Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

High 40s, cloudy with sun breaks.  Recovery run. 

My quads are just a little sore, but otherwise I'm feeling great today.  My 3rd and final week of official marathon recovery is now complete.  :D    

Mon-Sun weekly total: 47.02 miles 

47F, very windy, and extremely heavy rain. May have been mixed with hail for about 5 minutes. Easy pace, just trying to stay out there.  15 min weights after I dried off & changed.

I was soaked through before I got to mile 3, complete with audibly squishy fish.  (A baptism for my new Smartwool socks I bought this weekend with my REI dividend.)  So here are some good things about my run today: 

It wasn't a treadmill run.

I stayed out the whole time I intended to, earning me huge Macho Points.

Rain is good for the earth. 

It wasn't a treadmill run.

I've had relatively few "soakers" this winter, so I was due for one. 

I doubled back after half a block to switch to my thick, stranded woolen mittens - hands stayed comfy longer. 

It wasn't a treadmill run.

The weight of water in my shoes probably gave my legs a good strength workout. 

I remembered to put my cell phone in a zip lock bag. 

I didn't have to run long this morning, or do any speed work. 

It wasn't a treadmill run.

36F; rain mixed with snow, changed to light rain around mile 4. General-Aerobic run. 20 min. strength.  

This precipitation was entirely tolerable after yesterday's deluge, and I had a very pleasant run.   

Fellow females... if you lift weights at home, as I do, you might be interested in this book, The New Rules of Lifting, For Women.  I skipped over a lot of the book and am mostly using it for instruction on specific exercises.  One thing it has convinced me is to lift heavier weights.  We'll see how that goes.  

38F; partly cloudy w/ moonlight, wet streets but no precip. and little to no wind.  Hill repeats (VO2 & leg strength workout):   2.8 mi w.u.,  6 x 1 min. on ~10% hill w/ 2 min recov. between reps.  All reps .11 miles except last rep .12:  9:16, 9:03, 9:15, 9:05, 8:41, 8:22. 

A very satisfying workout.  The first rep felt horrible, as always. Penultimate and final reps were faster "on purpose," and I'm so pleased I could do it.  My legs were shaky and "dead" for about 15 minutes after the hill reps, but then I finished the run feeling great.

And now, for Sno's Online Therapy Session...  

My daughter (aka SnoFlake on the blog) was scheduled to be in a horse show this Saturday, and we've been preparing for it and looking forward to it for months.  Last night we got word that the show is being postponed due to rain. The new date is May 1, the day of my running club's inaugural Cinco De Mayo Mini-Marathon (half-mar).   We are both very upset. SnoFlake really wants me to go to her show, but she also would hate for me to miss my race, bless her heart.  

After sleeping on it, and letting it all rattle around in my brain while running this morning, here are my thoughts. I'm inclined to try to find a way to hush my inner two-year-old. (ie "I want what I want!")  I'll have many races in my future, but I have only one "daughter's first horse show." We don't even have a horse (her teacher lends her one of his), and I have no idea what role her hobby will play later in her life.  But she has worked so hard and improved so much.  And she wants me there.  I do not take for granted that my presence is important to my teenager; to me it is an honor.  And at how many marathon finish lines have she and Mr. Sno shivered, waiting, waiting, for me to come in?  

There is actually some chance the horse show could be delayed a second time for rain. It's the Pacific Northwest after all!  I was planning only a mini-taper, so I do not have to officially bail until I'm right up against the date.  And perhaps missing the half-m will be a blessing, in that I will not lose a week of taper and a week of recovery; that's two extra weeks of hard training that will go into my June marathon.   

"When in doubt, go to the rocker."  If I close my eyes I can put myself in the big Rocking Chair of the Future: I am 80 or 90 years old and I look back upon difficult moments of my life, and ask, "Did I do the right thing?"  When SnoFlake went to bed last night, she declared she would not go to the show if I had to miss my race or if I would not be there for the show.  That just won't do.  This is really, really important to her.  I think I need to dry these tears and never let my girl see how badly I want to be selfish and have my own way.  I think the Rocker says, "horse show."  What do you think? 

38F; partly cloudy w/ gibbous moon; dry and calm. Easy run. 25 min. strength.

This was supposed to be a "recovery run," but I didn't feel I needed any recovery. Yay for that!  Energy level good and legs felt good.  

What is the deal with Under Armour?  I love thrift shops, and recently found a UA top in my size for $5, so I thought I'd try it out. I'm sure they are at least 10 times that price new.  Now I wish I had my 5 bucks back.  I was chilly and a bit uncomfortable (tight under the arms) in this top.  What is UA for and why is it so expensive?  I would prefer my Smartwool tops to this one any day, and if it were warmer I'd just go with a normal tech-fabric shirt.  Someone enlighten me please.  :)

Did you know that sugar is 4 times more addictive than cocaine?  Willpower, schmillpower. A clinic in Northern California uses amino acids to change their patients' brain chemistry and kick sugar addiction.  You can take their online quiz.  But you're going to have to burn your USDA Food Pyramid. 

High 30s - low 40s F;  first 12 miles: rain showers w/ snow mixed in and very windy at times; last 8 miles: dry, cloudy w/ sun breaks and occasional gusty wind.    Endurance run, club run w/ MP, Leg Builder Hill, and finished around the Ridge. 

Some women whom I know from the neighborhood came to the club run today (I have mentioned them before; they run together weekday mornings but are too fast for me usually.)  I decided to throw caution to the wind and run with them and the pace turned out to be between 9:00 and 9:20 most of the time.  Insto-presto, marathon pace workout!  :D  

Well, I had a feeling I'd pay for it later, and the last 4 miles of my 20 were pretty hard.  I think it was worth it.  It sure was fun (the MP part, not the last 4 miles).  

Also present was a new woman, trying out the club for the first time, and she ran with us as well.  I was enjoying her company, and feeling a bit awed by her tall, slender self, running all gracefully and effortlessly.  Then she told me she is a Smartwool Sales Rep, and I had to elevate her to Goddess Status.  Naturally, I had to gush about the many ways in which Smartwool products enrich my life. I would have earned myself Blabbermouth Status with her, except that the fast pace precluded my talking for as long as I could have. 

I'm so lucky I didn't have to run yesterday, in the horrible storm.  We were absolutely hammered with rain, wind, hail, and sleet yesterday morning. At my house the wind speed got up to 42 mph.  All my porch furniture crawled up on itself in one corner of the deck, and my yard waste bin got scooped out of its little niche and thrown into the middle of the back lawn.   So I was not surprised to see the branches everywhere this morning.  One tree down as well.  It made me appreciate the relative mildness of this morning's weather. 

Shoot, I've got so much to say today... OK, coming to the end soon.  Mr. Sno & I bought a pull up bar for our little home gym, and it arrived yesterday.  Guess how many pull ups I can do?  Zero!  Wow, lucky me to have so much room for improvement!  ;)   SnoFlake, my young gymnast, loves it and can do all kinds of tricks on it. 

Last thing - some folks have been asking me what I eat lately and I wanted to share the yummy dish I made when I came home from my run...  Saute 1/2 C red cabbage, 1/2 C celery & 1/4 C onions in a heaping T of coconut oil (more stable, for higher heat cooking). Salt and cook on medium high until the veggies have softened a bit.  Add 2 scrambled eggs & lower heat.  Stir continuously while cooking for 1 minute.  Top with cheddar cheese (I like Organic Valley Raw), turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan.  Go do something else for a minute or two.  When you come back the cheese should have melted a bit.  Scoop onto plate and top with Muir Glen Organic Salsa.  I also ate a piece of thick slice bacon from Thundering Hooves.   A good source for finding pasture raised meat near you is eatwild.com.  

Happy Easter to my Christian friends!