January 29th, 2010
A gal who makes an entire video wearing a shithead wig and discussing the wiley ways of The Bear has no business running out of dessert on a Wednesday evening and eating a mammoth bowl of frosted shredded wheat as a poor substitute. Especially if that gal goes on a tempo run the next morning without doing her, er…business, beforehand.
Backtracking, Tuesday was quite a good run – hill reps day - so 10mi w/5 x.25mi repeats. When I did these 3 weeks ago, I was pretty satisfied with the workout though if you remember, once home and looking at my logs, realized I’d lost quite a chunk of fitness since last Fall’s buildup. So this Tuesday was great because it was 10sec faster per rep, had an additional rep than the last time and a lower heart rate, to boot. Plus, they were all into the wind. A needed confidence booster.
Wednesday was an 8mi recovery, then yesterday, a not-so-hot tempo. It was 13mi. w/4tempo and I struggled to keep the tempo miles at anything approaching a good pace, they veered from 7:20s to 7:25, which really super sucks but honestly, I was ok with it!
Having Tuesday’s good workout was like, “Ok, this was just an off day, there’s still good things going on beyond this one run.” I rarely do morning runs in the winter anyway, so maybe I wasn’t all there, but also…the bear! My last tempo mile was crazy fighting that gnarly wooly creature off. Thankfully, the tempo portion ended just in front of the restrooms. I guess you need to be careful of what you talk about, or else it might come round to bite you in the ass. Literally.
Today is a day off, but well spent. I made a narration demo! I love Mike and Deb, the studio owners. They’re a blast to hang with and she makes a mean chicken casserole. Here are the fruits of our labor. (warning: it’s not at all thrilling but since I’m such a media whore these days, may as well post it).
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Other than that, I’ve become enamored with Facebook this week. Last night I made a Fan Page for Gifted Runner and it’s already got 50 fans. Half are my friends while the other half are people I don’t even know and they’re actually going to the website, so this is a very cool development. Didn’t realize just how useful it could be, so if you have a site, I highly recommend making a Page for it. And once you get 25 Fans, you can go to www.facebook.com/username to get a pretty URL for it, so I’ve got www.facebook.com/giftedrunner. Niiice.
There’s very little on the page right now but one thing I posted is a promise of new designs by February 9th. How’s that for a publicly self-imposed kick in the ass? Anyway, if you’d like to become a Fan of Gifted Runner, please do. And while I’m in beggar mode, if you want to add me to your friend pile, I’m game: www.facebook.com/flo.karp (you can get a nice URL for your personal page, too).
And with that, I’m going to enjoy the rest of this frigid day off by doing absolutely nothing and not eating shredded wheat because I have 10 w/8MP tomorrow. Just wish it wasn’t going to be 14 degrees. Winter bites.
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yes winter bites indeed. looks like my 20 miler is going to be in ~15*. brrrrrr. your running week looks wicked solid! great workouts except for that bear and even then your tempo pace was awesome. that’s the pace i shoot for but struggle hardcore to stay steady at
Stay warm girl, that’s a long one for being out in the elements. May it be a fabulous LR!
Ooh, that’s no fun. I had to stop a mile-and-a-half into my 15 miler today. I was thinking that was a really bad sign, but luckily it was the last stop. Damn fiber.
Must be something going around. The pooh pooh virus.
I have a 2 hour run tomorrow. I hope the weather is good for that. I really hate running in the cold!
Fingers crossed for a bit of warmth or that you go numb enough not to notice.
Good for you not sweating that tempo. After a tough workout, it did me some good to re-read the Kara Goucher interview (http://running.competitor.com/2009/11/features/exclusive-kara-goucher-interview_6885) where she said her coaches adjust ~1/3 of her workouts so she can actually complete them. While I’m sure they’re really ambitious workouts, I interpret it to mean that everyone has their sucky days, especially when we’re pushing ourselves hard. Keep pushing!
I love that interview, glad you posted the link. Despite her amazing speed she brings it down to a level we can all relate to. And I agree with you, we all get sucky days and have to realize they’re simply part of the plan.
Brrrrrr! I have nothing but admiration for y’all that run through true winters. I’m going to refrain from complaining about Gulf Coast temps plunging into the upper-30s….
Oh, and here comes one for your FB friend pile!
Yay Vince, another new FB pal! Coolomundo.
About the weather, it’s all relative so your 30s will be pretty jarring in its own right, feel free to complain away. ‘Tis the season for cold-weather bitching – no one should feel left out.
I like the honey-covered shredded wheat variety. But oh no, nothing works better than oatmeal for me. And I think your tempo was hot!
Ah, you’re such a positive soul – thanks, my shredded wheat companion. I love oatmeal and other hot cereals, too. Making some as I write this…
Finishing tempo runs or intervals in front of restrooms would be a good tip for your Bear video
Good to see the training is going well in spite of the frigidness. Lots of sweatedness down here.
I was hoping to hear one of those super-fast end-of-ad disclaimers on your narration demo. What, no fast twitch vocal chords? And I get an ‘Error 404 – Not Found’ on the link to Gifted Runner
Thanks for the head-up on the links, they were all wacko! Forgot to add http:// to the front. Aargh.
Hi, I came over from Gifted Runner (I was looking for a cool shirt to wear on my first half marathon), I love your blog and I’m adding it to my reader. It’s nice to see what experienced runners have to say, I just started running in April.
How cool to hear, so glad you found your way to the blog. Here’s to some fabuloso Half training for you (not to mention a great race)!
Twitter and Facebook and friends, Oh My!
Good to hear the fitness is curving up again, despite the crap weather.
Yeah, I’ve been busy. Kinda tired now though. Not from running but from all this social media.