Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[run.minnie.miles]

I feel ya. What did you get?
I went with the Knockaround Clear/Green Moonshine Classics. Was looking at the goodr Iced By Yetis, which I love the colors, but I have a small head and I'm afraid they might be too big for me (because they're bigger than the knockaround classics, which are pretty much exactly the right size for me)



Neither. The line at Starbucks was too long and the subway was closer than Dunkin Donuts. Then my commute sucked and now I'm drinking office coffee. Will go out at 11:30ish for something else. Still not sure what.

---

Good news: I think I no longer have to take off my shoes when I go through security at the airport. WooHoo! Also, customs has become easier when I travel internationally. Also woohoo.
This is why I haven't booked my flight for Florida yet ... I was waiting for my Global Entry interview to make sure I got approved (not that I thought there would be a problem). Now I have to find a new excuse for not booking my flight .

Also, expect a weekly update possibly coming up at some point today.

I ordered a pair of polarspex from Amazon. I wanted a pair that looked a little girlier for when I go on a trip with my mom and sister in a few weeks. My husband has the wayfarer style from the same brand and likes them.

Please update on the 11:30am coffee.

We also have the pre-check # (or whatever the official name is) and the interview was a joke. I basically just had to say my name and promise it was me.
But it's definitely handy!

 

[SarahDisney]

I ordered a pair of polarspex from Amazon. I wanted a pair that looked a little girlier for when I go on a trip with my mom and sister in a few weeks. My husband has the wayfarer style from the same brand and likes them.

Those are pretty - excellent choice! I look forward to seeing all the pictures of you wearing them on Instagram.

Please update on the 11:30am coffee.

11:15 Update: Office coffee is disgusting.
11:45 Update: Still in the office. Trying to finish something before I go out. Sigh.
11:55 Update: Yes, it takes me 40 minutes to reply to comments. Finished my office coffee. Drinking water now. Gotta checkout out postmates.

We also have the pre-check # (or whatever the official name is) and the interview was a joke. I basically just had to say my name and promise it was me.

Yeah, mine was basically the same. The guy next to me had some trouble though ... when I left, there was a discussion between him and the border control agent about a possible arrest in Chicago that he may have originally neglected to mention.

 

[Bree]

Our interview for Global Entry was boring too. But boring with those border patrol people is probably a good thing!

Are you shopping for running shoes?

 

[SarahDisney]

New Balance Bronx 10 Mile: Training Week 3 Recap​

Monday

• Running: None
• Cross Training: barre3, 59:12 minutes
  • Another new instructor this week. I had my doubts about her early, but she turned out to be awesome. Really liked her.
  • I wasn't sure how I was going to play this since I hadn't had my usual pre-class snack, but I ended up wanting to push it and did really well - I even held both planks the whole time (including a 60 second plank) without going to my knees or the barre at all. Overall, a really good class.
• Food: Didn't have so much chocolate on my desk so I didn't overchocolate, but I also ate too much junk. Two trips to the vending machine for junk. Got a Nesquik and popcorners after barre because I hadn't nutritioned well pre-class and I thought I should have some salt and maybe protein (yeah, I know, nesquik has minimal protein. It was strawberry flavored.)
• Life/Work: Decent day ... not great, but not terrible. Stress level of 29, which is very low for me.

Tuesday

• Running: 3mi EC - 3.05 miles, 38:01 minutes, 12:28/mile avg pace
  • Started off at a perfect pace, then slowed down a bit ... started to speed up, but remembered that I usually do easy runs blind because I can get too wrapped up in pace, so I stopped looking at my watch. Only felt like I needed a break twice - once I decided I would stop when I got to a certain point and take a picture (contemplated taking the picture many times but haven't... I'm glad I finally stopped to do it) and the other time i just drank water and kept going.

​

• • I tried the 880s with the factory insoles to see if the insoles were the problem ... they're not. Put my superfeet insoles back in as soon as I got home.
    
  • I keep forgetting to do strides on my EC runs. Oops?
• Cross Training: None
• Food: Bought new chocolate for the office. Ate all the new chocolate I bought for the office.
• Life/Work: Mets game! We had good seats (gift from a family friend), but the people sitting around us sucked. I have no problem with drinking at a ballgame ... as long as the people who are drinking still act like civilized human beings. These people did not. Ugh. But otherwise it was a good game. Stress level for the day was 36.

Wednesday:

• Running: None
  • Was originally scheduled for 4 easy miles, but when my 9 miler got moved from Sunday to Thursday, Coach recommended I skip this run and add a mile to Sunday's 3 miler.
• Cross Training: None
  • When today's run was cancelled, I wanted to sign up for a barre3 class, but it didn't end up working out. Which is a good thing, because I really needed a complete rest day from life ... and since that's not possible with my life, a rest day from exercise is the best I can ask for.
• Food: Bad.
• Work: Bad day. I couldn't concentrate at all and my head felt like it was gonna explode, so I just ate all the chocolate and was cranky. Plus, it was someone's last day and that's always sad. Just a bad day overall.
• Life: Since I couldn't take a day off from life, I tried to get some stuff done at home, but after like 20 minutes my head got all explode-y. Grr. Stress level for the day was 33, but I felt like it should have been higher.

Thursday

• Running: 1.5 mi WU + 1 mi LR C + 4 mi HM C + 1 mi LR C + 1.5 mi CD - 9.01 miles, 1:46:34 hours, 11:50/mi avg pace
  • This was a much-needed good run. I did some "stop and drink" breaks during the continuous run, but that was mental, not physical - physically I had no problem with this. Well, other than my throat hurting, but I think that was because I used a different gel than usual. At one point in time (probably about 2.75 miles into the HM C) I changed my playlist, and after that, no walk breaks until the cool down (unless you count breaks to refill my H2O bottle and to wipe mud off my shoes, but both of those were in the LR C mile and I don't think they count because those weren't "take a break" stops). Overall, this was exactly what I needed to feel better about my continuous running goals. I got this.
  • Pace was all over the place:

​

• • Shoe Update: Much better than my last long run. Some pain on the top of the foot, but the answer to that may be lacing them differently (I think that is the answer, since that same foot pain happened yesterday with my Zantes). There was also a little medial ankle pain when changing surfaces, but that's not unexpected (changing surfaces always screws with me a little, which is why I try to do it as little as possible). Still not 100% sure that these are my marathon shoes, but they are my NB Bronx 10 Mile shoes.
• Cross Training: None
  • I was originally scheduled for a barre3 class, but with how I felt after my run, I figured it was safer to rest my knee and cancel my reservation. Sigh.
• Food: Did not stop eating. Did not feel at all bad about it.
• Life/Work: Okay-ish. Had some knee pain during the day (which I think was related to not stretching enough) and foot pain (which I think was the aforementioned lacing issue), but nothing else notable. Managed to get all my crap done and pack for my trip to Philly. Overall stress level was 47, which surprises me a bit.

Friday

• Running: None
• Cross Training: None
• Food: Okay, not great. Didn't overeat at dinner, which is usually a problem for me, even though the food was good.
• Life/Work: Foot still hurt a little, but it was getting better. Amtrak sucks (they said to show up 45 minutes before my train ... I did not have to do that. Once I was on the train, the wifi either sucked or just didn't work, depending on where we were on the journey. Seats were okay but not that much more comfortable than NJT. Overall, next time I'd go New Jersey Transit unless I absolutely have to be there by a certain time. Honestly, I probably would have been better taking an early early NJT and then working from Beth's for a few hours). Was nice to go to Beth's. Ate dinner with a 17-year-old wine snob (his father was the one who called him that). Went to sleep waaaay past my bedtime. Overall, an okay day. Stress level 34.

Saturday

• Running: None
• Cross Training: None
• Food: Probably ate too much, but whatever.
• Life: Still at Beth's. Little kids are annoying (one particular kid kept telling me to speak because I sound like Beth, but then wouldn't let me get more than 2 words out. Fun kid). Stress level 37, which is weird since I only wore my watch for a few hours at night while watching TV.

Sunday

• Running: 4mi Easy/LR - 4.02 miles, 52:44 minutes, 13:07/mi avg pace
  • Beth plotted out a course for me, but I think she underestimated my ability to get lost. There was a lot of checking the route on my phone, especially at the beginning, but I figured it out.
  • Planned this as an interval run so that I could check the map during walk breaks, but by about halfway through, I wanted to switch to continuous. This was the probably I was having last plan and the reason why I wanted to leave my continuous vs. interval options more open. Honestly, I probably should have switched. But I didn't.
• Cross Training: None
• Food: All of it. Sigh.
• Life: Ate breakfast with Beth and then went to a baseball game in Wilmington with my dad. The game was nice. The mascot was a moose named Rocky Bluewinkle (the team is the Blue Rocks). It was very wrong. Rocky is the squirrel. It's moose and squirrel, not moose with squirrel's name. Really long commute home (should have been a little under 3 hours, but we hit traffic). Stress level 24.

Overall Week Stats:
Running: 3 runs, 16.08 miles, 03:16:19 hours (12:13/mi avg pace ... I think)
Barre3: 1 class, 59:12 minutes
Weight: Up 1 lb (from last Monday since I didn't weigh in on Sunday because I don't travel with my scale)

The running and Beth were pretty good, but the rest of last week was meh. This week hasn't started out the best (all the chocolate and nothing but a cup of office coffee), but hopefully it will get better.

 

[SarahDisney]

Our interview for Global Entry was boring too. But boring with those border patrol people is probably a good thing!

Very true. I don't really want to cause any excitement for border control.

Are you shopping for running shoes?

Sorta. My tempo/short run shoes (NB Fresh Foam Zantev3) are getting close to 300 miles, so I'm starting to think about new ones. I saw some on sale yesterday, but didn't end up pulling the trigger. Partially because I don't know if I want to stay with the size 7.5 that I wear now or move up to an 8 like I did with the 880s. But also because they're an older model so they're on sale somewhat regularly.

This is the color I was looking at:

 

[SarahDisney]

Just going to leave this here because I don't want to stew about it until the weekly recap:

Today at barre3 someone took my spot. And by that I dont mean a spot where I like to be, I mean the actual spot at the barre where I had my water bottle and weights. How self-centered do you have to be to see someone's stuff (and btw, I went to get some water early in the class, so it's not like she could have thought I had dropped my stuff there and left) and take that spot anyway? I eventually took my stuff and moved because I didnt want to call her out in the middle of class, but I was hoping she would come over to me and apologize after class. She did not, and by the time I was done changing she was gone, so I couldnt say anything afterwards. I'm really offended by this. That's the last time I start class in the middle of the room to make room for other people... (we usually start doing some stuff in the middle of the room and then move to the barre ... so I will sometimes move further away from the barre so the people at barre sections next to me can closer to the barre ... that's not happening anymore).

Also ... this was my 15th barre3 class. I know because I got an email after class congratulating me and inviting me to bring a friend to a class for free. Which would be fun, if I had any friends. (I mean, I have you guys, or at least some of you, but for pretty much all of you NYC is to far to travel for one exercise class)
If Beth was gonna be around I'd drag her, but ... she's not back in NY until Thanksgiving

 

[Sleepless Knight]

went to a baseball game in Wilmington with my dad. The game was nice. The mascot was a moose named Rocky Bluewinkle (the team is the Blue Rocks). It was very wrong. Rocky is the squirrel. It's moose and squirrel, not moose with squirrel's name

They really should just have the moose carry around a squirrel on his shoulder or something. I love that show. So much that I bought the entire series on DVD a few years ago. Also, apparently my Bullwinkle impression is passable.

 

[SarahDisney]

They really should just have the moose carry around a squirrel on his shoulder or something. I love that show. So much that I bought the entire series on DVD a few years ago. Also, apparently my Bullwinkle impression is passable.

You have excellent taste in TV shows. I love that show too ... I grew up watching it. I did not know it was available on DVD (although I do think it was on Netflix at some point in time).
We'll discuss this Bullwinkle impression in person in January.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

You have excellent taste in TV shows. I love that show too ... I grew up watching it. I did not know it was available on DVD (although I do think it was on Netflix at some point in time).
We'll discuss this Bullwinkle impression in person in January.

They first started releasing box sets by season many years ago, though I'm not sure if they ever released every season. A few years ago I realized that my local Barnes and Noble had the complete series and I decided to get it. Such a clever and well written show. Amazon Prime has a new 2018 version of the show. I've seen a few episodes. Still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

And yes, I'll showcase my Bullwinkle impression in January. Maybe I should say I did it in my Bullwinkle voice as I cross the finish line. Hmmm. . .

 

[SarahDisney]

Also ... after some changes in my plan for the night, I was hoping/planning to go to sleep at 10ish. It's 10:05 and I'm typing this on the work laptop, which I brought home.

(I'm hoping I can be lights out by 10:30, but that depends very strongly on whether the changes I just made to my files break anything. I think they won't.)

 

[Bree]

Awesome 9 mile run!

I can’t believe someone took your spot even though it was obviously reserved with your things!

Rocky Bluewinkle? That’s horribly wrong.

I love the colors on those Zante shoes!

 

[SarahDisney]

Awesome 9 mile run!

Thank you! I'm very happy with it

I can’t believe someone took your spot even though it was obviously reserved with your things!

People ...

Rocky Bluewinkle? That’s horribly wrong.

Agreed. I don't know what they were thinking!

I love the colors on those Zante shoes!

Thanks - me too! I think I will get them next time they're on sale, since I'm pretty sure I want to size up.

 

[Bree]

I thought about those shoes my entire run. They are so pretty. I may have to get them if I see them for a good price. Not sure I’ll run in them, but I need a new pair of non-running shoes anyway. I bought a pair of Nike just before we went on vacation and I hate them.

 

[ZellyB]

So glad you had a good 9-miler. Those do amazing things for your confidence.

And, WTH with the girl taking your spot at barre. Not cool.

Love the new shoes. It's such a pretty color combination.

 

[SarahDisney]

I thought about those shoes my entire run. They are so pretty. I may have to get them if I see them for a good price. Not sure I’ll run in them, but I need a new pair of non-running shoes anyway. I bought a pair of Nike just before we went on vacation and I hate them.

They're on sale right now for $45 - cheaper than they were when I almost bought them on Sunday: https://www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com/product/wzant-v3/wzantwg3
Since it's an outlet store they only have selected sizes, though.
Also ... just fyi, it's a 6mm drop (not sure if that works for you) and while they have some cushion, they're not super cushion-y. I do find them comfortable, but I also haven't run more than 5ish miles in them.
I will probably buy a pair when I get home

So glad you had a good 9-miler. Those do amazing things for your confidence.

Thanks! I totally agree - I didn't have one of those great long continuous runs before the last race and I think that's what killed my confidence. Having this run makes me 100% confident that in the right conditions I can have an excellent race on September 30th.

And, WTH with the girl taking your spot at barre. Not cool.

Yeah.

Love the new shoes. It's such a pretty color combination.

Thanks! Hopefully you'll see them at marathon weekend (well, maybe not since they'll probably be my 5K shoes)

 

[Bree]

Only $45?!?!?! I just don't know what size to order! My old NB 1080 are a size 7.5, but I wear an 8 in Brooks. Gah! What to do, what to do.

 

[SarahDisney]

Only $45?!?!?! I just don't know what size to order! My old NB 1080 are a size 7.5, but I wear an 8 in Brooks. Gah! What to do, what to do.

If this helps...
I've never run in Brooks, but I have tried them on in store, and I tried them on in an 8. (I also wore an 8 in Saucony when I wore those) I started off in a 7.5 in NB but I'm slowly moving up to 8 ... but only for running because my feet seem to have started swelling. For normal wear, my 7.5 NB 880s (which I am wearing at work right now) are fine.

 

[SarahDisney]

The problem with making tea at work is that sometimes I get distracted by actual work and leave my tea bag in for too long and my tea is oversteeped.
It was only in for two extra minutes, so I'm okay, but I really need to get a tea timer for my watch that will make it vibrate when it's time to take the tea bag out. (Unfortunately, I have yet to find one in the connectIQ store)

 

[Sleepless Knight]

People ...

They're the worst. #Seinfeld

 

[LSUlakes]

Cross Training: barre3, 59:12 minutes

I see this posted on Garmin and here, and I have no idea what it is though. Would you care to explain?