

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  7. I read your blog every once in awhile when I feel like I need a lift. I am in awe of everything you do and must say, you look so great! You are going to have to rename your blog though! I started out as a 'back of the pack' athena triathlete and am now slimmed down and am going to race at the 70.3 World Championship. Thanks for the inspiration to just get out there!

    ReplyDelete

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