Your squat is Fantastic!

Sorry I just found this song and like all things- I’ve become obsessed. Anywhosers, yeah I had a guy at the gym tell me my squat was fantastic a week or so ago.  He was basically like there’s ass to grass and then there is you, literally if you were outside your ass would be legit touching the grass.  I got all flustered I admit and was terribly excited that he liked my squat.  I asked my friend Zak who I was working out with if it was sad that I got all excited about what the guy said about my squat and Zak replied; “nah man, if he said that about mine I’d be excited too”.

Then this past weekend, this guy I’ve been kinda seeing was dancing with me and after dropping it low at one point he said in my ear; “You can tell you squat” Again the nicest thing ever! Is it completely sad that I think that sort of compliment is better than anything.  Why thank you for acknowledging that I work out! I don’t know I guess I’m weird….

So yeah if guys want to flatter me- compliment my workout moves! Haha but seriously I am in love with lifting things up and putting them down it’s a great stress reliever. But on another note, I was working out with my friend Zak again like last week and he helped me to achieve a  new deadlift PR and I managed to bench more than just the bar for the first time in a very long time so those two things combined made me very happy for a few days.

So what else is going on? Oh I started my half-marathon training yesterday.  My coach Kris is helping me attempt to hit a PR of 1:45 for the half and so he has made up my training schedule, which I very much appreciate. 

So my body has basically been having to reacclimatize itself to running 5 miles a day again because I’ve been slacking and doing more like 3… but hey if I want the time I gotta train!

So those are my working out related things that I’ve got going on right now.  I can actually make it slightly further up when attempting a pull up then I could before so I think it is just a matter of time before I am able to do a full pull up! Which I will be super excited when that happens.
What else?…. hmm… well the semester is winding down I am currently in the middle of finals week so I keep stressing with studying and projects and such, but it is finally the last bit then I get a much needed mental break!  I just finally handed in all the paperwork for my internship for next semester- also super excited.      I am slowly checking all the things I need to do off of my list. 

What else, what else? I feel bad because I haven’t posted in a bit and now I feel obligated to update you on everything that’s going on in my life at one time….

The only thing that’s left is Christmas! Well Christmas presents, since I knit a lot of my presents I’m where I usually am this time of year- behind.  I usually end up still finishing off the presents I’m making late on Christmas Eve and I always tell myself that it won’t happen again to me the following year and then it somehow always does… well its the attempt to not let it happen again that counts.

So I think that’s all I have going right now, if I think of anything else a post will come! 

So until  later, TTFN. 

Playing Catch-Up

Ok, so I legit have tons to talk to you guys about- congrats for reading and guess what? This past week my life was interesting I actually have more to report than just working out haha.  So since I have so much to tell you, I’ll break it all up into days of the week so that it’s organized and awesome… per usual.

Tuesday-Thursday;  So my friend Kinga came to visit me last week and she was here Tuesday thru Thursday.  She got here at like 10 am on Tuesday and left at like 8 on Thursday.  Anyways, we spent Tuesday drinking and going shopping.  In all honesty, I don’t drink much when I’m home because I don’t really see the need, plus I don’t really go the bars.  So I think those 3 days I drank enough for the entire summer.  Wednesday we went for a 6 mile run, then we went to the town pool and finally we went out to the bars that night.
Funniest thing was that the bar we arrived at looked super crowded and then when we got in we realized it was bingo night and that was why.  We had a good laugh over that, but we stayed and had a good time anyways.  Later in the night we went to another bar where there were legit like 10 people (us included) and we sang Karaoke.  I just want to say that I don’t really sing in front of people anymore and kinga doesn’t at all so we almost peed ourselves laughing that we did that.

And finally on Thursday we went to the race track where it was college day so we got free t-shirts, we drank, we bet on the horses and oh Kinga won a $1000 scholarship… nbd.

When she won I looked at her and just said; “You don’t even go here!”  But I digress on that matter…

In 3 weeks her and I will be reunited since we are living together at school and I absolutely can’t wait.  It’s going to be a great senior year.

Friday-Monday; I know- that’s a long stretch of days, but they all relate to one another so there you go.  Friday I left with my friend Christine to go up to my camp/Lake Placid the next day.  This past weekend was Ironman Lake Placid and we were both volunteers at it-mostly so we could get first dibs at signing up to do it next year.  So Friday we basically got to my camp and spent the night.  The next morning we woke up at 6 a.m. to get to Lake Placid.

Saturday; we got to Placid around 8ish where there was a free pancake breakfast going on. After that was done we had our respective volunteer meetings to go to so that took a few hours.  After that we walked around the expo  (basically like an awesome assortment of goodies) and I bought a few t-shirts.  Then we did 1 loop of the swim course  (it was 1.2 miles) and for not swimming for like a month, I really didn’t feel that bad while doing it.

Finally, we went to the house of some friends of the Slyer’s (Christine’s coach and family) where we set up tents in the backyard.

The next morning we woke up at 4 a.m.  (Rough!) and went to the start where Christine and members of the Slyer family were lifeguarding the swim portion of the Ironman.  I just waited around and took pictures the entire time.  I got lots of all the racers, spectators, and even some of the elites!  After the swim was done we ate and watched the bikers come around for the 1st loop of the bike course.  Then Christine and I went on a run, it was supposed to be 2 miles, which turned into 6, that then turned into 9.5….  oops!  While we were running we saw Andy Potts the winner who was around 10 minutes ahead of the guy who was in 2nd.   He literally passed Christine and I 3 times before we made it back into town- that was him going out, in, and back out for his 2nd loop on the marathon.  Needless to say we felt slow.
After that we went to our aid station where we would be handing participants broth, water, soda, fruit, etc.  The goal is to give them fuel and to help motivate them.  It was really tiring but really fun and I was surprised at how many racers took the time to thank us for volunteering while they were going! If I were them I don’t know if I’d be able to say anything I’d be too tired.

After that we watched the final people to make it under the 17 hour cut off come in to the finish.  The cut off ended at midnight and let me tell you it was emotional- those people who barely make it I was like bawling, yelling; “GO RUN!!!!” which is silly because they can’t hear me, but its like to think of all the work they put into doing the race.  I mean seriously.  After that we didn’t make it back to the house until around 1 a.m.

Unfortunately for Christine and I our rain tarp apparently wasn’t working and so the inside of our tent had puddles.  After we moped it up and attempted to sleep- we started to get flooded.  So we moved inside the house to sleep on the living room floor at around 3 a.m. and then at 6 a.m. we got up to take down the tent and head back to Placid.

You see, the day after the race registration opens and sells out.  Volunteers get first dibs at signing up for the race so we had to get there around 7:30 a.m. because that’s when we could start registering.  Anyways, the slyer’s daughter (whose 17 btw) also registered for the Ironman next year- yea 17.   So while we were waiting in line with them after Christine already registered (I’m putting off a full for another year- I’m going to try to do a half next summer.) I was talking to Jon Slyer (whose Christine’s coach) and he was like so you doing this? And I said no I’m going to do a half first.  And then he asked if I was around a lot during the year to which I said no.  He replied with; ok, well we will get together and make a plan for you- what are you doing Thursday? We are going to do a swim/bike come along.  So I think this might be him taking me on and beginning to help coach me??? I’d be really happy if he is because I think I can learn a lot from him and honestly I’d love to have someone coach me and tell me how to do a bigger triathlon because everything I’ve figured out I’ve figured out on my own.  So we will see come Thursday- but I’ll let you know more about that later…

AFTER all of that we finally left Lake Placid to make our way home.  We were home by 11 a.m. and it felt like 7 p.m. to me haha.  I ended up completely crashing in my bed for an hour which gave me just enough energy to make it through the day.  By early that night I passed out.

So I have decided on Tupper Lake’s Tinman (Half-Ironman) for next summer.  This means that my biking skills need to seriously improve over the next year or I will be screwed. So that is everything new and exciting to tell you.  Which was a lot for me, so until later TTFN.

Sometimes I feel like I should do Crystal Meth..

But then I think ‘mmmm, better not.’  Haha hilarious quote from a trailer I saw while at the movies.  The movie being advertised was called Pitch Perfect, and it looks really good and funny, so I’m definitely going  to see it when it comes out.  Anywho, I decided to start this post off semi-interesting because I fully intend to talk about training and boring things that are going on in my life for the rest of it.  So moving right along…..

My life is now consisting of packing, working out, and……. yeah that’s about it.  I’m slowly increasing my mileage every week, emphasis on slowly.  I’ve been increasing each week by 2 miles, and I mean I could probably increase it by more, say by like 3 miles, but after my stress fracture last year I’m playing it more on the cautious side.  This week I hit 20 miles for the first time since before my marathon.  Everyone say 20! 

So I’m pretty happy about it, my main goal has mostly been to remain injury free, so I call it a win so far.  The only problem I’ve really had is some slight knee pain, which mostly just means ice needed.  And then some slight back pain the past few days, which I think mostly had to do with the fact that I was sleeping on the floor for several days while Chel slept in my bed.

Moving along…… I’ve been running mileage and I know it’s not very high, but after talking to my friend Christine who goes to a different college (D1 or D2?) she only runs 40 miles a week because that’s the amount of miles that works best for her.  Personally, from last summer I believe I can get up to 40 miles and run well.  I’ve also started adding some speedwork a.k.a. repeats.

Which brings me to my next point.  I’m frustrated going into this cross-country season because my coach is frustrating me.  Fancy that! Anywho, at the beginning of the summer we all got emails stating we had to run 7 mins flat for a mile in order to compete in meets.  How barefoot running is discouraged and a bunch of other crap.  I tried emailing my coach 2x after we got the email but he never responded to me.  So I emailed my assistant coach and he answered me with; “Pete and I think it’s a very attainable goal if you work hard enough.”  That may be, but I don’t understand the motivation behind it.  I’ve been running my ass off for the past 2 years and I’ve brought my 5k time down from 30 mins during my freshman year to 25 mins so far before the season.  And you know what? I’m still not running constant 7 minute miles!  At this moment in time I ran a 7:19 mile.  To my understanding if we don’t hit 7 mins flat we can’t compete.  So at this point I’m under the impression of well ‘I might as well walk the timed mile if 19 seconds is really going to keep me from competing’.  And even if I am able to hit 7 mins I can guarantee that I can not run a 21 minute 5k, at this moment in time. 

I’m getting more and more frustrated as the weeks go on and I’m feeling at this point like I need to say something to my coach.  I want him to reassess the goal he’s put in front of us.  I understand that he might be trying to motivate us to get us to work harder and get better, but what’s going to happen is people are going to focus so hard on hitting 7 minutes for our time trial that they aren’t going to work on endurance so that 1 mile isn’t going to make much of a difference in their overall 5k time.  Also, if my coach actually coached and was around to see his team, he might understand the fact that only 2 individuals on the women’s team are able to run that mile.  Myself, and everyone who would come in after me were running on average 8:30-9:30 miles. 
No way is working my ass off for one summer going to take my time down that much.  Hell, working my ass off for the past 2 years to bring my mile time down from 10 minutes to 8 minutes is going to make me able to run a 7 minute mile.  Mostly, I think my coach needs to be more of a coach and stop telling us we need to work harder when he’s not even there the vast majority of the time to help us improve.

Fyi, this is the track in my mind, usually focused on one thing at a time… in a sort of ADD type way.

I’m terribly sorry for that major b****fest but I’ve had it on my mind for awhile now and I needed to get it out.

Moving along to another topic.  I am currently packing for my move back to school in exactly one week.  I’m moving in early for preseason and I’m kinda anal about my packing and making sure I have everything so I get started early.  Plus it takes me a long time to actually do it because I get sidetracked and end up forgetting about it.

I’ll give more of an update on that later, but for now I’m heading to bed. 

Until later, TTFN.