December 29, 2008
· Filed under Life, Running
I always knew that I hated the heat, especially running in it, and now I have data to support that hatred. The weather down in Mississippi has been a little odd so that I got to do a few runs in 70-degree humid weather and one run at 50 degrees. Interestingly, at 70 degrees, my average heart rate was 168, whereas when it was 48 degrees, my average heart rate was 147. Fascinating, no? Of course, this experiment is slightly hindered by the fact that I (inexplicably) ran about 20 seconds/mile slower when it was cooler out.
In other news, I’ve had a lovely 5 days off, and I am very sad to return to work on Tuesday. Especially so because I have a very odd schedule obviously designed by someone to see if they could completely mess up my day-night cycle. I work Tuesday 8 am to 8 pm, then Wednesday 8 pm to 8 am, then Friday 8 am to 8 pm, and then Saturday 8 pm to 8 am. Honestly, how could that be good for anyone’s body? Then again, it’s really not that many hours, so I probably shouldn’t be complaining.
The time in Mississippi has really flown by, which is surprising to me because I feel like I haven’t really been doing much. Of course, I brought all of this work with me and did absolutely none of it. Silly me for even bringing it. I did manage to start looking at what I need to do to apply for a full license, but then I was saved from actually doing any work because the website was down. Excellent. On the plus side, Eddie and I have managed to buy plane tickets and book a hotel for our trip to San Diego in February. Can’t wait!!! It’s going to be so much fun. We’re staying for 6 days. Awesome.
Meant to post this picture a while ago. Most years (despite being Jewish) I invite friends over to make a gingerbread house. And every year, my friends always manage to make a prettier one. Apparently my husband and I are hindered by our juvenile tendencies. My husband and my house is the one on the right which features a large cat and a dinosaur eating a gummy bear. Don’t ask. My friend and her husband made the one on the left which has the pretty M&M roof and the more appropriate Christmas tree and gingerbread man in the front yard.
And just to prove my point, below are pictures of gingerbread houses (actually made from graham crackers because I was lazy that year) made with a different set of friends in 2006. The first one was made by Susan and Mark. The second one was made by me and my husband. Note the strange creature sitting in the window, not to mention the sleigh with a very odd looking Santa Claus.
December 26, 2008
· Filed under Running
As you may have noticed, I’ve become slightly obsessive about my running lately. So, I was extremely distraught last week when I did not make my mileage due to a silly little blizzard. It was the first time I missed a run in 12 straight weeks! I ran 3.3 easy on Monday, 3.4 fartlek on Tuesday, took Wednesday off, and was on-call on Thursday. I had the opportunity to run Friday post-call but by the time I finished running errands to prepare for the massive snow storm (buying salt and sand, getting gas for the snowblower), it had started snowing and I decided it was perfect weather for a post-call nap. Saturday I managed to run during the blizzard because I was out visiting my parents in Sudbury, and it was possible to just run on the road. It was a pretty crazy run. The roads were very poorly plowed, and it was difficult to get traction. Despite this, I did manage an exhausting 3.2 miles. This meant I needed to run 4.1 miles on Sunday to meet my weekly goal of 14 miles. Sadly, it continued to snow on Sunday and then turned to sleet and freezing rain. It wasn’t safe to run in the street and the sidewalks were impossible to navigate. I finally realized I could run at the gym, but by the time this occurred to me, the gym was closed. So sad…
Anyway, this week I’m back to it, and even more determined to hit my weekly mileage. Monday I was on-call, and it was a horrible call! I spent most of the day Tuesday sleeping and then headed out to Sudbury again for a small party and then got home late and had to pack. Wednesday we woke up at 3:30 in the morning (!) to catch a 6 am flight to Mississippi to visit my husband’s family for Christmas. Managed to go for a 3.3 mile run that afternoon. Christmas day my running efforts were thwarted by eating too much food and drinking too much beer which necessitated a long afternoon nap. By the time I woke up, it was too dark to run. If I were up in Boston, I would have had no problem running in the dark, but down here in Mississippi running is rather an aberration, and I worry about getting hit by cars or attacked by dogs. Today I went for an “easy” 3.5 miles and spent the entire time complaining about the weather. It’s so hot and humid here! Apparently my husband considers 70 degrees perfect running weather, but I hate it! I much preferred my run in the blizzard to running in this weather. I’m definitely a hot weather wimp. And now I even have data to back up my feelings. My awesome husband got me a Garmin 305 for Christmas/Hanukkah which is so cool because it has a heart rate monitor. Of course, my husband got me a Garmin 205 a few years ago and then promptly appropriated it, so his motives might not be entirely altruistic. Regardless, this watch is soooo cool. And now I can tell you that an easy run in 70 degrees puts my heart rate consistently in the 160s which is ~85% of my maximum heart rate. Too high. I’ll be very curious to see my heart rate when the weather is in the 40s.
Enough babbling about running. I promise a more interesting update soon.
December 3, 2008
· Filed under Geeky
