October 28, 2012

First post-marathon run

Change of plans last night--no ice cream cone for me :(

When I was getting ready to take the boys trunk-or-treating, I bundled up because last year was freezing; then when I stepped outside, I thought, "Wow, it's not cold!" and I took off all my layers, wearing just a hoodie and jeans instead. That was a big mistake.

We picked up my dad, and then went to the church. As soon as I got out of the car, I felt how windy and cold it was, and immediately wished I'd brought all my layers with me. The longer we stayed, the less appealing ice cream was sounding. Eli's doughnut looked really good, and I thought about getting one instead, but at that point, I really just wanted to go home and sit under my electric blanket.
He had powdered sugar all over himself after that (this photo was after he wiped some off). Seeing him with the powdered sugar on his face reminded me of a picture I took a long time ago, after the boys got into a container of baby powder while I was in the shower...
My entire living room was covered in powder in the 10 minutes it took me to shower. When I came out, Noah (who was three at the time), was using a towel to "clean it up" (read: spread it around even more). They were both covered in powder, and it was so funny that I couldn't even be mad. I took pictures and video :)

Anyway, I was too cold to even think about ice cream, so I decided to just save the PointsPlus for another day.

This morning, I did my first post-marathon run. Normally, I don't run on Sundays, but if my kids aren't home, then sometimes I do shift things around. They stayed the night at my parents' house last night, so this morning, I got out of bed and dressed for the cold. It was in the mid-30's, so I wore a long-sleeved shirt and I even decided to wear gloves.

A company called Zensah sent me a pair of running gloves to review. They said that the fingertips have special fabric that allows you to use wear them while using a touch-screen device (iPod, iPhone, etc). I had no idea such a thing existed! I always wear the super cheap $1 knit gloves, and then I have to take them off every time I want to touch my iPod on a run.

I was skeptical that the gloves would actually work, so I tried them out immediately when I got them in the mail--and they worked! I thought maybe I'd have to try over and over again to touch the same button, or that there would be a delayed reaction (now that I type that, I realize that sounds kind of stupid...) but the tips on the gloves worked as if I wasn't wearing gloves at all.

Magical fingertips (and thumb tip) for touch-screen
The gloves were comfy to run in (I hate having sweaty hands, but they didn't feel sweaty in these), and I like how they look. My only complaint is the sizing. I measured my hand as instructed, and ordered a medium, but they are bigger than I would like. I like gloves to fit, well, like a glove--but these are loose, which you can see in the first picture above. So if you are interested in buying some, I would order a size smaller than it measures.

While I was running, I noticed that the thumb of the gloves is made of suede, which I thought was really strange. I spent a good mile and a half trying to figure out what the purpose of that was, but never did. Then as I was typing all this, I went to the description page, and it reads: "Micro suede thumb to wipe nose"... BAHAHA, I never would have guessed that's what the suede was for! Definitely going to try that out next time ;)  (Disclosure: Zensah gave me a pair of the gloves for free to review, but opinions are, as always, my own).

So anyway, this is the new schedule I am following (loosely) until the Ragnar Relay:
If you are actually interested, you can click to enlarge
I say "loosely" following, because I rarely run five days a week. So I may be skipping runs here and there, or switching them around. But right now, I'm really interested in running more often, but less mileage--shorter runs, but more of them. We'll see how long that lasts ;)  Also, the pace is just a guideline; I'm not going to be strict with that, either. I made this schedule based on Hal Higdon's Intermediate half-marathon training schedule, adding the paces based on a running calculator app on my phone.

So today was 3.5 miles at a 10:24/mi pace. Almost as soon as I started running, I was coughing. I thought my cold was getting better all week, because my head and congestion feel better; but while I was running, I was constantly coughing. Awesome. But I managed to finish, and my legs felt great.
It was pretty windy, and it's supposed to be really windy all week, because of the hurricane on the east coast.

I'm a little concerned about my trip to NYC next weekend getting canceled. Jennifer is stuck in Florida (she went on a Disney cruise with her family, and was supposed to go home today, but the flights were canceled); since I'm supposed to stay with her, I'm not sure what will happen if she's not home (or feeling up to a house guest!). I'm also wondering if my flight will be canceled anyway, depending on how badly NY gets hit with the storm.

I know those are just minor concerns compared to people who are having to deal with the storm (and its aftermath), so I hope it's not as bad as it's predicted to be!

24 comments:

  1. Gotta love the nose wiping strips on the sides of the gloves!! A shirt I recently bought has a different material for the cuffs which is kind of fuzzy and I figure that it's for nose wiping! I wore it for the first time today and one wrist was for nose wiping and the other was for forehead sweat wiping!!! (My mother would be so proud of what I just wrote!!!)

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  2. Those gloves look pretty awesome!

    As someone who's just getting into running, it's very cool to take a peek at your running schedule! Thanks for posting that!

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    1. I try to post them at the beginning of each training session, but I end up moving things around sometimes. That's awesome that you're getting into running!

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  3. That's a solid running schedule, I like it. I think I heard/read somewhere that running less mileage at a time more frequently is better for injury prevention. I don't remember where I heard it though, so don't quote me :)

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    1. I believe that! I was injury-free until I started getting into miles over 15 or so at a time. My body just doesn't like those really long runs!

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  4. Right now it's very windy, hardly any rain to speak of. Downtown NYC has been under emergency evacuation because of tisal surges. Busses and subways are not running. I honestly don't know what's going to happen for Saturday. Packet pick up is only Thursday and Friday, so I'm not sure about making the trip into the city twice for the race. Maybe they'll allow race day pick up this time. I'll only have to leave the house around 4:30am, then, but it's the least of my worries right now. I hope it's not as bad as they're predicting.

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    1. Stay safe Linda. We're thinking about all of you in Sandy's path and hoping it's not too bad and will all be over by next weekend!

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    2. I offered to let her stay with me if she needs and if she takes me up on the offer we will meet up with you on your ride in if that would work. I am in South Huntington just off the NSP

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    3. Linda, I certainly hope that things aren't as bad as they're predicting! Stay safe!

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  5. The power picture is adorable. Sometimes it's better just to laugh at a mess than get upset. I was trying to think of that happening with my boys, but I think I always just got mad. I do remember once about six years ago, when I was taking care of my dad in hospice (Warning--this is going to get pretty graphic), Dad had an accident and it was all over the place. I tried to never lose my patience with Dad, as I realized what he was going through, but as his major caregiver, I did get frustrated. His mentally impaired girlfriend, however, had a smile on her face and was very good-natured about helping with the clean up. I think she had cleaned up a few of these messes all on her own when no one else was around. That made me smile too, and I decided there was no reason to be mad. It couldn't have been prevented, and getting angry wasn't going to make the clean-up any easier. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

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    1. Yes, sometimes you just have to laugh, as frustrating as it is! I try to keep in mind that one day, I'm going to look back at the pictures and laugh about it, so I try not to get mad over messes.

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  6. If you need a place to stay you can stay with me. I know you don't mind cats...I have 3. I also live less than 10 min from a train that will take you into NYC in just under an hour or I can take you to meet up with Linda from your Ragnar team when she is driving in as I live half way between her and NYC. She actually lives in the town I grew up in.

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    1. Thank you for the offer! If things don't go as planned, I just may take you up on that :)

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  7. The picture with the baby powder is just too cute!!

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    1. I know, that is one of my favorite pictures! I was so shocked that it was funny :)

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  8. What app do you use to calculate paces?

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    1. It's called "Runner's Ally" PaceCalc. You input your race distance and time, and it will give you your projected pace, your race times (for other distances), and your training paces. That's where I got the training numbers from.

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    2. Awesome, thanks!! I've always had a hard time estimating paces for speedwork.

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  9. What app do you use to calculate paces?

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  10. Hmm... I'm considering running more often, too, just less mileage... or focus on HIIT. That's my plan for the winter, anyway!

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  11. I know youve posted this before, but what do you use to make your monthly running charts? I like it and would LOVE to start using it.

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    1. It's actually just Microsoft Excel. I type it all out manually based on other plans (usually Hal Higdon's). I always have to shift things around to fit my schedule, and Excel keeps everything nice and neat looking :)

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  12. Those gloves look great...thanks for sharing! I really do appreciate your product reviews...I love learning about new products from other peoples' real-world experience!

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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