50 States

I found a great website, http://www.visitedstatesmap.com, on Pinterest for keeping track of the states you have been to.

Below is a map of all the states I have traveled to thus far.  If I have been to an airport in a state but not been there on an actual vacation/visit, then I didn't count it.

As you can see I've been to several but will be going back to most of them to get in a half marathon in all 50.

States I've ran a half in

Not going to lie, the map above is a little pathetic looking.  But Jeremy and I are just starting this journey and should knock off at least 1-3 more this year depending on how things work out.

At the top of the blog you can look at my 50 State page. I have listed several races that we want to do.  If you know of a half and full in a state that isn't listed, please leave me a comment so I can add it to our list!

Do you count states you have only been through briefly (like just in the airport or driven through but not stopped in)?

How to Count

I have been worrying about my indoor tri that is coming up two weeks from today. I'm not worried about swimming without stopping or biking or running. What's got me worrying is how to count the swim.

It's a 20 minute swim where we (ourselves) have to keep count of how many laps we do.  I've swam for 26 years and know how to count, but counting that much of a distance without help is a little intimidating and challenging. 

In this month's Runner's World, one of the little side articles discussed mental strength and how this man runs on a track. He keeps track of the laps on the track by naming cities that start with the letter A, then the next lap he names cities with the letter B, and so on til he gets to Z.  I can do that! Well, maybe not naming cities, but I can definitely think of words with the letter A, B, and so on for each 50!

I'm excited to start counting this way during swim practice this week to see how it goes! I told Emily, who is also doing the indoor tri, about it and she tried it out yesterday in the pool and said it worked great for her! 

10=7?

What started as a 10 mile run, after 4 miles became an 8 mile run, then became a 7 mile run.

After we turned around at mile 4, I experienced dead legs. I don't remember this happening on a run before. I seriously felt like I was picking up bricks of concrete instead of my legs. I looked at my pace at one point and said we need to stop. I can walk faster than this. We walked for a bit but once we started running again the feeling was still there.

After running one lap around the cemetery we decided to go back to the car knowing we would be a mile short of 8. The groundskeepers were mowing grass which was bothering lesley and my legs were obviously not going to get any faster.

I'm disappointed we didn't do 10. The next two weekends I'm not going to be able to get in a long run bc of a 3k next weekend and the indoor tri the next.

The following weekend I had planned on doing 12 by myself bc lesley would be gone. Not sure if that 12 will stay a 12 or become at least a 10. I feel like I'm running out of weeks before the half and I still have a month and a half left.

On a side note I did not do any exercise on Thursday. I had lunch with some co workers, went with lesley to petsmart, on top of not feeling well, leaving me no time to get it in. Still keeping on though and hopefully that will be the only day in march I miss.

Anyone else have dead legs on a run? Do u fight through it and it will get better? Or do u bag the run?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Harry Potter Workout

I found this on Pinterest and thought it was too cute not to share.  Must be a sign because it just so happens that Jeremy and I have both restarted watching the HP series of DVDs while on the treadmill in the last week. 

A Timed Swim and Previous Weekend Accomplishments

Today was the day my coach and I had decided on for timing me in a 1/2 mile swim.  I need the time so I can register for the indoor tri that is coming up in a few weeks.  I did about 5 x 200's for warm up then it was time. 

During the first 200 of it my cap was bothering me. I tried fixing it on the flipturns, to squeeze it and get the air out, but it wasn't working. About 1/3 of the way through my cap came completely off.  I swam for another 100 before stopping at the wall to fix it and put it back on. 

After that I started trying to gradually build the rest of the swim. When I finished my coach told me my time which was a couple minutes faster than I had thought I would be.  He also told me my splits. I had done negative splits on all 100's, except for the one where I stopped to fix my cap.  Not too bad!! :)

This past Saturday I had 5 miles on the schedule. My goal was to try to run the first 3.1 without stopping or walking and see if I could beat my 5k PR time.  After 9 minutes in though I was ready for my walk break.  The 30 degree weather was making it hard to breath. So we stopped and walked for 1 minute then took off again.  At almost mile 2 we came across David, who was in Jeremy's running group that morning.  We stopped and talked to him for a couple minutes, while we were talking to him Jeremy ran up too. So we talked to them for a few more minutes then started back.  I did hit a new pr for the 5k distance by about 30 seconds, but I stopped for about 10 minutes in the middle of the run and it wasn't a race so it obviously doesn't count but it makes me glad to know that I can do it!

On Sunday, I needed to go swim. I had skipped out on Friday again bc of tornado warnings and severe weather in the area.  I drug Jeremy with me.  I had him do 50's drill, like what my coach had me do when I first started with the team.  Since he is not a "swimmer" I think this will help him actually learn the right technique.  He did really well and I was super proud of how much yardage he did!  It was probably 3 times his normal distance.

Going too Fast

For the first time in 14 years I got pulled over Sunday night.  I'll admit I was speeding. Half of our road is 35, the other half is 55.  Needless to say I was still doing 55 in the 35 area well past the speed limit sign.  The officer asked to see my license and registration.

Of course I couldn't find the proof of insurance.  Yes Mom, I have a ziplock bag with all that info, just not the current years apparently.  While I was looking for the insurance card, the officer got the all clear that I had no priors and said he would give me a break. Hallelujah!!

I have never gotten out of a ticket before.  Granted the two times I got tickets were when I was a teenager and under 18.  Thankful for the nice officer and my clean record!  Now to slow down and keep it that way.

Have you gotten out of a ticket before?

FREE entry, hotel, and travel? Yes, please!

My husband's work company, American Greetings, is one of the main sponsors of the Cleveland Marathon.  His plant is giving away two entries away to either the full, half, or 5K. He thinks only him and one other guy will actually enter the drawing.  Great odds!

The plant is also paying for hotel, food, and airfare or gas if we drive, plus he will get a day off work for traveling without it counting against his vacation days!  They unfortunately wont pay for me, but it's still cheaper than if we had to pay for both!!  They will reimburse us for gas if we drive so that way technically they would be paying for me to go to!

There's only a couple problems with this
#1- We are doing the Derby Marathon at the end of April - him the full and me the half - 3 weeks before this one.  Luckily both are flat courses and no matter what time we go in Cleveland it will at least be another state to cross off!

#2 - We also won't find out if he wins until a month before the Cleveland race. I just hope if he does win the drawing that the race wont be sold out and I can still get in to the half!

Training for a Tri

My indoor triathlon is on March 25th.  I have been swimming and running separately, biking has been non-existent the past month.

So starting today, March 1 I'm going back to my exercising every day challenge (either 1 mile swimming, 1 mile running, 15 minutes on the bike, or do 30 day shred with weights) that I did in December and the first half of January.  I really think that helped me not gain weight over the holidays. And with the tri coming up it definitely wont hurt me!  I'm going to hopefully do some bricks at least once or twice a week.

It seems that my days during the week have been extremely busy lately, either with meetings or appointments or something.  I am good about setting a 30 day challenge and doing it (or if I don't starting over til I do). So this will make me get in shape for the tri and hopefully kick start my weight loss again! I need something to get me going again! Giving up soft drinks hasn't made a difference in that area like I hoped it would.