This week has been a tough week. My work load in lab has seriously multiplied. I'm trying to get a draft of my paper to my committee this coming week, so I've been working nonstop on it. I feel like I'm living in lab and the gym. Every minute that I'm not in one of those places, I'm working on the laptop, eating (probably while working), showering (because it would be really gross if I didn't), and sleeping (completely necessary). Tuesday night, I pulled the closest to an all nighter that I have since traveling to Europe. Or since college.
The crazy thing is that I managed to get all of my training runs in. Every last mile. The sad thing is that I completely neglected strength training. I didn't do a single active thing besides running. I'm really hoping that changes this coming week, but I don't have high hopes.
Tuesday, January 28th:
I started out this workout in a really bad mood, but it lifted once I got into it.
I enjoyed the intervals of this treadmill run.
I started with a 1 mile warmup at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
Then I did 12 sets of 0.25 miles at my 3k pace (~7mph) with a 2 minute rest (walk at 2.5mph).
I did the first 10 at 7mph, and the last 2 at 7.2mph.
I ended with a 1/2 mile cool down at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
I did a total of 4.5 miles running in 41:22, average pace of 9:12/mile
Thursday, January 30th:
This was a pretty basic run. I did 4 miles slow, at 5.7mph, on the new treadmill in the gym at my apartment complex. I was supposed to do 4 sets of 20 sec strides at the end, but I just didn't wanna.
Saturday, February 1st:
This was technically supposed to be done on Friday, but I was too tired when I came home that night. Instead, I woke up around 9 to go to the gym at my apartment. Annoyingly, the entire Madhouse was completely locked, from every entrance. The office didn't open until 10, and I didn't want to wait that long, so Joey drove me to the AFC. There, I managed to snag one of the decent treadmills, and then proceeded to hog it for the next 75 minutes. I felt a little bad when I saw some people walking by to check for free treadmills, but not that bad. I have to do that all the time, and I've certainly never had anyone get off their treadmill just because I wanted to use it.
As usual, I started with a 1 mile warmup at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
Next I did 3 sets of 1.5 miles at goal pace (6.1mph) with a 3 minute rest (walk at 2.5mph).
I ended with a 1/2 mile cool down at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
In total, I ran 6 miles in 60:07, average pace of 10:01/mile.
Sunday, February 2nd:
Today marked the first time I've run outside since getting back from vacation! It was the perfect weather - in the 50s, and partly sunny. I was really dreading the run for a few reasons. I was scheduled to run 9 miles, which is the farther than any of my previous runs. The 8 mile run I did last weekend didn't really feel like a long run, in the sense that it was broken up so many times (although it certainly felt like a long run that day). The last long run I had outside was a 7 mile run on the beach at Santa Monica 3 weeks earlier, and I was just nervous that I had lost my endurance. I also was a bit nervous, since the route I planned was pretty similar to the one I ran when I had a stomach bug, and I did not want to re-experience that awful run.
The run ended up being okay! I set out with the goal of just using that time as "me time," to listen to my book, and just relax. If that means running a 12min/mile pace, so be it. I just wanted to get the miles in, and not worry about the pace at all.
I think I was pretty consistent with my pace. In the flat/downhill portions, I averaged around 10:20/10:30. On the steep uphill portions, I slowed down to more like 11/11:30. Since I took it so slow on those portions, I was actually able to recover.
Once I got back and took off my shoes, I realized that some of my toes were really hurting. There's a blister on the inside of my middle toe, that appeared while we were hiking in Death Valley. It still hasn't fully healed, and it reformed during the run, into a giant blister that needed to be popped. Now there are so many blisters on top of blisters in the same spot, and it's seriously raw underneath. I'm hoping it won't cause any problems in future runs, and I'll have to actively protect it from now on.
I used Joey's Garmin 210, but it ran out of charge as soon as I got back, and I haven't been able to transfer the file yet. This is a map of the route that I did, and I believe it took me 1 hour 36 minutes - average pace of 10:40/mile.
Besides having a crazy busy week, I also had a bunch of weird things happen. Tuesday night, I turned on the toaster oven so I could roast some shrimp in it. After a few minutes, I saw a giant spark out of the corner of my eye. Of course I made Joey deal with it, and he saw that the cord from the stand mixer had gotten too close to the back of the toaster, and had completely melted and fried. We moved that away from the toaster (and I cried a little), and then I tried to proceed with cooking my shrimp. I turned the toaster oven back on, but something didn't seem right. I thought that there was a light that usually came on, that I wasn't seeing. In the meantime, Joey told me to just put the shrimp in the regular oven, which he had just finished with. I set the timer for 7 minutes, and waited for them to cook.
While they were cooking, I started to investigate what was wrong with the toaster oven. I guessed that maybe when there was the spark, it shorted that outlet. We tested it out, and saw that I was right. We tried to press the reset button, but nothing happened. That's when we realized it must have tripped the entire breaker. Okay, not a huge deal for the moment. However, I noticed a few minutes later, that the light in the fridge was out - ie, the fridge/freezer were on the same breaker as that outlet. Well that was a big uh oh. This has happened before, and our land lord refuses to tell us where the breakers are. We've searched our entire apartment, with no luck of finding them. I called the emergency maintenance line, and very clearly told them that we had a flipped breaker, and were perfectly capable of doing it ourself, but nobody would tell us where they were.
In the meantime, the shrimp were still cooking in the oven. After 7 minutes, I took them out, and I could tell they weren't cooked all the way. That never happens! We did a few times through of putting them in for another 1-2 minutes, then re-checking, and they still weren't cooked. Finally, we realized that the oven wasn't actually on - the pilot light was out. I still have no idea how the breaker affected that, since it's a gas stove. I was honestly a little relieved to see that I wasn't going crazy - the shrimp weren't cooking since the oven wasn't on!
So in one single action, I managed to ruin the cord for my stand mixer, and flip the breaker that controlled most of our kitchen appliances. Thankfully, the maintenance guy called me back, shared the valuable information, and Joey took care of it. Joey also took care of the mixer - he searched online and just found a replacement cord. One internet video later, and he found out how to replace it, and voila! Fixed stand mixer!
Just when you would think that I broke all of our electronics - Friday night, I decided I needed dessert, and nothing we had was acceptable. Joey said he would drive me to the store where we could get cookies (what I was really craving at the moment), and a few other things to make the trip to the store seem less ridiculous. He asked if we could take my car, I said yes, and we headed out. He used his key to manually unlock the driver's side door, but then the rest of the car wouldn't unlock. Fun find - the car was dead. I had apparently left the interior lights on the last time I drove it. We obviously still needed to get me cookies, so we took Joey's car instead. And then Saturday morning, while I was at the gym, he jumped my car. There were people parked on either side of me, and my jumper cables weren't quite long enough, so he macgyver'd (is that even a word?) it so he attached his jumper cables to mine, and then each to the respective cars. It took a while for the battery to recharge enough to actually start, but since it did, it's been just fine.
So it was clearly a crazy week. And I haven't even told you about the stuff that went down in lab. I'm just hoping that this week will be a bit better than last!
Week 8:
Tuesday: 4.5 miles (treadmill)
Thursday: 4 miles (treadmill)
Saturday: 6 miles (treadmill)
Sunday: 9 miles (outside)
Weekly Total: 23.5 miles
Update: at first we thought Joey's Garmin was broken! It ran out of charge, like I said, and then refused to recharge. After a few days of trying, it suddenly started working again. I don't know how to explain it, but am definitely happy that it's working again!
Here are my results from my 9 mile run:
The crazy thing is that I managed to get all of my training runs in. Every last mile. The sad thing is that I completely neglected strength training. I didn't do a single active thing besides running. I'm really hoping that changes this coming week, but I don't have high hopes.
Tuesday, January 28th:
I started out this workout in a really bad mood, but it lifted once I got into it.
I enjoyed the intervals of this treadmill run.
I started with a 1 mile warmup at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
Then I did 12 sets of 0.25 miles at my 3k pace (~7mph) with a 2 minute rest (walk at 2.5mph).
I did the first 10 at 7mph, and the last 2 at 7.2mph.
I ended with a 1/2 mile cool down at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
I did a total of 4.5 miles running in 41:22, average pace of 9:12/mile
Thursday, January 30th:
This was a pretty basic run. I did 4 miles slow, at 5.7mph, on the new treadmill in the gym at my apartment complex. I was supposed to do 4 sets of 20 sec strides at the end, but I just didn't wanna.
Saturday, February 1st:
This was technically supposed to be done on Friday, but I was too tired when I came home that night. Instead, I woke up around 9 to go to the gym at my apartment. Annoyingly, the entire Madhouse was completely locked, from every entrance. The office didn't open until 10, and I didn't want to wait that long, so Joey drove me to the AFC. There, I managed to snag one of the decent treadmills, and then proceeded to hog it for the next 75 minutes. I felt a little bad when I saw some people walking by to check for free treadmills, but not that bad. I have to do that all the time, and I've certainly never had anyone get off their treadmill just because I wanted to use it.
As usual, I started with a 1 mile warmup at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
Next I did 3 sets of 1.5 miles at goal pace (6.1mph) with a 3 minute rest (walk at 2.5mph).
I ended with a 1/2 mile cool down at 5.7mph (10:31/mile).
In total, I ran 6 miles in 60:07, average pace of 10:01/mile.
Sunday, February 2nd:
Today marked the first time I've run outside since getting back from vacation! It was the perfect weather - in the 50s, and partly sunny. I was really dreading the run for a few reasons. I was scheduled to run 9 miles, which is the farther than any of my previous runs. The 8 mile run I did last weekend didn't really feel like a long run, in the sense that it was broken up so many times (although it certainly felt like a long run that day). The last long run I had outside was a 7 mile run on the beach at Santa Monica 3 weeks earlier, and I was just nervous that I had lost my endurance. I also was a bit nervous, since the route I planned was pretty similar to the one I ran when I had a stomach bug, and I did not want to re-experience that awful run.
The run ended up being okay! I set out with the goal of just using that time as "me time," to listen to my book, and just relax. If that means running a 12min/mile pace, so be it. I just wanted to get the miles in, and not worry about the pace at all.
I think I was pretty consistent with my pace. In the flat/downhill portions, I averaged around 10:20/10:30. On the steep uphill portions, I slowed down to more like 11/11:30. Since I took it so slow on those portions, I was actually able to recover.
Once I got back and took off my shoes, I realized that some of my toes were really hurting. There's a blister on the inside of my middle toe, that appeared while we were hiking in Death Valley. It still hasn't fully healed, and it reformed during the run, into a giant blister that needed to be popped. Now there are so many blisters on top of blisters in the same spot, and it's seriously raw underneath. I'm hoping it won't cause any problems in future runs, and I'll have to actively protect it from now on.
I used Joey's Garmin 210, but it ran out of charge as soon as I got back, and I haven't been able to transfer the file yet. This is a map of the route that I did, and I believe it took me 1 hour 36 minutes - average pace of 10:40/mile.
Besides having a crazy busy week, I also had a bunch of weird things happen. Tuesday night, I turned on the toaster oven so I could roast some shrimp in it. After a few minutes, I saw a giant spark out of the corner of my eye. Of course I made Joey deal with it, and he saw that the cord from the stand mixer had gotten too close to the back of the toaster, and had completely melted and fried. We moved that away from the toaster (and I cried a little), and then I tried to proceed with cooking my shrimp. I turned the toaster oven back on, but something didn't seem right. I thought that there was a light that usually came on, that I wasn't seeing. In the meantime, Joey told me to just put the shrimp in the regular oven, which he had just finished with. I set the timer for 7 minutes, and waited for them to cook.
While they were cooking, I started to investigate what was wrong with the toaster oven. I guessed that maybe when there was the spark, it shorted that outlet. We tested it out, and saw that I was right. We tried to press the reset button, but nothing happened. That's when we realized it must have tripped the entire breaker. Okay, not a huge deal for the moment. However, I noticed a few minutes later, that the light in the fridge was out - ie, the fridge/freezer were on the same breaker as that outlet. Well that was a big uh oh. This has happened before, and our land lord refuses to tell us where the breakers are. We've searched our entire apartment, with no luck of finding them. I called the emergency maintenance line, and very clearly told them that we had a flipped breaker, and were perfectly capable of doing it ourself, but nobody would tell us where they were.
In the meantime, the shrimp were still cooking in the oven. After 7 minutes, I took them out, and I could tell they weren't cooked all the way. That never happens! We did a few times through of putting them in for another 1-2 minutes, then re-checking, and they still weren't cooked. Finally, we realized that the oven wasn't actually on - the pilot light was out. I still have no idea how the breaker affected that, since it's a gas stove. I was honestly a little relieved to see that I wasn't going crazy - the shrimp weren't cooking since the oven wasn't on!
So in one single action, I managed to ruin the cord for my stand mixer, and flip the breaker that controlled most of our kitchen appliances. Thankfully, the maintenance guy called me back, shared the valuable information, and Joey took care of it. Joey also took care of the mixer - he searched online and just found a replacement cord. One internet video later, and he found out how to replace it, and voila! Fixed stand mixer!
Just when you would think that I broke all of our electronics - Friday night, I decided I needed dessert, and nothing we had was acceptable. Joey said he would drive me to the store where we could get cookies (what I was really craving at the moment), and a few other things to make the trip to the store seem less ridiculous. He asked if we could take my car, I said yes, and we headed out. He used his key to manually unlock the driver's side door, but then the rest of the car wouldn't unlock. Fun find - the car was dead. I had apparently left the interior lights on the last time I drove it. We obviously still needed to get me cookies, so we took Joey's car instead. And then Saturday morning, while I was at the gym, he jumped my car. There were people parked on either side of me, and my jumper cables weren't quite long enough, so he macgyver'd (is that even a word?) it so he attached his jumper cables to mine, and then each to the respective cars. It took a while for the battery to recharge enough to actually start, but since it did, it's been just fine.
So it was clearly a crazy week. And I haven't even told you about the stuff that went down in lab. I'm just hoping that this week will be a bit better than last!
Week 8:
Tuesday: 4.5 miles (treadmill)
Thursday: 4 miles (treadmill)
Saturday: 6 miles (treadmill)
Sunday: 9 miles (outside)
Weekly Total: 23.5 miles
Update: at first we thought Joey's Garmin was broken! It ran out of charge, like I said, and then refused to recharge. After a few days of trying, it suddenly started working again. I don't know how to explain it, but am definitely happy that it's working again!
Here are my results from my 9 mile run:
