Posts Tagged ‘music’

Sending super speedy lovin’ vibes today to Jim, Jackie, Barb, Joe, Ilona and Ron.   Between CIM, Tucson and Ron’s charity 40miler to honor his cousin, I want you folks to know I’m super proud of all of you.  Jim, you better be remembering every little thing because I’m going to want full details.  I know I’ll get everybody else’s dirt on the forums.

As for me, I just completed a super windy 6, which brings me to 50 miles for the week.  It’s a good level for me, so here’s hoping 2009 lets it continue, uninterrupted.

Guess it’s time to do something productive because neither Tucson or CIM have tracking.  How’s a girl supposed to concentrate with all this marathon madness going on?  The injustice of it all.

I’ll leave you with my latest fave running song, Sex Is On Fire by Kings of Leon.

Backtracking first…

Monday’s 7 w/3 mile tempo ended up being a fabu run; molasses start on the first tempo mile (7:57) but the next two miles (7:38, 7:36) made up for the initial sludge.  A new song on the mp3 player, “Let It Rock” got me pumped so much, I rewound it for the whole 3 miles worth.

Yesterday had its ups and downs.  On the downs, remember my wonderful dentist appt the other day?  The cleaning was great, I had stellar hygiene, but a couple cleanings ago, my regular hygienist Patty (who had become a friend and partner in crime) was fired or quit.  “Partner in crime” because for a couple years, before the doc would come in to check me out, she’d whisper “he’s going to tell you replace this filling but don’t worry about it yet, you can wait on it”.

It was a huge old filling, but it hadn’t given me any trouble and I loved that she was my renegade hygenist.  When she left, I was assigned a chipper company girl in her place.  She’s very nice and all, but now there’s no one to tell me to ignore the doc, so I finally gave in to the pressure and got Step One of a crown yesterday.  The shit costs $868.  I miss my Patty.

On yesterday’s ups, I had such a great run that what was supposed to be 7 ended up 9.  It was the first really cold day here, windchill 30, but it was sunny and vibrant outside and I just wanted to keep going.  Later, we went for a fun dinner with our friends Lara and Jeff where I got drunk as a skunk and ate duck.   Anyway, it was almost enough to make me forget the interval session I had planned today, but I went to bed with it weighing on my mind because it was one of those long things I hate.

Yeah, I’m on the Flo Plan which includes only VO2 sessions of my liking, but Pfitzinger has a cruel one for pre-race week (2 x 1.25 miles @5k race pace with recoveries 50%-90% of the interval time) and because it looked like something I knew I’d hate, I made myself do it.  I figure if I dread it, it must be good for me (in intervals, anyway).

It ended up being ok, I averaged 7:16 pace on the first one (9:05), recovered for 6 minutes (65%ish), than went 7:19/mi (9:09) on the second one, so 7:17/mi avg. for both.  Really not bad and now I have that amazing feeling after a hateful workout that says “I did it! I’m done! I can be a restful pig now.”

I was so cooked afterwards, that I ended up run/walking the 3 miles home, which I never do.  Even with the walking, it still ended up a regular easy pace, so no biggie, just a point of interest.

Now I’ve done my physical labor for the day, I’m going downtown in a minute to do a voiceover of some short, in-store spots.  Not sure what it’s for yet, but speaking of in-store stuff, did I ever mention how jealous I am of whoever gets those self-checkout voiceover gigs for grocery stores?  Can you imagine what a giant job that would be?  I mean, there are only about a zillion products in a store.  Plus, how fun to hear your robotic voice say “Move your.   Tree-ripe peaches.  To The Belt.”

And now.  I must.  Go.
Later.   Kids.

Today was supposed to be 5 recovery so I didn’t get out until 8:30, figuring who cares if it’s 80 degrees, I’ll be going slow.  But then I got that weird rebelliousness in me and ran it GA instead.  I was bitching at myself while doing it, so I really don’t get my motives, except to say it must be some weird confirmation thing.  Like when you bite the inside of your mouth and keep doing it to confirm that yes, it really does hurt.  Except in this case, it’s to confirm that yes, I really can run faster than a snail. Don’t know why I can’t just believe it and let it go.

But anyway, I did it like a pyramid because once I got to the middle with an MP mile, I realized I’d better pull back since I have 14 of those on Sunday.  Avg. for today’s run: 8:43.  Yeah, I know, none of the times I post are really speedy at all, but considering the pace the plan asks for, it was naughtily fast.

So tomorrow is my birthday, I’m going to be 47 years old!  How in hell did this happen?!?  The funny thing is my marathon training has overtaken so many parts of my life that I’ve requested no celebration tomorrow night, knowing that it could mess with my MP run on Sunday.

I posted something in my Women’s BQ thread along these lines also, because I have some cute chunky platform flip-flops that I’ve stopped wearing because I’m afraid I’ll slide off and hurt my ankle.  I also imagine myself tripping on the sidewalk or being run into by a bicyclist, laming me and ruining my marathon dream.  And I know my friends are tired of hearing, “no thanks, I’m going to stay in, I have a hard run tomorrow”, but it’s the sad truth, I’d rather have a great run than go out.  Then again, I’m a hermit anyway, so quite a handy excuse.

But enough imaginings from the Pre-Marathon Drama Queen, how about today’s musical pick?

I’m usually a New Music/Alternative freak but I love a great melodic theme no matter what the genre (add a great hook and I’m there).  So don’t be surprised that today’s fave tune has a Southern Rock type feel: Cocaine Cowgirl by Matt Mays.  Extraordinarily cheezy video, but it’s the only way to play you the song.  Anyway, it has this wonderful melancholy opening guitar riff that laces through the whole tune.  And besides, who doesn’t like a good druggy song every now and then?

My workout today was a beautiful thing, didn’t go the Pfitzinger med-long run route, because I was doing my mile long hill which makes the 20% – 10% not really a viable parameter. As for the hill itself, which I’ve been prefacing recently with “stupid” as in Stupid Mile Hill because things that make me suffer scare me and calling them names makes me feel better, today the hill and I came to an agreement; I wouldn’t bitch and moan and it would be nicer to me than it’s ever been.

Long story short, I did 2.5 trips with the uphills paced at 9:25, 9:29 and 9:47 and the downhills at 8:07, 8:17 and 8:17. How wonderful to be able to fully rehearse my Steamtown pacing (which I imagine will be 8:17-8:20 on the downs) and have it feel good. Of course, after a zillion of those strung together I know it’ll be less than happy-making, but I can start to imagine the real deal now.

After I was done with the hill, like magic (or as running god Arthur Lydiard might have predicted) the final miles home were strangely faster than they felt. I seriously felt I was going along at 9:15 or so but thanks to that fast downhill running, I was actually averaging 8:39. Final tally today: 14.5 miles, average pace: 8:59.

The other big news of the run was I have finally found a gel I LIKE! Not “can stand” “can stomach” or “is palatable” but one where I thought the taste was juuuust right: Gu Just Plain. Wow, not at all cloyingly sweet while at the same time without any of the tartness I find in Hammer or Carbboom. Simply a truly light taste that, mixed in a flask, will improve the Vanilla and Apple Carbbooms I just got, or taste great straight. Seriously, it was so strange to finish a gel off without a single grimace.

On to real running news, I cried last night when 38 year-old Constantina Tomescu won the marathon. What an edge of the seat race that was! Of course, so heartbreaking for Deena and Paula but so thrilling to see a 38 year-old conquer that race! And with such a daring break, just shocking. So here’s to Constantina Tomescu and Dara Torres, another amazing athlete at 41 years old. Cheers to these mature athletic powerhouses, you make the world a more hopeful place.

Moving sideways away from running, I had quite a laugh yesterday while grocery shopping with Nick. We were standing in the produce section of ShopRite, a huge grocery store chain, when I realize the Muzak coming over the loudspeakers was “Love To Love You, Baby”, complete with lyrics. I turned to Nick and said, “check out the music”, we had a chuckle and squeezed some peaches. Then a few minutes later, I recognize the next song is “Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi”. Granted, both were fab disco hits in their day, but I find it hilarous that the background music for grocery shopping is now Fuck Me songs. How lovely for the little children, lol.

But enough gabbing from me today, go find some fruit to play with and hum a nasty tune to yourself. It’ll either have you wanting to go grocery shopping or make wild crazy love next to some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

No, I didn’t actually get any new ink, but check out my lower back from Sunday’s 21.

How ironic, I make a design about chafing in places you’ve never heard of and I end up doing just that to my own body.  I mean, who chafes on their lower back?  Is nothing sacred?  Shitty shorts, is what it was.   They were soaking wet the whole time and they have a pocket in the back that I had a couple gels in, which probably didn’t help, but I think the main offender was some poofiness of fabric surrounding the waistband elastic.  Anyway, it’s two days later and the tramp stamp is still there.  I’m a branded runner.

Moving along, last week my total mileage was 55, this week Pfitzinger takes it down a notch mileage-wise with a total of 48. Today was an easy-shmeasy, 6 recovery miles, tomorrow is a mid-long 15, then a couple more 6-mile recovery runs (Saturday’s with strides), then come Sunday…my first Marathon Pace run!  I’m looking forward to it, actually.  It’s also 15 but with 12 MP in the middle.  My MP at this point is 8:23 (for a 3:40 marathon), so we’ll see how it goes.

Today’s most fabulous song for recovery was Wild Sweet Orange’s “Ten Dead Dogs” It makes me really sad, but in that beautiful bittersweet way only a good breakup ballad can do.

Another night of 4.5 hours sleep to get up early enough to beat the heat, or the illusion of beating it – in these temps, taming it is the best you can do. Like every night before a challenging run, I get a little excited of what the morning will bring and today with 11 miles and a 6 mile tempo thrown in the middle, was no exception.

I left the house at a really easy 10:18 which is funny in itself, since last year when I finally got into the 9s, I wouldn’t dare do 10 anything from that point on. Seriously, it wasn’t till this training cycle, when I’m trying to follow the correct way to T, that I’m finally going slower so I can go faster and by golly, the shit’s working!

I would have liked to have to started the tempo at 2 miles in, but because there are few fountains in the park and I didn’t want to interrupt the tempo portion if I could, I started at mile 3 so I could get my last sip at the fountain before the doing the deed. As usual, with these long Pfitz tempos, when I’m finishing that last warmup mile, I ask myself how in hell am I going to be able to do this, it’s almost 2 minutes faster that what I’m doing now and I’m not walking. Waaaahhhh.

Internal tantrums aside, I kicked it! Yuh-huh! My tempo avg was 8:02, splits were 8:05, 8:03, 8:02, 7:57, 8:04, 8:05. On an 80 degree morning with a thimble of sleep…I’ll take it!

One thing that helped is, you know I’d been leaving my music turned off recently? Last night I made a playlist especially for today’s run. I’ve been downloading a lot of fun stuff anyway, so I put 4 of the slower songs at the top, then a transition song, then the good stuff took me through the tempo. Favorite songs from this round are Idlewild’s “You Held The World In Your Arms” (not a great video, but the song is infuckingcredible) and Carolina Liar’s “Show Me What I’m Looking For”
(talk about an anthem! who wouldn’t want to run to those chimes, that choir…ah!).

Other than that, most of you probably know about the drama thread at RW since that’s where the bulk of you guys come from anyway and that thing sent over a ton of people yesterday. Anyway, just an amusing note about it all, a do-gooder poster let me know that he reported the thread yesterday to the admins because he thought the OP was a little unstable. I understood, but wanted the truth to be out, so didn’t really want the thread removed.

As it happens, the only fallout from the admins was a PM for me today, admonishing me for cussing in a thread with one of my oh-so-clever workarounds (in this case “fuc-king”, and if you see it in context, it’s completely justified). Actually I was pretty proud of that one (looks better than schit which I write for shit), but that’s cool. I understand their point. Happily, I have no such rules on this blog, so I want to say this (and I mean it in only the nicest possible way)…have a fucking fabulous Friday, each and every one of you. Later, babies.