I Heart Mudpies!

You probably know that I have a little bit of LeBron envy. He and I started our careers at the same time, and I’ve been trying to keep pace. (While I’m not the LBJ of Web design, I’m totally working on it.)

Imagine my shock, then, when DeShawn Stevenson called the King of Cleveland “overrated” last week—shortly before the Wizards fell to the Cavs in Game 1 of the playoffs. Sucker!

LBJ didn’t pout about it or come to the court with a bad attitude. LBJ brought his game with 32 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists. So, let that be a lesson to you: when people try to bash your chi with insults, mudslinging or negativity, bring your LBJ game. And dunk on them. Whether you’re an accountant, network administrator, waiter or artist, live your day the LBJ way.

I didn’t have any negativity thrown my way, but I did feel totally LBJ today. A special thanks to JenC for inviting me out with her girls for a trail run at North Chagrin. Talk about Awesome (that’s with a capital A)!

There were trees and hills, roots and mud, bridges and creeks, sticks and ravines. Between the conversation, scenery and sloshing mud, the time flew and I had a super swell time. I talked Jen’s ear off, learned about different races and totally dug hanging out with some hip, athletic chicas!

We ran for my season-long time 1:56:00 and about ten miles. Woo hoo! Jen & co. had a major brick workout on Saturday, so I appreciated them accommodating my way-too-eager-to-trail-run energy at the outset. But I think we all know I have a problem with pacing and I eventually came to a reasonable pace.

Running with a group definitely gives me a better sense of how fast we’re moving, and someday (someday!) I’ll be able to pace my runs with purpose. At least a purpose that doesn’t consist of “run until your sputter out and then adjust accordingly.”

It was my first time running on trails and, to be honest, my first non-race run in mud and some drizzle. And I’ve learned that there’s no better thing to do in the rain than run in the mud! There’s something energizing about hopping over mud and dodging roots in the woods. It was a top-notch workout and I walked away feeling just swell.

Our post-run meal got me thinking: how does your appetite react to your workouts?

If I take a long run, I crave light foods like fruits and veggies for the first couple hours and then need, need, need my protein and carbs, carbs, carbs two to three hours later. Yet when I swim, I’m pretty famished right away. In fact, I’d probably eat a bowl of spaghetti poolside if I could. If I ever swam anymore, that is.

For lunch I had granola, yogurt and fresh fruit; for dinner I had half a big homemade pizza with half olive oil, half Little Italy marinara, garlic and cheese. I also scarfed a Larabar Cocoa Mole, which is an all natural food bar that combines dates, almonds, unsweetened cocoa, cinnamon and chili. Way different taste, plenty of vitamins, just enough carbs and protein.

My morning run, however, was fueled almost exclusively by three packs of GU (chocolate outrage, vanilla bean and orange burst) that I picked up when I was at Eddy’s Bike Shop looking at—you guessed it!—bicycles. I checked out a number of rides, including road bike models from Trek, Cannondale, Giant, Felt and Specialized, and fell for an orange Felt FW40.

Because I’m still a fledgling triathlete, I stuck with the more versatile and more cost-effective road bikes as opposed to tri-bikes this round. It was neat looking at the tri-bike frames; it was not neat looking at the price tags on those frames.

While I didn’t make the purchase (yet), the test ride and measurements (I'm way short but I have longer-for-a-short-girl legs, so I need a 47-inch frame with a low seat) helped me reclaim my desire to keep tri-training. Because of my hybrid-inflicted disenchantment with cycling, I had nearly convinced myself to nix triathlons this year and focus on the Akron Marathon. But when I pushed off on a couple of test rides, I felt the way bikes are supposed to move. I took hills and dales like it was nothing.

So much for all the hard-work pedaling on my hybrid!

I knew well that my bike was a disadvantage in my racing, but it didn’t make sense to me to invest even in a low-end road bike before I knew whether I’d stick with the sport. I’ve put out my feelers to learn more about the Felt FW40, and might make a decision this week. I’m also checking out the trainers—an accessory that should benefit a weather-wimp like me when it comes to cycle-training.

We’re not moving until the end of May, but I’m spending the night at our Euclid house again. It will be nice to get a full night’s sleep without the excessive commute. I’ve recently cut out my 5 a.m. cross-training in favor of more sleep (I was averaging 5-6 hours each night and it was catching up to me), and I’m looking forward to getting in all of my training—marathon, triathlon, cross and home-owning—some day soon.

UPDATE: Within hours of my post, a family put a deposit on Benjie at the Euclid Animal Shelter and he will likely go home, upon family approval, somewhere happy and healthy next week. He had been at the shelter for close to a month, but they don't off with the animals. I contacted the shelter to offer up a foster home if times got desperate (which we all know would mean I'd end up adopting him!). Thanks to the people who responded and sought more info on him. I hope your warm and happy home welcomes a pooch soon.

Marathon Training Week 2: 27.5 miles

Happy Eat-the-Fourth-of-July!

In case you were concerned, I did make it home safe and sound on Monday evening. The bike ride was quite pleasant—short of a few extra-long waits on some traffic lights—and incredibly downhill as I had suspected. I’m keeping an eye on the weather forecast to see when the next ride-to-work bonanza can happen again.

I didn’t have anything to report on Tuesday because the only real training (other than some morning yoga, par usual) I did was for a great eating contest. And chances are Joey Chestnut would beat me anyway. Unless, of course, it was cupcake eating.

Life as I’ve known it pretty much resumed on Wednesday, I woke up early and did a couple hours of yoga, meditation and apartment cleaning. And by mid-afternoon, I was feeling pretty healthy on the sciatica front (about bleepin’ time!). So, I headed out for a run. A real run.

But trying to be smart, I started with a brisk walk again for 2.5 miles at 14-15:30/mile pace around my neighborhood. I was keeping my strides long, arms swinging and my left foot firmly planting with each step. The difference from Sunday’s outing was that I didn’t feel any pressure during the walk. And that was nice!

My goal was to cover four miles, and after walking the first two-and-a-half, the next one-and-a-half would be cake. They were. So I kept running.

It was only around the last half mile that I started feeling a little pressure in my lower back and thought it might be a good idea to slow down, cool down and head home. But that was only after I ran 4.05 miles, for a total of 6.55 miles (2.5 miles walking + 4.05 miles running).

The saddest part was plugging in my iPod and seeing that I had fallen to a distant fourth in one of my challenges. I’m 150 miles behind the leader and 50 behind the second-place runner whom I had totally beat three weeks ago. Such is the way of the injury.

But as Landon told me not long ago: the miles I sacrifice now during recovery will only be a fraction of the miles I would lose in the long run if I didn’t let myself heal.

Needless to say (which is, in itself, a funny thing to say), I didn’t run in the July 4 race in North Canton. And I’m still up in the air about Saturday’s 10K in Kent. Only Thursday and Friday will tell.