The Suspect List

Cotton: We haven't seen Average Joe's yet. They haven't made it to the court. It could be a psychological ploy, or something worse. 
Pepper: They're definitely not on the court, Cotton. Their absence is noticeable. 


....yeah, I know. I've been a little MIA recently. Sadly no, not a psychological ploy to....win the internet? Ha! Anyway, no. What's up is that when I left for my Monday morning run I knew quickly that something was really wrong. I had shooting pains sort of from the backs of my hips down my legs. I slowed down, waiting for whatever twitch it was to work itself out, but it never did. By the last mile I was walking on and off. Through the rest of Monday and then crazy on Tuesday, my calves tightened and felt like I'd shredded them. WTH. 


Before I move on to the Suspects List, I want to jump to the end: I ran 4 miles today and had only a tiny bit of tightness and similar pain, so I think I'm almost out of the woods. I'm really thankful that it seems to be a temporary setback. 


So what do I think caused this? Here's the Suspects List, in no particular order.


Suspect #1: The pain in my rear

Yes, that old chestnut. And yes, I made my husband take this picture. I didn't even realize the piriformis was angry again until Wednesday when I realized that it was painful, rather than being it's low, dull, 18-month-old pain. Truthfully, I've slacked off the foam roller since Cleveland, so it's back to that. I think this old injury is the center of this week's issue, made worse by both Suspects #2 and #3. 

Suspect #2: Our couch

This couch and our kitchen table were the first pieces of furniture I ever owned. I loved this couch. But, 7 years and a child later, and I love it less. It was always deep, but with time it's gotten Little Shop of Horrors consumptive. And it makes my back hurt. New sofas are on their way! Cannot wait. They are going to be awesome. 

Suspect #3: Bad Yogi

Y'all know I love the yoga. But...admission of truth--I haven't done it since well before Cleveland. Meaning, I haven't been stretching out the piriformis (or anything else) since early May. BAD YOGI. I have a Groupon for a month of unlimited yoga classes, so I'm starting back this week. 

MOJo

Haha, get it? MOJo? Because I live in Missouri and my name is Joanna? And no, you cannot call me Jo. Unless you already do, which probably means you're either from a small town in WV or I met you in the US between 1999 and 2003. And that's a whole other story. Anyway, I seem to have lost some of my running mojo. And I need some help finding it. So, completely without segue, some backstory: 

See, I love coffee. (I swear, this is about running. Stay with me.) In fact, I love it so much I once took a picture of a freshly-filled canister of coffee beans to file away in a "Favorite Things" folder (before Pinterest was cool). 

And yet, most summers I try to wean myself from it. Why? Because it's frackin' hot out, and coffee makes it worse. And, life is usually much less chaotic in the summer, so I actually get enough sleep.* Oh yeah, and I have this bizarre need to prove to myself that I can break the addiction every now and then. #masochism. So, yes, I'm currently in the weaning process. I'm down to about 3/4 of one mug each morning. I hate this process.

As if that weren't enough, did I mention that it's hot out? Because, in the words of my beloved Jamie, it's hot as balls out. The last few days we've had highs around 96, also with crazy humidity. I ran my normal 4-mile loop yesterday morning, starting at 7:45am, and was about to hurl by the time I got home.

Neither of these things--the coffee withdrawal or the heat--is particularly motivating me to run. And because I don't have a training plan right now, I'm a little shy on motivation. But I also don't want to lose my new found speed or fitness from the marathon, so I need to find a way to motivate myself. So, you know me. I like lists. Here's what I'm gonna do.

1. Steal underwear. Suck it up, admit that I don't have to be a hero, and face the dreadmill until the heat breaks (which is supposed to happen sometime this weekend. But you know what I think of the weather forecasters here). 
2. Read up on hot weather running tips and be ready when the temps drop back below 90. 
3. Profit.** Set up a non-plan schedule to maintain fitness. Something like 15-20 miles a week with short Monday and Friday runs, slightly longer on Wednesdays, and "long"ish runs on Saturdays. 

Any thoughts or advice? I know a lot of you have more experience in hot weather running and in non-training cycle running than I do, so please share!

*yes, normally work is slower in the summer. Just not right now. It's head-explodingly crazy right now. And I kinda like it. 

** Please, please tell me someone got that joke. Please. 

Three Things Thursday

I have three things to tell you, it's a Thursday, so let's do this!

1. A big THANK YOU to Jodi over at Run Jodi Run for spotlighting me today. I've had so much fun getting to know her and am thrilled and honored to be part of her blog for the day! Read it here. You might learn a thing or two about me. :)
2. Yesterday was National Running Day. I ran 4.8 miles and added it to the Competitor.com miles reel. They were hoping to get 500,000 miles and ended up with about 12,000. Er...that's embarrassing! Did you know there's an International Mustard Day (August 5th, don't ask how I know)? Why shouldn't we have a Running Day?!? Mustard versus Running--I'm gonna be really sad if Mustard has more Facebook friends. 
3. Summer has arrived! That means more frequent water stops while running, more time outside, a still-crazy-but-less-scheduled work life, and a few of my favorite things--painting (aka, finishing decorating) and staring longingly at the empty space where our back-ordered porch furniture belongs blowing bubbles with the kiddo.

May Recap

Monthly recap, May Edition!


Miles ran: 75.0 (lowest since January, which was expected given the taper and post-race rest)
Rest days: 19 (yikes!)
Highest mileage week: 33.5 (the week of the race)
Long runs: 2
Pace workouts: 1
XT days:  1, but does painting my kitchen count? Because I did that over the weekend. 
Tempo or interval runs: I did one hill interval workout pre-race
Favorite run: it was only part of the day's run, but probably the March of Dimes 5k. New PR, a good cause, and an award!  (edited after I realized the 5k was actually in April.) The 6.3 miles I ran last weekend where I found my pace. 
Current goal: set up my next training plan while everything is still fresh, and maintain a 20 mile/week base until I start training again.  
Current obsession: waiting for our new sofas to arrive! I've purchased accessory decor items, painted the adjoining kitchen, and can't stop trying to envision the finished room! At the 1-year mark in this house (late June), I want to feel like at least the downstairs is pulled together and really feels finished. Have I mentioned that I LOVE decorating?!?
Current need: A bunch of organizational bins for when I attack the upstairs! I'm going to go all Monica on our storage space. Oh, and I need a freaking haircut. STAT.
Current excitement: Some exciting things going on at work, mostly. NERD ALERT.  
Current bane of my existence:  Nothing even worth mentioning. Life is good!
Current wish list: Some new mp3s. I really don't have an excuse, I just need to do it. 
Current indulgence: The 4 pairs of shoes I purchased recently. What?! I said I needed new shoes last month!

Find your wings and soar

It's true--I have a low grade obsession with Target. Pretty much every weekend I go to Target to buy household goods and some of our week's groceries. Yesterday while walking through I saw a little square piece of wall art inspirational decor that said

find your wings and soar

For a split second in my mind, it read as

find your wings and sore

And I thought to myself, that's exactly what this week was like. 

Lately I've been noticing that my stride has gotten shorter and it's gotten much easier to run mile after mile at about a 9 minute pace. One of my coaches back in Illinois said he'd never correct our gait because it would correct itself to seek efficiency eventually. I think I've finally arrived at "eventually." I think I've finally hit my stride, so to speak (is that even a pun? or the literal use of the phrase? I'm not even sure). 

On Saturday I went out to hit my 6.3 mile loop and was amazed to finish it faster than ever without feeling like I was even pushing the pace. Mile after mile, it just ticked off: 9:07, 8:47, 8:35, 8:34, 8:38, 8:45, 0.3 mi @ 8:49 pace. Total of  6.3 miles @ 8:45 avg. pace. My calves were a little sore on Sunday. So when I walked through Target and saw that decor, I knew it was literally my sign to write this post. :)

2009 schmoothousandnine

I have some awesomeness to report. 

No sadness--I just love HIMYM and this Barney-ism. But awesomeness, yes. I do have awesomeness. What you ask? Thanks for asking. This is what I have:

more miles so far in 2011 than in all of 2009

At the end of 2009 I'd covered 463.3 miles. It was a huge accomplishment for me at the time. I was in a different place as a runner and in life. As of today, I've covered 475.4 in 2011. And I'm loving doing it! 

A little running, a little mid-week randomness

My first run back

I finally got to run today, my first since Cleveland. I hit my usual 4 mile loop through the park. My legs were really heavy for the first mile, but I got into it and the pace seemed natural to me (negative splits from 9:28 to 9:00, yeah baby!). I got a little extra motivation toward the end--as I was crossing the main road back to my neighborhood, the tornado siren started going off! I don't think I've ever finished my run with such focus. :)

The storm was kinda crazy. I ended up in the basement for a while. My husband and son were ushered into the basements of their respective buildings (work and daycare) downtown. We had roughly walnut or ping pong ball sized hail. We still missed the brunt of the storm though, thankfully. Here in the Show-Me State I think we've all been mostly holding our breath and looking toward Joplin as they braced for another storm. 

....and some random

Today's accounting:

6 purses (including two I plan to deconstruct for their bamboo handles)

1 pair dress pants

1 dress shirt

1 J. Crew dress shirt for Mr. Joanna

1 J. Crew zippy sweater (which looks HUGE in this picture) for me

__________________________________________________________________

$5. 19

I know it sounds a little crazy, but remember those girls from my birthday lunch? Well, we played a little hooky from work today and got a fancy-schmancy breakfast at a gorgeous bakery in my neighborhood, then headed to the Outlets. What Outlets? The Goodwill Outlet. Yep. That's what I said. The Goodwill Outlet. Where you buy clothing by the pound. At the rate of 79 cents. Even if stuff ends up not fitting, at worst it was maybe 30 cents wasted. And you can just donate it right back anyway. Win-win.

I think we went mostly out of curiosity, and I have to say, I had a blast. We dug through these huge bins of everything and found some great items. It's definitely an experience, and an insanely economical way to shop if you have the time to dig through the mostly unorganized bins and inspect everything you think you might want.

And for those of you who do crafty things, this is BY FAR the cheapest way I've ever thought of to get bamboo handles. I'm using mine (from that light green number--haven't decided if I'm going to destroy the gray-blue one yet) to make something sort of like this. It's going to be awesome. You're all going to want one.