solar squirrel

I realized that I still have way too much work to do for my school project, so I’m going to work on that tomorrow after work rather than going to the Solon track. I’ll just have to do my track workout at lunch.

My school project is an analysis of the different types of systems in place for the Netflix company. Rather than doing a boring paper or a lame powerpoint, I have decided to make a website. It’s been slow-going, though and I really need to get on the ball ASAP. I’ll be at the track hopefully the next time I know at least Barb is going to be there…it’s just so much easier to do a workout when people you know are there…I don’t mind doing them at lunch, but I feel like I can’t push myself as hard as I’d like because I know I have to go back to work.

Weekly training recap (3/24 - 3/30):

Monday: Bootcamp 1-hour
Tuesday: track workout at lunch - 7 x 400; 1 mile warm up; 1 mile cool down
Wednesday: spin class at Bally’s (it was lame)
Thursday: 6 mile run at lunch
Friday: spin class at work- difficult
Saturday: rest
Sunday: ~12 mile run in Solon w/ SERC.

Weekly totals:

run: 22 miles
bike: 24 miles
swim: 0
other/aerobic: 1-hour

I tried out my new Garmin Forerunner today. I am really excited to utilize all of it’s features, which I was trying to figure out on the car ride home (Todd was driving). I guess I could have put an alert in it for today to let us know when our pace was above or below what we were targeting. (E-Speed wanted to do the first 10 around an 8:45 pace). I ended up with ~ 8:30 pace for the 12 mile loop. It felt pretty good, the sun was out and it wasn’t too windy.

We hung out at the bagel shop for a while and then headed back to Akron. Todd is making me smoked turkey for dinner on his smoker, along with his amazing homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes! Yum! I’m going to make bread - and we’re both going to drink - you’ll never guess - MARGARITA’S! I know it totally doesn’t go together, but on Friday night we went to get Mexican food and we both wanted a margarita - but we couldn’t get one because they were renewing their liquor license or something…

I guess this Tuesday I’m going to try to go to the Solon track rather than do my track workout at lunch.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Ok - off to start the bread!

Tuesday. Track day. Sort of.

Cliff, Marina and me headed out towards the track today at lunch. The wind was out of control, but we decided we would still attempt to do a track workout. Cliff had 7 400’s to do, so I figured I would do the same. About half way there, Kurt caught us and jogged the rest of the way to the track with us. As soon as he saw the condition of the track (completely covered with snow) he decided to split and so Cliff and me started on the first 400 just the two of us. I have to admit, it was at least easier than last week. First 400 in 1:45 - 15 seconds faster than last week! Still pretty slow, though. (That’s a 7-min pace for a measly 400!!!).

The sun was SO BRIGHT! It was really intense running around a snow-covered track with the wind blowing you back and forth…at some point Marina must have decided she had had enough, and so it was just Cliff and I. We did all 7 of the 400’s and had a fairly consistent 1:45 time for all of them.

Ok. I have to figure out my school assignment now…if anyone out there has any idea about systems thinking, soft systems method, principle approach, systems approach or how to apply any of these analysis methods to Netflix information systems techniques, PLEASE let me know. (something tells me that I won’t get any responses…)

The pics from the easter egg hunt weren’t super exciting so I decided not to post them. (They were all taken from far away so it’s kind of hard to see what’s going on in them.)

This past week was kind of lazy because of the holiday, but I managed to get myself to workout almost satisfactorily.
I can’t swim this week (at least at my normal spot) because of spring break.  Tonight I plan to do my bootcamp class, though, which I’m excited about.  It’s such a good workout!  And hopefully I’ll get in a run w/ SERC this Sunday.

Weekly training recap (3/17 - 3/23):

Monday: 40-min cycling class (fairly easy)
Tuesday: track ‘workout’ at lunch - 4 x 400; 1 mile warm up; 1 mile cool down
Wednesday: swim ~ 1 mile
Thursday: 6 mile run at lunch
Friday: rest (took sister to Great Lakes Science Center)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: ~10 mile run in sand run park on trails w/ Todd - difficult.

Weekly totals:

run: 19 miles
bike: 12 miles
swim: 1 mile

Todd told me that I could have either cross country skis or climbing shoes for my Christmas present…but we never bought either - so today he decided to buy me a GARMIN! I am SOOOOOOO excited to get it - I can’t wait! Now I’ll be able to track my speed, distance, elevation, etc. AND upload the data to my computer to share and compare! WOOOHOOOO!!!

We compared them online and it looks like this one is perfect for what I want to do. Here’s a link to the specs for the 305. It also comes with a heart rate monitor, which will be cool because I’ve always wondered what my HR is during my spin classes. It says that it has a high sensitivity GPS so that it still works under tree cover - hopefully it will work on the Buckeye trail - that would be awesome!

In other news we are having the annual Easter egg hunt at my mom’s house. I will post photo’s of the event later today - trust me, it’s hilarious because my sisters and I always end up fighting over the last eggs that we find. (My mom puts money in them to make it more interesting). Last year Todd tried to be slick and pick me up - except he DROPPED ME - nice. I guess he underestimated how much I weigh after pigging out on Easter dinner!

My friend Cliff (who I sometimes join for a lunchtime run at work) is training for the Cleveland Marathon, and his speed workouts are on Tuesday. Today he had planned to do 6×400 and do it on the track up the street from Philips. I thought ‘what the heck, I’ll join you!’ Boy were we in for a surprise. First of all - not ONLY was it sprinkling AND colder than I thought, but it was super windy. No worries, right? WRONG. After our mile jog to the high school we get to the track. It’s barely visible. It’s covered with a combination of snow, slush, ice, and an added bonus - Canadian Geese - and their poop. Nice.

If it doesn’t kill me it will make me stronger, right? So we start out for our first 400. I can barely run! It was so funny because there were bare spots where the track was visible, so I was zig-zagging back and forth to try to stay on the track parts. Sheesh. The first one took me almost 2 minutes! The second one was the same, and by the third one I was getting irritated. I ended up only doing 4 and calling it a day - all of them just shy of 2 minutes. Joe and Cliff did 5 because they are men and much tougher than me. (That was sarcasm.)

On a completely different note - I came across this when I was waiting for my eye exam on Friday - http://www.matteroftrust.org/
How cool is this!!??!! You can use human hair scraps to soak up oil spills! (I need to tell my friend Dawn who owns a salon to start donating her hair scraps to this place!!)

This past week was pretty relaxed, but at the same time I felt like I had to make up for the fact that I didn’t really work out on Sat. and I didn’t work out at all on Sun. PLUS I pigged out at our SERC banquet at Primo Vino.

Mon: 40 min cycling class (REALLY easy)
1-hour Bootcamp

Tue: 4 mile med. effort run

Wed: Swim ~ 1 mile

Thurs: 6 miles med. effort run

Fri: 45 min cycling class

Sat: 5-mile St. Malachi

Sun: 12 mile run w/ SERC

Weekly Totals:

Run: 27 miles
bike: 24 miles
swim: 1 mile
other: 1-hour bootcamp

Me, E-Speed, and Daisy Duc after the St. Malachi 5-miler.

Today was the St. Malachi 5-mile race in Cleveland. Since the last time I ran it I had over a 9-min mile pace, there was pretty much no pressure to PR it. I didn’t really want to go ALL out, but I wanted to push myself a bit. I ended up with a little over a 7-min pace, which was good enough to get me 3rd place in my age group. I started out w/ Daisy, and I guess after the first mile I decided that I would try to finish with a 7-min pace. I felt pretty good the whole time except for the dumb hills. I swear my pace doubles when I get to a hill. I need to work on that. I saw E-Speed a few times and she was cheering and taking pictures which was nice. I saw a few of the speedy guys from SERC who were heading back on the 4th mile and I cheered for them. About 1/4 mile to the finish it starts to go uphill so of course I slowed down, and wouldn’t you know it some lady starts to pass me - I let out a vocal ‘hell no’ (ooooops!!) and proceeded to pick up my pace. That lasted less than a second and she quickly lost any enthusiasm she had in her to race me to the finish - she was no fun!! - but then I felt bad so I was like “come on - let’s race into the finish”. She wanted nothing to do with me…oh well…I went ahead and picked it up a bit for the finish in and beat her. Sorry, lady! I like the competition at the end!!

5-mile splits:

1) 6:39 (downhill)
2) 7:00
3) 7:31
4) 6:57
5) 7:04

Finish Time: 35:11

The last time I ran St. Malachi I was over 45 min. Here’s to another 10-min PR!!! Woo Hoo!!

Ooops - forgot to post this. I guess it was all the pigging out at Primo Vino and the snow that made me forget.

Monday: 3 mile run easy (sore from dancing and the half marathon)
Tuesday: 3 mile run easy
Wednesday: 45 min bike class
Thursday: 5 mile run medium effort
Friday: 45 min bike class
Saturday: played in the snow
Sunday: pigged out

Weekly Totals:
running - 11 miles
biking - 24 miles

My car got completely covered.

Look at how much snow we shoveled on the sides of the driveway

Todd next to the piles of snow that he shoveled.

I want a reschedule for the indoor tri!!!