Playing Catch Up

Wow, I’m really slacking on updating this thing. I promise it won’t be like this in the summer when I actually have stuff to write about. So what’s been going on in my life since last Monday? Let’s take a look:

Tuesday 2/16:
The day of my defense! Britney and I got up to run in the morning and then I went to campus to prepare. My parents came up from Iowa City, which was nice. The presentation went well and I passed, which was the most important part. I’m glad to be done with my thesis for sure.

Wednesday 2/17:
Strength workout: legs.

Thursday 2/18:
Ran 3 miles on indoor track, more leg strength work. I’ve been experimenting with the gallow-walking all month, more on that later. Went to Runner’s Flat, a LRS to get Britney her very first pair of running shoes! Check out the studs:

Friday 2/19:
Strength workout: arms

Saturday 2/20:
Britney and I were on a LGBT panel, which turned out to be pretty entertaining. We were asked a bunch of questions from this theatre group that performs on campus to freshman about college issues. It was awesome to hear they were going to address the gay thing. Got free pizza out of the deal (what can I say, we’re cheap!).

Sunday 2/21:
Core workout.
Trainer bike ride: 19.2 miles in an hour, my best effort yet! I was pretty excited to have a high pace, even if it is indoor. Last season I averaged 16 mph in my best days. I hope to keep this pace up when I get outside in a few weeks months.

Monday 2/22:
Now this is the good stuff although its not training related. Britney and I finally celebrated Valentine’s Day. After work we hopped in the car and drove south to a tiny town, Toledo, home to the Designer Inn and Suites. What’s special about this? They have fantasy suites! We’ve been here before and stayed in the Rainforest but today we lounged around in the Arabian Nights room. Check out our digs for the night:

Pretty neat, huh? And they had a shower that looked like this:

Tuesday 2/23:
As soon as we got back from Arabia, I had to head back down to Iowa City with some classmates for a group interview for a summer gig-thing for avoidthestork.com, an Iowa campaign that works to prevent unintended pregnancies. Turns out we got the jobs and will be traveling around the state to attend events to spread the word about birth control and pregnancy prevention. It should be an experience for sure!

Wednesday 2/24:
Up early again to go running, finally ran 4 miles. I’ve been really struggling on running indoor on a track but am too chicken to run outside in this weather. I’ve been figuring out my running pattern. So far it’s been working to run for half of the distance/time and then fall into a gallow-walking routine of 6 mins on, 1 min off. I start off slow and am able to finish strong, I’m pretty happy with that. Let’s be honest, I’m just happy to finish running.

Thursday 2/25:
Well, we both overslept so we missed our morning run. I’m going to fit it in tonight after work and will do some arm strength work as well. I may hop on the bike as well.

Upcoming: My first race of the season!
On Saturday I’ll have my first race of the season, an indoor sprint tri in Marshalltown. I’ve decided to approach this race fairly laid back and will use it as a season baseline test since it will be easy to repeat at the end of the season to see how I’ve improved. I’m excited for my first indoor race, it will be a learning experience for sure! I’ll be back with a race report on Sunday for sure.

Well, this was a lengthy post, I promise I’ll be better with the updates, especially since my training plan officially kicks in March 1!

Hope everyone is staying warm or enjoying their weather!

Oh yea, I chopped my hair again.

Bad Hair Day before:

Bad Hair Day after:

And with those lovely images I’ll leave ya to it!