My first silly run!

There is no shortage of silly fun runs in the Boston area, but for whatever reason, I've never raced in any. For example, just yesterday was a race in downtown Boston called the Speedo Santa. It's a mere 1.25 mile race in the Copley Square area. A 1.25 mile race? What's the point? Did you catch the name? The Speedo Santa Run requires that runners wear speedos. And nothing else. Yup, you are understanding this correctly. A *LOT* of people pay MONEY (which all goes to charity) to run nearly naked in December in downtown Boston.

I had friends who ran and I would have LOVED to join them, but had other obligations that couldn't be changed. Yet ANOTHER fun run missed!

But luckily, today I had no plans other than the Somerville Jingle Bell Run, a 5k in Davis Square. My first fun run! And fun it was. Hundreds of folks dressed up in elf costumes, reindeer costumes, santa get-ups, etc., to run a 5k around Davis, followed by free beer at a number of local pubs after the race.

While it really was a good time, as far as races go, I now recall the reason why I was having a hard time remembering my last 5k time: I hate short distance running. I'm not even warmed up until I'm a solid 4 miles into a run or race! To be totally done well before I'm in my zone? That's just stupid. The short distance stuff hurts - you find that line as fast as you can - that line that's just a HAIR under "OMG, I'm going to throw up right NOW if I don't slow down" and you hold it for ~20 minutes. There is simply nothing fun or enjoyable about running just under that line. Because sometimes you drift OVER the line, so you really do get that "OMG, I'm going to throw up right NOW if I don't slow down" feeling for a few seconds until you micromanage your pace back down to just under the line.

But from a racing perspective, it was a good experience. Since it was a 5k, I was miserable, and a goal for me this year is to work on the mental aspect of racing. I've got an evil little minion living in my head that often tries to talk me into slowing down. To take it easy, to relax, to have fun! This minion is screwing with my head and needs to be dealt with. So I've been working with my coach on strategies to bat the minion down when she rears her lazy ass head during a race. And she was having a FIELD day this morning! But I used the tricks suggested and was able to successfully shut the bitch up. Woo Hoo! It wasn't a spectacular performance by any means, but it was respectable and I won the mental battle today. Definitely a "W" in the Win/Loss column for me.

And even better, I think it helped to kick me out of Funky Town permanently. I'm getting more and more jazzed about killer training sessions again, which is happy news. I was starting to worry that I'd shot my racing wad, and was simply DONE, as I've been a lazy ass for the last 2 weeks.

It feels good to have found my mojo again.

...live as if this is all there is.

My bike trainer is set-up in the basement of my house. My house is a 120+ year old Victorian farmhouse in New England, which means that the basement is a scary, scary place. It's totally unfinished, with rocky walls, exposed beams and pipes, and lots and lots of spiderwebs. In other words, it's the perfect place to gut out bike trainer workouts. My bike is set-up somewhat in the middle of the basement, next to the furnace (because you really should sweat 4x your body weight when doing Spinervals workouts to do them right), with a TV/DVD in front of it. Off slightly to the left, is our downstairs spare refrigerator, and on that fridge I have a bunch of inspirational cards, magnets and pictures posted. You know, those square cards that Whole Foods carries with the feel good quotes on them? I collect the ones that may be inspirational when Troy is asking for the impossible 2.5 hours into a brutal workout. For example, I've got Eleanore Roosevelt's "Never never never give up" card. "Leap, and the net will appear." "When you are going through hell, keep going." That kind of thing. It does wonders for my psyche - I eat this stuff up.

My current favorite is from Mary Anne Radmacher. I don't know anything about Mary. I don't have a great literary background, and am embarrassed to admit that most of my free time reading is either triathlon books or magazines or trashy chick lit. So maybe Mary is famous - I'll have to look into that.

Anyway, the bit of genius that I love about Mary is the following:

live with intention.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this is all there is.

Nothing mindblowing, when you think about it. It's really just common sense. But ..... then again, how often do you really stick to these prinicples, if you'd like to call them that? At times it's really easy to just go through the motions day after day. You get up, you get your workout in, you get the kids ready for school, you go to work. You come home, make dinner, help the kids with their homework, clean up the house a bit, maybe squeeze in a few minutes on the computer before bed, then you hit the sack. Repeat. And repeat again. Over, and over, and over. You get numb to it all, and don't really see, feel, hear, experience.

But if you remember that last one, especially, that's such a shame. Live as if this is all there is. Oh My GOD!!!!! Going through the motions, not pushing to the limits as often as you can, not doing what you love. That's just CRIMINAL.

So I'm going to do my best to live as if this is all there is. Because, well, this IS all there is. I'm not going to waste it.

What about you?

Gettin' Sweaty in the Basement with Coach Troy

Oh, stop it! It was a Spinervals workout!!! Big Gear Strength, to be exact. Although I will admit to having a HUGE crush on Coach Troy, but we'll leave that for another day...

I know that many people despise their bike trainers, but I love mine. I really do. I enjoy riding the trainer nearly as much as I enjoy riding outdoors. Now, if it weren't for Coach Troy and Spinervals, I'm sure I'd be in the "trainers are the work of the devil" camp. But with Troy, what's not to love? A handsome guy screaming at you to focus, ride harder, don't give up, "have some pride and finish strong." In addition, you've got a room full of uber fit cyclists and triathletes to watch suffer along with you. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Big Gear Strength is a 1 hour leg strength building workout. If you loving mashing the big gears, you will love this one. For the most part, you are parked in Big/12, only leaving for brief recovery periods. I happen to LOVE the standing sets, of which there are two. The first, fairly early in the workout, is a 5 minute set where you stand in Big/12 for 45 seconds, then sit in Big/13 for 15 - repeat that pattern 5 times. After the lunge sequence that comes at about the 2/3 point (3x10 lunges, each leg), you do it again, but this time for 3 minutes, alternating 50 seconds standing with 10 seconds sitting. Killer. And beautiful.

There is just under an hour of such quad burning fun, and you end with a leg and lung busting 3x20 seconds all out in Big/12. Ouch.

Troy can make me sweat like nothing else. My calves sweat. My forearms are dripping. I climb up the basement stairs when the workouts are over totally and completely spent, feeling like I just conquered the world.

I'm looking forward to my next sweaty session with Troy!