Doing It

I ran 2 miles yesterday. It was just one of those days. I feel like that's not even worth counting, but whatever. I went home early and got 10 hours of sleep. I feel fabulous! And ready to take on the world.

I have this exam to study for and have been struggling to find the motivation to put the time in. Apparently the obscene raise I will get if I pass just isn't cutting it. So I made a bet with a friend, and now I have to "do it" if I fail. I cannot reveal what (or who) "it" is, but I can say I will be spending a lot more time studying to make sure "it" doesn't happen.

My October training schedule has arrived. Yikes! Next week we start 5:30am bike rides on Thursday mornings. And I'm supposed to swim on my own on Wednesdays, so I'll probably try to get that in before work as well. It all looks a little overwhelming, but it will be a welcome change from the monotony of the treadmill.

That is all. I wish a good weekend to all my loyal readers.

I Want Chicken Pie!

Ugh, I am getting so tired of the treadmill. Luckily regular training with my team starts on Tuesday so I will be forced outside. The weather has been perfect here -- high 60s and low 70s -- and we are nearing my favorite time of year, but I also have an exam in 5 weeks so I try not to stray to far from the dreaded study room. Hence, the treadmill. I ran 4 miles last night. Blah blah blah. The gym has actually become quite boring, due primarily to the fact that the man doesn't realize we have a standing date there at 6. Where has he been?

I Can't Walk

I can't remember ever having such nasty, nasty blisters. Both of my heels are pretty raw. I'm still wearing the shoes though and damn, they look good! Though some of the effect is lost when the wearer of the pointy-toed stiletto is reduced to a slow hobble. The good thing is that my feet feel absolutely fine in my running shoes. I ran 5 miles yesterday.

When I was walking home late last night I had to take off my shoes. So yeah, I walked down the streets of Manhattan barefoot. And I didn't shower this morning. That's kind of gross.

Peeve #1

I don't like listening to people eat apples.

I'm Lovin' It!

Yesterday I didn't get to the gym until 30 minutes before closing so I ran a very fast 4 miles. Then I went to McDonald's for dinner. That was my 6th meal there in 4 days. What? What???? I just can't get enough of those cheeseburgers.

I bought some very fashionable shoes yesterday and they totally tore up my heel on the way to work this morning. Like I took off my shoe and the whole back of my foot was covered in blood. That's hard core when running, but kind of a questionable sacrifice to complete the outfit.

It's Always a Race

I'm running in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=18) on Saturday. My company ran in the race in June and somehow qualified to send a team to the championship (the standard must be loooooow for local companies). Even more surprising was the fact that yours truly landed on the team as the #2 woman. Right, so the obvious goal for Saturday is to beat the #1 woman. I don't know this woman, and I don't like her. She may be very nice, but I want to beat her. I just got an e-mail from her:

I presume we all feel we are doing this for fun and to get a 3.5 mile run 1st thing Saturday morning, so I was wondering if you all wanted to meet up prior to the race so we can at least all start together. We can also decide if we want to run together throughout the race. I spoke to J. and we are both fine with taking a nice jog around the city. Also, I think this might be even more crowded than the regular corporate challenge since it will be on the streets of Manhattan! So actually going for a good time could be disappointing.

Foiled! My victory will mean nothing if she's out for a nice jog around the city.

For the Record

I tried to donate blood this morning but my iron was too low. It needs to be at least 12.5 and mine was 11.8 (no idea what the units are). The woman who tested it was somewhat incompetent, but it's been low before so I'm trusting it wasn't just her error. She gave me a flier on hemoglobin and blood donation and sent me on my way. So yeah, I need to work on that. I think I'll have to start eating less cereal and more eggs and bacon. Darn.

While I'm at it, I might as well document that I'm starting this whole "thing" at 145 pounds and 21.1% body fat. Don't think I'm crazy -- I had to report my body fat as part of the ridiculously extensive application process for this team I joined. As far as I know they just wanted a starting point for future reference (as opposed to using it as a method to weed out the fatties). I guess we'll be monitoring this as we train, which with my mildly obsessive personality spells F-U-N!

Like a Caged Hamster

Thursday I ran 8 miles at the gym, mainly because the alternative was studying and, well, I'd rather not. I don't exactly like running on the treadmill. I got into the habit of it this summer when it was hot as balls in NYC and I was too much of a wimp to deal with it. My gym is at work, so that's super convenient, and they even do my laundry. But I spend far too much time there, most of it just loitering. I went again on Friday, ran 4 miles, and lifted. Also, I stopped watching the man and actually talked to him. What a concept.

Saturday I was supposed to run in the Fifth Avenue Mile with my buddy Alan Webb, but I decided a better use of my time would be to get up early and study. This was a huge sacrifice for two reasons. First, I'm trying to run 9 NYRR races this year to qualify for next year's NYC Marathon, and sitting out Saturday's race effectively ended my chances of getting in the 9 races. Oh well. I was probably going to defer to 2007 anyway. The more obvious sacrifice was the chance to see Alan Webb, in all his slightly balding glory. Anyway, I am so pissed at myself because I ended up sleeping until noon (noon!), so I totally could have made it to the race and then studied. Grrrr....

I bailed on another race this morning. I was going to do the Westchester Triathlon, but it would have involved spending last night and most of today up there, and I decided I needed to study. So what have I done today, you ask? I rolled out of bed at 11, made it to McDonald's in time for breakfast, and am now studying. Obviously. I don't know when I became so unmotivated.

The Road to Ironman

So yeah. I'm going to keep a blog to detail my training for Ironman Lake Placid 2006. That sounds weird. I'm going to do an Ironman. Uh huh, right.

I have some goals. I want to break 14 hours. I don't know how reasonable this is, and I fully expect it to change. I finished the Florida 1/2 Ironman in under 7 hours and felt like I could do another right there (I actually said this to one of my teammates, and she was not amused). So I think I should be able to fo a full Ironman at the same pace or faster, especially now that I've traded in my beast of a mountain bike for a slick new road bike.

I also want to become more of a competitor. I think I have a lot of natural talent, but I like to run in the back of the pack and take it easy during races. Basically, I'm lazy. I want to be comfortable pushing myself and leave a little more out there.

And I want to do 10 push-ups (and just increase my core strength in general). I guess push-ups don't technically use "core" strength, but whatever. I should be able to do push-ups now, seeing as I can bench 65 pounds (yes, I am buff). But I can't. And it's embarrassing to get down on my knees and do the girl ones.

Okay, on to the traning.

We had our first practice on Tuesday. It was supposed to be a "social" run, but since we're all so intense we hammered the pace and there was nothing social about it. We warmed up for a mile to the SW corner of the resevoir and then ran 3 x 4-minute OAB (out-and-back, 4 minutes each way) with squats and lunges in between. With the mile cool-down, I'm calling it 5 (which is probably conservative since the OABs were definitely sub-8:00 pace). The core session afterwards was not fun. At all. I don't understand how my abs can be so weak when I don't really have much visible flab. It was pathetic. I was solidly in the middle of the pack on the run, but I think I'm the only one on the team who can't hold a plank.

Yesterday I ran 4 miles on the treadmill in 32:00. I'm still really sore from Tuesday (I think it was the squats). We don't practice again until October 4 and I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing between now and then. I think nothing, but I'm going to try to get in a few miles each day just to stay loose.

Also, there's a hot guy in the gym who I like to watch from the treadmill, so I have that going for me. He's slightly balding, but we think not 38.