Saturday, January 31, 2015

"And if you don't know, now you know..."

It's been a long time since I've done the 10 "Day" YOU Challenge... several weeks I think. It's safe to say that putting day in quotation marks from the beginning was a very smart move. Anyway, this installment of the 10 "Day" Challenge is dedicated to 3 lessons I've learnt since I started running.

The Takeover...

Yesterday I had a lot of fun taking over the Instagram page for That Indie Runner (@thatindierunner). The mission behind the takeover is to basically show "a day in the life" of the runner being featured, so I took a lot more pictures than I normally do and tried to capture my day in IG posts :)  If you're on IG you should check them out and check out all the other Indie Runners that have been featured as well.

Friday morning I ran a 5K non-stop. I'm still sticking to the plan to try and eliminate the intervals on my shorter runs. It was a negative split kind of day...
I've been getting some amazing running tips from my veteran and rookie running friends, and have been trying to incorporate different suggestions so that I can find the exact things that work for me....

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Tangents...

I was up at the crack of dawn grading quizzes and papers for the courses I'm teaching. I'm a firm believer that if I have to get up at 3am it should be to workout, not to do work. But between the work this morning and the work I did when I got home (after my regular 9-5 job), grading is pretty much complete for this week (yay!!!). Now it's time to post assignments for next week (sigh). 
(I love teaching online... it just gets time consuming, but I still love it)
~~~
I was looking at old pictures on Facebook today and came across this one of the baby sister and me at my twin sister's rehearsal dinner for her wedding (6+ years ago... or is it 7+???). In March the baby sister will be the one getting married... 

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Caught up in the blitz...

The best thing about recovery week is that you usually don't feel too guilty about slacking off slowly returning to your training routine. Well, typically I don't because the week after a major race (aka Half Marathon) is pretty much a "slow" week for me. I think subconsciously I give myself permission to push the limits of the concept of rest, and somehow it often coincides with a busy work week (making it easier to justify transitioning from 1 rest day to 3...or 5)...

Monday, January 26, 2015

Redefining AMAZING: the #MiamiFamous Half Marathon race recap

I used to think that running my fastest time was the only thing that could make a run/race amazing. I used to think that (despite the title of my blog page) real runners run fast, and anything less than a pre-defined speed would fall short of an "acceptable" pace. I used to think that getting a PR (and a medal) were the only goals that mattered in a race. But that's not how this works (that's not how any of this works).

After a night of not really sleeping much (not nerves...just couldn't turn my thoughts off) I got up on Sunday feeling tired but still excited to get the day started. The morning was chilly.... ok, let's be real... it was cold (low 50s) and windy. The race sponsors kept referencing the fact that "weather conditions would be perfect" for running, but as we were standing in the corrals with numb fingers and toes I'm pretty sure many people (like myself) were ready to challenge the use of the word "perfect".

I was in Corral H...

Saturday, January 24, 2015

The "Wall of Names" & other race expo excitement!!!

The day before my races are always filled with a bunch of activity (mainly involving packet pick up at the expo...and food). Today was no exception. I woke up early this morning so that I could get to the expo early and avoid the crowds. Today's session started at 10am...

Friday, January 23, 2015

Five Friday Favorites... including the "Giveaway" WINNER!!!!!!

So I did it. I got up and went to the gym this morning (I got there by 4am so my alarms actually worked!). My gym session was light this morning, but more than I've done in a long time:
Upright bike x 30 minutes
Recumbent bike x 30 minutes
Elliptical x 30 minutes

I kept myself distracted from the boredom of the session by posting to Instagram, catching up on my Facebook feed, and watching episodes of Brothers & Sisters on Hulu+. Oh and I also did a little bit of work for my online class (just call me the multi-task queen).

It's Friday!!!!! That means several things this week:
 ~ No work for two days!
 ~ I'll be Miami Famous in one day!!
 ~ It's time for my Five Friday Favorites...

Thursday, January 22, 2015

It's Thursday so that means....T-minus Two Days!!!

I ran this morning. Technically I could just end my blog post now because you probably know that today shaped up to be a fantastic day (running usually does that). Thursday is not typically a running day for me, but I wanted two "non-running" days before the Miami half so this week my running days were Tuesday and Thursday. I would share with you what my cross training days were this week, but if you've been following my posts you already know there were none (sigh). I hope to change that tomorrow. I have my alarms set and everything :)

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Timing is everything...

Is it too late to taper? Too soon to carb load? How do you gauge the timing of all the adjustments you need to make during race week?

Even though I'm not hoping to PR at the Miami Half Marathon this Sunday, I still want to go to the starting line properly prepared. Unfortunately this week hasn't been a good week for proper race preparation (for a number of reasons). Primarily, there has been a definite lack of self-discipline this week...

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

My Authentic Self...

Today started off great with an awesome 5K run (non-stop & knee brace free)...

I was focused on monitoring my cadence today, but instead of running to music I turned on my metronome app and set it to 180. My cadence breakdown from Garmin shows that I stayed pretty much on target this morning...

Monday, January 19, 2015

The Countdown Begins!!!!!

Welcome to Race Week all my fellow #MiamiFamous runners!!!!

The Miami Half/Full Marathon Race Week Countdown begins today!!! I will be #MiamiFamous in...
FIVE DAYS!!!!!!!
I'm not counting today (which is basically over), and I'm not counting race day.... so really it's only 5 days until the inaugural event of my 2015 race season!!!

I saw an article today that said there was an issue with the amount of half marathon finisher medals at the event in 2014... but the race sponsors said that was not going to be a problem this year. Yeah... it better not be <feel free to insert poker face emoji here>. Especially not after they did that big medal reveal on pretty much every social media site that exists. Plus, this race will be my third race in the Florida Storm Series, which means....I WILL ALSO GET MY CATEGORY 3 MEDAL!!!!


I saw this quote the other day and posted it to my Instagram because it so accurately described me...

And then my amazing brother-in-law to-be tagged me in this picture (you can see my response below)

(it really does bother me by-the-way...seriously, who would intentionally do that???)

I'm keeping this blog post short today because I have a few a ton of assignments to grade for my online classes and I want to get that started so I'm not up all night (since that didn't work out too well for me last week). 

Hope you had a great Monday! 

What are your taper plans for this week (if you are racing this weekend)?

Sunday, January 18, 2015

About last night (and this morning)....

It's been such a busy weekend for me. Not "hectic" busy, just "up & down traveling" busy. On Saturday I drove to Estero, FL with my mom, sister & daughter to visit my aunt. I wasn't aware that there was a place called Estero, FL until we started planning the (very last minute) trip. We had such a great time! Well... minus a small incident (it's a long story.... involving a speeding ticket... I don't want to talk about it). The beaches there are beautiful (perfect for running) so Mommy, Jule, Kai and I took an "at the beach but not really 'at the beach'" selfie...

Then we drove back and got ready for more birthday celebrations for my sister-in-law Gail, which involved dinner at Asia Bay in Ft. Lauderdale. After the drive to and from Estero, driving to Las Olas felt painstakingly far (it really isn't that far and it's mostly highway driving), but I would drive to Estero and back TWICE just to eat the food from Asia Bay again...
(fried rice with shrimp, lobster, cashews & pineapple chunks...served in a pineapple "bowl")

Friday, January 16, 2015

It's time for the weekend festivities to begin!!!!

I started my weekend festivities early because I was off from work today (yay!!!). First, I got up this morning to run with my baby sister. We were both excited until we were greeted by cold and gloomy weather (and then I was the only one still excited)...

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Thursday's Ten Tangential Thoughts...

1. There are times when you see a quote that accurately reflects your current state of affairs. Today this was mine...

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Signs of personal growth...

The #1 sign of personal growth: not snoozing your alarm in the morning.
I'm actually very "grown up" on my running days because I hardly ever snooze my alarm on those mornings... but that's not to say that I haven't been tempted in the past.

On the training schedule for today was a 5K run, non-stop (to build up endurance), and at a steady but decent pace (to help me focus on my speed).
DONE...

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

If you want to change your life....

Yoga Mondays happened again yesterday, and although it wasn't a very long session it was long enough to get me through the hustle and bustle of a typical Monday at work. Things have been kind of hectic with me trying to juggle my regular M-F job with the online courses I teach and trying to stay on top of them while still dealing with the issue I'm having with my computer (which I thought I had fixed but there were more problems last night)...
I ended up going to bed late last night (again...sigh), and so when the alarm went off at 3am for me to get up & go to the gym my first thought was "WHY????!!!!"; and that was immediately followed by "Maybe my phone is broken and it really isn't time to get up"; and then 2 minutes later my back up alarm went off and I (reluctantly) poured myself out of bed...

Monday, January 12, 2015

~ Casa Mofongo Latin Grill ~


As promised, I wanted to take a moment to feature the restaurant I ate at on Sunday with my mom, Jule and Kai. After a long day of wedding shoes shopping (fun) and walking around the mall, and up & down Miracle Mile, the three generations of Operation "Perfect Pair" were tired and hungry. We came across Casa Mofongo Latin Grill by chance and decided to dine there for dinner. It was the best cuisine related decision I've made in a loooooong time!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The Weekend Wrap-up

Friday ended up being a rest day for me. Coming off of my double workout/double run day on Thursday I decided to give my knee a break. I really think I need to avoid running twice in one day. I'm not sure there is any great benefit from doing it right now. In the future, if I can't get the mileage complete in one sitting for some of my longer long runs (18 miles etc), I might need to reconsider this option, but for right now...3 Running Days = 3 Running Sessions; and I will have to make those sessions count!

Friday would have been the perfect day to swim but I had an early event at work so I just decided to take the morning off. And my baby sister (Jule) and mom came up from Jamaica to do wedding related activities (for my sister), so my evening was void of any workout activity as well.
***

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Testing the Limits of my Heart, Where Feet May Fail...

Today was a double workout session day. I didn't plan for it to be, but sometimes you need a way to release the tension of the day and drain your heart when it feels full...
I woke up early this morning and the weather outside was like this…
...so I went to the gym to "warm up" on the upright bike for 30 minutes. Then I went back home and ran. My thoughts & heart were preoccupied with a friend of mine who is dealing with some family stuff so once I hit the START button on my Garmin watch I just kept running non-stop (for 30 minutes)...

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Back in the water...

I got to the gym for my first swim of 2015 much later than I usually do on my gym days. I was up late trying to fix an issue with my laptop (a huge problem when you blog & teach online) and ended up falling asleep a lot closer to Wednesday morning than I would have liked.

As tempting as more sleep always is, 4:30am found me in the pool at the gym swimming my way towards finding my inner Nemo...

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

I'm in love...

I'm in love with my new Garmin watch. It's a relatively recent love affair (I've only had it since Sunday) but we had our first running "date" this morning and my heart was racing the entire time ;)

I love how it looks with its predominantly purple sleek physique. I love how it sends me sweet chirps & beeps when I reach a running milestone. It's honest with me...giving me instant feedback on my running sessions. It doesn't judge me. I think this is the start of an amazing whirlwind romance...

Monday, January 5, 2015

How motivated are you?

Mondays have traditionally been rest days for me, but I decided to do some yoga this morning. "Yoga Mondays" will be replacing my typical "rest and do nothing" days because I really need to work on my core strength, balance and flexibility this year. I have a new approach to my training and a renewed sense of motivation...which is good (I think) because I have quite a few lofty goals for 2015...

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Purple makes me run faster...

I woke up this morning exhausted and with a minor sore throat, but I wanted to run (despite how tempting staying in bed seemed at 5am) so I got ready and headed to Hollywood Beach. I started running earlier than my running group usually starts because I wanted to take advantage of the cool, slightly windy temperatures before the sun reached it's highest perch in the sky...
(as seen on my run...beach fishing at sunrise)

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Just a few more...

I started my day with a 6 mile run with the Pacers Running Club (a popular running group in Jamaica). It was a nice "out-and-back" route with only a few inclines. The run started early, which meant that it was pretty dark when the group headed out. Most members were running 4 miles, some were going to run 6 miles, and a few brave souls were aiming for 8 -10 miles. I left my knee brace at home because initially I only planned to do 4 miles, but at the 2 mile water stop the hosting members convinced us to run to the 3 mile turn around point (so we did) and then we retraced our steps back to the start for a total of 6 miles...

Thursday, January 1, 2015

The Year of the Full: Chapter 1...The Great Debate

As much as I wish I could say that I stayed up late and enjoyed the festivities traditionally associated with ringing in a brand new year, the reality is I was in bed by 12:15am. I wasn't able to actually get much sleep, but I had an early morning run so I wanted to at least make a valiant attempt at the accumulation of REM cycle minutes. It didn't really work out....but, in my attempt to be "forever young", I still got up to run...