Battle of the Ab Machines

Yesterday while running errands Dr. C and I popped into Dick's Sporting Goods to pick up a few things (and plan our future fitness room, which we decided is more important than a functioning bathroom in a new home). After we decided on which treadmill we'd like, we headed over to the "as seen on TV" section for some playtime.

First up was the ab rocker.  You basically sit on this thing and turn side to side.  It's supposed to give you an ab workout.  I felt like I was doing a really bad robot dance.

 Next was the ab glider.  This is the thing endorsed by Elisabeth Hasselbeck.  Apparently you're supposed to do more than just move side to side, but that was all I could figure out to do.  I suppose I felt it a little bit, but this thing was just way too fun to take seriously.

To the left

and the right

C'mon! Work those obliques!

Last up was the ab circle: "a treadmill for your abs!"  This thing looked weird and felt weird.  It was probably because someone broke off a piece which is supposed to connect both knees together, so I was making it infinitesimally harder.  But as weird as it was, it was wicked fun as you can tell by my expression below.

So, kids...bored? Head on down to your local sporting goods store for a rockin' good time!  And thanks to the folks at Dick's Sporting Goods in Buckhead for not throwing us out.

Trail Running in Georgia: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

Back when I was planning my trip to spend the holidays with Dr. C, I made plans to get a trail run in during my visit.  I emailed my friend jojajogger and asked about some good trail routes in the area.  She recommended Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and sent me the Garmin output from her last run in the area.  I packed my hydration pack and trail shoes and was looking forward to the run.

When I arrived here in (not-so) Hotlanta my view on the run changed.  It was cold. It was snowy. I was miserable.  Regardless, Dr. C and I hoofed it up to the park for my run.  He has been battling knee pain which I suspect is IT-band related, so running was out of the question for him.  His plan was to go for an hour bike ride and then read in the visitor's center while I attempted a 5 hour run.

For those history buffs out there, Kennesaw Mountain is the site of a big Civil War battle in which the Union whooped the Confederate's arses. The trails cross the old battle area, and you literally run right past cannons and trenches the Confederates dug in vain.

Definitely a far cry from the lush rainforest of Hawaii.  

I set out on my run, fully expecting to be miserable 20 minutes in.  I was bundled to the max: knee-high compression socks, tights, arm warmers, long sleeved shirt, my cushy (favorite!) Brooks insulating vest, Brooks running gloves, and my woolen hat. Apparently that was the perfect amount to wear in the 30-degree temps.  I never even broke a sweat.

I learned that running on ice is just like running in the mud of the HURT trails.  Only ice hurts more when you fall.  And ice is really, really hard to navigate when it's on the biggest climb on the trails. The entire climb up the mountain consisted of a packed snow/ice mix.

You would take a step and slide back. Take a step and slide back.  Good thing I had Sting watching every step I took.  If it wasn't for him "watching me" via my Ipod, I would have been in a sour mood.

Once I got to the top of the mountain things got better. I enjoyed the view of Atlanta from the summit

and headed back down the other side.

I hit the side of the mountain with sun and the trail was a breeze.  In fact, most of the trails were runnable.  It was nice to be able to get some solid running in on the trails, which is nearly impossible on the HURT trails. Here's what most of the flats looked like:

I kept running in and out of snow

and even intersected a stream (thankfully I noticed a bridge 300 yards away)

and turned around at a place called Cheatham hill. 

 I know it's significant because there was a big monument at the top, but that's about all I know. 

At this point I was on track for a 12 mile segment.  My plan was to stop by the car to assure Dr. C I hadn't been eaten by coyotes, refill fluids at the visitor center, and head back out on another trail for an additional 8 miles.  My plan got disrupted at the top of the mountain, 1 mile from the car.  I changed my gait so I wouldn't fall on the ice, and suddenly my knee just buckled.  I tried to run but it was agony.  So I limped down the mountain.  I found Dr. C and informed him my run was over, then stuffed some snow in a baggie to ice my knee on the way home. 

So, not the 20 I planned for, but still a great 3 hours out on the trails.  If you're ever in the area you should check out these trails.  Perfect for running!

And for those of you wondering, my knee is okay.  I believe it was from a tweaked IT band. (Sympathy pains for Dr. C?)  Dr. C rubbed it out that night and it was much better.  The hotspot on my left foot, however, led to bruising/swelling on the top of my foot which made it impossible to run the next day despite my best relacing efforts, but that is another story...

Frayed Laces Trail Elf

The Enabler sent me this as a Christmas gift: an elf yourself starring me, some GU, a potato (my favorite trail run food), a green smoothie, and my nemesis, a wild Hawaiiian boar.  Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

Elf yourself: Frayed Laces

One year

Exactly one year ago I had my first date with Dr. C.  He whisked me away from Mama FL's house to take me on a not-so-normal, yet perfectly appropriate first date: a 50 mile bike ride through the mountains.  Some of you know the story of "us", but for those of you who are new to FL or don't remember, the dish on how we met is here.

Since that day a year ago, we have shared many wonderful moments.  From the frigid bike rides in the Georgia winter:

To the birthday beer run celebrations:

To vacations in Hawaii:

To the best Ironman support a girl can ask for:

Happy Anniversary my love. It's been an amazing year, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

(And thanks for being so understanding about this whole blogging/ twitter/ internet thing)

Flash Flood Warning

So I guess you expect to hear about how I went back out on Sunday and ran 40 miles, right?

Ha! Not in this torrential rain.  I woke in the middle of the night and the sound of rain was thundering through my earplugs.  Not thinking much of it, I went back to sleep.  I woke to find an early morning email from The Enabler: "It is raining quite hard."

I went outside to take a look. His email was an understatement.  Here was the shot outside my door:

The Nuuanu stream, which is the runoff from the HURT trails, runs right through my backyard.  Usually it's a small trickle, a few feet wide in a concrete ditch.  Today?

It's not the size of the water (which was about 1 1/2 car widths across) but the sheer speed of it that was terrifying.  Heading out on the trails would have been a dumb, dumb thing to do.

According to the newspaper, over 8 inches of rain fell by the middle of the afternoon.  Even on the driest days there's water on the HURT trails.  I've heard rumors of Pauoa flats being knee-deep in water.  I think heading out on the trails today would have been a death wish. Here's a shot of the trails from my house when the rain let up a bit.  Where you see mist you should normally see the green mountains:

Normally I would have been beyond irritated to miss a training day.  But after my trail breakdown, and reading your advice, I felt okay.  Besides, my longest long run is 24 miles longer than Hone's, and he's been known to throw down a few 100's in his day.

So, what was your advice? Basically you all echoed overtrained/burnt out.  And you had some funny suggestions (orgasms, Vengaboys).  So last night my roommate and I slapped on the clay mask, drank tea, and traded massages while we watched Love Actually.  Yeah, we cried.  I'm not afraid to admit it. This morning, with 13 hours suddenly dumped in my lap, I did what a girl had to do.  I studied for a few hours, then turned into Betty Crocker.  (Dr. C, you got some yummy gingerbread cake, gluten free brownies, and oatmeal raisin squares coming your way!)

Then The Enabler came over for some very crucial cross training.  We had a Freaks and Geeks marathon while we drank beer and made homemade baked potato chips.

Periodically we would tip our beers up to the hills and comment "if we were running we would be coming out of Manoa now and feeling miserable."

The perfect training partner!

Tomorrow I just have to suffer through a full day of work, 2 hours of tutoring, and a HNL-SLC-ATL redeye flight before I get two glorious weeks with my sweetie!  It feels like forever since I've seen him last, and can't wait to run at him full speed when I see him in the airport.  We're excited to finally have non-working, non-Ironmaning time together where we can be as stress-free as possible.  I'll go for daily runs with him and will probably hit the trail for a 30 miler on Christmas. We'll also be celebrating our anniversary on boxing day (one year already!) and I've packed my very best girlie dress for the occasion.  I don't mean a "Hawaii" dress either; the girliness will be spewing from my pores.  I'll make sure to post pics so you can witness the once a year event!

I hope you all have a great week...mine is about to get a LOT better!

I need a moment

Blah.  Blah blah blah.  That's all you have to read to get the gist of this post.

It appears I'm in some sort of a funk.  And I don't exactly know why.

The ongoing theme for the past few weeks is Frayed Laces needing copious amounts of sleep.  I'm sure it's a glorious combination of me reading stacks of articles every day, crappy eating while I'm chained to my desk all day (hello breakfast, lunch and dinner of tortilla chips and diet coke), and erratic exercising (running 5 miles on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, and 60 on the weekend). Perhaps it's the beer.

I should be happy.  I just sent off another conference abstract, submitted a grant proposal that, according to my prof is "OUTSTANDING", I'm seeing my sweetie in a few days, and the amount of running I do during a weekend is more than most runners do in a week. But somehow it just isn't enough.

Instead of being happy for everything I have going on, I'm fixating on the negatives.  I've gained 5 pounds since the Kona Ironman.  I'm dealing with a major issues with a coworker.  And running--well, lately it hasn't made me very happy.

Yesterday I had the most epic trail breakdown.  Seriously, it is going to go down in Frayed Laces history.  I was supposed to do 40 miles with the Enabler.  12 miles in I felt really spacey and starting going downhill fast.  Despite sticking to my regular nutrition schedule, I started bonking hard and fast. Halfway up the last climb, I yelled out "why the hell am I doing this!?! This is bullsh$t."  I told the Enabler I "needed a moment".  So he wordlessly let me take a moment.  Within the next 30 minutes I had mentally checked out.  No running was happening.  No second loop.  The problem was I still had 5 miles to go to get back to the car. So I slogged along. The Enabler asked me what was wrong.  I told him I wasn't sure, but that I felt like I needed to sit and cry.  So he said "well, if that's what you need, sit down and cry then." I refused to shed a tear but was a steady stream of f-bombs the whole way back to the car.

That night I was thoroughly pissed with myself.  Thankfully my roommate was in a bad mood as well so together we bitched and moaned about how horrible our lives are.  The next morning (today) I woke and felt just as spacey as the previous day.  I've been going through the motions--packing for my trip, reading more articles, etc.  I did have a few things that brightened my day:

I compiled all the articles I read this week to feel a sense of accomplishment:

I got an unexpected Christmas surprise from my sweet friend Leslee (@Beautea97):

And I got my latest shipment from GU:

But somehow my funk just won't go away.  My roommate and I decided tonight is de-funk night.  We're going to cook a bunch of healthy food, slap on some clay masks, and watch Love Actually.  Hopefully it will have some effect because I'm supposed to wake up and try a re-take of the 40 miles with The Enabler.  I'm praying no epic breakdowns.  This is the most important weekend for my HURT training, and right now my confidence is pretty shattered as far as being able to successfully complete this race.

So I'm not looking for you guys to tell me how great I am for at least doing 20, or for trying.  I'm not looking for excuses as to why I'm in a funk.  Instead, I'm looking for advice.  What do you do to help yourselves snap out of it? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it's going to ruin my time with Dr. C if this mood continues.

Trails and Tinsel

Who says you can't be an ultrarunner and be a domestic diva?

This weekend I pulled off quite a feat--running 60 miles on the HURT trails and hosting two holiday parties.  Granted, I got 16 hours of sleep in a 3 day period, but it was well worth it.

If you remember, last week I threw out my back on Tuesday and took the week off from running.  I wasn't sure how my body would handle the trails, so I decided to run 20 at a time, sleeping a bit and evaluating my body after each run.  To help my back I also only filled my hydration pack half full.

Friday night I headed out for an easy loop with the Enabler.  We decided to walk the whole loop as a "worst case scenario" for race timing.  Although the loop took forever, I was glad we went out easy. I came home from the loop, got a quick 3 hour nap, and headed right back out the next day for another loop.  The second loop I hammered and did my fastest yet to date.  Due to unexpected heat on the trails I was a bit dehydrated and suffered a horrible headache the rest of the day.  I wanted to just sleep and rest but had to get the house prepped for a party.  I didn't think the outlook looked good for a loop the next day, but set my alarm early just in case.  To my surprise I woke feeling great, and hit the trails for another loop right at race pace.

I came home just in time to scrub off the dirt, slap on some makeup, and start cooking up a storm. My fabulous roommates and I hosted a holiday party with all our friends.

My roommates: the divas!

The weather was nice so we took advantage of our fabulous lanai under our Christmas lights.

I filled up on food and imbibed in the mulled wine. Aside from not being able to stand up if I knelt down, my body had no idea what I put it through.  Surprisingly the muscles felt great.  Great enough even to get a little silly with dancing and karaoke with the fun crowd once most of our guests left.

Lucky boys! (The Enabler in antlers) 

I jumped into bed right after midnight only to wake at 5 for a rousing day of work.  I just returned from my long day which also included hosting my work holiday party.  I am happy to say my domestic diva duties are now over!  Time to swipe off the makeup, jump into a hoodie, and resume my usual grad student/runner self.

The conservative ultrarunning approach

Thanks everyone for your words on yesterday's post. Your encouragement and support means a lot. It's great that you guys don't play into my pity party.  The collective attitude was: "suck it up, FL! You'll be fine and running again soon!"

And yes, most of you are right in that I should probably take things easy.  On top of back pain I've also had no appetite and sleeping 10 hours a night.  You're right; my body is telling me something. I think part of it is that I'm currently studying for my oral exams (a multi-hour exam in which your committee grills you and tries to get you to crack) which will be in one month.  Lots of sitting, lots of stress.




It's nice to hear the encouragement from Jojajogger, Hone and Hoppy (very seasoned ultra runners) that doubts at this stage are normal and that I don't need to think about pulling out of the race. I've also gotten some great advice from my friend @bobmcallaster about how to strengthen myself and avoid back pain.  It's great to have access to such wonderful people and wonderful advice!

I'm heading out for a slow loop tonight in this horrible rain.  I'm going to only fill my pack partway, as I still have water stashed in various locations.  I'm hoping that if I keep my pack weight down it will help my back.  If I feel okay on Saturday morning, I'll do another loop.  Same thing with Sunday.  So the plan is 20 miles--sleep and evaluate---20 miles---sleep and evaluate---20 miles.  The conservative ultrarunning approach.

I'm Training for An Ironman Video

I'm sure you guys have already seen this, as it went viral today.  But it's worth a second look.  Totally, totally true. I remember having conversations with coworkers about why I wake up at 4am, and explaining to friends that dinner at 7 is "way past my bedtime".

Questioning my abilities

This past week has left me questioning my athletic condition, and doubting my ability to compete in the HURT 100.  I'm hurting, sedentary, and cranky.

Last Saturday I did the solo 40 miles, which went pretty well.  Since I had some numb heel problems I decided to take Sunday off and ice all day.  It worked like a charm.  Monday I went to work as usual, but noticed my back getting progressively worse. By the end of the day I was hunched over and hobbled into my therapist's office on the verge of tears.  Two hours of massage later I left feeling much better.

The next morning I woke and felt a little stiff, but otherwise okay.  I went to the floor to stretch a bit.  Suddenly my back seized up.  I fell to the ground.  I tried to get back up, but couldn't move past a certain point without my back seizing again.  I lay on the ground and waited for my roommate to wake up.  She found me on the floor, helped me up, and got me situated with hot towels.  I spent the rest of the day in agony until one of my roommates gave me some prescription strength painkillers.  The painkillers made me puke (they always do) but totally relieved my back pain.

The next morning I was still sore, but able to walk.  I had a long-standing shopping date with my roommates and didn't want to cancel.  I felt okay throughout the day, but in the evening my back hurt again.

Now it's Thursday. Five days since I last ran.  My back is still sore.  I want to run--God I want to run--but am scared to push it.

I'm really starting to wonder if I'm just not ready for this.  I'm pretty sure the back pain is a combo of carrying my heavy pack and hip problems from all the climbing on the HURT trails.  40 miles knocks me out for 5+ days? What is going on? I'm supposed to run even more this weekend, but am wondering how I'll recover in time. It's so irritating.

Run Run Live Interview

A few weeks ago Chris from the podcast Run Run Live asked if he could interview me for an upcoming episode.  If there's one thing I love more than running, it's talking.  I had a blast talking with Chris about my blog, my training, life in Hawaii, and my upcoming ultra. My only regret is we didn't have more time! Go check out the podcast at http://www.runrunlive.com/episode-148-frayed-laces

My interview starts about halfway in.  Thanks Chris for a fun interview!

Irritation

"You know, you haven't been blogging as much lately as normal"
"Yeah well, it's cause work has been nuts.  You can actually tell my work productivity based on the frequency of my blog posts.  Most definitely an inverse relationship."

This week was a particularly stressful week for me. It began on Tuesday with my first committee meeting that turned into a heated defense of sorts and just snowballed from there.  Part of it is my fault; by taking on my extra tutoring gig it means I leave the house at 5 each day and don't return until after 8. I should have noticed the warning signs when I felt odd prickly sensations on my arm while tutoring Thursday night.  I should have noticed the warnings signs when I drove home and felt high.  I should have had a big glass of water with dinner.  Instead I reached for a beer.

At 2:30am on Friday I woke up with a full fledged migraine. I managed to crawl to the kitchen for an icepack and tuck myself back into bed.  I lay there in bed till 11am, fearful that if I so much as moved I would hurl everywhere. At 11:30 I successfully ate 3 crackers.  At 3pm I unsuccessfully ate some green smoothie. At this point the headache was gone, but my stomach was revolting. Dr. C treated me to a pizza (gotta love ordering online) and by the time I went to bed I managed to slowly eat 1/2 a pizza.

The next morning I woke at 3:30 to go hit the trails for my solo 40 mile run. To say I was nervous is an understatement; I hate the dark.  Dark means pigs. Dark means creepy people. Dark means my mind will play tricks on me.  And that it did.  I mentally lost it and kept thinking I was hearing the wild pigs everywhere. 20 minutes in I stood motionless and didn't know how to go on. But then I got a bright idea: make as much sound as possible and wield a giant stick.  The only thing my terrified brain could think of was the chorus to Journey's Don't Stop Believin': "Don't stop, believing...hold on to that feeling. Streetlights, people". So I belted those ten words for two friggin hours.  And I carried a 5 lb stick. Periodically I'd think I heard a pig and would turn and scream into the bushes.  Not my proudest moment.

Once the sun rose I was fine.  I picked up the pace, kept on top of my nutrition and hydration, and rocked out with my ipod. Every few hours I would run into another HURT runner on the trails, and we would exchange pleasantries.  I was pretty good until the last 10 miles or so. I've been having this recurring problem that at a certain point in my runs my feet and ankles hurt from the pounding.  It makes it difficult to run.  I know a lot of it is that my ankles have been sissified from the roads.  I just hope that my ankle and foot strength will build up in time for HURT.

I finished both loops at exactly the same time, which is pretty remarkable considering each loop took just under 6.5 hours. When I got home and took off my shoes, I was shocked to find I had no feeling in my right heel.  Completely numb. The past week I've had some weird tingly sensations in the heel when I do my push-ups, but didn't think much of it. After my ice bath I elevated my feet and the numbing turned into some dull aching.

My plan was to wake up today and do another 20 miles on the HURT trails.  But when I woke up, my foot was still numb.  Being prudent, I decided to stay home and RICE the day away.  At this point I wouldn't really get any fitness benefit from an extra 20 miles and certainly don't want to risk serious injury. I suppose it's a good thing, since I can begin to whittle away at the 200 articles I have to read for my oral exams (which are in 6 weeks), but I'm still irritated that I can't be out on the trails.

City Harvest

My family has many holiday traditions.  One of them is that each year PapaFL makes a donation to a charity in all of our names.  In the past few years this practice has taken off, and I'm glad to hear that other families do the same.  This week I learned about a charity that I wanted to pass along to you guys.  It's called City Harvest.

Here's the description from the website:

This year, City Harvest will collect 28 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week,
City Harvest helps over 300,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal.

City Harvest also addresses hunger’s underlying causes by supporting affordable access to nutritious food in low-income communities, educating individuals, families, and communities in the prevention of diet-related diseases, channeling a greater amount of local farm food into high-need areas, and enhancing the ability of our agency partners to feed hungry men, women, and children.

I think this is a fantastic organization.  Doesn't it make you sick to think about how much good food is thrown away?  Kudos to City Harvest for thinking of this and making it happen. As it says in the ad, "For the price of a 10 minute long distance call you can help rescue enough food to feed someone for 40 days."  Isn't that incredible?

To help improve donations during the holiday season, City Harvest has started a new initiative using QR codes.  Do you know these codes? If you have the application Scan Life on your smartphone you can scan QR codes (which are starting to be found everywhere these days) to get more information about a company, product or organization.  The QR for City Harvest is:

And if you use your smart phone to scan this you can get instant info on the organization and can donate money instantly.  They're making giving easier and easier, huh?

Chef Eric Ripert (of Top Chef fame--a Frayed Laces favorite!) is teaming up with the organization.  I was able to send some questions for him which he will hopefully answer in a video I'll post on my site.

And if all this information isn't enough for you, how about some warm and fuzzy videos!