Spring Break Plans

OK, everyone: This week is the first week of our spring break and there is much to be done. Yes, I will probably cave in and catch some extra Zz's. But what can I say? I can, so might as well. And next week it is off to Lubbock to see Mammaw, aunt Mary Lee, and the littluns..and I am working out with Mary Lee, so I better be able to keep up!

Swimming: 4x (YMCA and Rice) one-hour workouts, most likely

Running: 20 - 25 miles; 3x this week including a Saturday long run.

Cycling - Once. Friday morning. I think. (Again, the marathon in the fall is putting cycling on the backburner)

Weights - 2x

Yoga - Maybe? Might join my mother in this adventure this week. It will be so nice to stretch.

I'm nowhere near as sore as I thought I would be today from yesterday's 15-16 miles run. Although I was starving all day today and had to eat a lot. Annoying!

The Olympic ceremonies are on right now. Awesome. Although I think all of us are preparing to go into withdrawal now that the Games are done.

Howdy, y'all.

Well, this week was interesting. We finished our Rice Executive Education Energy Certification class. The class was awesome and I am so thankful for the opportunity to have taken it. I will have to take my father out to dinner as a thank-you.

Thursday was a big swim day. I ended up swimming twice. Once in the morning...which was a Seth workout. And those are always butchering. And in the afternoon, our class finished around 5:00, but I did not want to sit in rush hour traffic and finished all of my work, so I went to swim to kill time. I thought my arms were going to fall off. It was a pure IM workout. Wow. Between both workouts, I did roughly 4500 yards on Thursday. I took Friday off. I was nervous about the rodeo run and extra mileage.

Today was the rodeo run. Which was so fun! I parked my car at Memorial Park because there was no way that I was going to park downtown or anywhere near it during a day like this. It so happened that the rodeo parade started at 610 and Memorial and went down Memorial towards downtown. I got to the park around 7:45...chatted with the MPRC group for a while. They all ran the Sabine, then took off for downtown (since I am slow!). The parade had just started, so I basically ran with the parade to downtown. That was 5 miles. Jami and I met at the Jones Hall and ran the Rodeo Run 10K, which was obviously 6 miles. THEN, I hung out with some friends I ran into down there and watched the parade for a while. All of the kids were so cute.....then I ran back to my car. I say ran. The truth is that I ran/walked.

So, roughly 16 miles total. My legs are OK. Shockingly. And my blisters are doing pretty well. I think that it was due to the awesome shake 'n bake foot sole inserts that I got this week. Mom and I made a project of heating them, molding them, and inserting them. It is like walking on air, and I will never run without soles like this again. The arch is so high, that it feels awesome.

16 miles total. No wonder that I am about to pass out right now. I went to Kathy's and hung out for a while. It was lovely as a recovery from a run. We ate, watched the Olympics, and chatted. I will check in tomorrow about how the recovery is going and report what will be going on this week for you!

Freedom!

My last final was today! It was in strategic cost Management, which basically means strategic accounting, and the case was fascinating. Every other final was take-home, so I am DONE!Wohoo! And tomorrow is an Olympic-Watch party at Carin's!

Mom convinced me to go swimming tomorrow morning rather than running. I have blisters from running on saturday, and they still hurt. I registered today for the ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run thisSaturday, so it probably would be best to rest my feet and cross train. Saturday will be fun: 10K race starting and ending in downtown. But I am going to park at Memorial Park and run in. I'll probably end up running about 15 miles on Saturday. It will be a great day.

Allow me to review what training looked like this week for you:

1.) Monday - Long Course swim practice in the morning, and short course swimming in the p.m. About 5,000 yards total.

2.) Tuesday - running 5 miles in the morning followed by weightlifting. The running was really painful due to the blisters, but I defeated the feet. Although I'm giving them the rest of the week off.

3.) Today - REST. Although I did break down and register for the Rodeo Run 10K, buy a digital watch, and shake-'n-bake inserts for my shoes. I am very much looking forward to using them.

4.) Tomorrow - Swimming and weightlifting. If I am feeling really dangerous, I might just swim again in the afternoon. I shall keep you posted.

So, that's that. It's nice to catch up with you. I have missed posting this thing. This week has been a blur. I am in the week-long Rice Executive Education Energy Certification class this week and it is fantastic. I am so grateful to be in the class!

Stay tuned.

Battle Scars are so cool

We ran 12 miles yesterday from Memorial Park to the George R. Brown and back. It was awesome - I had thought we were only going to run 8-9. I took all of last week off due to events, obligations, and subsequently did not exercise a t all and ate a lot and just let my body recover. As a result, I was nervous about running yesterday and thought I would be in pain. But it felt great! I am certain this was due to my body being rested.

However, on mile 10.5ish, I took a nosedive into a driveway after stepping up onto a curve. Or, trying to step up onto a curb. I guess my legs were more tired than I thought they were. They just would not move. I immediately had two very bloody palms, a monster scar covering the entire right side of my right thigh, and a beautiful bruise on my left knee. I totally look like I got in a fight, blodyslammed someone, and won. It is pretty awesome. Even more awesome because there was no major damage, and we all finished the run immediately.

Oh, and I also have blisters on my feet since I wore new shoes.

I ran with the (slow group) within our running group: Aki, Yvonne, and a newbie to our group, Jessica. It was such a lovely day! And we have a nice group so it was a lot of fun and went by a lot faster than we had thought it would.

As a result of the blisters, my attempt to get up this morning and run failed miserably. I will run again on Tuesday and swim and/or lift this afternoon. As well as finishing all of my finals after church. Wohoo!

How many miles did you say?

20 miles this weekend. I think it is doable, but it is going to be hard. and probably hurt a little. Saturday and Sunday mornings = 10 miles each. I will hold out on swimming until Monday morning. Wish me luck

Scramble!

I just sent the link to my lovely Aunt, so thought I would post something so I do not embarrass myself since I have taken the last week off. That conference slayed us. But it was glorious!

I have not done any training at all this week, but that changes starting today. As we all know, I am way over-involved in school. And I was beat down from last week. The combination of the two meant that (a) My time was not my own this week (when is it ever?), and (B) I did not work out at all. Which was lovely to get rest, but the time for life has come again! Stay tuned....This weekend's posts will have the updated weekly training plan back again. Xoxo.

Change of Plans

OK. Here is the new deal:


The Marine Corps Marathon is on Halloween: October 31, 2010 in Virginia. I am going to do it. Obviously, this throws a slight skew into the whole half-ironman plan.

The justification for this new course of action is to do a half-ironman in the spring....in Galveston.....where it is windy, BUT FLAT! Plus, training for the MS 150 will be going on at this time, so we can get out on the road with more ease than during the summer.

I like this idea. :) It was also a thought borne by my Mom. One can't go wrong with a thought started by one's Mom! Thoughts?