So, I went to a kung fu class

There have been a few attacks on female runners this past year or so, so I started running with my phone more often and have been keeping an eye out for self defense classes. I signed up for one at Detroit Kung Fu Academy this past week. I've gone to one tae kwon do class at least 15 years ago, so I had no idea what to expect.

It was ... interesting. I expect every self-defense class to start out telling us to be aware of our surroundings, as if we don't know that already, and there was a little of that. We went through a form routine a few times, and then learned a few moves. We learned how to sink our body weight down so we could leverage it to throw someone off balance, and how to punch and block.

I don't know that I need ANOTHER gym or studio membership, so I probably won't train there. But I wouldn't say no to the occasional odd class, and it's always good to learn something new, right?

And just because I didn't get any good pictures:

Week in review Oct. 9-15: On the run but not much else

Run, and that's about all.

My life has been a barely functional hot mess lately. My boss is on vacation, and I thought since she was gone, everyone would leave me alone until she got back and I could get some stuff done. HAHAHAHAHAHA. As it turns out, the more urgent projects still need to be managed in her absence, and project management is NOT one of my strengths. This week I have already managed to screw up both conference calls I was put in charge of. I can’t even manage a conference call! Haha.

This has led to a few later-than-I-would-like work evenings, which means later-than-I-would-like runs, later-than-I-would-like dinners, and later-than-I-would-like bedtimes. I feel like I am running around and getting nothing done. UGH!

The craziness got off to a slow start last week and I didn’t have a great training week. Really, the only successes were that I ran 5 times and one of those times was a very fun 5K. It worked out to be:

Run: 5 times, 4 on the road (1 race!) and 1 on the treadmill, for about 25.5 miles in about 4.25 hours.

The runs broke down to a very easy 3-miler with my husband Monday to make sure he could survive the 5K (haha); two cool and enjoyable mid-week runs; the 5K; and a quick hour on the treadmill Sunday between rounds of a monster food prep session. (Breakfasts for the week, tomato sauce, bone broth, lunch salads, and roasting a chicken for dinner that night.) Tuesday’s run was my fastest non-track run in a while, and it felt great. I never got a GPS signal on Thursday, as it was so cloudy, so I stopped a bunch of times to take pics of pretty trees changing colors. It’s a regular route so I know the distance and still had time running, so this worked out to be a pretty speedy run, too.

Some pics of pretty trees seen on a run last week.

Yoga: 15 minutes on my own.

Total: 6 sessions in about 4.5 hours.

I ended up taking Wednesday off training because I didn’t feel great and it was rainy and gloomy outside. I had already taken Friday off work and scheduled a car appointment and a hair appointment when I realized it was Treat Yo’ Self Day from Parks and Recreation, so I further embraced the theme with going out to lunch with my husband, visiting the Freep Marathon expo Friday afternoon and buying a shirt, and even doing a little baking. I didn’t do any training beyond the 5K Saturday, but ran a bunch of errands, watched the Kona coverage, and got my flu shot. I didn’t want to schedule anything in stone on Sunday because I had a bad reaction after my last flu shot, but I woke up Sunday feeling fine enough to spend most of the day cooking. It was rainy and windy and I was glad I wasn’t running the Free Press marathon or half marathon (more on that later).

Still, a busy long weekend doing other stuff meant that I didn’t get a whole lot of training in. Oh well.

This week is off to a slow, crazy start but I’m hoping things settle down. We don’t have any plans for the weekend (yet) and I am already looking forward to relaxing and putting in some quality training, especially getting on the bike and lifting some weights again. And if the weather stays cool, enjoying more fall runs and pretty leaves. Yay!

Detroit Free Press 5K race report

I've done the Free Press marathon four times and the international half once, but I hadn't yet done the 5K. Yesterday was the first time my husband and I got up early(ish) on a Saturday, not marathon Sunday, and headed to the river for a super fun morning.

Race start was 9 a.m. which means I got to get up at a not-ridiculous 6:15 a.m. with plenty of time to take the mutts out, have a small breakfast, make sure we had all of our gear, etc. We didn't leave until close to 8 a.m., which was WAY too late for my peace of mind, but we're only a few miles from the race start so it ended up being OK. I almost blew a gasket when I realized the parking lot filled up only about a dozen cars before we got there, but we were directed into another lot that was actually more convenient. All was well.

We gathered our stuff and headed to the race start, a park on the riverfront. It was low 60s, gray and a bit drizzly, but we were perfectly dressed in capris (me) or shorts (my husband), t-shirts, and hats to shield our faces from any raindrops. We had time to walk around and people watch for a bit before we lined up near the back of the "runner" wave. The DJ was spinning some awesome old-school tunes, so I sang along to Technotronic and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

Before long, we were off! The first leg of the race was north to an east-west corridor, which was completely blocked off for us. It was a decent incline and some of the road was a bit rough, but we were careful to watch where we were going. That first long stretch northeast wasn't very scenic, but people were out cheering for us and the energy was high for the start of the race.

We had some nice park and river views after the first long stretch.

The jog to the Riverwalk was a bit tricky, and the path wasn't as wide, but the race had thinned out by then anyway. We got a few sprinkles here and there, but otherwise it was pretty nice running weather. We managed a steady pace and even descended our miles, which was good to see! Before long, we heard the finish line music and kicked it in to the finish. We grabbed some water and snacks, walked around a bit and took some pics, and headed out.

Swag at this race was top-notch. For a 5K, I was expecting a cotton shirt. Not only did we get a sweet long-sleeved tech tee with an awesome logo on the back, based off the City of Detroit flag, but we got a cool 40th-anniversary buff to wear as a headband, gaiter, etc. I have several buffs and they are handy to have, especially in the winter. AND we got a finisher's medal.

Close up of front and back race tee, finisher's medal, and buff.

My dog wanted to be in the pic too, lol. She did not run the race.

It was a great race and great morning with awesome amenities, toys, swag, and views. I'd definitely do this one again! Even if you're doing the full marathon, this would be a decent shakeout run next year. It was an awesome way to participate in race weekend without training for long distance.

I hope everyone who raced this morning did great!

It's Freep marathon weekend!

The 2014 marathon medal.

This Sunday will be the first Sunday in 5 years I’m not running a Free Press Marathon event.

The Freep was my very first marathon in 2010. In 2011 I was still recovering from a tibial stress fracture, and in 2012 friends of ours got married out of town marathon weekend (How dare anyone schedule a wedding during marathon season without consulting me first!), so I ran Indianapolis instead, setting what was then a monster PR of 15 and a half minutes.

I ran the Freep full again in 2013, 2014, and 2015, and the half last year as my husband’s first big race. I know a lot of people might not like to do the same races over and over, but it’s my hometown race, you get to run into Canada and back, and I love it. So I do it.

This year, my training has been iffy and my husband hasn’t really been running at all, so we’re “only” doing the 5K on Saturday. Not going to lie, I am looking forward to a commitment of a couple of hours, max, and that’s after adding in the expo and getting to the race. I’ll have all day Sunday to catch up on stuff around the house, prep food for the week, and maybe get in my own long (non-26.2 miles long, that is) run that day.

The marathon will always be there and I’m not sad about missing it this year. I’m glad they have the 5K for us who have been slacking on our training. And… there’s still plenty of time to train for a spring marathon. We happened to be in Ottawa for our honeymoon during their marathon weekend, and our 10-year anniversary is next year, so maybe that would be a good time to return. We’ll see what the next few months throws at us.

Week in review Oct. 2-8: Life definitely got in the way

It was an even spread, at least.

It was another poor week, training-wise. All I did was two runs, one trainer ride, and some weight lifting.

It was just a bizarre turn of coincidence that a friend needed help with a (very fun!) thing Tuesday, my in-laws were in town for dinner Wednesday, and I had to work late Friday. I figured I would do what I could Monday, Thursday, and the weekend, and I did. I got solid runs in Monday and Thursday.

I got a call mid-week that a family member had passed away and that visitation was Sunday. Don’t be sad for me, because he was a great man and lived a long, full, amazing life. I really did want to pay my respects, so I hitched a ride with my parents out of town Sunday to spend some time with my extended family. Hilariously, my mom’s cousins kept coming up to me and giving me hugs, and I kept telling them, “I have no idea who you are!” We figured it out eventually, haha.

I made it back home Sunday evening with enough time to prep some food for the week but not to do any activity, and I was OK with that.

By the numbers:

Run: Twice, once on the road and once mostly on the track, for 12.75 miles in a hair longer than 2 hours. I may have only ran twice but I made both count.

Monday’s run was a speedy track workout: I did the 5K program of 800s fast followed by 400 recovery, which is honestly my favorite track workout anyway. I got the very last lap down to a pace that began with a 7 so I consider that a success. That is probably going to be one of the last warm track nights for a while, sad face.

For Thursday’s run I headed out to that dang sledding hill again. I "ran" up the steep side twice, but I concluded that if I can’t even run the dang thing I probably should scale back a bit. So, I moved over to the side that is slightly less steep, yet with a longer incline. Now, THAT I could do. I managed four times up and down without having to stop for a break, ran a half mile to the water fountain and back, and then ran up and down the less-steep side SEVEN times in a row without a break before heading back to the car, for an even, lucky 13 times up and down that stupid hill all together.

Of course, my pace was WAY off – more than a minute per mile slower on average than Monday’s run. But I hope those hill repeats are starting to build strength somewhere in my system. The saddest thing was when I downloaded my Garmin data the elevation doesn’t even show up. Ugh! That’s what I get for living in flat southeast Michigan.

Bike: Just once on the trainer Saturday for a “long” ride of 16.5 “miles” in an hour and a half. I thought about going to the state park but I ended up not being able to fit it into my day before the rain started.

Weights: One good round of my heavy and body weight moves in about 1 hour, 20 minutes taking out all the time slacking off and watching TV between sets. I definitely felt this the next day – I haven’t done pushups and core work in a while.

Overall: Four workouts in about 4 hours, 50 minutes. The long ride and long weights workout gave me a few extra minutes.

This Saturday my husband and I are running the Free Press 5K, part of the festivities that precede the marathon Sunday. I expect to get in a couple easy runs with him, and maybe a trainer ride and a barre class. As of now the week’s schedule is nice and light, so I hope to finally have a decent week of training.

September in review and looking ahead to October

I’m late for a September review for an embarrassing reason: I can’t add.

When I added up my yearly totals by sport, I got a completely different number than when I added up the overall totals by month. I’m pretty neurotic about my number totals so while I had psyched myself up to let go a few minutes’ discrepancy, an hour and a half was way too much to tolerate!

I’m happy to report the problem seemed to be an accounting error between the months of July and August. So, luckily, I didn’t even have to go that far back to find the problem. Whew! I’m a writer by trade and I’ll stick to my words, thanks.

Anyway. Although I didn’t make my running goal of hitting 100 miles, I was pleasantly surprised with some of my other numbers when totaling up September. I only biked seven times in September, but that was still better than the four times in August. I also did a bit more weightlifting.

In all, it was about an hour and a half more total time training in the same number of overall sessions, compared to last month. It broke down to 14 times and about 13.25 hours running, seven times and about 10.5 hours biking, five times and about 4.5 hours weight training, and one 15-minute yoga session.

Almost half my training time in October was spent running.

My other goals included:

Lift twice per week most weeks: This was closer to once per week.

Bike outside at least three times: DONE! I rode outside three of September’s five Saturdays.

Use my new swim toys to get comfortable in the pool again: Nope. I didn’t go to the pool at all in September.

Actually do yoga: Just that one session, sadly.

Actually do glutes/core/prehab: Nope.

PR my 5K: I didn’t run any 5Ks this month. I was looking at one at the end of the month but it was canceled.

Considering I lost almost a full week from the Cold of Death, I’m satisfied with how the month shook out. I also got to spend time with friends, cook lots of good food, see cousins that were visiting from out of state, hang out by the pool, and do some other fun stuff. When I have a less-than-ideal month I have to remind myself that training is a hobby and a privilege. Any day I can move my body is a good day!

For October, not only do I want to work on the goals I didn’t hit from last month, if all goes to plan I’ll also pass 1,000 running miles for the year during this month. I’ve only done that three times since I started tracking my running in 2007; my all-time record is 1,313 in 2013, the only calendar year I’ve done two marathons. I’m thinking about what could be a fun yet attainable goal for the year: 1,234, maybe? Or I could stop running at the end of the month at 1,017 in ’17. Haha, yeah right.

I hope your September was great and your October is off to a good start.

Week in review Sept. 25-Oct. 1: Run, work, recover

Definitely the result of a busy work week.

I knew this week wouldn’t be anything spectacular. I had plans Friday night (My Favorite Murder live show!) and a big work event ALLLLLLLLLLLL day Saturday. On Sunday my grandmother was in town a few days ahead of her 85th (!!!!!!!!!!!) birthday, so of course we went out to brunch. Since I was tired from being on my feet all day Saturday anyway, I spent the rest of Sunday prepping food for this coming week.

I did get in one workout per day Monday through Thursday, which was what I reasonably expected. I had grand plans to get up early during the week or on the weekend for an extra workout, but I just ended up getting home and/or going to bed way too late to make it work.

It ended up being:

Run: Three times, once on the treadmill and twice on the road, for 18.75 miles in almost exactly 3 hours. My treadmill run Monday was boring, steady, and slow while I watched a bit of Orange is the New Black and hopped off every couple of miles to tend to dinner. Wednesday I slogged through my run feeling like garbage, but Thursday was cooler and cloudy — perfect running weather. I managed a full 25 seconds per mile faster on Thursday compared to Monday; what a difference a 30-degree temperature change makes.

Bike: Once on the trainer for an hour.

Total: Four sessions in almost exactly four hours.

I’ve got another busy week this week with personal plans Tuesday and Wednesday and another work event Friday, but so far the weekend is open. I am already looking forward to not running around like a maniac and getting some solid (hopefully) training and sleep.