Feb 21, 2007

how zanne got her groove back

very simply: mind over matter.

a little positive self talk & just deciding that the bad streak was over. as of this morning.
what do you know? it worked.

amazing what a little positive thinking & a good run will do.

am happy.

Feb 19, 2007

i'm still whining

the following rant was this mornings' email to coach: (excessive exclamation points & question marks have been removed so as not to make me look like the high maintenance whiner this email makes me look like)

I am still a slug & its’ pissing me off.

Yesterdays run felt ok – not great. Today’s run was all over the place …

but, when I was done & looked at my watch, I thought “oh, I’m delusional – that’s not bad at all” (I thought I had done 6 miles in 47:19) … (and for a brief, shining moment, i thought i was back in the game)

so I double checked gmap … no – I did 5.2 miles in that. 9:37 something pace. Ahhhh! WTF?

I felt like I was making so much progress … now I wonder what the hell happened to it all. Shouldn’t I be in a happier place one week before all the triple crown stuff starts? Why have I slowed down so much?

See – I was running through some time suck of a black hole … planets WERE colliding – it was little running miracles never to be repeated. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a bad streak. A day or two, yes .. .but a WHOLE GD WEEK?

Ok. Am finished whining.
(and then here is where i begged for him to give me a much needed pep talk to get me off the ledge). let me preface by saying that i whined & complained about my run (and all previous runs this week) to my husband - who is a very good talker-off-the-ledger; he explained its' all normal, i'm not backsliding, everyone has some bad days .... blahblahblahblah ... he knows he can say this till he's blue in the face - if it has to do with running, i'm not going to believe it till i hear it from my coach .. so he just says, did you email your coach?

the diagnosis from the coach: - who seemed not at all concerned by the fact that i have slowed to the speed of something crazy slow (i'm just not feeling witty or clever enough to think of the slowest-something-ever metaphor right now):

i had an easy rest/recovery week the week before cruise .. then i went on a cruise (i think his exact words were a rum-soaked vacation) & even though i ran everyday, rum-soaked vacation runs don't really count ... so essentially, i've had a little over 2 weeks of easy/"recovery" runs ... and while i haven't lost my fitness level (you could have fooled me), its' going to take a little while to get back into the swing of things.

yep. exactly what my husband said. (although he didn't say the rum-soaked bit & i really liked that part).

its' not hard to talk me off the ledge - all i need is for someone to say what i am going through is normal & a few slow, bad, slug-like runs doesn't mean its all over & i should just retire to couch now.
but man, its' tough on the ego.

Feb 16, 2007

my legs are lead weights

i have officially come crashing down from my pre-vacation fast runs, and sunny shipboard running high.

i feel like an absolute sloth with bricks tied around my ankles. i'm just moving in slow motion - praying for the run to end soon. and its' pissing me off.

think i just need to be patient while i get back into normal rythym. (ha! those are so not my words, but my coaches') ... patience not a virtue of mine - but it sounds good, so i'll try my best to be patient.

easier said than done, i'm sure.

getting slower doesn't really jive with the whole, i-am-runner-woman-hear-me-roar thing i had going.

Feb 13, 2007

vacation withdrawal

man, this whole re-entry into real life after a vacation sucks.

i had 7 miles on schedule for today ... 7 cold, wet, rainy, forgot-about-how-ice-forms-on-bridge- before-road, legs = lead weights miles.

i did 6.

i guess i shouldn't really complain - at least during my run i could reminisce about my warm, sunny, watch the sun rise over the ocean runs ... not a bad daydream to have in head while slogging through the cold rain.

Feb 11, 2007

spider monkey


i am a spider monkey. the first few days on the ship my husband called me a lizard - i would just seek out sunniest spots & lie there for hours ... but now, after we did the rock wall yesterday, i'm a spider monkey. he took a picture of me walking over to the wall just as i was starting out & then hit the off button on the camera by accident. while he was futzing with the camera to get it back on, i had already made it halfway up wall. i did get a bit stuck at one point, not really sure if i should move a hand or a foot - randolf yelled up my next move & i was headed up again, spider monkey that i am - straight for the bell.


randolf was my 'instructor' ... i love that all they do is kindly request that you sign your life away on a release form, plop a helmet on your head, strap you into harness & just send you on your merry way. the guy with your life in his hands is the 'instructor'. randolf told me to just use my legs to push me up & i'd have no problem.


"you have strong legs?" he asked in a fabulously dreamy island accent.


dude, i have run a marathon. i got strong legs.


strong, spider monkey legs.

obstacle course

today's run was by far, the best run i have had while on this ship.
because up until today i was just another lemming - runaroundtrackrunaroundtrackrunaroundtrack.
like, a kabillion times.
it only took me 7 days on this ship to figure out how to spice things up a bit during this endless running around the little six-tenths of a mile track ... it was like i woke up & finally took notice of the stairs in front of me that went up to the top front deck (my husband & i usually went up here to sunbathe - we could get away from the awful band & not have to cram ourselves in with other sunbathers - we'd practically have the whole top to ourselves) ... so, here was my course:

up the stairsaround the frontdown the stairsback on the trackstraight ahead towards back zig zag through the partitions set up to cut down on windacross basketball courtzig zag through columns outside "country club" (putt putt golf) around the back - look down & see everyone on deck cafe having breakfastzig zag through walls zig zag through more walls sprint (just for fun) to stairs & start all over again

now - maybe next cruise i'll try to do that with a fruity little umbrella drink in my hand. thats worth writing home about.

Feb 5, 2007

running in tiny circles


best intentions don't always work out ... the wake up call came in at 6 ... i got up long enough to take motion sickness pill, but went right back to bed & got up again at 7 ... this time, i dressed & headed up to track ... very few people out - there were even a couple of runners. was able to get 3 miles done on track before the "morning walk-a-mile group" came up & i headed into gym to finish on treadmill.
here's what i want to know: where are all those fit young people from the "get out there" commmercials?? tomorrow morning: 6 am ... want to see the sun rise while i run little circles around the deck ...
but the best part of today's run was that a few hours later we were docked in San Juan ... hello mojitos.

running on water

After 2 days off due to travelling, etc .. i was jonesing for a run today. slept in a bit - it is a vacation, after all - and headed up to the track around 9 am. i thought the track would have actual lanes that go around the entire perimeter of the ship. but its' a tiny little track - 6 times around lap = 1 mile ... i got 6 miles on the schedule - 36 laps this morning. the first 4 were pretty fun -

the thing about running on the top deck of a ship is this: on one side, i got hit with a 20 knot tailwind & felt like i was FLYING ... i swear my feet never even hit the ground ...on the other side, i got hit with the same wind coming right straight at me & slowed way the hell down ... really had to plow through it - laughing - it was fairly amusing trying to run through a headwind that strong... that, coupled with dodging the little old people strolling with their canes, & it makes for a good interval workout. i could only do 12 laps before it got too crowded with the walkers & people setting themselves up in the chairs lined up along the track for afternoon of sunning. so i went into gym & did another 2 on treadmill ... running on a treadmill on a moving ship watching the waves next to me was a recipe for vertigo ... so while i had fully intended to knock out 4 miles on treadmill to make 6, i only did 2 ... figured when i was needing to grab onto handrails because i was dizzy meant it was time to get off. tomorrow morning, must beat the morning walkers & be on track early.

Feb 1, 2007

snowy bliss.

in preparation for my 4:40 pick up for the run with the big dogs, i sleep in the first layer of my running clothes & worried that i would sleep through alarm, i basically see every hour pass ... alarm goes off at 4:10 and i am out of bed like a shot ... put on next layer & head down to brush teeth ... when lo & behold, i get a text message from coach about how i am off the hook - he doesn't feel well!!! (that glee makes me look a little thoughtless ... i'm sorry he doesn't fell well, but i didn't have to run with the big dogs! thus: the glee).

now this is where a normal person would run right back to bed.
but i'm not normal - i'm a runner now.
so, going back to bed is not my first thought. my first thought is, well - i'm up - i should at least go down & check the news to see if school is cancelled (they cancel school around here the minute a flake falls) - i figure if school is cancelled, I'll need to get my run out of the way anyway ... no news on cancellations, so i go back to bed.

and i lie there.
still in my running clothes.
wide awake.
thinking about the inch of snow on the ground.
the inch of snow that is begging me to go run in it.
but i hate running in the dark i think.
i get up & look out window.
hey! its' not so dark with all that snow out there.
you know where this is going ...
out of bed, sneakers on & out door before saner thoughts prevailed.

nothing better than crunch of snow underfoot ...
5 miles of pure, snowy bliss ...
only other sign of life was the occasional plow that came by erasing the proof behind me that I had been the first one there.
running in the snow.