Tapering Tuesday

On the menu for tonight is 3 easy miles and an easy swim. I am sooo tempted to make it 4 miles, or at least 3.5. 3 doesn't even seem like it counts as a run anymore!

I've started checking weather.com and accuweather on a daily basis now, and so far the forecast for Sunday is cloudy/mostly cloudy with a high of 47/48 and only 10% chance of precipitation. Keeping my fingers crossed that stays that way!

I have a bit of a stuffy nose this morning, so I'm continuing to chug vitamin C and water and maybe even buy some garlic to ward of any colds or flu this week!

Got an interesting pep talk from my best friend last night regarding the marathon. He said he didn't understand why people would run them just to finish. I'm sure his point of view would be offensive to some people, but it actually made me think about things and it was quite motivating. I mean, yes, I've trained for the marathon (and pretty well lately, knock on wood), but I certainly could be training a lot harder. So, why am I not? Sure, it would take more time, but I could also be better at time management. It seems that I've committed myself to finishing marathons, but not yet to RACING them or taking huge chunks off my time. It was just an interesting conversation, and it made me motivated to continue building my base and also focusing a lot on speedwork and getting faster after the Seattle Marathon.

But, first things first, I'm supposed to be tapering now, so I'll do that, have a great marathon, and then get back to work after a short break. I also plan on continuing to cross train (swim/bike) as well as adding in strength training and hopefully yoga (assuming I don't kill myself the first time I try it - klutzy and inflexible doesn't really sound like a great recipe for yoga, but I've heard such great things about it that I think it's worth a try!).

Other than that, just working and trying to get things ready for Thanksgiving (yum!).

Marathon week Monday

Luckily my blister from the last post seems to have cooperated nicely (knock on wood!). I ran a hilly treadmill run on Thursday (3 miles) and a great 5 mile tempo run around Green Lake on Friday night. It was so windy during that run that there were whitecaps on the lake!

Took Saturday off, and then ran 9 with T yesterday on the Burke Gilman. It went a lot better than last time, which was a relief. We still sped up a bit too much during the second half, but it'll be easier to control that getting splits every mile. I'm not used to having someone to talk to while I run, so it definitely made the hour and a half fly by quicker than normal.

Going for an easy swim tonight at the gym, and then a few more easy runs this week before the marathon! Going to the expo on Friday and the Apple Cup on Saturday - I'm glad that's a 12:30 game and not a night game!

Dear blister - please go away!

I think I must have wrapped my blister-prone toe wrong last night, as the seam of the Bandaid dug into the skin between that toe and the next toe. Needless to say, ouch. I had to stop twice during my treadmill run to take the shoe off and try and coax it into submission. Please send "calm down" vibes to my poor toes!

I am planning on another ("hilly") treadmill run tonight and then a run around Green Lake tomorrow, so I really hope it starts cooperating soon.

I think during marathon week I'll try to do a blog post every day (not that there are tons of people sitting around begging for updates haha!) just for fun.

Sunday is attempt #2 at a long run with T - I think we'll do 8-10 sloppy miles on the Burke Gilman. Then it's off to Qwest Field for the MLS Cup. I really hope the rain holds off that day so I don't end up with the flu before the marathon!

Tidbits

In non-running related news:

- I got a full scholarship for the rest of the paralegal program. There were 3 available, and I applied and got one. That saves me about $3,000 over the next 6 months!

- Grandma is out of the hospital and hopefully back to normal.

- Black Crowes concert at the Showbox last night was fun. They sounded really good live! (minus the migraine headache I started to get during the last hour or so... bad timing! Rock concerts and migraines don't mix!)

- I cannot wait until Thanksgiving! Turkey, mashed potatoes, buttery dinner rolls, fresh broccoli and carrots, pumpkin pies (oh wait, I don't like pumpkin pies... oh well!), ice cream, wine... (oh wait, marathon 3 days later... that'll be fine right?) and football! Mmmm.

- Also, Trivia Night at Mick's (although difficult and expensive - $10 for Trivia??) was fun. Delicious food (rosemary chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies) and good scotch!

- Sports tidbits:
- Tyrone Willingham is in line for a coaching job at San Jose State. Why? The WAC must really not care about football (either that or they've totally conceded to Boise State).
- Nick Holt is on the list of potential head coaches for UNLV... hope that one doesn't end up happening!
- UCLA basketball loses to Cal State Fullerton in 2 OT at home... was that just a fluke or are they really pulling a USC/Notre Dame/Michigan/Oklahoma move?
- Speaking of which... bye bye USC, ND, Michigan, and OK! Just hoping that Oregon doesn't make it to the Rose Bowl. Thank you Stanford for keeping them from any hope of an NC!
- Brady Quinn fined $10,000 for his illegal hit in the MNF game... on top of his already awful performance. Ouch.
- Apple Cup prediction - if UW doesn't win, there will be hell to pay.

Taper time!

I finished my last long run over the marathon course (down Interlaken, Madison, and Galer to Lake Washington boulevard and then back up over all the hills - along with TONS of other people also intelligently running the course ahead of time) yesterday, so now it's time to taper! (Again!)

It was a fantastic run, despite being cold and wet. I got to the end and never really got tired. My legs weren't sore yesterday and they're not sore today. I made it up Galer street without a problem (although I HATE going up Madison right after it). I'm glad I ran Interlaken again, because it gets so demoralizing to keep winding around and around on that pedestrian trail thinking you're almost there when you're not!!

It's 3:50 PM and it looks like night time out... eww. Forecast for the next few days is cold, rain, and wind. Ick. Think I'll stick to the treadmill until the wind dies down at least. Looks like we won't be quite as lucky weather-wise for the marathon this year as last year and the year before!

My plan for this week is off, 4, 5 (tempo), off, 4 (hills), off, and 10 on Sunday. I am so looking forward to eating tons of mashed potatoes, turkey, and dinner rolls next week!

Sounds like my running buddy T's ankle is all healed up, so he'll be running the marathon with me. It'll be interesting, I'll have to focus insanely hard on keeping my (much slower) pace instead of getting caught up in too quick of a pace during the early miles! That's even more important than usual given the nice little pile of hills at the end!

Work has been going pretty well lately - just busy, and there are a ton of little things that I have to learn. It will probably take me ages and ages to get all the nuances down. But I'm trying!

Off to Trivia Night at Mick's later tonight - I've never been to their trivia night, but I love the restaurant, so hopefully the trivia will be excellent too!

Hello November (and hello treadie!)

Apparently we are not as lucky this year as last year, with sun/clouds and warm temperatures up until December. Today and yesterday have been dark, rainy, windy, and cold, and the 10 day forecast doesn't look much different. Time to bust out the running tights and running jacket!

Normally this weather wouldn't be enough to make me hit the treadmill, but now that Daylight Savings Time has come around, it's dark when I get off work and I won't run by myself in the dark! I've been managing to survive the treadie so far this week, but tonight I'm going to go run around Green Lake for 6. The outer loops should still be pretty crowded at 5 or 6, and they're right along main/busy roads, so I feel more comfortable with that than anywhere else at night. Then Sunday I'm doing 16 on the Burke Gilman, for a total of 30 miles this week. I'm doing a two week taper for Seattle, so here is what's up for next week:

M - Swim
T - 4 miles
W - 7 miles (hills)
Th - Swim
F - 5 (tempo)
S - Off
S - 20 (marathon course)
Total - 36

And then the two weeks after that will be taper time! Can't wait.

As for non-running, I have a midterm in paralegal class this weekend, so I'll feel better once that is over with! I'm excited for college basketball to start soon!

Chica has a job! (and other news)

Yep, some brilliant person finally decided to hire me! I'm now a part time office manager (22 hours a week, hopefully going to full time before too awfully long) in Tukwila, and I start tomorrow! Yay! I love that it's normal working hours (M-F 12-4:30), no evenings or weekends, and I get my own desk that I get to sit down at! I know that seems like a little thing, but all of my previous jobs I've had to stand for 8 hour shifts at a time!

Running related -

Job is very helpful in getting new running shoes - my current ones have almost 400 miles on them and are getting a little worn down, and I was worried about how I was going to afford new ones before Seattle next month - they are so expensive! But that's where my first paycheck will go (well, there and into much needed savings!).

As far as this week's running, I'm planning on -

Mon - Off
Tues - 4 miles + swim
Weds - 6 miles (hills)
Thurs - Swim/bike (depending on weather... so probably swim!)
Fri - 3-4 miles
Sat - 16 miles on the Seattle Marathon course
Sun - Off

Not sure what I am doing as far as Halloween, either. I have a costume in mind but haven't had too much time to go actually looking for it! I'll be glad when it's over just so the temptation of Reese's Pumpkins are off the shelves... Oy, I can't even count how many of those I've eaten already and Halloween isn't even til Saturday!

Much looking forward to heading to The Garage for some drinks/bowling/pool tomorrow night to celebrate my first day of work!