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July, 2009:

Milestones

Jul 30th, 2009
by gazelle.
10 comments

Corn chronicles have been pre-empted due to an important announcement (and by the fact that I didn’t take any pictures of the corn yesterday).

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

I will henceforth be known as Amy “the gazelle” Bannister.

Today, I broke two major milestones.

I did speedwork this morning (it was a delightful 69 degrees when I left home at 6 AM). I did a 1 mile warmup, a fast 1 mile, 400 cool, 800/400 recovery (x3) and a 1 mile cooldown.

My fast mile? 7:53 bitches. That’s right – I broke 8 minutes. My 800s were crap after that, but I didn’t care. I have never run under an 8 minute mile. My last mile time trial (March, 2008) I ran 8:59. I am a gazelle! on speed!

The other milestone? With my 5.5 miles done today, I am officially at 500 miles for the year. I’m not sure if I’ll get to 1,000 this year, but I will come pretty damn close.

It’s going to be a good, good day.

ETA – Speedwork Stats

Warm-up: 1 mile (11:22/11:22 pace)
Interval 1: 1 mile (7:53/7:53 pace)
Recovery 1: .33 miles (5:51/17:35 pace)
Interval 2: .55 miles (4:21/7:59 pace)
Recovery 2: .26 miles (3:00/11:47 pace)
Interval 3: .52 miles (4:36/8:55 pace)
Recovery 3: .25 miles (3:13/13:15 pace)
Interval 4: .51 miles (4:37/9:00 pace)
Cool down: 1.09 miles (12:57/11:55 pace)

Overall – 5.5 miles (58:01/10:31 pace)

I really wish I’d been more consistent on my 800s – I wanted them to be closer to a 8:30 pace.  I wanted the w/u, c/d & recoveries (with the exception of the post fast mile recovery, which I walked) to be closer to an 11:30 pace. BUT – I kind of blew my wad on that fast mile. And honestly, I probably won’t do that again – I just wanted to see how fast I could go. Next time I do speedwork, if I decide to do a 1600, I will not go out that hard. Gotta save something for the rest of the workout, right? (Also, my ass is killing me right now.) I’m still super happy though. Super.

HOT!

Jul 29th, 2009
by gazelle.
5 comments

So, it’s hot in Portland. My computer thermometer says 104.  The all-time record in Portland is apparently 107 or something. That is expected to be broken today, I guess. BUT – it’s already almost three, so the heat better get a move on, or it won’t be the hottest day ever.

I do not like super hot. I can deal with 80s & 90s, as long as I don’t have to move much. But, since I’m a runner, I guess that means I should be moving, right?  Right?

I did run yesterday. I am swimming tonight (with my anti-drowning support crew). Tomorrow morning, I will run again (speedwork, weather willing – I am not a machine like Kristen!), and yoga in the evening (guess it’ll be hot yoga tomorrow). Friday I will probably take the day off. Or maybe go for a little bike ride to remind my legs how that works.

Last night, the architect, who is the most amazing coolest most talented and handsome man ever, installed a ceiling fan in our living room. Where we slept for the 2nd day in a row. The upstairs is HOT! And the ceilings upstairs cannot have ceiling fans, due to the pitch of the roof.

So – we will all likely survive, and the guys on the news last night, despite numerous efforts, proved that it is not yet hot enough to fry an egg on any outside surface. So don’t try that.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a corn update – they’re back after their post highschool backpacking trips through Europe, and I can’t believe how much they’ve changed in just two weeks! (They change so fast at this age. *sob*)

Tuesday Ramblings

Jul 28th, 2009
by gazelle.
21 comments

It is a wee bit warm here in PDX. I actually don’t mind hot TOO much (although I prefer my hot to be in the 85-95 afternoon range, not the 90 at 9 PM, 76 at 6AM, 108 at 6 PM, etc. that we’re having right now). I do, however, like the hot to go away at night. Last night when I got home, it was over 100 degrees on our second floor.  I did not do my strength training (although I probably should’ve stripped down & done my 90 minute hot yoga from yoga downloads – no external heat source necessary!), and instead whined & complained & drank wine and beer and had birthday pie with my kick-ass neighbor. It was pretty good. Then my neighbors gave me 5 million cucumbers, so now I will be making some pickles!

Work is super busy this week, so I am trying to get through that without a nervous breakdown.

It is my last week of my first grad school class, and I have some homework that needs to be done.

I have too much going on, but nothing that I want to get rid of in my schedule. I am supposed to go to book club tonight, but it’s weird. The person that originally invited me (hi Kim!) no longer goes, and the rest of the members are her friends. They’re nice, but they’re not my people. Maybe they could be, but I’m not sure I need more people right now. I want to be in a book club, just need one that has more of my own people I think. The only reason I was even going to go is because I lent one of the members a book. In November. One that didn’t belong to me. Something I have never done before, and think I was unduly influenced by wine when I made that decision. I think I’m going to cut my loss and buy a new copy of the book to return. I can’t have more things, and especially not things that are with virtual strangers (even if they’re very, very nice strangers). If I thought my friend (hi Kim!) was going to be there, I would absolutely go, because I think she’s avoiding me and I’d love to kick her ass for that. (ha ha! Just kidding, Kim! I would never kick your ass!)

So – if any locals want to be in my brand new book club that I am just inventing RIGHT NOW, let me know. We will meet every other month. We will take turns picking fun books to read. We will drink wine. It will be delightful. Just let me know!

Anyways…..this morning, I was supposed to do speedwork (aiming for 5-6 miles). It was 76 degrees at 6 am. I called JM (as per our agreement), and headed out. I ended up with 4.4 miles. I am really okay with that. I’m hoping it’s a bit cooler Thursday morning, so I can get a few more miles in. Because I was a giant pansy last week, I am probably not going to get to 100 miles this month, and that makes me sad. Of course, if I run Thursday AND Friday, I can get there. But, I have a triathlon Saturday, so was thinking I shouldn’t run on Friday. But, I will automatically PR at the triathlon, because I’ve never done one before (unless I die, which is a possibility, I suppose). But, I do want to finish in a reasonable time (i.e. not DFL). But, 100 miles! (Aren’t you glad I’m sharing my stream of consciousness with you?)

Apparently the heat is pickling my brain, and I have no coherency, although there is a lot of randomocity.

I really, really wish it would rain.

Training Goals: 7/27 – 8/1

Jul 27th, 2009
by gazelle.
3 comments

Can you believe that it’s almost August?  CRAZY!  Last week’s recap (it is not pretty, people – not pretty at all).

July 20 – July 26, 2009

Monday: strength/elliptical – same old, same old – FAIL! Due to the fact that I was dead, I took a rest day.

Tuesday: AM tempo run (5 miles) + PM bike – FAIL! Still mostly dead. I did, however, do 30 minutes of strength training, so partial success. Kind of.

Wednesday: AM swim (*fingers crossed*) + PM yoga in the park – I tried to get my swim in before yoga, but ended up leaving work too late to do both. I did get to yoga. It was kind of awesome! So – partial success.

Thursday: AM easy run (3 miles) + PM regular yoga – I did yoga again. Still no running. Still dying of pain in the hips due to the super fast 14 miler last Sunday.

Friday: swim (1300 yds) + trail run (8 miles) – SUPER FAIL! I went berry picking, which took a super long time, and then I had homework. I also have more excuses if you’re interested.

Saturday: open water swim + bike – half success. if you want to call it that. I did not bike. I did OWS. It sucked. I kept having panic attacks in the water, and did not feel good at all after. It was super scary and I decided after that it is likely I will die during my triathlon next Saturday. I have since been mildly reassured, but still….SCARY!

Sunday: long run (15 miles) – Finally – success! 15 miles. 2:59. 95 degrees. WIN!

July 27 – August 1, 2009

Monday: strength training.

Tuesday: morning track workout (virtually w/ JM).

Wednesday: final pre-triathlon open water swim. This time with her & her & her & him, so probably I won’t die.

Thursday: morning easy run. evening yoga.

Friday: rest day. stretching & icing.

Saturday: triathlon. *gulp*

Sunday: 8-10 mile long, slow run.

I’m FAMOUS!

Jul 27th, 2009
by gazelle.
1 comment

Well – not really. But I am the guest poster at Never Say Diet today – filling in for Leslie who had carpal tunnel surgery (ouch).

Check it out!

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