These Little Shooshies

This is Heinz Ward. He is my friend, Adrien's dog. He is awesome. 

I went to their house and he entertained me for hours because he is hilarious

These are their 4 cats

I love how fat this cat is

this one was growling at Heinz and I was surprised I got this pic

this one was sweet

this one was not 

That was fun. 

Here we go again...

Training this week -

Monday & Tuesday - rest from my long run Sunday
Wednesday - 6 minute intervals with a 4 minute rest - 4 times - 5.4 miles
Thursday - I'm going to swim tonight - and actually, since I haven't swam in forever, I'm just going to swim 25's
Friday - Run - run 2 minutes fast, jog 2 minutes, repeat 8-10 times
Saturday - this is game day. I do not know what I will be doing since I will be in Clemson by 9 am
Sunday - 8-10 miles non stop

*Wednesday's run was really nice. I'm not sure what my splits were because I haven't reviewed the history in my Garmin, but it felt nice to have a longer interval. Those are harder for me and really help me develop speed.
*I'm nervous about swimming tonight because it's been several weeks. That means I'm going to be flailing around like a crazy person but that's what happens when you don't swim. It's not like riding a bike.

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I would show you my outfit today for my fashion thing but I'm too lazy to get someone to take my pic. 

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So one thing that really makes me mad is when the media villianizes (my spell check doesn't even recognize this so I have no idea how to spell it) athletes. I've written about it before in another blog and I heard it again today. People are dogging out Chad Ochocinco because he didn't do well in his first game with the Patriots. They are saying he should stop tweeting and start focusing on football. 

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It REALLY bothers me that the media/football fan base loves to ridicule athletes. They blame them for games being won/lost, they blame them for not being focused enough, they blame them for being too obnoxious, etc etc etc. 

Barefoot Contessa turned down a child twice from the make a wish foundation. A little boy had leukemia, he asked to cook with Barefoot Contessa, and she said no. Twice. Is she getting blasted in the media for that? No. But Ochocinco is getting blasted for tweeting that he likes the team he's playing for. Ridiculous. 

Most of these guys are in their twenties, they have a lot of money and fame, WHICH YOU ARE GIVING TO THEM BY GOING TO GAMES, WEARING THEIR JERSEYS, DISCUSSING THEIR STATS, BLAH BLAH BLAH, and then you get mad when they aren't the perfect picture of obedience and discipline. No, people. No No. 

What were you like at 23? If you were perfect and NEVER did anything wrong, then congrats. I'm glad that you are awesome. But most people are not. And I am truly grateful that I didn't have the spot light put on me when I was 23 and had everyone and their mother discussing the mistakes I made. Because I will tell you, it wouldn't be pretty. 

So anyway, i'm off of my soapbox. Thanks

Two New Healthy Things for Me!!

Last Thursday, I went to a new series on the body called Brilliant Body with a health store downtown, Creative Health. I have missed a couple of series, one on the digestive system (which I need) and something else, I can't remember. This past Thursday, it was on the circulatory system. They recommend a lot of things that I'm just like, eh, I'm not sure that I need to take hundreds of dollars worth of vitamins every month to stay healthy. I just not that  hippy yet :). BUT there are two things mentioned that I've heard from multiple sources and have decided to buy into.

1. Fish Oil
2. Grape Seed Oil

As you've read before, I started my healthy living journey with Crossfit and what's one thing they preach, fish oil tablets. They are ADAMANT that you take Fish Oil.

Crossfit and Dr Sears work together to talk about what nutrition is best for you. Zone is something crossfitters stress as well as Paleo. If you can do paleo zone, then you are a God in the eyes of your fellow Crossfiter. This was the first time I heard about Fish Oil and it's health benefits.

Brilliant Body discussed the benefits of Fish Oil as well, the biggest factor for me is that it helps reduce inflammation in your body. Why is inflammation bad for you?

Wikipedia always gives such good, dumbed down information. The benefits of Fish Oil according to Wiki -

*It aids in reducing your risk of cancer
*It helps prevent various cardiovascular diseases
*It aids in depression
*It helps reduce the chance of parkinsons and alzheimers disease
*It reduces inflammation in the body

There is much more information about Fish Oil that I just don't feel like going into, but as a runner/athlete who is putting a lot of demand on my body, Fish Oil is a great supplement to aid in recovery. The other aspect of this is that 1) I want to make sure the farm that creates the fish oil I buy is sustainable and non toxic to the fish/environment and 2) that the quality of the Fish Oil I am taking is good. So, those Kirkland fish oil tablets from Costco.. no. Those are not appropriate. This is what I got today from Earth Fare -

Nutra Sea Plus D

The lady said she highly recommends it so we'll see. 

Next on the list - Grape Seed Oil

I have always cooked with Olive Oil, but again, have read some articles, in a book and heard from the ladies at Creative Health that Olive Oil is toxic when heated above room temperature. The alternative, Grape Seed Oil. So I bought some of this today as well!!

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Now, I'm ready to have a healthy heart!

Key Training Run #4 - 120-150 minutes

Yesterday, my key training run was to run 120-150 minutes. I had no issues at 120 so I went for 150, of course. I always like to do the top number... and then some.

Here's how my weekend went:
*Went to Atlanta for a wedding Saturday
*Wore heels to the wedding and reception
*Danced in said heels all night long
*Rode back from Atlanta Sunday morning
*Ate Zaxby's on the ride home at lunch

So... at 5:30 pm when it was time to run for 150 minutes, I had not done a great job of preparing. I knew this run would be tough but also knew that I had to do it no matter what.

How it went - it was okay. The first part of the run was pretty good. I was running very slow, my ratio was run 3, walk 1 and I was averaging around an 11 minute mile. I wasn't sure what it would be like to run the whole time, so I wanted to take it easy. Around mile 6, I looked at my mileage and thought... wow... for me to have only run 6 miles, I am already hurting. Around mile 12, I was thinking, oh my gosh, my back, right leg, right hamstring, everything on the right side of my body hurts. This doesn't seem good. The last mile, I ran 1 minute, walked 1 minute and while I was in pain while walking, I actually felt strong while running. It was weird.

What I saw on my run -

They had aligned the Swamp Rabbit Trail with American Flags in honor of 9/11. I thought that was so cool!!!

The way the sun was setting over this field was really neat. I noticed on the way out and on the way back, really wanted to take a picture. 

The swamp rabbit trail is so pretty and fun to run on. I was nervous a couple of times because it was getting dark. I am usually never nervous, but for whatever reason, I felt a little on guard. I probably need to get some mace. But it was beautiful and peaceful and I enjoy running there, especially without music. 

What I took away from this run -

1. I'm glad I have 8 more weeks. I think I've got to buckle down and get serious now

2. I have to be more consistent in cross training

3. I am hoping that my legs hurt so badly because I had been dancing on them the night before. Otherwise, i'm in trouble

4. I got very nauseous around mile 8, another thing I am hoping is just a result from eating zaxby's and is not from Gu because Gu is the ONLY thing I can eat while running. considering I've done 2 half marathons with Gu and I was fine, I think it was the zaxby's. 

I think I'm also going to increase my distance during taper weeks because the schedule says if you can hold a consistent pace without injury, you can add up to 4 miles. I have been able to do so which means, I probably have the ability to add some miles. 

I'll blog about the wedding separately because it was so much fun!