Sunday, August 29, 2010

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

...as in, the days leading up to the start of Ohio State football season! Only 5 short days until the official return of tailgating and college football to my life (okay, and tailgate food too). This will hopefully mean the steady return of fall weather, too but considering we had gorgeous weather all week only to have it get hot again yesterday and today with no end in sight I don't think that's going to happen.

However, as I may have mentioned in the past, training in this hot weather should mean great things for my overall pace and race times come fall. Barring any major mishaps, that is. I was afraid I had a mishap on my hands a couple of weeks ago, in the form of some nagging pain/discomfort in my left knee that started up during a 4 mile run and refused to go away no matter how much I rested my legs. I picked up a new pair of shoes (I was due for some, anyway), made plans to have my athletic trainer sister take a look at the knee when she was in Cinci that weekend, and crossed my fingers I could at least make it through part of my scheduled 9 mile long run that Saturday (after having rested my legs since that Tuesday). The 9 miler came and went...with only minor discomfort. That continued to diminish throughout that day, and was gone completely when I woke up Sunday morning. I don't know if it was the new shoes, or the thread of being poked and prodded by my sister (which we never got around to doing), or just a coincidence and me getting nervous over nothing, but I haven't heard a peep out of my knee since and I am SO relieved. When training for my spring half, I strained my right quad about 2 months before the race and my speed and focus never really recovered so needless to say when this nagging ache came along at the same point in my training I was NOT amused. Thankfully, my speed and focus are sloooooowly starting to come back to me so hopefully I can stay healthy and kick some ass in October :D

Speaking of kicking some ass, my friend Colleen is at this very second undoubtedly kicking some ass on the running portion of her third Ironman triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) in Louisville. I am totally in awe-she and her husband Tom have trained like crazy for this and I know they're both doing awesome. However, I also know that their course covers a good part of the same course I ran for the Derby Festival Mini and my sister and her BF ran for the Derby Festival Marathon in April and that its a tough course. Plus its roughly 90 degrees here in Columbus so definitely hotter down south...I guess this is one of those times that training in heat and humidity comes in handy :) Keep kicking ass, Colleen and Tom-we're all cheering for you!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

C'mon, Mother Nature...

...haven't we had enough? Ohio has had humid, oppressive hot weather from pretty much May 'til now, save the random couple days of "cooler" weather and teases of 60ish degree 7am long runs. Damnit, I have a half marathon to break 1:50 in a little over TWO months from now and doing some much needed outdoor speed training is going to be much easier once it cools off a little bit! I should not sweat as much on a 3 mile easyish run (meaning, long run pace) as I did tonight. Jesus H.

On that note, I have officially joined that running group I was talking about. I've gotten to chat with a few people in my long run pace group, which definitely makes the long runs go a lot faster...and am forcing myself to do my necessary speedwork either on the dreadmill or the track at the gym. Both of which I HATEHATEHATE but it's better than doing it outside because with the aforementioned heat I know it would not go well.

I'm also trying to make an effort to rededicate myself to eating better, to improve my overall health and to lose the 5-7lbs I've gained since my half last fall (also Columbus). I know I CAN do this, I just have to remind my willpower of that :) All the veggies we're getting from our garden (hooray for ripe tomatoes) has helped somewhat, as has a couple of trips to local farmers markets. Mmmmm, peaches...

In other news, we are eagerly counting down the days until the start of Ohio State football season aka the hap-happiest season of alllllllllll...less than a month now! Between that and the hoopla surrounding TO joining my Bengals (don't worry, I still hate TO but just slightly less since he's a Bengal), things are good in my household :)

So cross your fingers things cool off here soon...it can't stay this hot for THAT much longer. Right?