I want to be a part of it: NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Let's just say that preparing to Conquer the Hill with a 10 miler and a trail run was probably not the best race strategy. That, and drinking pina coladas with friends last night combined to really kill my race this morning. When I went to bed, I was not excited about getting up early for a 10k, and when I woke up this morning I just wanted to go back to bed. But, being a trooper (or should I say Storm Trooper, because I just watched an old high school friend be a guest judge on the Food Network Star Wars Cake Challenge -- he's the Disney Imagineer, if you happened to watch), and not wanting to mess with tradition (my own July 4th tradition), I dragged myself out of bed and put on the previously laid out race outfit which was NOT red, white, or blue, but was a camouflage skirt and pink shirt, and drove to the start. I paid my $20, got my T-shirt, and got ready.

My plan was to take it easy on the hill and then try to negative split. It sort of worked out that way, except my quads were screaming by 1.5 miles and at 2 miles I couldn't see myself running another 4, so I made a right turn instead of a left and stopped my watch at 2.3 miles. Then I went home and went back to bed for the next four hours. Happy Fourth of July!

Here's why they call it "Conquer the Hill"

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And here are my splits for those 2 miles:

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Natalie Wolf wrote: my quads were screaming by 1.5 miles and at 2 miles I couldn't see myself running another 4, so I made a right turn instead of a left and stopped my watch at 2.3 miles. Then I went home and went back to bed for the next four hours. Happy Fourth of July!

Hah! That really made me laugh! Enjoy the rest of your 4th!

Seth Harrison wrote:

Natalie Wolf wrote: my quads were screaming by 1.5 miles and at 2 miles I couldn't see myself running another 4, so I made a right turn instead of a left and stopped my watch at 2.3 miles. Then I went home and went back to bed for the next four hours. Happy Fourth of July!

Hah! That really made me laugh! Enjoy the rest of your 4th!

Yep still laughing about that here also!

This is why some of us "race" on the third. I would've done the same this morning. Now go drink a beer per km that you didn't run

Natalie Wolf wrote:I went home and went back to bed for the next four hours. Happy Fourth of July!

Smart move! Your body will forgive you if you give it some homemade ice cream tonight.

I think I may need a rest day. I dropped my car off for a repair this morning and ran back home for my 5 mile run, but I am way to stiff for the start of the week. Tomorrow's schedule calls for 3, but I may take a day off. Also, I stubbed my baby toe this morning and it looks nasty! Hopefully not broken, but at least it's not my big toe. I can still run on it.

I'm trying to figure out the Training Peaks system. I purchased a running plan and I've yet to get my daily email update. I mean, I'm getting a daily (spam) email fro T/P that says I have NO workouts planned today, but that's obviously wrong. Also, I'm curious if I can sync the plan with google calendar or at least download it to a spreadsheet here on my computer. Anyone ever done this before?

No idea about the TP, maybe ask Hal?

I think listening to your body is a great idea and if you think you need rest this early in the training cycle, just take it while you can.

I bet you can run on the toe, though. I've had ingrown toenail surgery and run the next day and have had another kind of outpatient surgery and raced the next day (the surgeon said it wouldn't be prudent but I still did it and even PR'd...not saying it was smart but there are a lot of things we can run on).

Hi Natalie! I'm just getting caught up on your blog. Good luck with the NYC training! I've never done the Advanced program of Hal's, but I've looked at it a lot and would like to work my way up to it. I like the variety it has.
I don't blame you for bailing on that race after I saw the hill profile. Geez! That doesn't look like a PR course to me. And isn't there something so satisfying about bailing and going back to bed? I did that once, hopped on the MARTA, thinking, "suckers!"" and felt an amazing sense of freedom.
I hope your toe feels better. I'd say keep running on it, maybe tape it up first to your other toes to keep it still, and keep going unless it hurts more. But that's just me. Maybe see what Diego thinks.

Ha Ha on that race! How many pina coladas?

Liz R wrote:Ha Ha on that race! How many pina coladas?

I don't know. Scott was making them and kept filling up my glass! They were good!

Natalie Wolf wrote:

Liz R wrote:Ha Ha on that race! How many pina coladas?

I don't know. Scott was making them and kept filling up my glass! They were good!

Oh, it's always the husbands fault...

GregC wrote:

Natalie Wolf wrote:

Liz R wrote:Ha Ha on that race! How many pina coladas?

I don't know. Scott was making them and kept filling up my glass! They were good!

Oh, it's always the husbands fault...

Of course!

I went ahead and took yesterday off. Definitely a good decision. Today was a hill workout. There are lots of hills around here, but none are very long -- just steep. I chose one in the middle of my run that's about .2 miles (almost) and did three repeats. I didn't hit the lap button, but just included them in the total distance. After that, there are three more shorter hills and I ran those like hill repeats too. Total distance 5.3 miles. Later on this afternoon, I have a strength workout.

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Nice job on the hill repeats, Natalie. They sure didn't seem to slow you down much.

Like the way you worked the repeats into the run instead of breaking them out. Looks like you are off to a strong start!

Great hill workout!

Like they said nice job on the hill workout.

Great paces there Natalie!

Nothing too exciting... 5.8 miles before breakfast. It's a beautiful morning and not too hot yet, though it's slated to hit the 90s again today. And the sun is out and I still see blue skies. It's July 9th and I haven't turned the sprinklers on yet! I think our water bill for this summer may actually be reasonable. We may even save enough to pay for all of Adam's design tools that he'll need this year at school! But, please... don't pray for anymore rain for Ohio. We've had plenty, thankyouverymuch.

Sarah comes home from camp tomorrow. It's been a rough 4 weeks for her this time around. She's recently been diagnosed with depression and I think our little failed experiment with her cousin over the winter may have something to do with it. What a disaster that was!!! Anyway, I'm excited to see Sarah... I miss her!

Natalie Wolf wrote:Nothing too exciting... 5.8 miles before breakfast. It's a beautiful morning and not too hot yet, though it's slated to hit the 90s again today. And the sun is out and I still see blue skies. It's July 9th and I haven't turned the sprinklers on yet! I think our water bill for this summer may actually be reasonable. We may even save enough to pay for all of Adam's design tools that he'll need this year at school! But, please... don't pray for anymore rain for Ohio. We've had plenty, thankyouverymuch.

Sarah comes home from camp tomorrow. It's been a rough 4 weeks for her this time around. She's recently been diagnosed with depression and I think our little failed experiment with her cousin over the winter may have something to do with it. What a disaster that was!!! Anyway, I'm excited to see Sarah... I miss her!

I'm sorry to hear that about Sarah. I wish I could give you advice or a hug or something. Hard to watch kids go through tough times.

Is it clinical depression? I didn't think that was triggered by such circumstances, but that was a rather extraordinary circumstance you went through so maybe it did.

JohnP wrote:Is it clinical depression? I didn't think that was triggered by such circumstances, but that was a rather extraordinary circumstance you went through so maybe it did.

She says not, but that was just one of many extraordinary circumstances for her this year. We'll never know, but since she's been at camp, and then in two weeks goes to Israel for two weeks (rough life, huh?), she can't start any medication yet. In fact, Sarah says it predates Erica coming to live with us but she never said anything about it.

Natalie Wolf wrote:

Sarah comes home from camp tomorrow. It's been a rough 4 weeks for her this time around. She's recently been diagnosed with depression and I think our little failed experiment with her cousin over the winter may have something to do with it. What a disaster that was!!! Anyway, I'm excited to see Sarah... I miss her!

I hope that this bout of depression isn't very serious and passes quickly. I was thinking about that episode with your niece just the other day, wondering what became of her. That was such a tough and miserable time for all of you.

I'm sorry to hear that about your daughter. I've been through some very serious depression and it's very tough, very tough and not made easier that our society really is not that great about mental illnesses or problems. I hope she finds some things that help her feel better...it's hard when you don't feel like doing the things you need to in order to be healthy. Take care.

First official long run of the program today... I ran 10.5 miles and felt great! The hardest part was the last 2.5 miles because 1) there is an incredibly long uphill climb, and 2) once I get in my neighborhood, there are no large trees and the sun is brutal. I tried to plan it so the majority of the run was in older neighborhoods with lots of shade, but it just can't be helped at the end coming home... plus, combined with it being after 9AM, the sun was getting hot!

The kids come home from camp today. I tried a new baking project: cake pops. I'm baking a cake for my niece's baby shower next week, and I didn't like the way the cake came out, so I repurposed it into cake pops. In case you haven't seen them, cake pops are little balls of cake on a lollipop stick. You make them by mushing together cake and icing, then rolling it the mixture into a ball, putting it on a stick and dipping it into chocolate. Then you coat it with sprinkles or decorate it. Can I just say... as the cake snob that I fully confess to being... THOSE THINGS ARE DISGUSTING! Imagine eating a bite of cake and frosting that has the texture of something that's already been chewed and you can imagine eating a cake pop.

I'll post a picture later, but I'm going to get Sarah right now.

Have a great afternoon!

Nice long run, Natalie.

A book that helped me with major situational depression in the past is Feeling Good by Dr. Burns.