Posts filed under 'Running'
Yes, it’s true. I was sick again! Just this week, another cold hit both Ashok and I but luckily no ear infections or other maladies requiring a doctor and/or antibiotics. I am soooo ready for the end of goddamned cold and flu season.
Happily, my ailment was waning by the weekend and I was able to get my 8 miles in. It was a much better run than last weekend, I averaged 10:24/mi which is about what I was doing before that sucky 10 miler. This weekend is 12, god help me. I am going to try and get it over with on Saturday (starting early this time-7am!) so I can spend the rest of my weekend eating the piles of candy that will be heaped upon Ashok this Easter weekend.
See? He’ll eat anything. He doesn’t need that candy. It’s bad for his teeth.
March 18th, 2008
I ran my first 10 miler ever today. It sucked. I felt like I was dragging ass the whole way and nothing helped, not water, not clif blocks, not nothing. I won’t post my splits because I was so unbelievably slow and I don’t want to look at them again.
Of course, the big problem today was the heat. I didn’t get out early enough, and by the time I was heading back it was about 75 degrees. That doesn’t sound so bad, but I’m just not used to running in warmer weather right now. Also, I am brown. That’s not a problem, mind you, but I’ve always felt like my skin and my black hair soak up the sun like a sponge. Maybe I’m just making excuses….I do have a good hat. I went through all my water today which I never do, which makes me think that I probably wasn’t drinking enough water in the last 24 hours to get ready for this run, and I ended up walking a quarter mile stretch just after the 8 mile mark. There was a point around 9 where I even considered calling Brian to come get me, but I was so close at that point that I just sucked it up and got myself home.
Next week’s long run is back down to 8 and then 2 weeks from today I do 12, which is my longest long run before the half on April 5th. I really hope that run goes better than today’s and obviously, I need to plan a little better and make sure I get my ass out the door before it gets too warm. The race, thankfully, starts at 7:00 am.
I have so much stuff to do today, mostly practicing, but I feel like just sitting around and sulking. I have an important recording coming up in about a week and I need to do some serious work to get ready for that, but I’m having trouble finding the motivation. It’s a piece I performed many times, so I know it well, but recording is a whole different ball game. I have to be able to play really clean and precise since I know the folks putting this album together have limited time for editing. It is a great opportunity and I’m excited somewhere deep inside, but right now I just don’t feel like dealing with it.
On the bright side, we’re going out tonight to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Dinner will be at one of our favorites, Pizzeria Mozza. If you live in the LA area and haven’t been there, get to it! It is easier to get a reservation than the Osteria and the food is fantastic and although not as fancy, slightly cheaper. I can’t wait. Hopefully, a Butterscotch Budino will help pull me out of this funk.
March 9th, 2008
For the last couple of months while I have been training for my upcoming half marathon (omg! hills! fuck!), I haven’t really been focusing on speedwork or trying to run fast (or my version of “fast”) at all. It had been a really, really long time since I ran a mile under 9:00. But today:
1 - 9:08
2 - 9:16
3 - 8:35
Of course, I was practically hyperventilating by the end, but at least I know I can still do it. Had it not been for a couple of bathroom breaks courtesy of Lucy, those first couple of miles might have been a bit faster as well. Not that I’m blaming you, dog, you’re a very good girl. Oh, who am I kidding, she stopped reading this blog months ago.
Modeling the latest style from the pages of Dog Vogue
March 7th, 2008
Congratulations, Brian! My husband had a great race this weekend coming in at 4:16:23. Ashok, my mom and I went out so see him at mile 19, which was right in front of Staples Center where a Laker game was about to start, and he looked great. Unfortunately, my hands were a bit too full to take any pictures of him running by, but I did get some shots of the spectators:
On the (not so) mean streets of L.A….
My Dad is My Hero
It was a beautiful day, highs in the low 70’s, although, according to Brian, a bit too warm and sunny for running 26+ miles. After mile 19, we walked down Flower Street in downtown and I was once again confounded by street closures and barricades and unable to get to the finish line. We managed to find him afterwards, but I wish we could have seen him cross. Maybe if the LA Marathon website wasn’t such a useless piece of crap, they could actually have some helpful information for spectators? Regardless, it was a great day and inspiring as usual too see all the runners and the thousands of people who came out to cheer them on. The marathon always makes me excited to live in L.A.
After coming home, where some people showered and other smaller people napped, we went out for dinner at The York. The York used to be The Wild Hare, which was one of our favorite bars when we lived in Highland Park. We celebrated many different occasions over there, including Brian’s first marathon in 2006. The Wild Hare was a bit of a dive, which I loved, don’t get me wrong, and we were sad to see it go but The York is pretty nice. Excellent beers, a full wine list, great food, and so far none of the hipsters have sneered at the baby in the high chair. I had a fantastic pan-seared tilapia with lentils, swiss chard and bacon and a Crafstman Hefeweizen-I’m drooling just thinking about it. After all that eating, we gave Ashok a bath and both boys were in bed by 8:00. It was a good day.
Now that Brian’s big race is over, I’m realizing that my half marathon is only a month away. I am on track with my training schedule but I looked at the elevation chart for the race today and….crap! What was I thinking?? Am I going to be able to make it through those first 8 miles? Oh well, too late now. If anyone has any recommendations for hill training, I’ll take all the help I can get.
March 3rd, 2008
….but this is so damn cute.
Do you think I could convince Ashok to help me clean with this?
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for cooler weather for the L.A. Marathon this Sunday. Good luck, Brian!
February 29th, 2008
…a week off from running somehow turned into a couple off from blogging. I just haven’t had much material lately and quite frankly, if I have to write another post about being sick, I’m going to slap myself in the face.
Because yes, I have been sick. Again. What was it last time, stomach flu? Oh yes, and then of course Ashok and I got matching ear infections. He’s doing much better but I’m still waiting for my doctor to call. Add to that equation a ton of work over the last couple of weeks, an unexpected bout of insomnia that had me sleeping an average of 3 hours a night while my baby boy slept blissfully through the night, lots of rain, and well….you get the picture. Not much to write about, just a lot of whining.
Sickness aside, Ashok has been really fun lately. He is learning new words every day, it seems. His repertoire now includes bye, box, duck, milk, and eye among others and he will also point to various facial features on request. We have recently discovered him to be bilingual-he says “agua”. I’m just waiting for him to bust out with “Donde esta la biblioteca?” one of these days and then we can make it official. Perhaps that would explain his fascination with Mariachis?
He was absolutely mesmerized by these guys. When he wasn’t staring with his mouth open, he was “dancing” in his high chair-this consists of a lot of thrashing, mostly. When I was his age (and older), mariachis made me cry, I was terrified of them for some reason. I’ve managed to get over my fear of singing men in tight pants but I’m glad to see Ashok hasn’t inherited that dislike from me.
I have managed to keep running despite all the many ailments. Today I did 9:
1 - 10:36
2 - 10:08
3 - 10:04
4 - 11:30 (stopped to walk and have water and gel)
5 - 10:20
6 - 9:47
7 - 10:29
8 - 10: 06
9 - 9:25
I did the three-ish mile loop at the Rose Bowl three times and my splits pretty much reflect the ups and downs of that route-1st mile up, 2nd mile half and half, 3rd mile down. I’ve come to accept the fact that I will probably be running about this 10:20 pace for my half in April. I would have liked to have done it at a pace under 10:00 but I don’t think that’s realistic and I don’t want to hurt myself either.
This week will be a little easier work wise although we are playing Bruckner Symphony No. 7 down in Orange County. For those of you unfamiliar with Bruckner, let’s just say that this piece is a very long song-about an hour long, I believe, and even though the music is nice, I think I would rather be playing an hour of Mahler than an hour of Bruckner. Anyway, this means late nights this week since I will be commuting but since the insomnia seems to have subsided, it shouldn’t be too bad.
I almost forgot! Brian is running the L.A. Marathon is weekend so I hope to have pictures and a report sometime next week. Keep your fingers crossed for cool weather for him and all the other runners…..
February 25th, 2008
This last week was brutal. Between the crazy, hectic work week and the non-stop rain (not complaining, we need it!) there was hardly any time for running or anything else. I only got two runs in but at least they were both good. Today I did 7.2 on the same course as last weekend’s seven. Total time was 1:11:12 and here are the splits:
1 - 10:41
2 - 9:56
3 - 9:39
4 - 9:59
5 - 9:51
6 - 9:37
7 - 9:29
.2 - 1:57
In general, today felt much better than last week. My overall pace was about 25 seconds faster which probably had a lot to do with finally getting a few good nights of sleep this past week. Ashok has taken to sleeping in until 7:15 again, god bless him! Even though we usually don’t take Lucy on long runs, she came with me today which probably helped too. She was so excited; after a rainy week of no running and only a few short walks here and there, she was still bouncing around the house like crazy even after a 7 mile run.
I still haven’t posted my food pictures yet-I’m hoping to figure it out this week when I get some much needed time off. Unfortunately, this break won’t last long. February had been looking nice and mellow for a while, but a bunch of work has come in and looks like it will be a crazy month.
But, before that all gets started I have something to look forward to: on Wednesday of this week, my sister turns 40 and we are going out to Osteria Mozza to celebrate. This restaurant is pretty new and has been the source of much buzz in L.A. so I am excited to check it out. If I can manage to take pictures of my meal without making a total ass of myself, I’ll post them here after. Those food pictures will probably be much more interesting than all that cereal and pasta I ate last week.
January 27th, 2008
So, this week didn’t go quite as well as planned. I only got three runs in and abs/yoga only happened once. I did 7 slow miles on Sunday and they looked like this:
1 - 10:15
2 - 9:50
3 - 10:10
4 - 10:41
5 - 10:12
6 - 10:13
7 - 10:15
I know I said I was going to focus on getting these runs done and not worry about speed, but I really would like to be going a little faster than this. This morning, I went out and did 3.1 and tried to pick up the pace:
1 - 9:04
2 - 9:07
3 - 8:21
.1 - 0:45
I was definitely pushing hard, but it felt good. I am going to try and post my Week of Food pictures later today although I didn’t quite follow through on that task as well as I had hoped. Stay tuned.
January 22nd, 2008
I have decided to take on a task for this week. Inspired by Runner Susan, I am going to attempt to photograph everything I eat starting this morning and ending Sunday night. Although for me this doesn’t involve any sort of diet, I think it will help me get an idea of how well, or not well, I am eating. This week will be a tough one too, since I have several late night opera rehearsals that will get me home around midnight at which point I usually have a secret pig out party in my office with the cat as my only witness. Perhaps the possibility of photographic evidence of my late night binges will slow me down a bit? I sort of doubt it.
So far my goals are going pretty well. I got 5 workouts in last week (4 runs, 1 ab/yoga). For my long run this week I did 6.5 miles and although they were pretty slow at least I got them done. I am trying not to focus too much on speed in the long runs-since April will be my first half marathon ever, I just want to finish more than anything else.
Shopping….well, I did buy a couple of things on clearance at Target for Ashok (a $3 shirt and a $6 raincoat, come on!) but I didn’t buy any more shoes for myself-I will survive with just the adorable red sneakers and not invite any of their relatives to come and live with me. Curbing the shopping is hard, it is a bad habit that has developed over years and will probably take just as long to get under control.
In a very busy weekend we managed to get in some time at the park on an absolutely beautiful day.
We had a picnic lunch that included quiche for Ashok which he ate with his little finger sticking out after asking around for Grey Poupon. He is fancy like that.
And just to clarify something I mentioned in my last post, Ashok: The Sequel is not yet in production and due to the WGA strike is likely to be delayed for some time. In other words, I am NOT pregnant. Thank you.
January 14th, 2008
I was looking through my archives a few nights ago trying to figure out if I made any resolutions last year. Aside from a few lousy jokes about more whining and complaining and more adorable baby pictures (both counts: accomplished), it doesn’t look like I made any real attempt at change last year. This year I only have a couple, and I won’t call them resolutions. Let’s call them Realistic Goals for 2008.
- Work out more days a week. I have been pretty consistent with running three days a week, sometimes four, but I haven’t been doing any other kinds of exercise and I’m starting to feel it. I’m going to shoot for 4 runs a week and one or two days of either yoga, ab work or walking. Goal #1 should be made easier by Goal #2 which is….
- …to run a half marathon this year. I have been toying with this idea for a few months and now that Brian and I are talking (just talking!) about the possibility of Ashok: The Sequel some time in the not so distant future, I think it’s time to bite the bullet and get a half under my belt before I can’t wear a belt any longer.
After doing some research and absolutely falling in love with the idea of this race, (a weekend in Santa Barbara! Wine!) only to discover moments before giving them my money that I have a late rehearsal the night before and would never be able to make it up there in time to get a decent night’s sleep, I finally settled on The Great Race of Agoura Hills. Not as fancy a location and unfortunately, a more challenging course but the timing is right. Also, the course goes through the hills right near where Brian and I got married, so there’s some nostalgia factor there. I went through some back issues of Runner’s World and found a training plan that should work for me (I’ll be doing the short program). I’ll need to start that plan in about three weeks which gives me a little time to get my mileage up to where it should be. It feels good to have made this decision and have a big race to work towards.
Right, the shoes. I bought these over the holidays:
I loooves them. Obviously, they are not for any sort of exercise other than bouncing around town, but they are so ridiculously comfortable. They basically feel like wearing slippers AND they make my giant size 9 feet look practically petite. I may have to get another pair in black even though they’re not on sale any longer. Which brings us to Realistic Goal #3:
Less shopping.
Yeah, not going so well so far. Although, for the month of December I controlled myself quite well. This ban, or let’s say “reduction” (we are talking about Realistic Goals, after all) applies to clothes and shoes for myself as well as for Ashok. It is often hard to control myself when I find cute little things in the baby section at Target, but the truth is he has plenty of clothes and wouldn’t know the difference if I dressed him in paper towels tomorrow morning. (Not that I would do that. Paper towels are very 1986.) For myself, there are just certain stores I need to stay the F away from so that I’m not even tempted. I’m allowing myself a couple of necessities like a raincoat (yes I live in Los Angeles, but hey, it rained this week!) and new concert black pants (most of mine don’t fit right anymore and the ones that do are looking sorry). Hopefully, finding those will keep me occupied and kill that jones I get for smell, sound and taste (don’t judge) of new clothing. We’ll see. Addiction is powerful.
January 9th, 2008
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