As predicted when I began this blog nearly a year ago, my interests have ebbed and flowed a bit. Some months I couldn't get enough of my three favorite obsessions and other months I ignored them completely.
Such is the life of someone with an obsessive personality.
Running is the interest that essentially fell by the wayside in late 2010 for a few reasons. Firstly, this summer was unbearably hot and humid. Waking up early to run is supposed to lessen that misery, but when it's 75 degrees and 80 humidity at 6am, short at running at 3 in the morning, I'm not entirely sure how I can be expected to run! True, I do have a treadmill, but the temperatures inside weren't much cooler and frankly the thought of potentially melting in my den was not appealing either.
The second reason why I got away from running was more personal. In August, I found out I was pregnant. My doctor advised me to stop running longer distances (hence my decision to not run the Diva Half Marathon in October). I didn't stop running completely though and by the end of the month, I wasn't pregnant anymore.
Mentally, I know that I didn't do anything wrong. My doctor didn't tell me to stop running altogether: he just said to cool it a bit with the long distances, especially in the heat. But Husband and I have been seeing this doctor, a specialist, since early in the summer and if there's anything I can do, or in this case not do, that might increase the odds of our being successful, I want to do it.
The last few months have been exhausting, mostly mentally, but not surprisingly that has translated to physical exhaustion as well. Since October my body has been playing tricks on me: I feel tired as if the treatments have worked and I give in to my body's request to rest, rather than be active. Husband encourages me to take care of myself, to listen to my body, and more and more I've been allowing myself that indulgence. Then I find out that we've been unsuccessful and all my resting turned out to be just laziness and, if I'm being honest, a bit of depression.
It's been hard to convince myself that I shouldn't have done something differently and my response has been to all but eliminate running completely. Obviously this isn't the healthiest of choices for me, particularly if I'm hoping to actually sustain a pregnancy in 2011. My resolution for the new year is to slowly get back into running short distances at a slow pace because I know that ultimately, that's the best thing for me.
Likewise my running shopping was virtually nonexistent this year as well. True, I did acquire a capri running skirt which proved to be suitable attire when the heat finally broke late this fall. And a good friend gave me two navy athletic skirts leftover from an event that she coordinated at her office. Other than that, I've really been making due with the gear that I already had.
My intention in sharing this information is not to be a downer, but rather to be honest about why a formerly significant aspect of my blog has virtually disappeared. I also know that I'm not the only person to have gone through the things I've experienced this year and as much as I've not really liked talking about it, I know that I've appreciated hearing others share their stories. Perhaps my writing this will help someone going through the same thing.
Stay tuned on Wednesday and Friday for 2010 Year in Review posts on Queen and Shopping, the other two subjects about which I frequently write. I promise that both of those posts will be slightly more uplifting!
Happy Monday!
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Running Shoe Review: Asics Gel Foundation 9 & Your Running Questions Answered
During my last giveaway several people asked me running related questions. Since I've not done a running post in a while, I decided to answer all the running-related questions as part of a running shoe review.
Erin from Designer Me asked: What are the top three running gear items that I need to get into a running frame of mind?
Two things popped into my mind right away: my Garmin Forerunner 305 (reviewed here) and running shoes purchased at a specialty running shop (personally I'm a fan of Fleet Feet).
The Garmin literally changed my running life: suddenly I could track exactly how far I went on each run, monitor my pace and heart rate during the run, and then upload all that data into my computer to view my progress. I don't know how I lived without my Garmin!
The running shoes don't have to be purchased at the specialty store (although doing so does support the store so it'll be there the next time you need shoes!), but I definitely recommend going in for a fitting. At my local store, they videotape you running on a treadmill and then analyze your gait. They measure your feet, both sitting and standing to determine if your arch collapses at all. And then they recommend shoes based on your individual needs. Not everyone should wear the same running shoe and sometimes a person's running shoe needs can change over time! I started off in a neutral shoe, ended up in a cushioned shoe when I started having some foot pain, and then following a nasty bout of plantar fastisis went into a motion control shoe. You should never have to break in running shoes and most specialty stores will take returns, even if the shoe has been worn, so if something doesn't feel right when you get it home, take it back!
My current running shoe purchase is the Asics Gel Foundation 9. I've been running in a pair of old Nike Air Zoom Vomeros with the inserts removed and replaced with Green Superfeet for an embarrassingly long time. My motto with running shoes is typically if it's not broke, don't fix it so I ignored all advice that I should replace shoes after 500 or so miles.
In my defense, Superfeet are designed to last for a year and I wasn't terribly past that length of time.
Then I started getting blisters and I knew it was time to get some new shoes.
Runners World does a shoe review a few times a year and the Asics Gel Foundation 9 got some great feedback: For a shoe that does such a great job correcting overpronation, the Foundation is decidedly unmotioncontrol- like. Its interior is lined with plenty of soft materials that, when combined with the sole's balanced profile and flexible forefoot, results in a smooth, steady ride, free of the stiffness that plagues many motioncontrol shoes. Except for noting the shoe's heavy heel, testers had nothing but positive things to say. Recommended for large runners or heavy overpronators who need superior support.
Now, I'm not a runner that overpronates (which in layman's terms means landing with your foot rolling inwards towards the arch), but I do have arches that collapse slightly every time I take a step. That means that I need tons of arch support (for anyone who is familiar with Green Superfeet, you know that it's basically the equivalent of having custom orthotics made for your shoes...out of concrete.)
The problem with Green Superfeet is that when you go a day or two without running, your feet have to readjust to them for the first few miles. Typically that's not an issue when I'm running 20-30 miles a week, but since cutting back to 15 miles a week, I'm really not interested in spending 75% of my runs getting accustomed to my shoes! (This should answer Maggie from The Fashion Maverick's question.)
My plan was to buy the Asic Gel Foundation 9 from Running Warehouse (my favorite online shoe retailer) and try them on my treadmill. If I hated them, I'd go to Fleet Feet and get reevaluated, but I had a feeling that the Gel Foundations would work just fine for me...and I was right.
This shoe is heavy; like really heavy. If I were buying this shoe a year ago, I'd probably return it because I felt a bit like I was running with weights on my shoes. However, since I'm under doctor's orders to slow down, these actually worked perfectly for me! There's a fair amount of arch support in this shoe, but it also managed to be cushioned at the same time.
At first I was worried about my poor arches stretching too much, but once I got into my running groove, I could feel the arch support keeping my foot snugly in place. I always order two sizes up in a running shoe (because my foot tends to expand as I step down), but most experts recommend sizing up at least 1 size anyway. One thing that always worried me about this shoe initially was the heel which is really snug. When I first lace the shoe up, it feels very constricted, but once I got moving all was forgotten.
This shoe will definitely get me through the winter months without issue. Next year, when hopefully I'm authorized to get back to my normal training routine, I'll consider heading back to Fleet Feet for an evaluation, but in the meantime, I'm very happy with these shoes.
Now onto everyone else's questions:
Newlyweds on a Budget asked: How do you motivate yourself to run when you just don't feel like it?
I have a few strategies. One is to convince myself to go out for just two miles (one mile away from the house and one mile home). Typically once I'm in my workout clothes and outside, I end up going farther than that.
I'm also not above bribes: if I do this run, I get to buy x.
But sometimes I'm just not feeling a run and if that's the case, I don't do it. I run because I enjoy it and I never want to resent it because that's when I'll stop. A few years ago, we went on vacation to Maine. I got up four mornings that week at 6am and ran between 4-9 miles (23 miles total). Then I got home and was so mad that I really didn't get a "vacation" since I got up so early all those mornings (and consequently had to go to bed early the night before). I promised myself that I'd never force myself to run on a vacation again. If I wanted to do it, great, but if I didn't, I'd just get back in the saddle when I got home. You aren't going to lose any fitness if you take one, or even two, weeks off and I've found that sometimes a little bit of time away from running rejuvenates me and makes me remember how much I enjoy running in the first place!
Peggy from She Hath Done What She Could asked: I would love any tips you can give to a beginning runner. I have tried it so many times and just don't like it - maybe I'm doing something wrong??
Haven from Hogwash, Poppycock and Other Preposterousness asked a similar question: How do you keep from getting bored on a run?
And KatKoot asked a related question too: How does someone work up from walking to running?
My biggest tip would probably be to slow down! It's so tempting to get outside and run at a break neck pace until you want to die, but that's not doing yourself any favors! Even if it feels like you are positively crawling, you've got to build up your endurance and heart strength and you do that when you are exercising aerobically, not an-aerobically (greater than 75% of max heart rate). The longer and slower you run, the faster you'll ultimately become.
When I first started running, I'd run 3 miles in about 30 minutes and then wonder why I never got any faster. Then I started training with my mom, who was about 1-1:30 minutes slower than me. All of a sudden, my 5Ks got faster because I was training slower and strengthening my heart! Of course, you should occasionally work in some speed work to get your body accustomed to traveling at a quicker pace, but for beginners, you should just focus on the endurance factor.
I do a lot of my best thinking while running: I can't tell you how many legal arguments have occurred to me while I'm out in the middle of nowhere, five miles from my house! I take my iPhone with me to run (for safety reasons), but then I will usually put on my music. I'll listen to the first song or two and then my mind just takes off, thinking about everything and anything. By the end of the run, I have no idea what songs I just listened to and, half the time, no idea what I spent all that time thinking about, but I always feel refreshed!
Treadmills are a whole different ballgame. I hate them for anything other than speed work. I do own one and use it in the winter. To get through those runs, I'll turn on loud music, put on the television, make Husband sit next to me and chat. In NYC, the gym I went to faced the treadmills towards the street so you could people-watch which is fun (especially in NY!) I've heard of people training for marathons on treadmills and just the thought of that makes me want to die!
Jen from The Life Accounts asked: What type of fitness are you doing now that you're not doing so much intense running? Have you found any new fun fitness ideas?
Does Rock Band drumming count? Seriously, click here to watch RT on a science show from the early 1980s. In just 30 seconds of drumming, he gets his heart rate up way higher than where mine is five miles into a run!
Sadly, I've not done anything to replace running. I've slowed down and cut back, but that's about it. One of my favorite things about running is the sense of accomplishment that I get when I'm finished and I just don't get that feeling from any other types of exercise that I've tried.
I'm open to suggestions though!
Maggie G. asked: What is your favorite line of running/workout apparel? I'm intrigued b/c I just started running regularly in the spring and this winter is going to be my first winter trying to run.
For winter apparel, I couldn't live without my CW-X tights (reviewed here). They are pricey, but totally worth it. I also love L.L. Bean fleece vests (reviewed here). I prefer to be a bit cold at the start of a run so unless it's absolutely positively freezing, I'll wear one of those vests over a long sleeved wicking top and a wicking tank. Headbands and gloves are also a must: my hands tend to get really cold and take the longest to warm up. I'd rather wear the headband/gloves and have to take them off then to not have them at all. My running top collection is a bit of a hodgepodge: I typically buy off season at Marshall's or Dick's Sporting Goods so I've got lots of different brands/styles.
For indoor/summer running, I can't live without my running skirt from RunningSkirts.com. There are lots of other companies making running skirts now, but Cindy/Christy are my favorite. The skirts are comfortable, don't ride up, and look adorable! They have great tanks too, but they're a bit on the pricey side.
Finally, spiffy from Where the Lights Are Bright asked: I know you've run a half marathon, any desire to run a full?
Sure, I have aspirations of running a full marathon, but I'm also aware of my own weaknesses and limitations. I've decided that if I ever do run a marathon, I'd want to finish in under 5 hours (which I know sounds crazy slow, but remember this is 26.2 miles, people!) Right now, a more realistic goal for me is to break 2:30 in a half marathon (which is about 11 minute miles) and then from there, I can decide about whether to push myself to keep going. It's definitely in the back of my mind (as it is for most runners, I'm sure), but it's not in the foreseeable future.
spiffy on the other hand is a total rock star and is running in the ING NYC Marathon today! Go spiffy!
So that wraps up all the running questions from my latest giveaway. I'll be back to answer the rest of the questions at some point (I'm trying to work them into daily posts to avoid having a big long post like this one, but I might just give up and forget that idea!)
Happy Sunday!
Erin from Designer Me asked: What are the top three running gear items that I need to get into a running frame of mind?
The Garmin literally changed my running life: suddenly I could track exactly how far I went on each run, monitor my pace and heart rate during the run, and then upload all that data into my computer to view my progress. I don't know how I lived without my Garmin!
The running shoes don't have to be purchased at the specialty store (although doing so does support the store so it'll be there the next time you need shoes!), but I definitely recommend going in for a fitting. At my local store, they videotape you running on a treadmill and then analyze your gait. They measure your feet, both sitting and standing to determine if your arch collapses at all. And then they recommend shoes based on your individual needs. Not everyone should wear the same running shoe and sometimes a person's running shoe needs can change over time! I started off in a neutral shoe, ended up in a cushioned shoe when I started having some foot pain, and then following a nasty bout of plantar fastisis went into a motion control shoe. You should never have to break in running shoes and most specialty stores will take returns, even if the shoe has been worn, so if something doesn't feel right when you get it home, take it back!
My current running shoe purchase is the Asics Gel Foundation 9. I've been running in a pair of old Nike Air Zoom Vomeros with the inserts removed and replaced with Green Superfeet for an embarrassingly long time. My motto with running shoes is typically if it's not broke, don't fix it so I ignored all advice that I should replace shoes after 500 or so miles.
In my defense, Superfeet are designed to last for a year and I wasn't terribly past that length of time.
Then I started getting blisters and I knew it was time to get some new shoes.
Now, I'm not a runner that overpronates (which in layman's terms means landing with your foot rolling inwards towards the arch), but I do have arches that collapse slightly every time I take a step. That means that I need tons of arch support (for anyone who is familiar with Green Superfeet, you know that it's basically the equivalent of having custom orthotics made for your shoes...out of concrete.)
The problem with Green Superfeet is that when you go a day or two without running, your feet have to readjust to them for the first few miles. Typically that's not an issue when I'm running 20-30 miles a week, but since cutting back to 15 miles a week, I'm really not interested in spending 75% of my runs getting accustomed to my shoes! (This should answer Maggie from The Fashion Maverick's question.)
My plan was to buy the Asic Gel Foundation 9 from Running Warehouse (my favorite online shoe retailer) and try them on my treadmill. If I hated them, I'd go to Fleet Feet and get reevaluated, but I had a feeling that the Gel Foundations would work just fine for me...and I was right.
This shoe is heavy; like really heavy. If I were buying this shoe a year ago, I'd probably return it because I felt a bit like I was running with weights on my shoes. However, since I'm under doctor's orders to slow down, these actually worked perfectly for me! There's a fair amount of arch support in this shoe, but it also managed to be cushioned at the same time.
At first I was worried about my poor arches stretching too much, but once I got into my running groove, I could feel the arch support keeping my foot snugly in place. I always order two sizes up in a running shoe (because my foot tends to expand as I step down), but most experts recommend sizing up at least 1 size anyway. One thing that always worried me about this shoe initially was the heel which is really snug. When I first lace the shoe up, it feels very constricted, but once I got moving all was forgotten.
This shoe will definitely get me through the winter months without issue. Next year, when hopefully I'm authorized to get back to my normal training routine, I'll consider heading back to Fleet Feet for an evaluation, but in the meantime, I'm very happy with these shoes.
Now onto everyone else's questions:
Newlyweds on a Budget asked: How do you motivate yourself to run when you just don't feel like it?
I have a few strategies. One is to convince myself to go out for just two miles (one mile away from the house and one mile home). Typically once I'm in my workout clothes and outside, I end up going farther than that.
I'm also not above bribes: if I do this run, I get to buy x.
But sometimes I'm just not feeling a run and if that's the case, I don't do it. I run because I enjoy it and I never want to resent it because that's when I'll stop. A few years ago, we went on vacation to Maine. I got up four mornings that week at 6am and ran between 4-9 miles (23 miles total). Then I got home and was so mad that I really didn't get a "vacation" since I got up so early all those mornings (and consequently had to go to bed early the night before). I promised myself that I'd never force myself to run on a vacation again. If I wanted to do it, great, but if I didn't, I'd just get back in the saddle when I got home. You aren't going to lose any fitness if you take one, or even two, weeks off and I've found that sometimes a little bit of time away from running rejuvenates me and makes me remember how much I enjoy running in the first place!
Peggy from She Hath Done What She Could asked: I would love any tips you can give to a beginning runner. I have tried it so many times and just don't like it - maybe I'm doing something wrong??
Haven from Hogwash, Poppycock and Other Preposterousness asked a similar question: How do you keep from getting bored on a run?
And KatKoot asked a related question too: How does someone work up from walking to running?
My biggest tip would probably be to slow down! It's so tempting to get outside and run at a break neck pace until you want to die, but that's not doing yourself any favors! Even if it feels like you are positively crawling, you've got to build up your endurance and heart strength and you do that when you are exercising aerobically, not an-aerobically (greater than 75% of max heart rate). The longer and slower you run, the faster you'll ultimately become.
When I first started running, I'd run 3 miles in about 30 minutes and then wonder why I never got any faster. Then I started training with my mom, who was about 1-1:30 minutes slower than me. All of a sudden, my 5Ks got faster because I was training slower and strengthening my heart! Of course, you should occasionally work in some speed work to get your body accustomed to traveling at a quicker pace, but for beginners, you should just focus on the endurance factor.
I do a lot of my best thinking while running: I can't tell you how many legal arguments have occurred to me while I'm out in the middle of nowhere, five miles from my house! I take my iPhone with me to run (for safety reasons), but then I will usually put on my music. I'll listen to the first song or two and then my mind just takes off, thinking about everything and anything. By the end of the run, I have no idea what songs I just listened to and, half the time, no idea what I spent all that time thinking about, but I always feel refreshed!
Treadmills are a whole different ballgame. I hate them for anything other than speed work. I do own one and use it in the winter. To get through those runs, I'll turn on loud music, put on the television, make Husband sit next to me and chat. In NYC, the gym I went to faced the treadmills towards the street so you could people-watch which is fun (especially in NY!) I've heard of people training for marathons on treadmills and just the thought of that makes me want to die!
Jen from The Life Accounts asked: What type of fitness are you doing now that you're not doing so much intense running? Have you found any new fun fitness ideas?
Does Rock Band drumming count? Seriously, click here to watch RT on a science show from the early 1980s. In just 30 seconds of drumming, he gets his heart rate up way higher than where mine is five miles into a run!
Sadly, I've not done anything to replace running. I've slowed down and cut back, but that's about it. One of my favorite things about running is the sense of accomplishment that I get when I'm finished and I just don't get that feeling from any other types of exercise that I've tried.
I'm open to suggestions though!
Maggie G. asked: What is your favorite line of running/workout apparel? I'm intrigued b/c I just started running regularly in the spring and this winter is going to be my first winter trying to run.
For winter apparel, I couldn't live without my CW-X tights (reviewed here). They are pricey, but totally worth it. I also love L.L. Bean fleece vests (reviewed here). I prefer to be a bit cold at the start of a run so unless it's absolutely positively freezing, I'll wear one of those vests over a long sleeved wicking top and a wicking tank. Headbands and gloves are also a must: my hands tend to get really cold and take the longest to warm up. I'd rather wear the headband/gloves and have to take them off then to not have them at all. My running top collection is a bit of a hodgepodge: I typically buy off season at Marshall's or Dick's Sporting Goods so I've got lots of different brands/styles.
For indoor/summer running, I can't live without my running skirt from RunningSkirts.com. There are lots of other companies making running skirts now, but Cindy/Christy are my favorite. The skirts are comfortable, don't ride up, and look adorable! They have great tanks too, but they're a bit on the pricey side.
Finally, spiffy from Where the Lights Are Bright asked: I know you've run a half marathon, any desire to run a full?
Sure, I have aspirations of running a full marathon, but I'm also aware of my own weaknesses and limitations. I've decided that if I ever do run a marathon, I'd want to finish in under 5 hours (which I know sounds crazy slow, but remember this is 26.2 miles, people!) Right now, a more realistic goal for me is to break 2:30 in a half marathon (which is about 11 minute miles) and then from there, I can decide about whether to push myself to keep going. It's definitely in the back of my mind (as it is for most runners, I'm sure), but it's not in the foreseeable future.
spiffy on the other hand is a total rock star and is running in the ING NYC Marathon today! Go spiffy!
So that wraps up all the running questions from my latest giveaway. I'll be back to answer the rest of the questions at some point (I'm trying to work them into daily posts to avoid having a big long post like this one, but I might just give up and forget that idea!)
Happy Sunday!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Keep On Running: Coming Clean
You know that expression "the white elephant on the blog"?
Well maybe that's not the exact expression, but you get the idea.
There's been a white elephant hanging out on my blog for a few weeks now and after lots of consideration, I'm ready to address it.
Some of you may remember the weekly featured I started running back in July: Keep on Running. The plan was to post my weekly training for my upcoming half marathon as a type of motivation to get me to run in the miserable summer heat and humidity. I'd been slagging off for most of the summer and knew I needed to get my act together if I was going to make it through the race.
Some of you also may have noticed that I've neglected to run my Keep on Running feature for several weeks.
Those of you who are really observant (or are just boarderline stalkers) may have noticed that I've not been referring to running as frequently in my daily posts.
Well, readers, the jig is up. I'm ready to come clean.
I'm not running the Diva Half Marathon in October. I've told my fellow princesses and they understand. But as each week passes and I just blatantly ignore the running aspect of my blog, I feel like I'm lying to you all every single day.
And I hate that.
The decision to not run the race was not mine. It was my doctor's and while I'm not happy with him, I understand his reasoning. I won't go into details here, but let me just say that he nearly had a heart attack when he heard I was planning on running 13.1 miles in October and training for that run in this summer heat.
Today I ran for the first time in weeks. Husband convinced me that a slow and short run would be fine (which is true - only long distances were explicitly prohibited) and he was right: I feel much better having gotten a few miles in.
They were really really slow though, but the weather was perfect and the run itself wasn't terribly uncomfortable. I'm looking forward to slowly getting back in the saddle again.
So, readers, there you have it. There won't be anymore weekly Keep on Running posts, but at least now I won't feel like a horrible liar every Sunday when I don't write one. And I'm still hoping to attend the Diva Half Marathon so I'll have plenty of pictures and stories from the weekend.
I hope you all understand: running has been a big part of my blog (less so than shopping and Queen, but nevertheless, something I initially set out to include a great deal). It still will be something I discuss and something I do, but just in a different way.
Happy Running!
Well maybe that's not the exact expression, but you get the idea.
There's been a white elephant hanging out on my blog for a few weeks now and after lots of consideration, I'm ready to address it.
Some of you may remember the weekly featured I started running back in July: Keep on Running. The plan was to post my weekly training for my upcoming half marathon as a type of motivation to get me to run in the miserable summer heat and humidity. I'd been slagging off for most of the summer and knew I needed to get my act together if I was going to make it through the race.
Some of you also may have noticed that I've neglected to run my Keep on Running feature for several weeks.
Those of you who are really observant (or are just boarderline stalkers) may have noticed that I've not been referring to running as frequently in my daily posts.
Well, readers, the jig is up. I'm ready to come clean.
I'm not running the Diva Half Marathon in October. I've told my fellow princesses and they understand. But as each week passes and I just blatantly ignore the running aspect of my blog, I feel like I'm lying to you all every single day.
And I hate that.
The decision to not run the race was not mine. It was my doctor's and while I'm not happy with him, I understand his reasoning. I won't go into details here, but let me just say that he nearly had a heart attack when he heard I was planning on running 13.1 miles in October and training for that run in this summer heat.
Today I ran for the first time in weeks. Husband convinced me that a slow and short run would be fine (which is true - only long distances were explicitly prohibited) and he was right: I feel much better having gotten a few miles in.
They were really really slow though, but the weather was perfect and the run itself wasn't terribly uncomfortable. I'm looking forward to slowly getting back in the saddle again.
So, readers, there you have it. There won't be anymore weekly Keep on Running posts, but at least now I won't feel like a horrible liar every Sunday when I don't write one. And I'm still hoping to attend the Diva Half Marathon so I'll have plenty of pictures and stories from the weekend.
I hope you all understand: running has been a big part of my blog (less so than shopping and Queen, but nevertheless, something I initially set out to include a great deal). It still will be something I discuss and something I do, but just in a different way.
Happy Running!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week 3: Keep On Running
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later: a week where I didn't get my act together and complete all my scheduled workouts. This week between doctor's appointments, my office picnic (which lasted hours longer than anticipated), continued hot temperatures and a fair amount of laziness, I skipped my long run which was supposed to be 8 miles. I also only managed to do one afternoon of yoga.
Let's see what I did do:
Monday: 2 miles
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: 3 miles
Saturday: 5 miles
It looks rather pitiful listed out like that, doesn't it. Bah! I'm entitled to a bad week every once in a while but I'm still not happy about it.
And now as punishment, we don't get to listen to RT's cover of Keep on Running, we have to listen to his unreleased solo song Two Sharp Pencils, which features RT's voice being electronically lowered and is about as dreadful as my training was this week.
Sorry to do that to you, folks. I'll try to get my act together next week!
Let's see what I did do:
Monday: 2 miles
Tuesday: Yoga
Wednesday: 3 miles
Saturday: 5 miles
It looks rather pitiful listed out like that, doesn't it. Bah! I'm entitled to a bad week every once in a while but I'm still not happy about it.
And now as punishment, we don't get to listen to RT's cover of Keep on Running, we have to listen to his unreleased solo song Two Sharp Pencils, which features RT's voice being electronically lowered and is about as dreadful as my training was this week.
Sorry to do that to you, folks. I'll try to get my act together next week!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Week Two: Keep On Running
Alright, readers, it's time to check in on my weekly half marathon training schedule. This week, due to a few unforeseen appointments, I ended up doing my first "brick" workout, which means two workouts-a-day. The heat has also caused me to slow down tremendously. A rule of thumb is that your pace slows 15-30 seconds/mile for each 5 degrees over 65: it was 80 degrees this morning when I finished my long run so you do the math. Perhaps I should call it my weekly long "crawl".
Monday: 3 easy miles
Tuesday: 5 miles (1 mile, 2x1600 m w/ 800m recoveries, 1 mile)
Wednesday: Yoga
Friday: 2 easy miles/Yoga
Sunday: 7 mile long run
Yay! Week 2 is a success! In celebration, let's listen to RT's version of this post's namesake: Keep on Running (if I hadn't completed my workout this week, I would have made you listen to The Whisperers, probably the worst song ever so be grateful that I struggled through today's long run!).
Let the celebration and well wishing commence!
Monday: 3 easy miles
Tuesday: 5 miles (1 mile, 2x1600 m w/ 800m recoveries, 1 mile)
Wednesday: Yoga
Friday: 2 easy miles/Yoga
Sunday: 7 mile long run
Yay! Week 2 is a success! In celebration, let's listen to RT's version of this post's namesake: Keep on Running (if I hadn't completed my workout this week, I would have made you listen to The Whisperers, probably the worst song ever so be grateful that I struggled through today's long run!).
Let the celebration and well wishing commence!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
New Weekly Feature: Keep on Running
This blog is supposed to be about Queen, fashion/shopping, and running.
I've got the fashion/shopping part covered. Between my daily What I Wore posts, Anthropologie Fitting Room Reviews, Fashion Challenges, and Outfit Polls, I think a good 75% of my non-working/sleeping day is spent shopping, thinking about shopping, or writing about shopping.
The Queen part, I've been pretty good about too. I've stuck to my plan of highlighting a Queen Song of the Week every Friday, detailed meeting Dr. May, wished the boys birthday wishes, and occasionally ranted about various business decisions.
The running part?
Eh - not so much. Sure, I ran some posts called "Running Essentials" but running is a pretty straightforward sport. Once you have a couple of things, you're pretty much good to go. I have a few more that I can write, but that's not enough to properly feature the third component of my blog.
I've also been slagging off a bit in my training. This summer has been the most hot and humid that I can ever remember. The temperature hasn't dipped below 70 degrees (nights included) in weeks and the humidity is frequently about 75%. In the winter, my treadmill is a viable option, but in the summer, it's a recipe for heat stroke: there's no air conditioning in that room and no matter how many fans I set up, I cannot generate enough air circulation to make me not want to die.
This is a bit of a problem, however, since my fellow princesses have convinced me to run my fourth half marathon in October.
Hence, my new weekly feature "Keep on Running", loosely based on Designer Me's Monday Training Posts (click here) and named after a song originally by the Spencer Davis Group that Roger Taylor recorded (and didn't release) during his 1984 Strange Frontier sessions.
Basically I'm going to post my half marathon training plan every week and then I'll say which workouts I successfully completed. If I have a good week and follow the training plan, you will all congratulate me and I'll be happy. If I have a bad week and slag off, you will all yell at me and I'll be publicly embarrassed.
See? Fun for everyone!
To generate my workouts, I use the SmartCoach training program on the Runners World website. You have to be a member of Runners World to use SmartCoach, but membership is free. I plugged in my recent 10K time of 1:05:00, selected a 10 week training program, that I typically run 15-20 miles a week, and that I wanted a moderately hard program.
I'm also going to try to work in yoga at least twice a week. Occasionally, I'll combine shorter runs (like the 2 milers this week) into one longer run.
Now, here comes the fun part: did I stick to my workout schedule for Week 1?
Sunday: Yoga
Monday: 2 mile easy run
Wednesday: 5 mile tempo run
Thursday: Yoga
Friday: 2 mile easy run
Saturday: 7 mile long run
What this week has taught me is that not running in the hot/humid weather makes running much more difficult that a tough run in hot/humid weather. Typically your pace slows in the summer, but when you combine that with basically being lazy for an entire month, your pace ends up essentially a crawl. The best thing I can say about my runs this week is that I got through them.
I will say this though: already this feature is having an impact on my training. At about 3 miles in today, I really really wanted to call Husband and make him come get me, but then I thought to myself, "Geesh - I can't run the silly feature for the first time and not have completely made it through all the runs," so I sucked it up and got through 4 more miles. Hopefully this shame will carry me through the next nine weeks until the Diva Half Marathon.
So Week 1 of my Half Marathon Training Program was a success. You can now commence the obligatory congratulatory comments!
I'm off to the Red Sox game now. I'll be back tomorrow with the wrap-up and final outfit in my 18 for 18 Challenge.
Happy Running!
And GO Red Sox!
I've got the fashion/shopping part covered. Between my daily What I Wore posts, Anthropologie Fitting Room Reviews, Fashion Challenges, and Outfit Polls, I think a good 75% of my non-working/sleeping day is spent shopping, thinking about shopping, or writing about shopping.
The Queen part, I've been pretty good about too. I've stuck to my plan of highlighting a Queen Song of the Week every Friday, detailed meeting Dr. May, wished the boys birthday wishes, and occasionally ranted about various business decisions.
The running part?
Eh - not so much. Sure, I ran some posts called "Running Essentials" but running is a pretty straightforward sport. Once you have a couple of things, you're pretty much good to go. I have a few more that I can write, but that's not enough to properly feature the third component of my blog.
I've also been slagging off a bit in my training. This summer has been the most hot and humid that I can ever remember. The temperature hasn't dipped below 70 degrees (nights included) in weeks and the humidity is frequently about 75%. In the winter, my treadmill is a viable option, but in the summer, it's a recipe for heat stroke: there's no air conditioning in that room and no matter how many fans I set up, I cannot generate enough air circulation to make me not want to die.
This is a bit of a problem, however, since my fellow princesses have convinced me to run my fourth half marathon in October.
Hence, my new weekly feature "Keep on Running", loosely based on Designer Me's Monday Training Posts (click here) and named after a song originally by the Spencer Davis Group that Roger Taylor recorded (and didn't release) during his 1984 Strange Frontier sessions.
Basically I'm going to post my half marathon training plan every week and then I'll say which workouts I successfully completed. If I have a good week and follow the training plan, you will all congratulate me and I'll be happy. If I have a bad week and slag off, you will all yell at me and I'll be publicly embarrassed.
See? Fun for everyone!
To generate my workouts, I use the SmartCoach training program on the Runners World website. You have to be a member of Runners World to use SmartCoach, but membership is free. I plugged in my recent 10K time of 1:05:00, selected a 10 week training program, that I typically run 15-20 miles a week, and that I wanted a moderately hard program.
I'm also going to try to work in yoga at least twice a week. Occasionally, I'll combine shorter runs (like the 2 milers this week) into one longer run.
Now, here comes the fun part: did I stick to my workout schedule for Week 1?
Sunday: Yoga
Monday: 2 mile easy run
Wednesday: 5 mile tempo run
Thursday: Yoga
Friday: 2 mile easy run
Saturday: 7 mile long run
What this week has taught me is that not running in the hot/humid weather makes running much more difficult that a tough run in hot/humid weather. Typically your pace slows in the summer, but when you combine that with basically being lazy for an entire month, your pace ends up essentially a crawl. The best thing I can say about my runs this week is that I got through them.
I will say this though: already this feature is having an impact on my training. At about 3 miles in today, I really really wanted to call Husband and make him come get me, but then I thought to myself, "Geesh - I can't run the silly feature for the first time and not have completely made it through all the runs," so I sucked it up and got through 4 more miles. Hopefully this shame will carry me through the next nine weeks until the Diva Half Marathon.
So Week 1 of my Half Marathon Training Program was a success. You can now commence the obligatory congratulatory comments!
I'm off to the Red Sox game now. I'll be back tomorrow with the wrap-up and final outfit in my 18 for 18 Challenge.
Happy Running!
And GO Red Sox!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
A Day at the Races (or my first 10K of the season)
"A Day at the Races" has an alternative meaning today, however, since this morning I ran my first 10K of the season with two of my fellow princesses. I woke up at 5:30 a.m., did my prerace routine of Powerade Zero and a Fiber One poptart, dragged Husband out of bed (he was coming for cheering purposes and to supervise two mini-princesses who were in attendance), and drove 45 minutes to the race site. The weather was pretty awful. It was hot and humid before the race even began at 7:30 a.m. Then about 20 minutes into the race, the skies opened up and it poured for about ten minutes. However, it was so humid after the rain stopped that by the time I finished the race, I was completely dry! UGH!
I had joked that today would be a test of which was more miserable: running in high humidity weather or running a race when you've slagged off with your training. I can now report that the latter is much more miserable. As hot as it was today, it was my breathing that made me the most miserable so I'll definitely be getting myself out of bed for training runs to prepare for the DIVA Half Marathon this fall. I will say though that for as horrible as I felt during the race, my time was surprisingly quick so that is a sign of me potentially building up some speed this summer which would be lovely.
I took a nice long nap when we got home (after having a yummy breakfast) and later I'm off for a birthday celebration for one of the princesses. What a royally themed weekend I'm having!
Happy Sunday everyone!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Running Essentials: SmartWool Socks
When I was in high school I played basketball. (I played other sports too but this story relates to my brief and unimpressive basketball career.) We'd practice right after school so we'd have to bring our practice clothes with us to school each day. Occasionally, we'd forget an item which wasn't terribly a big deal: typically a teammate would have an extra shirt to loan us.
Rarely, however, did teammates have an extra pair of socks in their gym bag. Were we phased? Of course not! We'd pull our crew socks down giving the appearance of a short athletic style sock, wrap the excess sock material over our toes and along the bottom of our foot, and go to practice...
Yeah wrap your head around that. We'd go to two hours of basketball practice, which usually began with at least one mile of running, with an entire extra layer of sock bunched up in our shoes. Don't even get me started on the day my friend and I accidentally switched shoes and I did an entire practice in size 8s (as opposed to size 9.5).
Ah, youth - how resilient I was then...
Nowadays, I go to a specialty running store for shoes, wear special inserts, have a podiatrist - how old am I again? Geesh. And this isn't just me spending money because I like spending money (I do) - this is honest to goodness necessity. If my feet are going to cooperate and let me run as often as I do, they have certain demands and far be it for me to question these demands.
At the top of the list of demands? These socks.
And before anyone gets feisty, I do not like these socks just because they are purple. In fact, I don't even own these socks in purple - I have green, but it's my blog and I want it to be pretty so I'm putting up a picture of purple socks.
These are SmartWool PhD Light Micro Socks and they are amazing. Click here to buy them. Yes, they are wool, but no, they are not hot. Their material wicks away sweat and keeps feet dry better than any other sock I've tried (and believe me, I get a horrible case of the hot feets when I run outdoors in the summer - these babies take care of that regardless of the temperature.) I have a certain spot on my foot that rubs and I am constantly dealing with blister. Now, I'm not going to claim that I don't still get blisters, because I do, but they are significantly smaller and less painful since I switched to these socks more than a year ago.
I bought 6 pairs of these socks last summer and wear/wash them approximately once per week. They've held up great and you'd never know they were more than a year old. They've also stood up to weekly battles with my terrier/chihuahua mix Izzy who wages war on laundry baskets in search of socks. Now, manufacturers of dry wicking clothing recommend machine washing and air drying. Meh - I don't have time for air drying. I throw these babies in the dryer (along with all my other dry wick running gear) and dry them on low temperature. All my gear has held up fine. Just be sure not to use a dryer sheet - that will mess with the dry wicking feature.
I slept in a bit too late today to get a long run in before the ridiculous heat starts (it's already 75 degrees outside at 9:30 a.m. - no thanks!) so I'll do my long run tomorrow. But you can guarantee that whenever I do get in that long run, I'll be wearing these socks with a smile on my face!
Happy Running!
Rarely, however, did teammates have an extra pair of socks in their gym bag. Were we phased? Of course not! We'd pull our crew socks down giving the appearance of a short athletic style sock, wrap the excess sock material over our toes and along the bottom of our foot, and go to practice...
Ah, youth - how resilient I was then...
Nowadays, I go to a specialty running store for shoes, wear special inserts, have a podiatrist - how old am I again? Geesh. And this isn't just me spending money because I like spending money (I do) - this is honest to goodness necessity. If my feet are going to cooperate and let me run as often as I do, they have certain demands and far be it for me to question these demands.
At the top of the list of demands? These socks.
And before anyone gets feisty, I do not like these socks just because they are purple. In fact, I don't even own these socks in purple - I have green, but it's my blog and I want it to be pretty so I'm putting up a picture of purple socks. These are SmartWool PhD Light Micro Socks and they are amazing. Click here to buy them. Yes, they are wool, but no, they are not hot. Their material wicks away sweat and keeps feet dry better than any other sock I've tried (and believe me, I get a horrible case of the hot feets when I run outdoors in the summer - these babies take care of that regardless of the temperature.) I have a certain spot on my foot that rubs and I am constantly dealing with blister. Now, I'm not going to claim that I don't still get blisters, because I do, but they are significantly smaller and less painful since I switched to these socks more than a year ago.
I bought 6 pairs of these socks last summer and wear/wash them approximately once per week. They've held up great and you'd never know they were more than a year old. They've also stood up to weekly battles with my terrier/chihuahua mix Izzy who wages war on laundry baskets in search of socks. Now, manufacturers of dry wicking clothing recommend machine washing and air drying. Meh - I don't have time for air drying. I throw these babies in the dryer (along with all my other dry wick running gear) and dry them on low temperature. All my gear has held up fine. Just be sure not to use a dryer sheet - that will mess with the dry wicking feature.
I slept in a bit too late today to get a long run in before the ridiculous heat starts (it's already 75 degrees outside at 9:30 a.m. - no thanks!) so I'll do my long run tomorrow. But you can guarantee that whenever I do get in that long run, I'll be wearing these socks with a smile on my face!
Happy Running!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Running Essentials: Strassburg Sock
Luckily I have several running buddies (erm...princesses) who had recommendations for me: new insoles, frozen water bottles on my arches, and a Strassburg Sock (available here). After only a few weeks, I was all healed up and was able to run again!
What is plantar fasciitis?
Plantar fasciitis is a really common running injury and it's a real pain to treat. Every step you take strains the plantar fasciitis more so obviously running is out of the question until you're healed, but even walking continues to do damage (and most of us don't have the luxury of just not walking for a few weeks!)
Enter the Strassburg Sock. You wear it to bed and it keeps your foot parallel to your leg. This allows the plantar fascia to heal while stretched out and taut rather than limp and loose. After several nights of wearing the sock, your plantar fascia begins to strengthen and soon it's back to normal! Of course, you have to be careful in your first few runs coming back from plantar fasciitis - going too far too soon can lead to reinjury. I ran on my treadmill for those first few weeks so I could immediately stop at any twinge of pain.
The Strassburg Sock is really easy to use: just put it on like a regular sock, pull it up to your knee, and then string the long strap through the loop at your knee and use the velcro to attach the strap to itself. It definitely feels weird the first time you wear it. Put it on as you are getting into bed - do not try to walk around in this thing! The sock has a bit of compression to it so that's another unusual sensation you'll have to adjust to and I would have to play with the tightness of the strap a few times before I'd get it right. Once you have the Strassburg Sock properly adjusted, just go to sleep and let the sock work its magic!
I've been lucky and not had a reoccurrence of plantar fasciitis, but if I ever do, I'll have my Strassburg Sock ready!
*Disclaimer* I'm not a doctor or a podiatrist. This is not medical advice or diagnosis of any kind. This product worked for me, but may not work for everyone. Consult your doctor or podiatrist if you are experiencing any pain while running.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Boston Marathon Champions
Women's Champion: Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia (2:26:11) - Erkesso pulled away from the rest of the pack at the 11 mile mark. She lead for most of the race by as much as two full minutes! In the last few miles, she showed signs of fatigue, but was able to hold off second place finisher Tatyana Pushkareva of Russia for the win.
Men's Champion: Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot of Kenya (2:05:52 - new course record!). Cheruiyot broke away from the pack with last year's champion Deriba Merga, but then Cheruiyot pulled away from Merga late in the race. Interestingly, another Robert Cheruiyot (no relation) was the previous course record holder and had to withdraw from this year's marathon due to an injury.
Women's Wheelchair Champion: Wakako Tsuchida of Japan (1:43:32). This is Tsuchida's four consecutive Boston Marathon victory.
Men's Wheelchair Champion: Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa (1:26:53). This is Van Dyk's record ninth Boston Marathon win, including six consecutive victories from 2000-2006.
Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who participated in (or is still participating in) the 114th Boston Marathon!
I'm off to do a much less impressive 5 mile run of my own - I'll be back later this afternoon with some Anthropologie fitting room reviews!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Running Essentials: Rules of the Road
Every spring as the temperature rises so does the number of runners venturing out of their treadmill-induced winter comas and onto the road. Unfortunately every year, runners are severely injured or killed while running on the road. That said, there's nothing wrong with running on the road: it certainly beats the monotony of a treadmill or a track. However, you have to be smart about it.
Here are a few rules to get you started:
1) Always run against traffic! This means that you should be able to see cars in your lane that are approaching you. I can't tell you how often I see runners running with traffic and it makes me so nervous. Part of running on the road intelligently is being in a position to react quickly to a dangerous situation - if a car is coming up behind you, it's impossible to do that.
2) Listen to music at a low level (or not at all). I admit that I frequently listen to music while I run. Again be smart about it - have the music at a relatively low volume. You should always be able to hear appropaching traffic, bicyclists, other runners, or animals.
3) If you are running at dawn or dusk, invest in some reflective safety gear (see here). I have a reflective vest. It was cheap ($10) and straps on over whatever I'm wearing on my run. Do I look ridiculous? Yes. Do I want to die? No. Always assume that a driver does not see you. Drivers are not thinking about looking out for runners so wear reflective gear to stand out more.
4) Wear light and bright clothing. This ties in with #3 - regardless of what time of the day you run, wear at least one bright article of clothing. You'll stand out more and drivers will be more likely to see you.
5) If you approach a crosswalk or intersection, do not assume that a driver is giving you the right of way. I never cross a road in front of a driver unless the driver has expressly waived me by. Even then, I proceed cautiously and quickly.
Even for those of you that don't run yourselves, I'm sure you've seen runners while you're driving around your towns. Here is some advice for you motorists:
1) If you see a runner approaching and a car is coming in the other lane, slow down. Ideally, slow down enough that the two cars don't pass the runner at the same time. Under no circumstances should you speed up in order to ensure that both cars don't pass the runner at the same time. As a runner there is nothing more terrifying than a car speeding past you at 50 mph!
2) If you see a runner approaching and there is no car coming in the other lane, move over slightly across the median. This is much appreciated by runners, not only because it means I don't have to hop off the road into the brush, but also because it gives me 100% confirmation that the driver has seen me.
3) Be sure to use your turn signals. It's easier for a runner to be safe on the road when you let the runner know your plans. If you want to allow the runner to cross in front of you, expressly use your hand to waive the runner by. A head nod or just waiting for the runner to cross is not enough.
Monday marks the 114th Boston Marathon - I found out on Friday that one of the attorneys that works in my courthouse is running! GO CHRIS! Yay!
In order to run the Boston Marathon, you have to qualify (i.e. run another marathon under a certain time for your age). To qualify for Boston, I'd have to run a marathon in 3 hours and 40 minutes or less. That's roughly a 8:20 mile pace...so...um...I won't be running in the Boston Marathon anytime soon! When I'm 70, I'll only have to run a 11:30 pace for 26.2 miles so I can spend the next 40 years working on that!
I will, however, enjoy watching the Boston Marathon on television ('cause it only takes the elite runners like two hours to run it!) and then I'll do a much shorter run of my own to commemorate the day!
Happy Running!
Here are a few rules to get you started:
2) Listen to music at a low level (or not at all). I admit that I frequently listen to music while I run. Again be smart about it - have the music at a relatively low volume. You should always be able to hear appropaching traffic, bicyclists, other runners, or animals.
4) Wear light and bright clothing. This ties in with #3 - regardless of what time of the day you run, wear at least one bright article of clothing. You'll stand out more and drivers will be more likely to see you.
5) If you approach a crosswalk or intersection, do not assume that a driver is giving you the right of way. I never cross a road in front of a driver unless the driver has expressly waived me by. Even then, I proceed cautiously and quickly.
1) If you see a runner approaching and a car is coming in the other lane, slow down. Ideally, slow down enough that the two cars don't pass the runner at the same time. Under no circumstances should you speed up in order to ensure that both cars don't pass the runner at the same time. As a runner there is nothing more terrifying than a car speeding past you at 50 mph!
2) If you see a runner approaching and there is no car coming in the other lane, move over slightly across the median. This is much appreciated by runners, not only because it means I don't have to hop off the road into the brush, but also because it gives me 100% confirmation that the driver has seen me.
3) Be sure to use your turn signals. It's easier for a runner to be safe on the road when you let the runner know your plans. If you want to allow the runner to cross in front of you, expressly use your hand to waive the runner by. A head nod or just waiting for the runner to cross is not enough.
In order to run the Boston Marathon, you have to qualify (i.e. run another marathon under a certain time for your age). To qualify for Boston, I'd have to run a marathon in 3 hours and 40 minutes or less. That's roughly a 8:20 mile pace...so...um...I won't be running in the Boston Marathon anytime soon! When I'm 70, I'll only have to run a 11:30 pace for 26.2 miles so I can spend the next 40 years working on that!
I will, however, enjoy watching the Boston Marathon on television ('cause it only takes the elite runners like two hours to run it!) and then I'll do a much shorter run of my own to commemorate the day!
Happy Running!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Running Essentials: Training Plan
Some readers have asked about my training schedule so here's a brief overview.
I've tried a few training plans: SmartCoach through the Runner's World website (you have to be a member to use it now, but signing up is free), the FIRST program (see here), and Hal Higdeon's training program (see his website here). Runner's World has a new feature where they will customize a training program for you (for a small fee) - I haven't tried this program, but it's worth mentioning.
I like the SmartCoach program the best because I have the most control over the variables. I plug in a recent race time, how long I want the schedule to last and how hard I want to train and SmartCoach spits out a list of runs that I post on my bulletin board at work. No thinking involved!
I run between 15-25 miles each week. These runs are spread out over 3-5 days. I really don't like running 5 days a week so I try to combine shorter runs when possible (I consider anything less than 3 miles to be a shorter run). SmartCoach divides up runs into four different types: easy, long, tempo, and speed.
So what do these words mean?
An easy run is just that - easy. You should run at a pace at which you can carry on a full conversation. No huffing and puffing or gasping for air. For a lot of people, this pace translates into about 1 minute per mile slower than their 10K pace (i.e. my most recent 10K was at a 10:30 pace so I do most of my easy runs at a 11:30 pace).
Your long run should be about the same pace as your easy run although slightly slower is okay.
Tempo runs aid your body in building endurance to keep a faster pace over a longer period of time. You should be able to hold your tempo pace for an hour although most tempo runs aren't that long. My tempo runs are typically between 3-5 miles with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down (at any pace). My tempo speed is my 10K pace so about 10:30.
Speed workouts are short and fast with periods of rest built in. The idea is to get your body used to running at a pace faster than your race pace (though not by much!) A typical speed workout for me is 1 mile warm up (at any pace), followed by 4 repeats of 800 m (1/2 mile) at 4:25 (so run 1/2 mile in 4:25) with 400 m (1/4 mile) rests at any pace, and finally finish the workout with 1 cool down mile at any pace.
In addition to this schedule, I use a heart rate monitor to train (see review of Garmin Forerunner 305 here). Easy runs should be at about 65-70% of your max heart rate. Tempo runs should be at about 80-85% of your max heart rate and speed runs should be at about 90-95% of your max heart rate. Here is an explanation of how to find your max heart rate.
I heart rate trained all winter (while following a SmartCoach program for maintenance) and was shocked at how disciplined my heart became in just a few months. I went from averaging 166 bpm during a 8 mile run to averaging 161 bpm at a pace 10 seconds per mile faster. It may not sound like a lot, but the idea is that as you train your heart, you can run at a faster pace using the same amount of exertion (so as a result can race faster at a higher level of exertion).
And while I do find it necessary to have a training schedule, if there's a day that I'm simply not in the mood to run, I don't. I ran one summer during our vacation to Maine. I got up at 6am and ran up to 9 miles because I was training for my first half marathon and was terrified of not being prepared. The only thing that ended up happening is that I resented running for a good few weeks after my vacation because it hadn't really been a vacation after all, had it? I've since taken as long as two weeks off of running (for personal reasons) and can very easily get back on the wagon. So don't feel bad about taking a day (or two) off - chances are, your body is trying to tell you something!
Happy running!
I've tried a few training plans: SmartCoach through the Runner's World website (you have to be a member to use it now, but signing up is free), the FIRST program (see here), and Hal Higdeon's training program (see his website here). Runner's World has a new feature where they will customize a training program for you (for a small fee) - I haven't tried this program, but it's worth mentioning.
I like the SmartCoach program the best because I have the most control over the variables. I plug in a recent race time, how long I want the schedule to last and how hard I want to train and SmartCoach spits out a list of runs that I post on my bulletin board at work. No thinking involved!
I run between 15-25 miles each week. These runs are spread out over 3-5 days. I really don't like running 5 days a week so I try to combine shorter runs when possible (I consider anything less than 3 miles to be a shorter run). SmartCoach divides up runs into four different types: easy, long, tempo, and speed.
So what do these words mean?
An easy run is just that - easy. You should run at a pace at which you can carry on a full conversation. No huffing and puffing or gasping for air. For a lot of people, this pace translates into about 1 minute per mile slower than their 10K pace (i.e. my most recent 10K was at a 10:30 pace so I do most of my easy runs at a 11:30 pace).
Your long run should be about the same pace as your easy run although slightly slower is okay.
Tempo runs aid your body in building endurance to keep a faster pace over a longer period of time. You should be able to hold your tempo pace for an hour although most tempo runs aren't that long. My tempo runs are typically between 3-5 miles with 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down (at any pace). My tempo speed is my 10K pace so about 10:30.
Speed workouts are short and fast with periods of rest built in. The idea is to get your body used to running at a pace faster than your race pace (though not by much!) A typical speed workout for me is 1 mile warm up (at any pace), followed by 4 repeats of 800 m (1/2 mile) at 4:25 (so run 1/2 mile in 4:25) with 400 m (1/4 mile) rests at any pace, and finally finish the workout with 1 cool down mile at any pace.
I heart rate trained all winter (while following a SmartCoach program for maintenance) and was shocked at how disciplined my heart became in just a few months. I went from averaging 166 bpm during a 8 mile run to averaging 161 bpm at a pace 10 seconds per mile faster. It may not sound like a lot, but the idea is that as you train your heart, you can run at a faster pace using the same amount of exertion (so as a result can race faster at a higher level of exertion).
And while I do find it necessary to have a training schedule, if there's a day that I'm simply not in the mood to run, I don't. I ran one summer during our vacation to Maine. I got up at 6am and ran up to 9 miles because I was training for my first half marathon and was terrified of not being prepared. The only thing that ended up happening is that I resented running for a good few weeks after my vacation because it hadn't really been a vacation after all, had it? I've since taken as long as two weeks off of running (for personal reasons) and can very easily get back on the wagon. So don't feel bad about taking a day (or two) off - chances are, your body is trying to tell you something!
Happy running!
*Disclaimer (because I'm a legal loser)* - I am not a medical doctor or a personal trainer. I am posting my training schedule and accompanying explanations for informational purposes only. Do not begin an exercise plan without consulting your doctor. If you feel faint or dizzy while exercising, stop immediately.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Running Essentials: Running Skirt
The first time I went for a "run" in my adult life, I was 21 years old. I was home for the summer and my mom and I would run around the track at our gym. 15 laps equaled 1 mile. We'd walk/run 1 mile, maybe 2. Then we'd go home. A few years later, I started running races. I had realized a few things by then: (1) it was not a good idea to eat dinner and then immediately go for my run, as my mom and I had been doing up until that point; (2) it was not a good idea to wear the free race shirt while running the race; and (3) races happen rain or shine and since you paid your money, you should probably get out there even if it's raining. It was this last realization that encouraged me to start buying moisture-wicking running clothes.
"UGH," I know you are thinking, "Again with the moisture wicking?" But, people, I can't help it. It makes such a difference. So fast forward to January 2009. I'm training for my Disney Princess Half Marathon and a running buddy tells me she has purchased a new purple running skirt just for the occasion. My ears immediately perked up: Purchased? Purple? Running? Skirt? Um those are like four of my favorite words and they had been strung together into one sentence. "Tell me more," I requested.
After hearing about these wonderful things called running skirts, I purchased one too (in pretty pink to match my homemade tutu). (This picture was taken post-half marathon and look, my tiara is still sitting perfectly on my head. I really am a princess!) The point of the picture, however, is to show that I was a vision in pink: tank top, tutu, and running skirt. I was amazed at how much I liked the skirt. It didn't ride up while I was running as shorts tend to do(especially with someone who has larger thighs *ahem* like me). The underlining of the skirt is sewn in a way that the seam is facing out not in towards your body so no chaffing! Yay! And I look adorable! Following the race, I swore I'd never run in shorts again.
And I haven't! There seems to be a pretty definite line in the female running community on running skirts: ladies either love them or loathe them. I wonder, though, if the ladies who don't like running skirts have ever actually run in them. There are tons of companies out there jumping on the running skirt trend, but Cindy and Christy at RunningSkirts.com are my favorite. I own five of their skirts (I prefer the Athletic Style, size 4) and they are great. They've held up well, fit great, and are moisture wicking material! Yay!
The first time I ordered from them, Husband placed the order and goofed. Instead of a pink Athletic Style Skirt, size 4, he ordered a pink Running Style Skirt, size 2. Zoinks! I emailed customer service and that same day (it was around Christmas time) got a call from Christy herself! She arranged for me to return the skirt I had and then reserved two sale skirts for me in the warehouse so I got two skirts for the price of one! I think she felt bad for me that Husband had ordered such a small size!
These skirts have pockets on each side to stash GU, chapstick, or keys. I wouldn't pack these pockets too full (or else the skirt starts to slide down!), but there is definitely enough room for lightweight essentials. There are a number of colors and sizes available and if you are ordering for a large group, they'll give you a discount!
Happy Running!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Queen Song of the Week: Chorus? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Chorus, Part I
This week I'm highlighting three songs. It has struck me as I write this feature every week that there is tons of really fascinating information out there about the recording of Bohemian Rhapsody, but since the whole point of this weekly feature is to draw your attention to more obscure Queen songs, it isn't really appropriate to discuss BoRhap.
Ah, but being the clever little thing that I am, I've figured out a way to not only give BoRhap the attention that it clearly deserves, but also to point you in the direction of two other amazingly epic Queen songs: The March of the Black Queen and The Millionaire Waltz.
The March of the Black Queen, written by Freddie Mercury, was released in 1974 on the Queen II album.
Bohemian Rhapsody, written by Freddie Mercury, was released in 1975 on the A Night at the Opera album. It has been released as a single several times where it spent 9 weeks in the #1 spot on the U.K. charts in 1975 and another 5 weeks in the #1 spot in 1991. In the U.S., the song peaked at #9 in 1976 and at #2 in 1992 (thanks in part to Wayne's World).
The Millionaire Waltz, written by Freddie Mercury, was released in 1976 on theA Day at the Races album. I've mentioned this song before (see here) as it was written in 6/8 time.
At some point over the course of music's existence, someone decided that every song should have a chorus. Somebody forgot to tell that to Freddie Mercury because these songs are just three examples of Queen songs without any real chorus. Each song is at least five minutes long, but without a chorus or even a consistent musical style as Freddie Mercury hops around from opera to waltz to rock and back again. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, each of these songs is recognized by die hard Queen fans as some of their greatest works.
The songs (discussed in chronological order):
The March of the Black Queen - I'll admit that sometimes it takes me a few listens before the awesomeness of a Queen song smacks me right in the face. It happened with '39, Tenement Funster, and then again with The March of the Black Queen. This is one of those songs that if you ever are alone with a die hard Queen fan, they will insist that you listen to. At first, I didn't get it - I downloaded the song, listened to it, and thought, "Yeah, that's okay, I guess." Then it sat forgotten on my iTunes playlist.
A few weeks later, I decided to try again. I moved The March of the Black Queen to my running playlist. Now this is a risky move, people, because once a song is on my running playlist, if it comes on while I'm on a run, I'm stuck with it. I tuck my iPhone in my jacket pocket during runs so it isn't accessible for me to skip songs that I don't want to listen to. As if iTunes knew what I was playing at, it randomly selected the song to play in the first five runs that it was on my playlist.
That's pretty much all it took for me to be a convert. When I'm running, I like to focus on something. When I'm not running with music, it can be my breathing, the scenery, or my thoughts. When I'm running with music, I focus on the music. So for five straight runs, I focused on The March of the Black Queen and man, it's a great song.
Portions of the song are actually written in two different time signatures (12/8 and 8/8) simultaneous so it was essentially impossible to play live (although the band did incorporate bits of it into medleys onstage). This song is divided into six separate sections: it starts with a piano intro straight into some great harmonies and high notes before the first verse begins. This whole section is on a bit of an upward spiral, getting faster and higher as the song continues. Following the first two verses is the culmination of the upward spiral with a guitar solo and some more lovely harmonies. Freddie then brings the listener right back down the spiral with the next section which is soft and melodic. Then the more traditional rock portion of the song begins (can listeners identify the two lines of the song where RT sings lead?) which has a great beat and, of course, more harmonies. Finally, the last section is a fast-paced and fun outro. The song ends rather abruptly because on the album it flows directly into the next song, Funny How Love Is.
For anyone interested in a ridiculously thorough actual musicial analysis of the song, check out this amazing webpage.
Many consider The March of the Black Queen to be a bit of a precursor to BoRhap (since it was released the previous year, experiments with various musical styles and utilizes the same vocal layering technique). Despite the potential similarities, The March of the Black Queen is a really stunning song and I'm glad I gave it a few extra listens. I hope you all do as well!
I'll be posting about the other two songs on Saturday and Sunday so check back!
Happy Listening!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Running Essentials: L.L. Bean vest
Ooooh I love this vest. Seriously, it might be illegal in some states how much I love this vest. I first got it for my birthday in June 2008. So into my closet it went for nearly six months while I waited for the temperature to drop enough for me to wear it. Finally, it did and ohmygosh most amazing article of clothing ever. It's got tons of pockets for my iPhone, tissues, extra gloves, keys, anything. And the fit - oh the fit. I buy this vest in size Medium and it fits me absolutely perfectly - as if the L.L. Bean designers snuck into my room, measured me, and then designed the vest with my measurements in mind. It fits nice and snug but not too tight. I've got plenty of room to breathe and move. It's made of wicking fabric so it pulls the sweat and moisture away from your body while you run and since it is a fleece material, it also keeps me snuggly warm!
Typically I layer this vest over a long sleeved technical t-shirt. If it's raining, I put on my Nike rain windbreaker (similiar here - I got mine off the Dick Sporting Goods clearance rack in January 2008) which provides no warmth but does provide extra protection from the elements.
Over the summer, during my vacation to Alaska, I wore my vest over a tank top for extra core warmth during a mountain hike. See - it's versatile too! (This is just one of three photos of me with animal statutes in Sitka, Alaska - oh I do amuse myself!)I asked for, and received, a second vest for Christmas this past year (in Tidal Teal - pretty pretty!) then a few weeks later I noticed that the vest was on sale for $22 each! I snagged two more immediately (in Black and Meadow Violet). The next day the price was back up to $39 so somebody running the website must have messed up big time - hehehe not before I got two new vests though!
Of course for serious cold weather running (I'd say anything below freezing), you should definitely invest in a running jacket (mine is similiar to this), but for less frigid days, this vest is absolute perfection!
Happy Running!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Queen Songs of the Week: Drowse, I'm In Love With My Car, and Other Songs in 6/8 Time
Ah did you think I'd forgotten about the Queen Song of the Day? No, no sillies - I could never forget about my Queen boys...er...my boys in Queen.
Occasionally, two of my three latest obsessions converge and create absolute greatness. For example, shopping for running gear. Or running while listening to Queen music. Here, we have what can only be described as the Obsessions Trifecta - Queen related things that can be purchased for use during running. Did your head just explode? Yeah, I thought so.
I go through periods of running with and without music. Sometimes the thought of not taking my iPhone with me is absolutely horrific and just as often the thought of bringing it along makes me ill. After running in silence through the fall of 2009, I started bringing the iPhone with me again around Christmas-time fully stocked with Queen and Roger Taylor solo songs.
As I ran, I began to notice that there were a few songs that naturally seemed to mimic my pace. This is crucial when running - if the tempo of a song is too fast or too slow, your body tries to compensate and you end up going the wrong pace. For an easy run, my recommended pace is about 11:30 per mile. Sure, that seems slow, but the point of an easy run is that it's...well...easy. So I trot off for 5 miles or so at a 11:30 per mile pace and the idea is come race time, I'll be able to run much faster (this does actually work - I ran my last 10K at a pace of about 10:30 per mile and I never do my training runs that fast).
Anyway, I digress. So some of these songs were naturally mimicking my pace. The songs were Drowse and I'm In Love With My Car. They soon became my favorite easy run songs and when I felt myself getting a little carried away with my pace, I'd put one of these two songs on to get myself back on track. In the interest of full disclosure, yes both of these songs are written and sung by RT; however, I felt pretty confident that this wasn't the reason why I so enjoyed running to these songs (because I've got his solo songs on my workout mix and didn't feel the same way about them).
Onto the songs, which are actually both two of my favorite and the impetus for me checking out RT's solo stuff.
Drowse is from the album A Day at the Races, originally released in 1976. RT wrote and sang lead on this song. The lyrics of Drowse are especially strong (especially for RT) as they reflect on youth and better days lost. Dr. May plays the slide guitar but RT tackles the rhythm guitar, drums, and vocals on his own. I especially like the two segments of this song with the first two verses sung in a high falsetto and then a more rock end of the song. Unfortunately, this is not a song that RT performs live (even way back in the day) - I would love to hear his interpretation of this song now (and made a special request that he play it in the question I submitted via the Queen Online website a few weeks ago). *fingers crossed!*
I'm In Love With My Car is from the album A Night at the Opera, originally released in 1975. RT wrote and sang lead on this song which to this day remains a favorite for him to play in concert. Originally when RT pitched this song, Dr. May thought he was joking. RT so much liked this song that he alledgedly threatened to lock himself in a cupboard until Freddie Mercury agreed to make it the B side to Bohemian Rhapsody. This song is a perfect example of RT as a songwriter: growling (almost shouting) vocals mixed with high notes (using both falsetto and his chest voice), great drums (which he manages to play while singing!), and tell-it-like-it-is lyrics ("Told my girl I had to forget her. I'd rather buy me a new carburetor.")
This song is also a great reflection of the fact that RT's voice remains in top form to this day. This version of the song is from the Queen Rock Montreal Blu Ray filmed in 1981. This version is from the Queen + Paul Rodgers 2008 tour. Recorded 27 years apart and RT's voice still sounds just like it did when he first recorded the song in 1976. (And for anyone interested in bloopers - check out this version. Poor RT forgets the words and Freddie Mercury has to help him out.)
Back to the trifecta...
I did a little bit of research and discovered that they are both written in 6/8 time. Now I know absolutely nothing about music, but I have at times in my life had flashes of musical brilliance regarding beat. I subconsciously pick up on things like whether the song's time is unusual or different when most people just listen to the song itself. 6/8 time is relatively unusual for a rock band to use, but, for some reason, it really worked for Queen and quite a few of their songs were written in 6/8 time. So armed with this information, I can now shop for more Queen songs written in 6/8 time that I can use for running!
Other 6/8 Queen songs:
A Winter's Tale
Somebody to Love
We are the Champions (I refuse to link this. You've all heard it.)
Millionaire Waltz (some portions)
I own some of these but am very much looking forward to purchasing the rest. The obsessions trifecta indeed!
Happy Listening!
and
Happy Running!
and
Happy Shopping!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Running Essentials: CW-X tights
I've written about cold weather running before. In New England, I have to deal with it starting in November and lasting through March. Typically a regular running pant is enough, but on those super frigid freezing days, I get out my CW-X tights. A salesman at my local running store first showed me these tights in fall of 2008. He assured me that they were absolutely amazing, that he could run in temperatures below 0 and be totally comfortable, that the "Support Web" bands would keep my muscles fresh and stabilized, and then at the end of my run, the tights would balance my checkbook.Well, he didn't say that last part, but he might as well have. I just smiled and nodded at him and told him, "Maybe next year." I walked out of the store laughing to myself, "Over $100 for running tights? He has got to be insane." That year winter came along and I froze my way through training for a half marathon. By the spring thaw, I eyed the CW-X tights again. This time I found them on sale at my favorite running gear website and I had a 20% off coupon. I figured, "What the heck," and submitted my order.
Oh my gosh! The first time I wore these tights, I felt like maybe I should seek out my local running store salesman and apologize to him because honestly and truly these tights are amazing! I ordered them in black/grey, size Large. Now, they are tights so they are...well...tight. CW-X should make shapewear for work because these babies suck you in! I usually pull on a second pair of pants or a running skirt for modesty purposes.
The pants are lined with a nice warm fleece-like material which keeps me warm in super cold and super wet temperatures. I've worn these tights on 8 mile runs in pouring freezing rain without an issue. They are a bit short on me (I'm 5'8") so I usually wear some higher socks as opposed to my usual no-shows. That keeps my bare ankles covered and warm. The "Support Web" is really neat too - my legs feel less fatigued on runs when I've worn my tights and I'm less sore the next day. There's a key pocket in the waistband and a drawstring (as if I'd want to make these babies any tighter!)
When I bought these, I ended up paying about $75 for them, but honestly they are worth the full retail price of $110. If you live in New England (or Antarctica, same difference) and run in the winter, you need these tights!
Happy Running!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Running Essentials: Garmin Forerunner 305
Every weekend I go on a "long run". Expert trainers recommend that you do one run every week that accounts for approximately 30% of your weekly miles and since I am incapable of creating my own training plan, I listen to the expert trainers.
When I'm in training for a race, the long run can be up to 14 miles. Right now, however, I am just attempting to fend off winter weight gain and stay in relatively good shape so I've scaled back to between 7-9 miles. This is the perfect run length in my opinion. Anything less than 3-4 miles and I'm annoyed that I'm going to all the trouble of putting on my shoes. Anything longer than 10 and my body starts to reject the run and I end up miserable and dying on the side of the road. But 7-9 miles? Perfect. I could run that distance every day and be completely content.
How do I know when I've run between 7-9 miles, you ask? Ah because I have my Garmin Forerunner 305 - the greatest invention of all time and my most favorite running purchase ever. Seriously, if you have ever even considered going for a run, you should buy this thing. It's that freakin' amazing.
The Garmin Forerunner includes a heart rate monitor strap and computer software that tracks all your runs (you can even enter your indoor runs manually). I got my Garmin in June 2008. I've logged approximately 1300 miles since then (I'd say close to 1000 of those runs were outdoors with the Garmin) and the heart rate monitor battery is just now starting to die. I know that it is starting to die because as I ventured out into the cold last week, it suggested to me that my heart rate was 39 degrees. Now, I'm definitely a hypochondriac, but I know for a fact that my heart rate was not 39 because if it was, I would have been at the hospital and not preparing to run 7 miles. I gave the monitor a tug and it appeared to straighten itself out, but I'm pretty impressed that it lasted as long as it did.
The Garmin works just like its automobile unit does - the device connects to satellites and tracks distance and speed. Pretty cool - the display allows you to choose heart rate, pace, total time, time remaining, total distance, and time. You pick how many you want displayed, which ones, and where you want them displayed (which sounds kind of unnecessary, but believe me once you get used to heart rate being in one spot, you don't want distance to be in that spot all of a sudden. "What? My heart rate is 5.39?")
You can also program in different workouts. The Garmin will beep for you to speed up or slow down depending on the workout you entered. It will show you when you are ahead of pace or falling behind. And if you get lost, it will direct you back to your starting point!
I've got the Forerunner 305 and there have been some newer models released since I got mine. I'm perfectly content with mine though (and now it is cheaper because of the newer models and that's always a good thing!) The unit is a decent size (bigger than a typical sport watch), but it fits my wrist fine. It comes with a larger wrist strap along with the computer software and charging cradle. On a few occasions I've needed to update the software, but customer service has always been really helpful and the issue is typically resolved right away. The display is large enough to steal a quick glance at which is important as the alternative is squinting down at your wrist and risking getting hit by a car.
So there you go - a running essential.
Happy Running!
When I'm in training for a race, the long run can be up to 14 miles. Right now, however, I am just attempting to fend off winter weight gain and stay in relatively good shape so I've scaled back to between 7-9 miles. This is the perfect run length in my opinion. Anything less than 3-4 miles and I'm annoyed that I'm going to all the trouble of putting on my shoes. Anything longer than 10 and my body starts to reject the run and I end up miserable and dying on the side of the road. But 7-9 miles? Perfect. I could run that distance every day and be completely content.
The Garmin Forerunner includes a heart rate monitor strap and computer software that tracks all your runs (you can even enter your indoor runs manually). I got my Garmin in June 2008. I've logged approximately 1300 miles since then (I'd say close to 1000 of those runs were outdoors with the Garmin) and the heart rate monitor battery is just now starting to die. I know that it is starting to die because as I ventured out into the cold last week, it suggested to me that my heart rate was 39 degrees. Now, I'm definitely a hypochondriac, but I know for a fact that my heart rate was not 39 because if it was, I would have been at the hospital and not preparing to run 7 miles. I gave the monitor a tug and it appeared to straighten itself out, but I'm pretty impressed that it lasted as long as it did.
The Garmin works just like its automobile unit does - the device connects to satellites and tracks distance and speed. Pretty cool - the display allows you to choose heart rate, pace, total time, time remaining, total distance, and time. You pick how many you want displayed, which ones, and where you want them displayed (which sounds kind of unnecessary, but believe me once you get used to heart rate being in one spot, you don't want distance to be in that spot all of a sudden. "What? My heart rate is 5.39?")
You can also program in different workouts. The Garmin will beep for you to speed up or slow down depending on the workout you entered. It will show you when you are ahead of pace or falling behind. And if you get lost, it will direct you back to your starting point!
I've got the Forerunner 305 and there have been some newer models released since I got mine. I'm perfectly content with mine though (and now it is cheaper because of the newer models and that's always a good thing!) The unit is a decent size (bigger than a typical sport watch), but it fits my wrist fine. It comes with a larger wrist strap along with the computer software and charging cradle. On a few occasions I've needed to update the software, but customer service has always been really helpful and the issue is typically resolved right away. The display is large enough to steal a quick glance at which is important as the alternative is squinting down at your wrist and risking getting hit by a car.
So there you go - a running essential.
Happy Running!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
First post - and Away We Go
I might as well start this off with an introduction. Who am I? Why would anybody be interested in reading my blog? Well, I can't answer the second question, but I can certainly attempt to answer the first.
Who am I?
I'm 28 years old. Female. Married. That's the easy stuff.
I'm originally from the South. Not the "deep" South, but well below the Mason Dixon line. If you heard me talk, you'd never guess that I was from the South - I work very hard to not have any trace of an accent. However, if I go back home, it takes about twenty minutes before I lapse into a "y'all" coma. Now I live in New England after a four year stint in NYC.
I'm a lawyer. I work for the government. Here's the thing about my job: coming out of college, if you had asked me to describe my dream job, I would have described my current job. It's great - the perfect balance of court, client contact and writing and research. I am also really passionate about the area of law in which I practice - it's the reason I went to law school in the first place. But as great as all this is, that's also the downside: I'm 28 years old and I have my dream job. Can I do this for the next 40 years? There's no real room for advancement at my current job so where do I go from here? When do I need to start thinking about where do I go from here? I'm 3.5 years into "real life" post-grad school and I'm not quite sure what I should be doing next.
My husband is also a lawyer. He does boring law. He bores me with stories about depositions and summary judgment motions and discovery. *snore* I won't bore you with any of that.
We have two dogs who I will likely discuss here often. A Boston Terrier and mutt. Individually, they are great dogs. Together, they are absolutely and completely insane.
Now to the fun stuff - the purpose of this blog...
I have what some (i.e. DSM-IV) would call an obsessive personality. It has in my life been a source of great amusement to both myself and others. It also hampers fun to a certain extent because there are some things that I could never ever even try for fear of my good ole' obsessive personality taking over. That being the case, it tends to surface with respect to random weird things.
My three current obsessions: running, shopping, and Queen hence: the Princess of Taylor.
I'm particularly pleased with myself for thinking of a rather clever title for my blog. It may seem simple but it is actually very complex.
Princess:
I'm a princess. I'll admit it. I'm very spoiled and have been my whole life. As a child, my dad made me a sandwich every day for lunch. Now my husband does. There's nothing wrong with that.
However, I'm also a running princess. Last March, several friends and I ran the First Annual Disney Princess Half Marathon. We ran it wearing homemade tutus and tiaras. Along the way we stopped and took pictures with every Disney character we passed and at the finish line were presented with Tiara Finisher's Medals.
Finally, Queen, one of the greatest bands of all time. It would be rather presumptuous to call myself Queen after their awesomeness so Princess is an appropriate step down.
Taylor:
Of all the stores at which I shop, I love Ann Taylor the most. I will admit that it is definitely a love-hate relationship. I feud with them incessantly about shipping costs and price adjustments and they make me absolutely crazy sometimes, but I cannot deny that they make absolutely beautiful clothing that occasionally fits me really well.
Anyone who knows anything about Queen (or about me) will know that their drummer is named Roger Taylor and he's my favorite member of the band. I understand that 99% of people reading this will say, "Wait - how is Freddie Mercury not your favorite member of Queen." To you all, I say, "Freddie Mercury was amazing. Possibly the greatest frontman of all time, but watch the Queen Rock Montreal Blu Ray. Watch the performance of "Under Pressure". That's not a backing track singing David Bowie's part - that's Roger Taylor. Oh and he's also playing like a 17 piece drum kit at the same time." Case closed.
So there's my clever little title. I briefly flirted with the idea of being Princess Taylor, but decided that would be confusing and make it sound like either 1) my name is Taylor (which it is not, first or last) or 2) I want my last name to be Taylor (by either marrying Ann or Roger). As the second option would be weird, even for me, I added the "of" and presto, perfection.
I'm sure at some point I'll ramble on about other things on here, but this is a good jumping off point. Sooo away we go...
Who am I?
I'm 28 years old. Female. Married. That's the easy stuff.
I'm originally from the South. Not the "deep" South, but well below the Mason Dixon line. If you heard me talk, you'd never guess that I was from the South - I work very hard to not have any trace of an accent. However, if I go back home, it takes about twenty minutes before I lapse into a "y'all" coma. Now I live in New England after a four year stint in NYC.
I'm a lawyer. I work for the government. Here's the thing about my job: coming out of college, if you had asked me to describe my dream job, I would have described my current job. It's great - the perfect balance of court, client contact and writing and research. I am also really passionate about the area of law in which I practice - it's the reason I went to law school in the first place. But as great as all this is, that's also the downside: I'm 28 years old and I have my dream job. Can I do this for the next 40 years? There's no real room for advancement at my current job so where do I go from here? When do I need to start thinking about where do I go from here? I'm 3.5 years into "real life" post-grad school and I'm not quite sure what I should be doing next.
My husband is also a lawyer. He does boring law. He bores me with stories about depositions and summary judgment motions and discovery. *snore* I won't bore you with any of that.
We have two dogs who I will likely discuss here often. A Boston Terrier and mutt. Individually, they are great dogs. Together, they are absolutely and completely insane.
Now to the fun stuff - the purpose of this blog...
I have what some (i.e. DSM-IV) would call an obsessive personality. It has in my life been a source of great amusement to both myself and others. It also hampers fun to a certain extent because there are some things that I could never ever even try for fear of my good ole' obsessive personality taking over. That being the case, it tends to surface with respect to random weird things.
My three current obsessions: running, shopping, and Queen hence: the Princess of Taylor.
I'm particularly pleased with myself for thinking of a rather clever title for my blog. It may seem simple but it is actually very complex.
Princess:
I'm a princess. I'll admit it. I'm very spoiled and have been my whole life. As a child, my dad made me a sandwich every day for lunch. Now my husband does. There's nothing wrong with that.
However, I'm also a running princess. Last March, several friends and I ran the First Annual Disney Princess Half Marathon. We ran it wearing homemade tutus and tiaras. Along the way we stopped and took pictures with every Disney character we passed and at the finish line were presented with Tiara Finisher's Medals.
Finally, Queen, one of the greatest bands of all time. It would be rather presumptuous to call myself Queen after their awesomeness so Princess is an appropriate step down.
Taylor:
Of all the stores at which I shop, I love Ann Taylor the most. I will admit that it is definitely a love-hate relationship. I feud with them incessantly about shipping costs and price adjustments and they make me absolutely crazy sometimes, but I cannot deny that they make absolutely beautiful clothing that occasionally fits me really well.
Anyone who knows anything about Queen (or about me) will know that their drummer is named Roger Taylor and he's my favorite member of the band. I understand that 99% of people reading this will say, "Wait - how is Freddie Mercury not your favorite member of Queen." To you all, I say, "Freddie Mercury was amazing. Possibly the greatest frontman of all time, but watch the Queen Rock Montreal Blu Ray. Watch the performance of "Under Pressure". That's not a backing track singing David Bowie's part - that's Roger Taylor. Oh and he's also playing like a 17 piece drum kit at the same time." Case closed.
So there's my clever little title. I briefly flirted with the idea of being Princess Taylor, but decided that would be confusing and make it sound like either 1) my name is Taylor (which it is not, first or last) or 2) I want my last name to be Taylor (by either marrying Ann or Roger). As the second option would be weird, even for me, I added the "of" and presto, perfection.
I'm sure at some point I'll ramble on about other things on here, but this is a good jumping off point. Sooo away we go...
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