Running buddy

It's July. Oh dear. 

It's been a fun and muscle inflammation-filled week. Let's recap. 

Tuesday: RUN - 90min

Wednesday: CYCLE - 75 minutes (crazy spin class)

Thursday: PEAK 10 class (cardio circuits), Bodyshop (weights 'n stuff), RUN - 90min

Friday: Hot Yoga

Saturday: RUN - 4 hours in the mountains

Sunday: RUN - 100min

That makes a 13-hr workout week. 

And of course Spain beat Italy 4-0 in the UEFA Euro 2012 final. The last 2 goals seemed just mean, but then again, Torres was on course and magic simply had to happen. 

The Schleck not racing
(his bro Frank still is)

Oh, and Tour de France kicked off, which marks a super exciting time of year. Even if Andy Schleck is not racing (bummer). Peter Sagan of Slovakia won Sunday's short stage 1, and the guy is the youngest (22) to win a stage since Lance Armstrong in 1993 (he was 21 then). Oh, children. 

Importantly, I also got extremely close to my $1500 fundraising target for the Women's Sports Foundation. My excitement could hardly be expressed and I am so thankful to everyone who has supported me & this cause so far.

Anyway, it's been a busy week, and one might say I was in heaven. I absolutely loved switching it up a bit on Thursday and discovering muscles I had forgotten existed. Yes, I had problems getting out of bed on Friday. The logistics seemed all too complex. I was stiff and sore - hence my trip to hot yoga. Given the physical release heat can provide, this would have been a smart move. But of course I miscalculated the intensity of the class and added a few new muscles to the "I'm tired, leave me alone" group. Brilliant.

Friday's trail action was fantastic, but also humbling. I ran with two awesome guys, Donny and Steve, and I was just focusing on one foot in front of the other for the first 45 minutes of uphill. It took a while to loosen up, but eventually I got there. Since we kept an 'easy' aerobic pace, with time I was able to relax into it and cruise along. I managed to ignore my own rules about consistent hydration and nutrition on the run and, predictably, felt horrible by the last hour. I finally stomached a gel and within 5 minutes, the world was a better place. Live & learn. It was still not pain-free, but I asked for it. Not to mention, the amazing scenery is always worth it. 

Disneyland for trail runners

TGID (Thank God It's Downhill)

I came home dirty, exhausted, but pretty happy to have gone out despite my sore legs. Had it not been for my running buddies, I would have probably (a) cut the run short (b) taken a nap in the bushes (c) not gone out in the first place (d) bored a bunch of non-runners to tears with my pent-up running-related chatter instead. 

Today (Sunday) was a similar story, though the immense amount of kale and veggies I stuffed myself with Saturday afternoon seemed to have made me recover some. 

I would have hardly gone and run for the planned amount of time on my own. Running with a +1 was precisely what I needed. 

I've always been a solo-runner. I trained for all of my marathons by myself and hardly ran with other people, even during long runs...until last year. I was thrown into the mix by running a bit with the Marina del Rey Running Club, pace leading for the LA Roadrunners and finding other runners who I really got along with.

I still enjoy running by myself and completely zoning out, but I know now that I have been missing out. Running buddies will keep you accountable, get you running when you really don't want to, and make the miles fly by much faster. And maybe they can help scare away bears and mountain lions. Or your crazy stalkers. Not to mention, you get to spend more time with awesome people and talk about races, blisters, bowel habits and more. So glamorous.

Biting the proverbial bullet

Today was one of those days. You know, when you feel like dragging yourself up a flight of stairs is a true effort and there should be a cupcake (with peach frosting, specifically from Babycakes) waiting at the top as a reward. Or maybe that's just me.

Mmm, chocolate-peach babycakes cupcake

With the double marathon thing coming up in less than 5 weeks, I had to go running. But that was really the last thing I could conceive of doing. Even after a 20oz iced coffee (that actually made me even more tired...yes I know I should probably lay off the caffeine thing. But it tastes sooo goood).

So when I got home, I promptly hit the couch for a *quick* snooze. It was magical, all 40 minutes of it. I was actually running in my dream. Not from zombies or even for the bus. Just running. Yet when I woke up, physical activity was still less than desirable. Conclusion: couch too comfy.

Nope, not my couch. But isn't it awesome?!
For those who want it...now: Link

Since I knew I had to bite the bullet sooner or later, and I wanted to catch the sunset too, I took a few bites of a Black Cherry Almond Clif bar, downed a glass of water and made suggestive eye contact with my running shoes. Still no spark. Much like when my Garmin tries to get GPS signal on a cloudy day.

It was really the perfect evening, I could hardly complain. But don't get me wrong, there was all kinds of complaining going on in my head as I took off.

I feel like I go through an emotional and physical roller coaster during a run, irrespective of distance. There are moments when I could punch somebody, or everybody for that matter, and then there are moments when I just want to remain forever and ever in a newly acquired state of bliss.

The marathon.

Here is how it went down today:
(note - I did not actually talk to myself out loud. It was tempting though)

Mile 1 - so this is really happening?! @#$%^&*!
Mile 1.5 - when will this be over?
Mile 2 - I feel (and probably look) like an elephant.
Mile 2.5 - that double marathon in 4.5 weeks is a funny concept.
Mile 3 - left, right, left, ri - oh look a bird!
Mile 4 - Okay, maybe I can do this....
Mile 6 - This is pretty awesome. Ooh, that random street looks like so much fun. Detour!
Mile 7 - Lala -lalalala-lala-lala
Mile 8 - Step aside, old pedestrian lady 'cause I'm flying' like a madwoman (but am not very coordinated)
Mile 8.5 - I don't want to go home yet. Detour!
Mile 9 - Weeeee! I'm done. But now my arms feel like they're missing out on the action.

So I headed to the gym for a quick date with some free weights and threw in some fun on the leg press machine for good measure. (I'm not sure why but I absolutely love that thing. It's just so...comfy)

The morale of my rambling is that in most cases, I have the greatest running adventures when I least feel like going, to begin with. That's true for yoga classes, too. When I feel like I could hardly hold a downward dog and I am so not motivated to get to class - I pretty much always have the best time ever.

So, in general, I like to blindly throw myself into workout situations that seem least desirable - because somewhere inside that head of mine something is reassuring me that it's going to be a blast.