Rambling here and there

I can already tell this post is going to be rambling.  Here goes:

1. Thanksgiving Thursday
I already wrote about the Berbee Derby Thursday morning.  The rest of the day was pretty quiet.  We had McDonald's for lunch (yeah, yeah- Daniel wanted to get out of the house for a little bit) and were served by the most charismatic human being to ever work at a McDonald's.  That young man is either going to be a senator or a serial killer some day.

We made a real meal for dinner.  Here's Chelsea and Daniel's version of a two-person 90% paleo Thanksgiving Dinner:

 Trader Joe's pre-marinaded lamb tips and green salad.

And roasted acorn squash with cinnamon, sugar and butter for desert.

Followed by some post-dinner productivity.  I finally finished the afghan I've been making for a co-worker.  She is a fellow and will be leaving us this summer, but she's been like a big sister to me in many ways, and I wanted to give her something special.  I also wanted to give myself 1.5 years to actually finish it.  I'm kind of a one-trick pony when it comes to crochet, and there are some of you out there who have seen more than one of these around, but it does make a nice finished project that is warm and holds up well.  We use ours all the time (though I've never actually washed it!).

2. Black Friday
The only running I did on Black Friday was the normal kind.  It got much colder here overnight and even though I was pretty tired from the race, I wanted to do a test of concept for my clothing so I didn't get 1/2 way through my long run today and realize I was going to freeze to death.  So here's me wearing (for "feels like 8F"): a Bondi band, a fleece ear warmer, my fall 15k thermal hat, a t-shirt, a thermal long sleeved shirt, a fleece vest, and a fleece jacket, fleece-lined tights, wool socks, shoes, a pair of light gloves, and a pair of mittens (not shown because I can't work the camera or the door with those on).  My torso was kind of hot when I was running on the sunny, non-windy part of my route but was perfect for the cold windy part by the lake.

Friday night we went out for dinner at L'Etoille for our official Thanksgiving (or whatever) celebration.  We went all out.  This was one of the top 10 meals of my life.  I tested the limits of how much food could actually fit in my stomach and enjoyed every bit of it.  Fortunately I was still able to walk to the car afterward.

3. No excuses Saturday
I did my first "FIRST" long run today.  I'm practice-starting the official training plan on Monday (I have 15 weeks before my race but it's a 12-week program), but I thought I'd go ahead and do the first long run this week and then repeat it again next week.  The "hard part" of the workout was doing 6mi at an 8:11 pace.  I was pretty sure that was not going to happen- especially 2 days after a 10k when I ran 6mi at 7:45 min/mile pace (granted on a hillier course).  But I got out there and warmed up for a mile.  The temperature was a little milder than yesterday ("feels like 11F" vs "feels like 8F"- and I put more stock in the "feels like" temperature because the wind coming of the lake is COLD).  Then I turned on the fast (haha, fast for me).  Basically I tried to pace myself by hearing my breathing be fairly labored and feeling like I was going fast but not fast enough that the yak feeling was building up.

I hit the first mile split at 7:50 - a little fast but that's kind of a weird mile where there's a big uphill but also a big downhill where I can really get going if there's no traffic.  Second mile- 7:50 again.  Too fast- and definitely too fast for the 8 miler and 10 miler to come in the next few weeks.  I wanted to slow down a little but I was afraid I'd slow down too much.  Pacing is hard!  The next mile was at 8:00 and the next at 8:03- better on the pacing, but at this point I was going into the wind so I'm not sure if I was actually running slower.  Next 8:20- not sure what happened here.  Maybe I just took a mental break.  And finally - 7:59.  I was pretty impressed with the fact that I was able to hang in there for the whole run, and actually, it wasn't that tough.  Whenever I look at the FIRST book I'm always super intimidated by the paces laid out for each workout, but now I think maybe I've been selling myself short.  I really can run faster than I think I can.

I finished up the run with 3 miles of cool down to bring the grand total to 11mi in 1:37 - an 8:51 min/mile average pace.  Although the workout itself was tougher (and shorter), I think this was a better and more pleasant use of my long run time than doing a 14-mile slog through the arb at 9:3X pace.  I only got a tiny bit cold in the face at the very end of the run, and not being cold is a HUGE plus for me.

And that's about it.  I'm planning to spend the rest of the day making Christmas ornaments and weeping or cheering over the Gator Game this afternoon.

In summary: Running, running, blah blah blah, cold, picture of food.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

After a week of being gone and a week of just plain neglect, I'm back to blogging on at least a semi-regular basis.  It's not that there hasn't been anything worth mentioning going on- it's just that I haven't wanted to or felt like I could commit the time to posting in the early morning before work.  So what have I been up to?

I got back from Mississippi last Saturday night late and spent Sunday knocking out a hot, poorly fueled 13 mile run, doing laundry, and otherwise playing catch up.

Wednesday Daniel and I went with a coworker, her boyfriend, and two of her friends to see a Beatles tribute band play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra at the Concert on the Square.   We had a potluck picnic dinner and enjoyed what might have been the only reasonably cool weather in the country.

Friday was a big day in personal grooming for me.  I got a hair cut - pretty much the same as before but with a little bit of bangs for interest

And had my feet scrubbed with steel wool and toes painted a delightful summery purple

Man, I have some big foot veins.  

After my post-work salon time, Daniel and I went out to dinner at Taqueria Guadelajara.  Daniel got a taco and a gordita and I got a vegetarian huarache and attempted to order the cactus side dish.  What I got was something akin to green bean salad.  Not sure if that's cactus or not.  Daniel's gordita was very similar to the tacos we bought at the mercado in Juarez (yes, of the three times I've been out of the US one was to the murder capital of the world).  They had Tamarind Jarritos, which I've always wanted to try, but I wasn't in a soda mood.  Sadly they did not have Manzana Lift. 

It's been a good week getting back into working out- I'll save more of that for my week in review post tomorrow- but I hit my first 18-miler this morning at a 9:37 min/mile average pace.  I started out a little slow but picked it up through the middle and end of the run.  Next week will be the first 20 of the training cycle.  Gulp!

The only bad part of the run is that it was super humid and my CamelBak got in a fight with my actual back and the CamelBak won.

Those three spots caused me to wash my hair with my head upside down this morning because standing with my back to the shower water hurt so bad it's illegal to use as an interrogation device.  So I'll have to either wear a shirt with sleeves or fashion some kind of padding between me and my water backpack so it doesn't try to erode my shoulder blade again next week.

And that's about it.  In real life (as opposed to when this will be posted) it's 8:51pm, and I have a detective novel set in Botswana (the best kind!) waiting for me.  It's good to be back, and I look forward to continuing to catch up with what's going on with all of you.

What's up

This is another quick one.  I need to digest just enough so I can head out the door and beat the weather.  It's supposed to rain ALL DAY starting at 8am.  I want to at least get 1/2 way through my run before that happens. I'm hoping for 12 miles, but 10 would be okay, too.

Good luck to Linda from Mom Running From Cancer who is running her first race- The Madison Race for the Cure- since her comeback from a stress fracture!

What's up in EarlyRunner Land?

• I started piano lessons again with a new teacher, who I think I'm really going to like.  We're working on scales, The Joy of First Classics, and some music theory.  My goal for this fall is to learn to play Christmas Music.  
• We went to a new restaurant called Cooper's Tavern, which was recommended by a coworker.  The food was tasty, and we enjoyed walking up and down State St. afterward.  Downtown is so nice when there are no undergrads around ;).
• Since it's going to rain, I'm planning on cooking up a storm this weekend a la Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.  I'm conquering one of my cooking fears- phyllo dough- and making spinach and white bean phyllo roll-ups.          

Well, I guess I better run- literally and figuratively.  Don't want to get (too) soaked.  Have a great Saturday, all.

11pm

Is way past my normal bedtime, but it's nice to make exceptions sometimes.  D and I plus a couple co-workers and another significant other walked over to State St.- the main UW drag- for dinner after work at the always-delicious Husnu's.  Then we were on the the UW Madison spring band concert.  The first half of the concert was great.  Lots of fun music and rah! rah! rah! Wisconsin and some really talented guest stars, including a guy who played the accordion and a professor from NIU who played the steel pan.  But then we came back from intermission and things got weird.  Let's just say reenacting sections of Miss Saigon accompanied by marching band is not a crowd pleaser.  The concert ended up lasting 3 hours! with intermission, which is too much band, even for me.  Had it lasted for 2 hours with no intermission, I would be signed up for next year already, but I dunno... I'm still a little shell shocked.  Anyway, we had good company and I'm glad we went out and did something different.

Needless to say, I slept in a bit this morning.  I think this is the first time I've slept until 6 in a few weeks.  I'd love to say it was luxurious, but since I didn't get to bed until almost midnight, it feels about the same as every other day.  But it was important to get up because I'm headed out for my last long run before the 20k I'm doing May 1st.  Next week I have an 8k race, and I'm not one of those people who can run 10 more miles after a race or do a long run the day after.  Racing really wears me out!  Anyway, I'm planning on somewhere between 12.5 and 14 miles depending on if I want to tack a small loop on to the end of the run.  It's 35 with gusty winds (not my favorite running conditions) but it's sunny, which makes up for it somewhat.

Today will be partly a chore day and partly a fun day.  Provided I get back and cleaned up in time (need to hurry!), we are going to a community hymn sing at the Overture Performing Arts Center downtown.  Then D is going to work, and I'll make a pilgrimage to take back the cable box and go to the grocery store. Well, I better get going here.  My goal was to get out of the house by 7:30 and it's 7:27 right now.  Have a great Saturday, all.    

    

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Is what my brain feels like right now.  Unfortunately my body is not cooperating.  D and I both got up around 4am (the second day in a for for me) to get over to the church to help clean up after the lock in.  The kids had fun- I think.  They were pretty subdued by the time I got there.  Not even donuts got them excited.  The mess wasn't too bad and we were done by about 7:30am.

I took two kids home and D to work and I had just crawled back into bed when I got a text message.  Rewind for a minute... One of the kids from the lock in couldn't get inside when I took him home.  He tried to call someone to let him in using my phone, but the person didn't answer, so I took him to the friend's house.  Well, evidently he called his very concerned sister who became even more concerned when she got some phone calls from a mysterious number.  I found out later that her phone was almost out of batteries so she could send texts but not make calls.  Anyway... several text messages later she was convinced of her brother's safety, and all my thoughts of a morning nap were gone.  I feel like I've been up forever even though it's only 10:20.  I guess in a way I have.

I am very glad I did my long run yesterday rather than saving it for this morning because that's about the last thing I feel like doing right now.  It went pretty well other than being about 30 seconds/mile slower than I would have liked (and have been running the last few weeks).  It seemed like it took my body a lot longer to wake up than it normally does.  I chalk it up to a)It was cold (probably in the 20s), b)It was early (I was out the door at 5:30), and c)I hadn't had a rest day the day before like I normally do.  In any case, 9:30 min/mile is a perfectly appropriate pace for a long run for me according to the McMillan Running Calculator (with my goal half marathon pace plugged in) so I'm trying not to be unhappy with it.

Endurance Workouts	Pace/Mile	Pace/K
Recovery Jogs	10:12 to 10:42	6:20 to 6:39
Long Runs	9:12 to 10:12	5:43 to 6:20
Easy Runs	9:12 to 9:42	5:43 to 6:02

Last night we had dinner at Lao Laan-Xang, a Laotian/Southeast Asian restaurant on Madison's east side.

D had the khua nor mai, which was a garlicky chicken and vegetable dish, and I had a vegetarian peanut curry dish that I don't see on the online menu.  Both were served with white rice.  True to Midwestern form, D's dish, which he asked to be the "careful" level of spicy was totally bland (as far as spiciness was concerned), and mine, which I ordered "adventurous" had a nice mild spice to it.  Although it has super high ratings on Yelp, I was not blown away.  It was good.  It was different.  But it didn't leave me feeling like I couldn't wait to go back to try something else.  Maybe we will, and maybe we won't.

Otherwise not much else is going on.  I'm planning to head to the gym before lunch and do all the other normal around the house stuff.  Maybe I'll get in a nap later in the day.  Otherwise I'll sleep good tonight!  Have a great Saturday, all.

Thanks for the new weather, can I have some new sinuses, too?

Well, the weather for my long run is much nicer this week than last week.  It's not 19 degrees and windy, and  there's no snow or ice on the ground for which I am very thankful.  Unfortunately I'm really stuffed up.  I don't actually feel sick, but I'm super congested.  I don't even think it's allergies.  D is about 2 days ahead of me in the "feel bad get better" cycle, so I'm just hanging in there, waiting for it to go away.  I'm also trying to moderate my expectations for this run.  I don't need to freak out about my time.  I just need to accumulate time on my feet.  Or rather miles.  I'm planning to run 11 of them in however long it takes me.

Otherwise not much else is going on.  We had dinner out last night at Bonfyre, which was great as usual.  I had a cup of the butternut squash soup (the best thing on their menu, IMHO) and the Bonfyre rotisserie chicken salad. This place just opened up in a building below a cardiology clinic off the beltline near the car dealerships and still it has been packed every time I've gone.  I guess it's perfect for Madison because it's swanky inside but you can still order pot roast.

Today is chore day for me and tax day for someone else I know :).  I also want to make another loaf of bread and maybe some gnocchi (recipe in this month's Cooking Light)???  Last week when I made a loaf of bread I realized I had no idea what kneading meant.  So I kinda mashed on it for a few minutes, and- as you would expect- it didn't really rise.  Two YouTube videos and some reading from my King Arthur Flour book later, and I think I'm getting the idea, and I want to practice a bit.

Well, I and my nose are off to run.  Hope you all have a great Saturday!

Chill

Whew. Yesterday was quite the workday. Because we run a longitudinal study, we are often interested in change over time. Mostly we are interested in incidence of a disease/condition, which, mathematically and from a data set-up point of view, is not that hard to do/understand. But disappearance of a condition is. Especially when you're trying to keep track of what's going on in two eyes. I worked from about 7:45 to noon trying to set up the data for one outcome. At that point I took a break because I knew what happened in the next hour or so was going to set the tone for the weekend. Either I was going to figure it out, and the rest would follow, or I wasn't going to figure it out and therefore have to stress about it and/or work on it all weekend. Fortunately I hit the jackpot at about 12:30, celebrated by eating lunch, and finished setting up my other outcomes.

I do well working for 1-2 hour chunks with a short break in the middle, so it's very taxing on my brain to push for hours straight. BUT, I feel super accomplished and able to put everything aside for the weekend knowing I'm ready to go on the rest of the project Monday. And I had something tangible to send to my boss before I left yesterday.

Last night we had dinner at Essen Haus, a German restaurant known for serving beer in a giant glass boot.

We didn't partake in that, but any place that brings you soft pretzels with mustard dipping sauce as the "bread basket" gets major points from me. It was definitely a lot of meat + lots of carbs meal, but that's what got our ancestors through the winter. I think it would be a good place to take family members when they visit. I doubt there are many places to get a good schnitzel in Orlando or TN.

We also watched The Prestige, which was a good movie, but the end kind of creeped me out. I partially blame it for the dream I had that my supervisor's daughter disappeared, and we were searching for her in a huge cargo net jungle gym with live monkeys that were pulling our hair and stealing our stuff. Def. not what the movie was about, though.

Today's plan is to get in a short run with some strides during the laundry rotation this morning. I went down to put my first load in at 6:20am, and someone already had one going! That's some dedication. It's cool and drizzly out, which always reminds me of Christmas time growing up in Florida. Fortunately the rain isn't expected to last through tomorrow.

Otherwise it should be a pretty chill day. I want to do some yoga to continue to stretch out and maybe drop by the thrift store. We have a huge St. Vinny's in town that's actually supposed to have some pretty cool stuff.

Hope you all have a productive and relaxing Saturday.

Heat Wave

Yep. Madison hit 40 degrees for the first time in 2010 yesterday. My piano teacher said he was planning to wear shorts. Soon enough it'll be 50 and we'll have to get this baby out:



Hahaha, yeah right. In July maybe.

(Note: This is not actually a picture of our air conditioner. I have never taken a picture of our air conditioner. It's stashed down in the storage locker of horrors right now. But this gives you an idea).

While we're on the subject of the storage locker of horrors, there's one other point about it I forgot to mention. When the heat is on (October to May- yeesh) the boiler for the radiator, which lives in the basement, makes this mrrrrrm mrrrrrrrm mrrrrrrm humming noise that I call the building's life force. It definitely adds to the overall creepiness of the basement. During the summer, when the heat is off, the dead worms pick up the slack in the creepy department.

Wow, I think I've written more about the laundry dungeon in the last few days that I have about running in the last month. Maybe I need to change the focus of the blog.

Speaking of changing the blog... I have good intentions of trying out some new templates soon and tinkering with the sidebars. Not sure exactly what I want to do, but I really dislike the current template (no theology or geometry).

Last but not least, 5 important things will happen today:
1. I will run 6 miles
2. I will go to work, and not let S-Plus make me cry/turn up my music so I can mutter swear words at it under my breath.
3. I will take 2 unpaid hours (thanks, furlough) and get my hair cut.
4. We will eat pizza at Roman Candle.
5. We will see The Second City at the Overature.

And that's it. Get our our suntan lotion, we're headed for 40 again!

PS- Anyone (besides D) who knows the theology and geometry reference get's a free Halloween night's stay in my storage locker! Just leave a note in the comments.

Wish me luck!

We are going skiing this morning! I have tried to ski once before, and it was not particularly successful, but I have high hopes for today. We are going to get there right when it opens to beat the crowds, and the place we are going has lots of beginner runs. My plan is to do the tow rope/ cable tow 39483045 times until I actually figure out how to stop without falling down, and then try some of the beginner runs you access by ski lift. I'm hoping it's going to be a lot of fun. Thanks, Mom and Dad! (this is a Christmas gift from them)

Dinner last night was good. I did have "The Imam Fainted" which was a grilled eggplant with peppers, onions, tomatoes, and pine nuts... and olive oil. Lots of olive oil. Which made it very tasty. I'd definitely go back and try some of their other Turkish dishes. Despite my hatred of olives, I like Mediterranean food a lot.

After dinner we went to check out Costco. We wandered through the store and checked prices on the things we thought we'd be interested in buying there. The problem for us is that most of the things I'd want to buy there (fruit, salad, milk) would require a trip every week, and I just don't see it being worth the extra time and effort it would take to drive all the way out there- plus do my normal grocery shopping- to maybe save a few dollars over what the membership costs. And we really don't have the freezer or cabinet space to store the huge packages of meat and vegetables they sell. Had I been blown away by "Oh man, everything here is exactly what I want," then it might have been worth it, but I think I would end up resenting having to go all the way out there to shop every week if we got a membership. But at least we know that now.

Anyway, I better get my act together to run this morning. Hope you all have a good Saturday!

Friday!

First off, thanks for the feedback on Costco. We may stop by this evening to check it out after dinner since we will be out that way. If I could buy salad in bulk (we eat A LOT of salad) and get a good deal on meat then I'd be happy. Both of those things are kind of expensive at Trader Joe's, which is where we buy pretty much everything else. I think (hope) if we go on a Friday evening it won't be slammed like it would on a weekend afternoon.

As for the bike picture... I just feel bad for it. It's poor breaks are going to need some serious work. But, it's really fun to kick those icicles off. And because it's been getting warm pretty much every afternoon, snow drips off the roof and onto the bike, and they keep growing back.

I'm planning to run 6-8mi easy this morning. The verdict on the treadmill is that it's either running slightly slower or I had a good run yesterday. I'm not sure which I'd rather it be. In any case, I think I've come to terms that it is what it is, and I'm happy to have it. It makes my life a lot easier/more pleasant this time of year.

HOWEVER, I realized that I have a race in about 2 weeks that will not be on the treadmill so I'm going to have to get myself outside at least a couple times before that! But it's 14 (feels like 3!) and dark and... so many excuses. Looks like our daytime highs are going to be in the upper 30's all next week (heat wave!), but the overnight temps are still kind of chilly.

Tonight is dinner out night. We're planning to go to Oliva, which was the busy/popular restaurant we saw next to the flop restaurant we went to last week. It has some good reviews online, and I admit to being very curious about the dish The Imam Fainted (check out the dinner menu).

Hope you all have a great Friday!