countdown to 29.

i’ll be 29 in less than a week. i’m rather anxious to vacate my 20s, since for the most part they were awful…but alas, i have one year left. so in the last moments of my 28s, i have:

• run an outdoor tempo run (last thursday). it was insanely hard, not because of the pace, but because i simply cannot gauge my legs accurately. i’m way too used to doing treadmill tempo runs. forcing myself outdoors will be good for me!
• discovered (okay, not really – my old roomie told me about it) a seafood market in town that serves the most amazing whitefish sandwiches. i may have had two of them on friday. and then fallen asleep at about 7pm.
• gotten my eyeballs checked so that i could successfully renew my license. eyes freak me out, so having somebody poke around and put nine million drops in mine is exceedingly terrible for me.
• successfully completed a set of ten 21″ box jumps. like, didn’t bite it even once.
• made and devoured roasted chickpeas. delicious.
• tried unsuccessfully to accomplish double-unders. or even a single double-under. i also am terrible at jumping rope to begin with, so i’m not sure what kind of magic i was expecting.

this is a decidedly uninteresting post. i have the promise of the internet man coming on friday, but i also picked up some extra classes at the gym that afternoon so unless they can guarantee me he’ll be out of my place by 3:30…well, i’ll continue to be web-less.

i’m quite enjoying living alone. i have nobody’s drama to deal with but my own, i can walk around topless, and i cook every day. which is an adventure, but it’s fun nonetheless.

i also have a strong urge to buy a guitar. and learn how to play.

maybe i’ll do that before i turn 30.

i’m writing this from hell.

no, really.

this new training cycle? it better make me jacked. or ripped. or look like DLB. or run a sub-45:00 10k in july. or something. because i am so unbelievably sore.

first off, since i won’t be maxing/lifting heavy singles for the next 8 weeks, dumbass here figured, ‘let’s max my squat and deadlift on sunday!’

pro tip: don’t do that in your life ever.

(as a side note, my squat 1RM is 130# (barf) and my deadlift is 205#. i failed my first attempt at 205, and got super riled for the second one. unlike my 200# pull from a few months ago – which was ugly and technically illegal due to some serious hitching/ramping – this one was clean and i even held it at the top for a few seconds after i locked out. i probably had a 210 or 215 in me, but i called it a day.)

it goes without saying that i felt like i got hit by a bus yesterday morning. and yesterday i also started my new training cycle. lighter weights, high volume. i did chest and bis/tris.

today was metcons and hill sprints. all while feeling like my pecs and anterior delts were falling off due to yesterday.

i have since died and am writing this from hell.

also – i went to the doctor yesterday because i had this skin tag that had suddenly started to look funny. she just lopped it off, and then it proceeded to not stop bleeding. and now i have a hole in my boob. and i benched after that haha.

i am in possession of the scores to all 9 beethoven symphonies, and recordings of all but nos. 4 and 7 (the CD didn’t work – boooo). heading home now to get down to business.

also, windstream is incompetent and i won’t have internet until next friday. i don’t even know.

this has been a post.

all my excites; all my grumps.

i’m writing this post while sitting in barnes and noble. on friday afternoon. so yes, it’s queued. more on that later.

all my excites!

• the semester is over!! i had a great semester, really – fantastic students, good coursework that wasn’t too extremely difficult, and i learned a lot about various things (teaching, research, academic bureaucracy).
• it’s summer!! which means lots of things for me, all of which give me excites:
  • it’s the summer of the symphony. i have 18 months until quals, and this summer is dedicated in part to learning the major symphonies. all of beethoven, the major mozart and haydns, brahms, MAHLER!!, sibelius, dvorak, stravinsky, tchaik, prokofiev…score study and listening, come at me!
  • i just bought a cookbook on clearance for 2 dollars. i’m going to continue to not eat PB&J every day, guys!
  • revamped training and programming, which i talked about earlier this week. i made a training plan for the bluegrass 10,000 which is relatively low volume (max 23 miles/week) and has 800s instead of mile repeats. i’m also adding in hill repeats once a week, either after tempo runs or in place of them haha. since we know how i feel about tempo runs! i’m also committing to metcons twice a week, volume lifts over maxes, and all in all getting pumped to shock the system and do work!
  • sun sun sun i cannot wait for sun!! (yes i wear sunscreen. i have 3 gnarly scars from a melanoma/pre-melanoma issue several years back. but still…vitamin d!!)
• i have a hair appointment in an hour. i love my hairdresser.

all my grumps!

• i submitted a request to windstream to get interwebs. on april 20th. “we’ll be in contact in 48 hours,” they sez. “if you don’t hear from us, call us,” they sez. two days go by and so i call. “you submitted your request on a saturday,” they sez. “you have to give us 48 hours of WEEKDAY hours,” they sez. “call back wednesday,” they sez. wednesday i call. “the soonest we can get somebody there is may 3rd,” they sez. i huff but agree. today (may 3rd) i call in the morning, juuuust to be sure. “oh we had to cancel that,” they sez. “WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME?!” i sez. “…” they sez.
• the regional manager was supposed to call me to give me an ETA on my interwebs. it’s 5pm on friday and i have gotten no call. i’ll go ahead and assume i won’t hear anything until monday, and only then if i’m extremely lucky. until then…web-less.
• i’m working on regaining flexibility (boo, surgery) and the last couples of degrees of flexion in my knee. the joint isn’t stopping me; it’s my damn gastroc head that keeps seizing. so every morning after i finish lifting, i’ve been forcing my sorry self to sit on my heels for 1-3 minutes. it sucks. but it’s starting to suck less. but i’m super sore for the rest of the day. ::grump, grump::
• my credit card bill is going to be out of control this month due to this godforsaken surprise move across town. like…out of control. plus my tuition bill just hit (yes, in the last week of the semester. go cats.) granted i’ve got full funding so i only pay a couple of hundred every semester for mandatory fees and things…but it’s a couple hundred on top of all the shit necessities i got for my new place.

now i’m going to go purchase my 2$ cookbook and chat up the guys at complete nutrition, which is right next door to my salon. because it’s the first friday of summer and that’s how i roll.

one year off the table: a surgery no-love story.

today is my surgery-versary. one year ago at this moment, i was sitting (okay, laying) in pre-op, getting teased by the nurses about my black toe and blisters while my advisor sat in the corner of the room laughing.

she reminded yesterday about something i had forgotten: the day before my surgery she asked me who was taking me there, and i said, ‘eh nobody, i’ll walk.’ …’and how are you getting back?’ ‘i’ll call a cab.’ to which she responded that, no, absolutely not, she would bring me. and bring me she did. and stayed until i went into surgery, during which time she went back to my apartment and stocked my fridge. she was there when i came out of anesthesia, brought me home, and got me subway for lunch.

the first eight weeks after surgery were, for all intents and purposes, an absolute disaster. nerve block disaster, an unresponsive quad, and my personal un-favorite, the muscle spasm from hell. not to mention, of course, the mysterious way the nerve block didn’t flush out of my muscles, the ridiculous muscle atrophy, the 30-lb weight loss and subsequent chicken leg.

i slowly learned how to sort of walk. and how to sort of go up and down stairs. it took until almost september for me to fully straighten my leg when walking; until october for there to not be a noticeable gait difference.

in november i ran a 5k in 22:07.

that month i also started deadlifting and squatting regularly.

i ran over 100 miles in december.

i worked like a dog. not that working out was foreign to me to begin with, but it took on a whole new meaning. i became focused – fiercely focused – on getting stronger.

in march i pulled a 200# deadlift.

and just last weekend i ran a half marathon. in 1:42:54. a damn respectable time. in the top 2.5% of the 6600 female finishers.

this year has taught me a lot about patience. about listening to my body, and knowing when to push and when to back off. it’s taught me that sometimes working harder isn’t necessarily working smarter – bodies need a break every now and again.

my weight is right back to where it was pre-op. although, my body looks completely different – i’ve never had traps and shoulders like this before, that’s for sure! my quads and calves are still slightly different in size, but it’s hardly noticeable. my squat may still be abyssmal, but all in all i’m stronger than ever.

and i appreciate everything this body does, much more than ever.

so a very happy surgery-versary to me! thanks, Knee, for teaching me some important lessons while you were being a turd.

short circuit.

as usual, i have three partially-written posts in my drafts and no energy or mental capacity to finish any of them right now, because they’re all relatively thought-provoking and emotion-laden.

instead, let’s talk about the fun stuff: training and running!!

i took my first post-race run yesterday, and it felt glorious. legs were a bit heavy – i had also done some light squats and deadlifts the day before though – and i kept it to 3 miles, easy pace. i was so glad to get out there again. and having trained for the derby forcing myself to calm down and run slower, and then smoking the race proper, i have much more trust in that training style now. i’ll spend the summer being okay with being slower on those easy days!

i’ve taken pretty much this entire week easy, training-wise. no big lifts; mostly high volume stuff.

and then last night i thought, “i want to do something different!” i only had an hour at the gym this morning because i was proctoring an exam for a colleague, so i had to get creative. which led to…jenn’s foray into a quasi-metcon/circuit.

Circuit A (3 rounds, 2:00 rest between rounds):
–> 15 wall balls (16# ball)
–> 10 burpees
–> 10 box jumps (18″ box)
–> 1:00 plank (with 10# plate on back)

Circuit B (3 rounds, 2:00 rest between rounds):
–> 65# front squat (10 reps)
–> 65# barbell row (10 reps)
–> 40# strict overhead press (10 reps)
–> parallel-grip pull-ups (3 reps)

thoughts upon completion: i’m obsessed. i love this kind of stuff and need to do it more frequently. the first circuit was mostly cardio and hip drive/leg power (with the wall balls and box jumps). i’ve never done box jumps before – like, ever – and i’m duly surprised i didn’t faceplant at least once.

the second circuit was barbell movement-focused. the OHPs were supposed to be clean and presses, but i was arching my lower back a ton so i just made them into OHPs, and they felt super light. so next time if i do this i’ll just stay in the squat rack, pull the plates off the bar i use for the other two, and OHP an open bar.

i did high-incline ‘mill walking for 5 minutes before and after, and the whole thing took me about 45 minutes. i was wiped out and sweating like crazy.

this summer i’m going to revamp my training a bit. i want to focus more on high-rep, hypertrophy-type lifting (with some max days thrown in because…max days) and developing more power. i’m strong, just not very explosive. hence the box jumps today. also incorporating hill sprints once a week and 800s should helps develop some hip drive and more explosive legs.

i’m going to run some shorter races this summer – a 10k in july here in lexington, and maybe a 5k or two. i’d like to still keep a long run day, but it’ll probably be a 10-mile max.

anyone have any other suggestions? favorite circuits or exercises you might throw into a circuit?

ETA: also, here are some gems from saturday’s race. i updated my racing page and included one, but the best shots will be below…

exhibit a: finish line. i almost don’t look like i’m about to puke. almost.

exhibit b: ca we just look at the dude in front of me for a hot second?! there are no fewer than a dozen finish line shots where he completely blocked my face/body because he threw his arms up as he crossed the line. what we see here is immediately post-arm-throw. so while i’m flailing int he background…he looks like an irish step dancer.

exhibit c: and finally…i am a short person. however, when the camera manages to catch me JUST as i’m rebounding from the pavement, i instantaneously shrink another 6 inches, rendering me the spitting image of a weeble. a weeble in pink sneakers, with a sickled back foot.

derby half marathon: what went down.

we all know i was going into the race with a moderate goal of a 1:50:00 finishing time. i also was REALLY sticking to my guns about not going out too fast. the course is relatively flat, but the only hills come in the last four miles. the first three miles are net downhill, in fact. but i made the mistake of running a sub-23:00 for my first 5k split last year, and that did NOT bode well for the next 10 miles.

i had been placed in the A corral due to my time last year, and i hung out waaaay in the back. the gun went off and i trotted out nice and easy. my legs felt really good, and the pace felt super comfortable. i guess-timated i was running a mid-8:00; when i looked down at my garmin i was really surprised to see a 7:58 looking back at me.

i kept chatting with myself to keep it easy…but my pace felt really comfortable, and my HR was nowhere near alarmingly high, so i just kind of rolled along. miles 2, 3, 4, and 5 passed in 7:49, 7:45, 7:46, and 7:43. it was perfect running weather, and for the first race in my life i wasn’t trying to “beat” anyone. i barely noticed the people around me, in fact.

at the beginning of mile 6 i walked a water stopped and shoved 2 juju fish in my face lol. chewing and running is a bit of a struggle, and it took a bit to get back into my rhythm, but that mile clicked by in 7:57. miles 7 and 8 were both sub-8:00, as well.

it was about here that i thought – “holy crap, i might run this in 1:45:00!” my legs felt great; my fueling plan was working out (i also walked a water stop during mile 8). we got to chruchill downs right at the start of mile 9 (great scenery; nothing like the smell of horse poop to get you moving!).

i literally almost cheered out loud at the beginning of mile 10 because we were finally in double digits and i still felt awesome. the last couple of miles on the course are where the uphills generally exist. i started mile 10 with a little bit of a kick, which i started to regret about halfway through that mile. i started to fight a little bit around mile 11, and that was my first (and only!) super-8:00 mile, at 8:02.

i inhaled an orange slice at the beginning of mile 12, and from there on out it was just all out. i hit the mile 12 marker and realized that i was not only going to run sub-1:45:00, but i was going to come damn close to my time from last year.

my last 2 splits were 7:49 and 7:50, and a 6:28 pace for the final tenth haul.

i clocked 1:42:54. just 2 seconds slower than last year – with a surgery, rehab, and a 30-pound weight rebound in the middle. i have never had runner’s high like that before.

i have never run such a smart race before, either. i took 30+ seconds off my mile time from the railrunner early last month. my splits were unbelievably even, and only slightly positive. (contrast to last year, when i was about as positively-split as i could get).

my feet fared well – only one teeny blister – and my knee was only minimally stiff yesterday. today my legs were a bit stiff and sore, so i made today shoulders and back instead of squats and deadlifts.

i have other stories to tell from the race – one in particular from while i was in churchill downs – and other things to talk about. but i wanted to right about the race while it was in my mind, and because i’ve spent the past four months boring you all with my training!

hope you all had a splendid weekend!  : )

kentucky derby half marathon: pre-race post!

tomorrow morning i’ll be running in my second kentucky derby half marathon (which i dubbed ‘the derb’ a few months ago). i’m giving a final exam tonight until 7pm, and then i’ll have to haul tailfeather to louisville to make it to the expo in time to pick up my packet, bib, timing chip, etc.

a few thoughts in the eleventh hour:

• i honestly don’t know what kind of time to expect out of myself. my knee is fine, but i still have a noticeable muscular imbalance between my good leg and my surgical leg. i feel the biggest effects from that in my ability (or lack thereof) to sustain quicker paces for prolonged periods of time. which i really felt at the railrunner last month.
• that being said…i ran last year in 1:42:52. my goal was sub-1:45:00. this year…i mean i would love to be a badass and have the most amazing comeback race and PR. but speaking realistically? i ran an 8:23 pace at the railrunner. if i match that i’ll run a 1:50:00. now i think i’ll beat that pace for reasons to be detailed below, but…i’m okay with not breaking PRs tomorrow.
• unlike at the railrunner, i have a plan for tomorrow’s race:
  • start at the BACK of the corral. i got placed in A (sub-8:00/mile pace) due to my time last year. i need to start in the back. like…butt in the B corral. because (a) everybody goes out fast, so (b) i’ll go out fast with them, and (c) that will be terrible.
  • grab water at the 4, 7, and 10-mile stops. also eat some juju fish. fuel o’ champions.
  • allow the first few miles to not be speed demons. my legs are way slower to warm up than they were pre-surgery. i need to be okay with that.
  • WARM UP. a little run and some dynamic stretching. goal is to have a slightly elevated heart rate at start time. which is sometimes hard to do with the crowds and things, but…i’ll try!
  • don’t get frustrated. i don’t run well angry.
  • when the going gets tough, remember that less than a year ago i had my knee sawed into. i lost 30 pounds in five weeks and had an 11-cm difference between my quads. it took 2 months to be able to walk down a flight of stairs because my leg couldn’t hold my weight. and tomorrow, i’m running a half marathon. who cares if i don’t PR?!

so there’s my pre-race ramble. i have office hours in an hour, then a break, then giving this exam thang. i’m going to go get some coffee and a bagel. the next time i post, be prepared for photos of banged up feet and a shiny new medal!!

tuesday rundown: home stretch.

i’m taking a break before i go get some coffee and plow through the makings of an exam key.

last night was my first evening/night in my new place. the movers were early (!!) and very lovely guys. they hauled my heavy stuff in, and i christened my kitchen by making myself an egg and cheese burrito for lunch.

and when i got home from teaching at about 7pm, i immediately recalled one of my favorite things about living alone: walking around in my underwear. because it’s warm outside but i refuse to turn the a/c on unless it’s at least 80 degrees (cheap grad student alert). so i proceeded to make dinner/tomorrow’s (well, today’s) lunch in my undies. because i can.

10/10, would definitely recommend.

i also deadlifted a triple at 180# today – twice – and a double at 190#. and the double felt solid. six weeks ago i 99% failed a single at 200#. guess i’m getting stronger?!

this morning i squat and deadlifted and then took my easy, taper/race week training run, and have been eating relatively constantly ever since. leg days, man. they get me every time.

i have my doctoral committee lined up and confirmed. holy crap.

and one of my bestest friends from college asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. ::dying of excites::

three more days of classes. one more final project (which i really need to start). and windstream needs to process my request so homegirl can get some interwebz in her new place.

it’s tuesday. my life is awesome. time for coffee.

 

flashback! hair today, gone tomorrow…

a year ago today, i knew two very important things: (1) i was not getting married in october as we had planned, and (2) i was having surgery the first week of may. knowledge of those two items led to this decision, because (1) i no longer had to grow my hair out for my dream wedding style, and (2) on top of being unable to use my dominant leg for god-knows-how-long, i didn’t also want to deal with a mop full or hair.

which led to this:

becoming this:

 

and now, a year later, the fact that i can comfortably pull my hair into a semi-ponytail without needing 3957 bobby pins is a nice reminder that time passes…people change…we grow.

i was actually miserable in both of those photos. i was terrified of my first-ever surgery coming up, afraid of what it would mean for me athletically, if i would ever be the same in a physical capacity. my dad had just told me that he had given our dog away so that he could travel to see his girlfriend more just because. and even though k and i were back together after our (relationship k.o.d.) break, the writing was on the wall. the wedding was off and the relationship was on its way out.

so yes, i was pretty damn miserable.

and here we are, one year later. moving to a new place today. slowly clawing my way back from a couple of weeks of pure hell in the way of stress and anxiety. but all in all, life is good. or at the very least, it’s moving in a positive direction.

time passes. people change. we grow.

 

 

thoughts before moving.

when i was on the phone with my grandma on friday, telling her about my move, she made me promise that i would get movers to handle the larger items. she knows i’m stubborn and like to pretend i’m wonderwoman, you see. so true to my word, i hired some movers to get my bed, box spring, desk, and bookcase from current place to new apartment safely. they’re coming tomorrow at twelve, and thus i will be officially relocated by the afternoon!

i moved a trunk-load of stuff over on friday, went to the dollar tree to buy some things (shower curtain rings, shower liner, dishcloths, etc…), and yesterday got up before the sun to pack some more. it took maybe a dozen trips to get everything else into my car, and then i drove over and made said dozen trips back up to my new apartment. (second floor coming and going. of course.)

i then put on some music and spent the next three hours unpacking and organizing the kitchen (nine gazillion cupboards…what do i put in them all?!) and the bathroom (i hate putting shower curtains up). i opted for blue in the bathroom, red and black in the kitchen.

i put together my awesome wire cube organizer shelf thingee, and put two whole items on it.

i don’t know why, but i find these incredibly calming to assemble. something about everything locking into place and being all straight lines and right angles.

i didn’t do much in the bedroom except unpack and hang up all of my clothes (there is a HUGE closet and a walk-in closet…again, what do i put in them?!). i wanted to keep the space clear for the mover dudes tomorrow. ditto the living room. although, the only thing i have to put in there as of right now is, indeed, my desk/bookshelf combo.

the space is way bigger than i’m used to – 550 square feet and i swear every time i turned around i discovered another closet. i’m not in any hurry to fill it with random crap, but i would like to maybe get a nice chair, or even a little table and a pair of chairs.

the only real “necessities” i have yet to acquire are a trash can and a skillet. i’m sure i’ll think of more things as time goes on. i should probably get a lamp or two, as the lighting isn’t the greatest.

i feel like i’ll spend a lot of the summer bargain hunting and thrifting. which is fine, i have a 15-month lease and i’m in no hurry. i would like to feel completely settled by the start of the fall semester though.

i bought nails so i’ll actually hang my damn medals up this time around – finally.

speaking of which, i’ll be getting another one of those in six days! i know race time is near because i’m starting to have the panicked nightmares. sleeping through my alarm is a common one. last night it was that i missed the finish line and got lost lol. my life.

and since i have to make everything into a game, i’m using this as a big ole adventure in “jenn learns to cook.” when i lived in my studio apartment during my master’s degree years, i did indeed cook daily, but mostly the same things – scrambled eggs and toast, red bean burritos, pasta. i would like to maybe learn to cook like an adult now. ya know, not eat PB&Honey sandwiches for lunch five days a week.

i have the entire summer. in the end it will be more cost-effective (not that PB&Honey is an expensive option, but huge bags of long grain rice are dirt cheap, as are eggs…if i can come up with a few dishes to make with those i’ll be set.) so if anyone has any favorite semi-easy (or just easy) recipes they’d like to share, send them along!!