Workout Wednesday 6/30

Wednesday: off - in the car

Thursday: 3 mile run in Madison

Friday: off - in the car

Saturday: 30 day shred
2 mile interval run

Sunday: 2.5 mile treadmill run

Monday: 6 mile treadmill run

Tuesday: off

I loved running in Madison.  I was also happy that 30 Day Shred didn't kick my ass too badly - even though I hadn't done it for three weeks.

The not so good was that I had considered going to yoga on Monday night, as well, but my legs just felt dead after 6 miles.   I had no desire to spend most of the class in child's pose or falling over....  I know that 6 miles isn't all that far, but my base dipped pretty low in April and May, and I'm just starting to get a decent foundation put down again.  

Right now I'm feeling that a marathon might actually be in the cards for October, but I don't want to make a decision until after we get moved.  This next month is going to be crazy.  Between Italy and the move, I will only have nine working days.  I refuse to take work with me on my honeymoon.  So I guess I better get my rear in gear and get to revising. 

What was your best work out of the week?  What's on your agenda for this hump day?

Bailey on the Run

Have I mentioned how much I love my doggie?  She is a complete dork, but, then again, so am I.  She makes me laugh with her outrageous antics; she cheers me up when I am low, she accidentally tickles me with her chilly little nose. 

M. and I adopted her from a local shelter last August.  She had just been spayed, had kennel cough, and wasn't housebroken.  The ~ year of her life before she was left at the shelter is a mystery to us.  Allegedly, she was dumped by her owner on a friend who could not keep her, and she ended up at the shelter.  Coincidentally, we went to look at dogs a day or so after she had been brought in.  M. and I chose three dogs to spend some time with at the shelter, and she was one of them.  A beagle wasn't the kind of dog I had in mind, but she suckered me in with her sweet, brown eyes.   The shelter didn't know what her name had been before, so the dedicated staff there called her Daisy -- a name that I like well enough, but my sister already has a dog named Daisy.  I wanted to take her home right then and there, but M. and I agreed to go home, think about it some more, sleep on it, and then decide.  At the end of the next day we were back at the shelter and filling out forms.  M. picked her name.

 In some ways, she's been a challenging little booger.  Housebreaking was a bit of chore, but nothing too horrible.  Occasionally, she still has an accident in the house, but, if she does, that's almost always our fault.  The bigger issue with her has been some pretty severe separation anxiety.  We have been working with a behavioral specialist and our vet for months, and it's still tricky.   We've tried and still do try kongs, music, gradual departures, in and outs, etc.

I love her, though, and so does M.  She is the first doggie - the first pet, really - that he's ever had.  She is a goofball and the fuzziest member of our family.  And she's the first subject of M's first photo shoot with my new camera.

New Camera

I've been eyeing DSLR cameras for months, but the purchase of one wasn't really in my budget.  When my husband picked me up from my dissertation defense, he handed me flowers and a card and asked me if I wanted to go to Target to get my camera.  I was flabbergasted!  Then it turned out that Target only had the camera that he was buying me for sale online, so we had to wait for its arrival via UPS.  They finally attempted to deliver it at a time when we were actually home, this afternoon.  If I hadn't been in the middle of spooning home-made Trapanese pesto out of my food processor, I would have signed for it and then high-fived the UPS delivery person.  Oh, well.  At least I have an awesome new camera, even if I haven't had a chance to cross high-fiving the UPS guy off my bucket list.

The battery is charging now, and I'm sure there'll be a bit of a learning curve, but I'm really thrilled about this camera.  Many, many thanks to my wonderful husband!*  I'll probably spend the evening perusing the user's manual.  Hopefully, I'll have some good shots to share on both blogs soon!

*Edit: My husband informs me that this is also a gift from his lovely parents, sister, and brother-in-law.  Many thanks to G., W., J., and D!

Weekly +/- III

In the - column:
- On the last day of our trip our car's air conditioner stopped functioning.  We spent seven sweaty hours roasting on our way home.

- In addition to the fact that I was roasting in the car on Friday, I was hungover as hell.  

- Our car is having a couple of other difficulties aside from the air conditioning.  We were briefly stranded in a furniture store parking lot on Tuesday until the AAA guy showed up.  He tried starting it in neutral and that worked immediately.  However, this is the third time the car hasn't started in a couple of months.  Every time we've taken it into the shop, they tell us that they can't find any problem.  (At least the mechanic didn't charge us to tell us that.)  It was the fear that we might have to pay for some car repairs that kept me from spending my returned money (see below) at Anthropologie....

- Bailey is overdue for a nail clipping and she is not a fan of her mani/pedis.  It's not a struggle that I enjoy.

- I got up (later than I intended this morning) to run on the treadmill (because it was later than I intended) and my ipod, which was fully charged, would not work and would not reset.  M. suggested connecting it to an external battery that we have, but that didn't work either.  Since I have brunch plans with a friend here in a bit, was already running behind schedule, and have 6 miles to run today, I'll be running on the treadmill this afternoon and using my computer to keep me entertained.  I guess I might also be on the market for a new ipod, which was not a cost I had foreseen this summer.  Again, I guess it was good that I stayed out of Anthro yesterday.

In the + column:

+ We found a place to live for this next year.  For a while it looked pretty dire because no one wanted to rent to us because of Bailey, but we finally locked down a townhouse.  It is really nice and it has a deck off of one of the second floor bedrooms, which we are planning on turning into an office.  I foresee sipping wine and sitting outside with a book in the evenings when the weather is nice.

+ I got to see several old friends who preceded me in my graduate program.  Coincidentally, we were staying at a motel ten minutes from the place where my former deskmate just got a tenure-track job and bought a house.  He and his family had just moved in four days before we drove through, so we went to dinner with them.  We stayed three nights with another friend and former colleague because he lives very close to our new burg.  Then on Thursday we ran into a number of old friends at M's conference.

+ I had eight salads in seven days.

+ Macy's took that damn dress back.

+ After mostly eating out while we were traveling, I went to the grocery store and stocked up for the week.  I kinda wanted to go to Trader Joe's too, but with the AC out in the car, I just couldn't bring myself to swelter any longer.  I made a menu plan for the week, and started it off yesterday evening with a home cooked meal of risotto, roasted asparagus, and arugula-based salad.  I love making risotto, although I usually have to call M. in for a stirring break at some point.

(Clearly I need to get better at taking food pictures.  I apologize for the poor quality of the photos.)

How's your weekend going?  Any technological mishaps?  Any delicious food?

Running Somewhere Else: Madison, Wisconsin

I spent the past week in the car with my hubs driving all around the Midwest.  We went on a recon mission to our future town to get a sense of the lay of the land, find housing, scope out the university that has employeed me for next year (ah, I so wish it were tenure-track, but I'm still so grateful to have a Visiting Asst. Professor positions in this shitastic market and economy!), and open up bank accounts, as neither of our current instituions have branches anywhere in the vicinity.  We combined this trip with a trip to Madison because M. was presenting at a conference that was held there.

I'm not always the best at being able to fit in training while I'm traveling, so I just aimed to fit in two 3 mile runs during this trip.  I got one in earlier in the week and the other in while we were in Madison.  The weather was nice (not too hot and not too humid) and I was able to enjoy a little 3 mile run on the path that loops around the lake.  It really helped that our hotel was two blocks away from the dock and the running path.

The path was nice and shady, too.

Do you have difficulty fitting in training or exercise when you're traveling?  What tricks do you have to keep yourself on track while you're on the road? 

Versatile Blogger Award

The lovely Christina of Selfishly Happy just gave me a blog award.

Thanks so much for the award, Christina!


Here's how this works:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

3. Pass this award along to five bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!

4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

7 Things About Me....

1. I love cheese - especially Manchego, Havarti, Queso de Burgos, Cheddar, Mozarella, Queso Oaxaca, and Pecorino.  However, I hate, hate, hate bleu cheese.  I wanted to like it.  I kept trying to like it because I knew it would make me more of a foodie.  But every time I found it foul.  


2. When I was a kid, I literally spent days under the table or in trees reading books.  I must have read the Anne of Green Gables series about fifty times.


3. I've broken most of my toes at one point or another.  Combine several years of martial arts in high school and general clumsiness and you have a recipe for toe deformation.


4. I recently finished my dissertation and successfully defended it.  I'm prouder of this accomplishment than of anything else I've ever done.  I've kind of been sulking about the fact that I won't be able to take part in convocation at the end of the summer and get hooded by one of my committee members because of financial and logistical reasons.  


5. I've been vegetarian off and on since I was a kid.  I'd prefer to eat no meat or only very little, but it gets complicated because my husband hates legumes (except for peas and chickpeas are acceptable in the form of hummus) and dislikes a number of vegetables and fruits.  We've both made some compromises.


6. Coffee makes my world go round.  I try not to drink it after noon, though.  I take it with a bit of cream or milk or soy milk.  No sugar.


7. I have three tattoos, and I really want another one.  It will have to wait, though, until I have the funds.  And since I won't get a real paycheck until September and I need a new office desk, it may be quite some time before I can add any new ink.


I'm passing the award on to:

Elena of Caffeinerd
Chrissy at The New Me
Breanne at Bella Vida
Chelsea of Dearilou
Kelly at proficascamur!


I hope everyone's weekend is off to a great start!

Workout Wednesday 6/23

I am blatantly copying this idea from Emily at Sweat Once a Day.  Admittedly she is a lot more hard core than I am, but maybe some day I'll be bad ass again too.  The weekly run down follows.

Panera has been my saving grace with meeting this seven days, seven salads challenge that I set for myself during this week of traveling.  I had a Panera salad on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and today.  I made a salad on Friday.  I had salads at other restaurants in my soon-to-be new burg on Monday and yesterday.  Although my eating hasn't been perfect -- I had some candy on the road this past weekend and too much pizza last night -- it has been far healthier than it would have been otherwise.  I'm going to try to get in at least one more salad before the week is over.

Thursday:
5 mile bike ride
3 mile slow run

Friday:
5 mile run

Saturday:
off - in the car

Sunday:
off - in the car

Monday:
3 miles

Tuesday:
off - doing stuff to prepare for the move all day (house hunting, lease signing, bank account opening, furniture shopping, etc).  I did do a bit of gardening with my friend who was hosting me.

Wednesday:
off - I had intended to run this morning before getting back in the car to conference destination, but the forecast called for severe storms.

I'm definitely missing my yoga class and the option of hopping on my treadmill if the weather is bad or if I can't fit in a run before it gets too swelteringly hot out.  Oh, well.  I'll be home again soon and in the meantime I'm hoping to get in 3 miles tomorrow.

I'm also missing Bailey.

How's your week going?

Interview at yes and yes

The talented and beautiful Sarah Von interviewed me over at her lovely blog about my experience of hiking ten days on the Camino de Santiago.  Just a little over three years ago, when I was living in Madrid, I stuffed to much crap into a pack and took a train from Madrid to Leon.  I checked out Leon's magnficent cathedral, had a cafe con leche, and hopped on a bus to Astorga.  The next day I started walking.  In those ten days of walking I suffered ankle pain, but I also met some incredible people and made some incredible memories.  I lost my first toe nail right after the Camino and would go on to lose some more after my first marathon.... 

Here I am patching the blister of a fellow pilgrim.

Happy Monday!

Weekly +/-

In the + column:

♥ Without a doubt the highlight of the week was coming back into the room after my defense and being greeted as Doctor de Moda.

♥ I put a basket on my bicycle, which made it about a million times more awesome.

♥ I didn't quite make my mileage total for the week, but I ran a 5 mile run yesterday.  It's the longest run that I've been on since March, so I'm feeling pretty ecstatic about it.

♥ I had an ice cream cone with a good friend of mine who is back in town for a few days, and we chatted about life, teaching, finishing dissertations, and running. 

♥ I've been looking through some of my photos from a trip to Rome and Florence that I went on a couple years ago, and I'm getting really excited about finally getting to go on our honeymoon to Italy. I'll have to research a couple of running routes.

In the - column:

- I definitely could have done without the back pain on Wednesday night and Thursday.  I haven't had my lower back crap out on me like that in a long time.  Fortunately, everything seems to be mostly back to normal with my back now.

- I'm on the road this week, so I know that my mileage total for this next week will take a bit of a dip.  I'm trying not to let that psych me out.  I'm just going to shoot for 12 miles over three runs.

- I have several bruises on my left thigh, and I have no idea how I got them.

- After the late nights and early mornings this week, I was too exhausted to go out and party last night.  If I hadn't been traveling, I would have sucked it up and gone out, but I really needed the extra rest.

Seven Days, Seven Salads

Since I am hitting the road this weekend (via car rather than running) and will be traveling for a good portion of next week, I thought it might be a good idea to challenge myself to eat at least one salad a day for the next seven days.  I don't know about you, but often when I travel I use it as an excuse to eat way too much junk food.  So for once I'm setting out with a plan, and instead of saying that I won't eat any french fries or jelly beans, I'm framing this as a positive goal.  I'm going to load up on seasonal veggies and/or fruits at least once a day in the form of a delicious salad. 

Since I had to go into campus this morning to run some errands and to have coffee with a faculty member in another department who had wanted to read my dissertation, I figured the easiest way to kick off this seven days, seven salads challenge was to have lunch at the Panera on campus.  I tried the Tomato, Mozarella and Basil Salad.  It was pretty good, although if I have that same salad in the future I'll skip or at least cut back on the croutons, as they constituted almost half of the calories and 1/3 of the fat grams in the salad.

Do you also tend to make more unhealthful food choices when you're traveling?  What are your tricks for getting in a variety of fruits and vegetables while on the road?

Pre-Defense Running and Post-Defense Flowers

Yesterday morning, even though I had slept fitfully the night before due to anxiety about my defense, I went for a little run.  I knew that it would help me to clear my mind and to give an outlet to some of my nervous energy.  It was humid and my body felt heavy from the lack of sleep and nervous tension, but I kept the pace nice and slow and for a few moments I hit my stride and felt a stillness in my mind that I hadn't felt in a few days. 


Right now running isn't effortless or even easy for me.  Some muscle memory and some of my endurance have remained, but I definitely don't have the level of conditioning that I had last summer and fall, but I will get there.  Training is a lot like writing a dissertation -- just keep going a little further and a little longer and eventually you will finish.  

After I ran the marathon last October, I mentioned to some friends that I wasn't sure which was more difficult: finishing a marathon or finishing a dissertation.  Now, I know that it's definitely finishing a dissertation.  For the past few months I've felt like my life has revolved around my doctoral thesis to the point that everything else (except maybe my marriage) has suffered.  I definitely couldn't log the miles that I wanted to or get the quality of sleep that I needed to or engage in many social activities without feeling guilty.

Even though my work is far from done, as I have other projects and after a few months will start transitioning my dissertation into a book manuscript, I now feel much of the weight of all those pages beginning to slip off my shoulders.  Suddenly, allocating an hour a day for training doesn't seem like it will take too much time and energy away from my work. 

On an entirely different note, yesterday afternoon when my amazing husband picked me up from campus after my defense he handed me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card.   Then I arrived home to find that my sweet friend and co-blogger, Ann Underfunded Humanity, who is currently in Vermont, had also sent me flowers.

I went out last night with M. for an amazing meal, and then we met up with friends for drinks to celebrate.  I'll probably still be sweating out the toxins tonight at yoga.  I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful spouse, fantastic friends, the degree that I've worked toward for so many years, and now the time and energy to put a bit more focus back on my running goals.

Will I Finally Be Able to Run in a Skort?

I ran a little 3.15 mile run with my friend A. this morning.  She was wearing a pair of shorts, and it got me thinking about my issues with them.

Due to the shape of my body, I've always had problems with chafing and riding up annoyances whenever I've attempted to run in shorts or skorts.  No matter how much body glide I apply or how much I try to change my gait, I can't avoid having to uncouthly adjust my shorts every .2 miles, and usually by 2 miles the chafing becomes close to unbearable.  Finally after a really bad chafing incident on a 4 mile training run with TNT last summer, I accepted that shorts and I could not be running buddies.  The few pairs that I had were relegated to those days when I did strength training and a work out dvd. 

I've always really loved the look of the skort in spite of the traumatic incidents I've had with shorts, and my inability to wear them has made me a little bit sad whenever I've seen really cute ones in athletic stores and even in the sportswear section of Target.  I think I've finally found a solution, though. These Athleta Hitch Skirt Capris...

except they are way more than I'm willing to pay right now, especially when tax and shipping get added to the total....  However, I have a number of running capris.  Now I should just buy a running skirt and wear it over a pair of them.  I'm not sure why I never thought of this solution before.

Anyone else out there have similar issues with shorts and skorts?  What's your most comfortable training apparel?

Goals for the Short Term and the Week

I'm planning on registering for a half-marathon in August, and I'm contemplating registering for a full marathon in the second half of October. I'm waiting to see where I'm at with my endurance after the Italian honeymoon, though, before I decide whether or not to make it 26.2 miles or 13.1 in October. The next few weeks are really crucial to laying a solid training base if it's going to be a full marathon.

This next week I'd like to run at least 15 miles in four runs and get in one yoga class. Ideally, that will break down like this:

Monday: 3.5 miles
Tuesday: 3.5 miles
Wednesday: yoga
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: 5 miles
Saturday & Sunday: rest

If you're a runner and you're on Daily Mile, you should friend me there.  I'd also love to know what running and fitness blogs you enjoy reading! 

First Weekly +/-

In the + column:

♥ Definitely the highlight of the week was running with the Dissertating Yogini on Monday.

♥ The runners and cyclists on the trail have been really friendly (with only a couple of exceptions) this week. I love it when there's a sense of community, in addition to courtesy, on the path.

♥ I met my total mileage goal for the week.

In the - column:

☂ The weather this week hasn't been conducive to the greatest runs ever. This morning it was about like running in split pea soup.

- I'm definitely a bit more bodily tired than I was last week. This is probably not from running so much as from anxiety about the defense and the double workout on Wednesday.