purpleshoe runs

First up, the miles:

Monday: 9 w/ strides; overall 9:22 pace

Tuesday: 14 at 9:35 pace

Wednesday: 5 recovery

Thursday: 11 at 9:30 pace

Friday: 5 recovery

Saturday: 18 at 9:31 pace

Total: 62 miles

New high mileage week!

And, the feelings:

This week was BORING. Nothing but mile after mile after mile staring at the same spot on the wall. I made this week’s workouts all about mental games…one day I even made it 12.5 miles before needing to turn on my iPod (new PR!) I won’t deny that I woke up the morning of that mid-week 14 and wondered if I hadn’t bitten off a little too much with the 70 plan – but it went alright. I’m finding that 97% of my struggles so far are mental.

And the other 3% – last week’s hip tightness was nowhere to be found until I stepped off the treadmill after Saturday’s 18 and could barely walk. My right hip flexor had practically seized up…uh what? I swear I’m not so tough that I just didn’t notice it – it really didn’t feel weird while I was running. I stretched and stretched (not a habit I’ve ever had, ever) and gave it the ol’ frozen bag of peas treatment multiple times this weekend. The weird lack of range of motion (that’s a mouthful) actually disappeared after an hour, but I still played it safe Sunday and didn’t bother with any cross training (unless never changing out of your pj’s somehow qualifies as an athletic feat.)

I’m trying to be cautious about the hip thing, but I also expected some aches and creaks from taking my mileage here, so I’m not too worried yet. I’m not afraid to veer off the plan in the name of avoiding injury either, so there’s that. I’m also (hopefully not naively) comforted by the fact that there’s no pain even when my hip is being an ass; it’s just tight. (These are different things, yes?)

Today I woke up absolutely dreading today’s tempo run – partially because I was nervous my hip might seize up (it never did) and partially because what if I couldn’t go fast? I think a piece of the mental puzzle to tackling a plan like this is that if you stick to it, it’s terrifying to think it might not pay off. What if I just ran two of the best weeks of training I’ve ever put together and today my legs have nothing to show for it? Mercifully Mr. Pftiz knows his stuff, and today’s tempo was longer and faster than the last. I’m looking forward to stepping on the treadmill and knowing I can do that as this cycle progresses. Timidly hitting the ‘up’ button on the speed hoping I’m not being an idiot? Well that’s just less fun than confidence.

Also possibly of note: I’m solidly 5 pounds heavier than my body’s ‘natural’ weight. (You know what I mean, right? The number the scale just says whether you’re really trying or not?) Well after eating New Zealand over the holidays (no really, all of it) I was about 5 pounds heavier than the norm when we landed back here, and I assumed it would come off on its own. Only it hasn’t…after running 129 miles in the last 14 days. Whether this is my body finally starting to betray me (I do turn 27 next month, hah) or I’ve just become a terrible judge of how many calories I’m consuming, I’m not sure. But my running has been better than it has in…3 years? So I’m finding it hard to be toooo annoyed about it. But still…something worth noting.

Other notes for posterity: 1 gu chomp every 15 minutes on long runs is the best thing I’ve found for my stomach yet. Must find a way to smuggle more into PNG…

Happy running.

I received an email from WordPress in December asking me if I’d like to renew my domain, and it seemed like it was worth the $19 not to let it go…so maybe this year I’ll actually use it?

Overall, this week felt good. Monday-Tuesday runs were boring as hell (did I mention I do all my miles on a treadmill?), I felt strong on the tempo, and I could have kept running after yesterday’s 15. Only issues of note are minor tightness in right hip (which I’ve been stretching diligently) and needing noticeably more sleep.

Anyone else going to be in Eugene?

Happy running.

Alright, I know I’ve dished out more than my fair share of negative over the past year and I’m working on being more positive and blah blah blah, but THIS:

So today we land at about 8 am after flying all night in Air Niugini economy (small and smelly…aka no decent sleep and ALSO a flight we weren’t supposed to have to be on), and then we make the long trek home over the many-potholed roads of Port Moresby. There’s construction going on right now so it takes like 45 minutes of getting jostled around (where in the world all the taxes they leech from my paycheck go, I sure don’t know, but the roads aren’t it.) Once we arrive at our apartment, it’s drop our bags, shower, and turn right around and head to the office.

(I give all this background to my little tale of rage because CLEARLY I’m tired and running on a short fuse here. Maybe if this had happened any other day it wouldn’t have phased me.)

After about a half days’ worth of work my boss tells me to go home and get some sleep. (For which I am very grateful!) I decide to capitalize on the free afternoon and tell Mr. Engineer I’ll go get groceries (we have no food since we’ve been gone and all) and I’ll get a jump start on the laundry and unpacking.

I snag a car and have the driver take me to the grocery store with the best selection, which is also the one that’s farthest away…we usually only get there on the weekends. We pull into the parking lot and I’m getting out of the car when the driver informs me my apartment is now a no-go zone. And I can’t go home after we go here, so do I really want to buy groceries?

[No-go zones are the "bad" areas of town, as the name would imply. I don't usually live in one. I thought.]

And why had my apartment become a no-go zone, you ask?

BECAUSE THERE WAS AN EFFING BOMB SCARE. At a building in the heart of the CBD (Central Business District), maybe half a mile from us.

I just…I don’t have the energy to express my exasperation. Almost no sleep…all that time in a car for nothing (I know I sound like a whiny brat here but I get SO motion sick on these damn pot-holey roads), and all I wanted was to do LAUNDRY.

LAUNDRY. Not even take a nap, or watch a chick flick, or paint my nails. JUST DO MY DAMN LAUNDRY.

(Oh look! I do have the energy to express my exasperation!)

It kills me that crap like this is becoming more and more commonplace. Not bomb threats specifically (hi dad! don’t worry I’m fine!) but crazy off-the-wall shit you just wouldn’t believe if someone told you. I barely believe it and it and I see/hear about it happen.

Hey look! Here’s a picture where I’m not being all stabby!

not bomb-scared! or ranting!

what?! oh, just some local fare.

Batman jumped off this building in The Dark Knight (in Hong Kong)

(None of these photos have anything to do with my rant, but I have no visual for me being so angry I might scream. Aren’t these more fun?)

That’s all I’ve got. Happy running.

I’m currently blogging from the Cathay lounge in the Hong Kong airport…I’m supposed to be arriving back in Port Moresby right now, but our travel plans went a little haywire on this adventure.

We arrived at Jackson’s International in Port Moresby last Wednesday to catch our (direct!) flight to Hong Kong. We quite literally chose HK as our destination for this getaway only because we could fly there direct–normally you have to go through Australia to get anywhere (and we were looking to maximize fun time and minimize sitting in airport time, you know?) It was about 9:15 when we approached the check-in desk for our 11:45 flight.

And then they told us it was cancelled. No apologies. No explanation. Just “oh that flight is cancelled. Your travel agent didn’t tell you?” (We book our own travel, THANKS.)

And then I burst into tears on the spot.

You see, we try to leave the country every 6-8 weeks or so…we sometimes have business in Brisbane, or can take a weekend getaway to Cairns…but it’s essential to survival there. You just can’t possibly understand how depressing it is to be there with no break for much longer than that. Well this go-around, we hadn’t left in almost 3 months. This vacation had been my reason for getting out of bed in the morning for weeks. And poof! Cancelled.

We made our way over to the customer service desk where they tried to send us to the Philippines for an overnight to get to our eventual destination (no thanks) and then offered that perhaps we should leave tomorrow instead.

I’m not being dramatic when I say I could NOT go back to our apartment. Mr. Engineer agreed. We decided that if all else failed, we’d just go to Brisbane (there’s a flight there about twice a day).

After some harsh words (yes, Air Niugini, you WILL pay for our nonrefundable hotel if you don’t get us to Hong Kong, and you’ll do it NOW) suddenly a faster option became available. (Disclaimer: I’m not generally in favor of being a bitch to customer service people, but being nice was getting us nowhere. And they CANCELLED OUR FLIGHT WITHOUT TELLING US. WHEN WE HAD BEEN STUCK IN HELL FOR ALMOST THREE MONTHS. Desperate times, people.)

Suddenly we had about 11 minutes to check our bags, get boarding passes and board a flight to Cairns where there would be a connection to Hong Kong for us. And about 10 minutes later I was drying my eyes, seated next to Mr. Engineer on what must be the tiniest plane allowed to cross the ocean (those little things are scary!) en route to an Australian connection.

Our connection was on time, and we ended up in Tsim Sha Tsui about 6 hours later than we had originally intended–not bad, given how the day started.

new stamp!

a nice touch.

More later. I’m off to enjoy the complimentary food and a bloody mary here in the business class lounge (we’re flying economy but scored a lounge pass anyway…with free WiFi!)

Happy running.

That’s how many miles I ran this week.

A weekly mileage goal I’ve been chasing for a couple months is finally (as my Australian coworkers would say) done and dusted.

No awesome scenery photos or triumphant Garmin shots to share, because obviously it was all on the treadmill. Instead I’ll leave you with my view for the rest of the afternoon.

fleecy loungewear (with lambs on 'em) + compression socks. I'm recovering in style.

Seventy, consider yourself on notice.

Happy running.