I've signed up for another event without training. To be fair, I didn't realize this was an event that demanded a lot of training when I said yes. Whoops.
Ragnar is a company that hosts these extremely long runs all over the country. Most are around 200 miles. Participants form groups of 12 and run together as a team. This means we have two vans of 6 that are constantly driving while one team member runs. We each run three different legs and thus spend most of the day in the van.
Start in Miami, end in Key West - at the most southernly point of the United States. I think this is going to be a great way to start 2013, crammed into a van, hot and sweaty, with five other people I've barely met. Every girls dream, right? What can I say, I'm not your average girl!
Here are my runs:
It will be completely worth it to catch this view:
Plus I'm hoping it will be an opportunity to get to know some more people who have similar interests. I have met a lot of people, and have a lot of activities, but I still feel like I don't have a lot of friends that I can just call up to do whatever. And I really don't have people calling me up to hang out. In 2013 this needs to change. I need to do more than just join activities, I need to be more confident in myself and be more forward in asking people to hang out. Watch out van members, I'm coming after your friendship!
I've been terrible at blogging this last week. The term has been winding down, and though it is not the most stressful finals week of my life, I still haven't managed to find the time to blog.
Since I last posted, I have received may goodies in the mail. Too bad they aren't for keeps! I'm going to be raffling these puppies off at tomorrow's charity run.
Still waiting on a few things. I hope they show up in tomorrow's mail. If not, then we'll have more stuff to raffle off after the holidays.
Some exciting things have happened with my training this week.
Ok, not that exciting. Calm down girl.
These babies on the other hand are back-handspring worthy! A friend of mine is loaning me his aero bars. I never want to give them back. I already love biking so much more. We put them on Saturday morning, so I've done one long ride and one shorter ride with sprints. I feel so much faster, comfortable and more powerful down in the bars. However, they are still a bit scary at times and I need to figure out how to initiate my sprints. My body wants to stand, but it's hard to stay stable out of the saddle while you are leaning on your forearms!
My body is quickly adjusting to this extra training. This past weekend's run wasn't nearly as terrible as the previous run. Zero walking, and we ran all 7 miles on the beach! It was nearly 80 degrees and foggy when we started, but as we ran the fog lifted in places and the sun was so aggressive. I think I'm having trouble on the longer runs staying cool. My heart rate was through the roof no matter how much I slowed down. So eventually I decided I might as well just force myself to run fast, finishing out the last few miles at 8:45 min/mile. Which for me is fast. I know not as fast as you fancy real athletes... but I'm working on it!
Unfortunately, despite the gains I've made with my fitness, I think I've fallen off the wagon with my nutrition. Honestly it's only been the past few weeks, but I am feeling yucky. I feel sluggish and sloppy. I'm sure I look the same to everyone else, but I feel like I'm also noticing some subtle-not-so-good changes in my body. There is no way I am heading back to the girl I was last January. The girl who worked out like crazy, but was still overweight and unhappy. I made too much progress the summer to go back to that. With the holidays approaching and travelling, it doesn't make sense to do anything drastic until I get back to Florida and life stables out again. I can't decide if I want to commit to AdvoCare in more serious way (I've only been using Spark and Catlayst here/there since my 24 day challenge) or if I want to find a structured eating plan. Either way, I am training too hard not to take nutrition seriously. Plus I'm a girl - I wanna look good!!
Speaking of looking good, what do you all think of my Ugly Christmas Sweater?
Wore it last night to the CSD Holiday Happy Hour. Guess I didn't get the memo that no other graduate students were going to go : ( There were 7 PhD candidates, one faculty member and little old me. I was supposed to meet someone there, then head out for a bit of a date, but that fell through. I almost skipped the whole thing, remember, I'm a girl. Being stood up (even if he had a really good reason) always feels terrible. But I have no desire to let any guys ruin my time or my feelings about myself. So glad I didn't let a silly boy ruin my night. Everyone was nice and the whole night put a lot into perspective. I'm a fun, outgoing girl looking to live a balanced life.
I'm sad everyone else in my program felt too swamped with finals to make it out. I'm also a bit worried about why I don't share their concern. I'm worried they know something I don't. All I can do is wait for tomorrow at one. I can't express enough how fed up I am with waiting for this final. I am so done studying and hate waiting. Why can't I just take it now and get it over with?
Why doesn't life work the way I want it to? Haha Patience is a virtue I've never had and am constantly working on.
Welp, I'm already in bed. Better catch some zzz's otherwise the studying I have done over the past few days won't be of much help!
xoxo Sweat&Sparkle
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