52 Degrees in the Twin Cities

Having become obsessed with the ten day forecast upon my move to Minnesota, I use this weather predicting feature fairly often to plan outdoor events. Today was no different. Knowing it was going to be in the 50s, I scheduled a run with Claire earlier this week, and we had a really great run together this morning along the Mississippi River. We were both working off hangovers, and today's run proved to be a satisfactory treatment.

Running with Claire is great, because she keeps a good pace, challenges me to pick up my speed, and we don't get to see each other too often, so we chat the whole run and the time just flies by. I canceled my gym membership earlier this week, so my last day at the gym is going to be April 14. But between scheduling running dates with Claire, and Rachael, who I run fairly often with as well, I think I will have ample opportunities to exercise. Claire is running her first 10K next week, Rachael signed up for a half marathon, and another friend, Lanser, is competing in her first triathlon this summer! Working towards my new triathlon goals and having some friends to keep me accountable is going to make this summer especially productive.

Guess Who's Back

Whats up, readers? It's been a long time since a new post, but that is all about to change. There are only two days left in March, and if there is a governing deity in this world, then the snow will be melting soon, and I will be training for my second triathlon!

Get ready for a summer full of excitement, sweat, and progress towards new goals. I have signed up for the Square Lake Triathlon sprint distance race, which will take place on September 10th. This race is different from last year in a number of ways:

1. new location 
2. longer course (.5 mile swim, 16.5 mile bike, and 5 mile run)
3. later date aka more training time 

Since the St. Paul triathlon I have done my best to stay in shape so I wouldn't have to start from square one again this summer. It has been tough, especially with my last year of law school not being as easy as I anticipated, but I've managed to maintain a fairly frequent gym routine. I'm looking forward to starting a new training program soon and having a schedule to follow every day. My goal is to start actually training after finals, oh and a little thing I like to call GRADUATION. Until then I plan on continuing to work about 5 times a week, but trying not to feel to guilty if I let school work take priority over the gym.

Like last year, Chauncey and I met up over spring break, but this time I went to Berea, Ohio to visit him. Luckily, Berea had much less snow than Minneapolis, and we were able to go running together a few times. This is about the time last year when I had made the decision to sign up for a tri and really challenge myself. Running with Chauncey this spring made me realize how far I have come in a year (at this time last year I couldn't run for more than a mile without stopping!), and it really made me excited for this upcoming season.

Stay posted for more updates and reader love!

The End of Week Two

So today's 40 minute run wrapped up week two of the twelve week training program, and to honest, I was pretty frustrated with my run today. I have felt really comfortable so far progressing with bicycling and swimming, but running continues to be a HUGE hurdle for me, and the hurdle gets bigger as each workout time increases.

I asked Rachael to go running with me today, and I was thrilled when she said yes, because I knew the run would go faster with a friend. Thank god she was there, otherwise I would have stopped a quartile mile in and withered in embarrassment as all the super fit bodies passed me on the running path around Lake Calhoun. I pushed through the workout, and we ended the run stretching in the shade. Stretching is another reason I was grateful for Rachael's company. It feels totally awkward to stretch by myself, vogue-ing it out in front of the rest of the seen-and-be-seen crowd at Calhoun.

Week three begins tomorrow with another 25 minutes in the pool, but that might be prolonged until Friday seeing as how I'm going to Canterbury to bet on horses and drink $3 beers tomorrow after work! And I wonder why I am still having problems running...c'est la vie.



Cheers!

Not Feeling It

I had a really hard time running around Lake Calhoun tonight. It was very windy at the beginning of the run, and I think running against the wind took a lot out of me right from the start. Augh, but whatever with these excuses. I was really disappointed in myself, and even worse, I was running with Jihone, so there was a witness to my suckiness!

Tomorrow is an off day, and I haven't decided what to do for Saturday yet. I still need to join a gym, so maybe I can accomplish that this weekend. In other news, I have been hydrating more before running and haven't been having the swollen hands issue. Thanks to Giul, who gave me the heads up on that trick!

Support System

Breaking news, fans! Triple Torture's biggest fan has just announced that she will be flying in for the St. Paul Triathlon to show her support. She's taking a jet plane all the way from the East Coast, she's waking up at 5 am with me, and she better be bringing her camera to document my domination of this course. That's right, my mother! See the resemblance - I know you do.

I am really lucky to have such supportive parents, and now the pressure is on to perform well. I can't bring shame to the family. Just kidding. We're Irish, not Asian.

I went running tonight with Rachael, and even though it was humid and disgusting, we finished our loop around Lake Calhoun and then stretched while watching a beautiful sunset. I typically run earlier in the evening, but with the warm weather upon us, I might start running later just to see more sunsets like tonight.

"For someone who hates running, you sure run a lot."

The title of this post pretty much sums up my run last night. I ran around Lake Calhoun with Jihone and really hated the experience. I don't know if I was tired from running a little longer the day before or what, but around the halfway point, every part of me was thinking "screw this."

This is where it was really helpful to be running with a friend. It forced me to continue running for two reasons:
1. I didn't want to ruin his workout by making us stop
2. I didn't want to look like a fat baby who couldn't finish something she easily did yesterday

So yes, I finished the run, yelled "thank god" and went home to eat some peanut m&ms.

Today is an off day. No, this has nothing to do with a training regiment, which I still have to create btw. It's simply because I don't have enough time in the day. Between work, networking, and oh yeah, the PARTY BUS I'm going on tonight for a friend's birthday, working out isn't making the schedule today.

Check back tomorrow when I attempt to run and then attend a 90 minute hot yoga session at Core Power. Hopefully some of the hippies decide to wear deodorant this time.

Peer Pressure Made Me Do It

Last night I reached another goal: running around Lake Calhoun (5k) without stopping! I have no idea of my time per mile, but I kept a constant pace and finished strong. But I didn't do it alone! I can attribute much of this success to my friend, Rachael. We ran around the lake together, and running with her forced me to keep a steady pace and to continue going when I really felt like stopping. If I had been alone, I likely would have stopped to walk at least once. Thanks, friend! For the first time I see the benefits of having a running buddy, and I hope that we can go running together often.

Today's lesson: peer pressure can be a good thing!

In other news, I saw the homeless clown on Nicollet Mall again yesterday, but he wasn't assaulting anyone this time. Keep on the path of straight and narrow clownman.