Jack Kelly and the Coolest Track Ever

    All I can manage on this rainy Monday morning with both my boys back to school and work after a week off is randomness :) On a good note for this Monday, I get to read in my son's Kindergarten class later :D


First some weekend training:
Saturday: 4 mile run @ 8:10 pace 
Sunday: 30 minutes stair running, lots of pull-up work (flexed hang and negatives), planks, push-ups, dips (I'm on an arm toning mission which will be posted about soon!)


2nd
The only thing I have to say about the Oscar's is Yayyy Jack Kelly :)))

18 yr old Christian Bale was by far my biggest childhood crush

 I could still watch this movie everyday, so so amazing :) and I think I need to put the soundtrack on my running playlist :D

He was looking a bit older than his 36 yrs last night though

The sexy accent makes up for it ;)

 3rd

I saw this on Matty, Run, Run's blog and had to share because I'm obsessed with it:

        COOLEST. TRACK. EVER.

         located in Elda, Spain

4th 
My Playlist for yesterday's stairs, these 4 songs on repeat:
Cameras~ Matt and Kim - I think this one got like 3-4 plays
Club Can't Handle Me~ Flo Rida/ D Guetta
Born This Way~ Lady Gags
Love Like Woe~ The Ready Set- Was gonna stop running at 22 min, but this song x 2 got me to 30 :D

5th
    I have over 250 followers. Why are you all here?  ;)  Anyway thanks for putting up with my awful writing, I'm truly flattered :)

Blog things to come this week (hopefully):
Feb. recap/ March goals
Project Arms!
BBM #7
Cool Things that Need a Shout Out
Random things that take up space in my head and need to get out :)

Last: Today was/ is (maybe) gonna be long run (8-10) but it is pouring and thunder/lightning-ing.  So I haven't decided yet if I will go long on the tread or push it till tomorrow. I may BodyRock and short tread today.

   Have you seen the Newsies?  Were you as obsessed with it as I was?
   I think it is impossible to have seen it and NOT be obsessed with it.  I used to march around the playground (in 6th grade) singing all the songs and pretending I was a Newsie.  I got one other girl and one boy to do it with me, but I think the boy only did it because he had a crush on the other girl.

   Who were your childhood celeb crushes?

  
  Besides Christian "Jack Kelly" Bale: Taylor Hanson and Erik Von Detten (From Disney's TV Skater Movie, Brink!)  

First Swim and Official Time

   Sooo I was pleasantly surprised with my official time: 12:19 (6:36 pace).  

   Surprised because I saw the clock ticking to 11 flat with 2 laps left (400 m) and as it was all a blur after that I figured around 12:30 (although I vaguely remember seeing the teens as I kicked it in, but I was in a fog and wasn't sure).  That means my last 400 was around 79! 

   This also means I BLEW UP (not in a good way!)  in the whole middle of the race :( .   I recall my first mile split around 6:11,  so my few laps after that must have been slow (comparative to the rest of my run).

    Also I am definitely faster in the shorter stuff than I was in HS, as I killed myself (in HS) to run a 79 400 (yeaa Chelle  NO 59 here :D) and my 800 PR was 2:39.  I think I could crush that one now.   In order to do better in the longer stuff,  continued endurance training and longer intervals are in the plan.

     Ohhh and I should of mentioned it sooner, THANK YOU for your awesome comments!!! I built this race up so much on here and in my head that it was really hard to report back with less than what I hoped.

   AND according to the site the meet went till 1 AM!!, We left halfway through the men's 3000, a little after 8 I think?

The line well after I had registered, they had to call women's 3k runners to the front bc they needed to get start.

       Last bit about the races, the top 10k relay went 22:25!! It was a 10 person relay where each team member ran 5 200 meter legs, but still that is SMOKIN!!  I would have loved to do that but  I didn't have a team :(  That and the last relay (they had 3 heats) went off on Early Friday Morning.

On to yesterdays workout, I was actually really sad that my legs were not sore at all when I woke up, but I still have this nagging sore throat ( that started immediately after my race) and stomach-not-rightness.  

My sister is home on LI this week (winter teaching break) and she asked me if I wanted to go swimming, YES!

She joined New York Sports Club in her area and can use any of the NYSCs, so we went to the closest one and I used her guess pass.

  Workout:

         3 mile easy run at 8-8:30 pace

        FIRST SWIM SINCE SUMMER~ 600 m, nothing special, felt good but i DID feel it in my arms.  And this morning I'm feeling it in my arms even more :D

    

Finished with some time in the sauna.

Lessons (3k Race Report)

      Blogging is great and all, but  reporting back that you did not meet your goal is a little sad :(

  I really wasn't even  close, I didn't see my exact time because I was too busy sprinting it in and then dying, but it was well over 12 minutes.  Around 12:30 I think which is 1:15 ish over my goal. Official time isn't posted yet.

   I went out too fast, with an 80 sec 400 (5:20 pace), but it felt really easy at the time so I just went with it.  And then all moisture was sucked from my mouth and throat.  No joke that place is DRY.  I pretty much could not swallow.  I guess 9 years caused me to forget this little detail, along with what it takes to run a low-11 3k.

    I severely underestimated what it took to run 6 min pace for 2 miles and overestimated what kind of shape I was in.  Going in to this race I really had no idea what I could accomplish, so I shot for the moon and landed among the stars :)  My pace ended up being (I'm not sure exactly yet) around 6:30-6:40 and I'm not gonna cry about that.

  I'm considering it very productive training for my sub 20 5k :)

 And I gave possibly above 110%, given I could not keep anything down for the rest of the night.  I got sick immediately after and possibly not the greatest idea we stopped at a restaurant on the way to the train and well . . .


  I've also been hacking up a lung since I crossed the finish line and feel like I have Strepp throat. (from the dryness) 


Really, I thought that this was a good idea??


  :D I am happy I did it though, the whole atmosphere was fun and it is good to know where I am physically, how much work I have to do and how much harder I am going to have to work for it.  I think I wanted it to come easy.  


 As they say, 
"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."


On a happy note, I found 15$ on the floor in Penn Station which covered my race entry :)

Some Pics:

Start

All the running pics are blurry, I'm too fast for the camera ;)

I'm leading here, but I didn't win.  Also I seeded myself in the 3rd heat.  The winner in the first heat ran LOW 10 minutes and made it look straight up EASY.  Most of the competitors were local college runners.

It was really cool just being here again.

Wall of Sneakers

   Some Lessons:

~Matt took a video, I am still swinging my arms across my body way too much (I did this in HS too).

~ I put too much pressure on my self;  goals are good, giving yourself anxiety for a week is not.

~ I do however want to achieve my goals so better training is needed, I think the warmer weather should help me get on my "A" game on :)

Some Music:

   I only remember one song from my race and then a few other songs during the night that I though were good songs to run to.

During my race: "Don't You Want Me"- Human League

Other Songs: "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"- Cyndi Lauper

                      "Summer of '69"- Bryan Adams

                      "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"- Wham -I would have loved to run to this one :D

                       "Always Something There to Remind Me"- Naked Eyes

    There were a bunch more and I can't even think of them right now, plus we didn't stay for the whole thing. 

  And there you have it, not quite the race report I wanted, but still a great night. 

   Now if I could get rid of this killer sore throat, hacking and stomach ache (still 12 + hours later) I'd be even happier.

Brick Road Bodies Winners 2011 - Men

Brick Road Bodies Winners 2011

Click the pics to view the hi res version.

Grand Winner - Alexander Jared Alvero

1st Runner Up - Jay Mateo Barcelina

2nd Runner Up - Aldrin Guillote

Peace Be The Journey

I'm off to the city with my new tiny Adidas Backpack (I got it from Marshall's on Tues :)

If this we're like most races I'd have been done 4 hours ago and not freaking out anymore.

We're going in a little, but not to early were I end up walking around for hours.

 I would love for Nollie to be there, but we prob won't be home till 11 or after

that's a little late for him so he's hanging out with Nanny, Pop Pop and the Cuz-ers

Katie in Motion

I'm gonna go with the though that as long as I know that I gave it 110% and I have nothing left when I cross that finish line, it's a success  :)

In response to some I thought I would lose followers because taking 1000 pics of myself seems really self-absorbed (I guess it is; I prefer to think of myself as crazy), but I gained a follower :D  

Thanks for all your comments

I can't think straight, I'll thank you better tomorrow :)

Self-Indulgent Pre Race Pics

   I may lose a few followers with this post, but Race Outfit photo shoots have kind of become a ritual for me.   It helps me relax a little and feel confident, especially when I see my buff leg muscles :D

What I'm wearing for my indoor track race tomorrow night:

Not quite EMZ Abs

Just call me the Speeding Zebra

Happy,  Chris K. Manly?

   All kidding aside, tomorrow's outfit is kinda boring:

Gray tank; Blue Spandy Shorts

It's weird running a track race without having a team singlet to wear.

I meant to look like I was running, Not like I'm in a marching band :)

Racing Muskles

Garmin came yesterday!

Last Year's Winners

Click the pics to view the hi res version.

Nerves

            I'm pretty much thinking out loud here, along with over thinking things entirely.

   I had one of those dreams nightmares last night were you're in a race and no matter how hard you try you legs don't want to move.   I used to have these a lot while racing every weekend in HS/ College.  I hadn't had one in a while because I'd stopped racing and only started entering races again a few months ago.  I forgot how awful those nightmares are.  Have any of you had these kind of nightmares where you're racing, but your legs refuse to move?

      It is safe to say this race has been occupying a large part of my mind the past few days and I am straight up scared about it.   I am definitely questioning why I thought it was such a brilliant idea to put myself through 10 minutes of leg burning, lung bursting pain (the first minute is all adrenaline and fresh legs and optimism).  If I want any sort of decent time, I'm going to have to make it hurt like hell.  and it is freaking me out.


    Physically I think it is in me, I have the speed to run a sub 6 mile and the endurance to run 13+, so I should be able to put together 2- 6 minute miles (and actually 200m less than 2 miles), but if I can't mentally gut it out I have no shot.

    Bottom line: It is going to hurt. A lot.  Why did I think this was a good idea??
 and at the same time I am very excited about it and thinking it was a GREAT idea :)


    I'm, at least, feeling ready-ish. Most of the weekend weight is gone and no alcohol since Saturday night.  I ran three miles with some speed work mixed in yesterday.  Today I will do a little shake out run and some strides after.  And I know that despite training not being as planned out as HS, I am very much fitter than I was back then.

   Yesterday I took out my old "Once a Runner" book.  If you have not read it yet: Drop everything you're doing and go get it!!  :D  It is more of a track book I guess, the main character is a miler, but most runners can relate to the overall mindset.

  My favorite quote from the book:

"... Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the heart of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race dark Satan himself till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straightaway....They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a gut, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by God, let our demons loose and just wail on!" 

     Race Outfit post to come tomorrow :)

    And I bought a Garmin 405.  It was totally impulsive and semi alcohol influenced.  I ordered it online, from my phone, while at the Isles game. (It was on sale!).  It should be here this week :D

Arnee Hidalgo

Click the pics to view the hi res version.

Links I'm Loving Today

   There is a lot of awesome stuff going down in the blog world today, so I figured I should share some of what I am loving :)

~Melissa and Amanda both rocked the burpees videos yesterday (and they both kick my bootay with their burpees) Awesome girls :D   Tri-James also kicked trash. . . 43!!!

~ Austin (or Matt? Scott?)@ Enjoy the Ride is giving away some cool tri bike gear for newbies (first come, first serve!)

~ Through Austin's blog I found amazing triathlete Tawnee's blog.  I love her philosophy on combining strength training and endurance training

~ On the topic of strength/resistance training, RunnerDude has a GREAT core workout video on his blog today!

~  The famous Fitnessista posted a link about nominating health/fitness blogs for Women's Health Blogs We Love.  So if you have the time and want to give me a little blog love (and you think I'm deserving), I'd be very grateful if you'd nominated me.  Let me know if you want a nom as well :)

   That's all I can recall right now (wanted to get this up quick so my readers could have a chance at Austin's giveaway) if I remember something else in a bit I'll add it :)

   Okay one more thing: I found this amazing red pepper & eggplant bruschetta spread at the grocery store yesterday.  It is made by Marco Polo (I always get their jarred roasted red peppers).  I made a wrap with using it and some roasted red pepper slices, mozzerella and basil, it was so good I might have a repeat tonight!   


*Mr. Whiney Manly has posted a very informative interview with Ultra runner Tim Twietmeyer.  Despite the fact that he begged me to link it ;), it really is pretty awesome.

Who will be the winner?

Alexander Jared Alvero vs Jay Mateo Barcelina

Click the pics to view the hi res version.

Brick Road Bikini Bodies 2011