sidebar | life and training 11.24 – 11.30
Happy Thanksgiving aftermath!
Did you have a nice holiday? Or, if not celebrating, a positive Thursday? I sure hope so. Thanksgiving was once again a rousing success with mom and me – we work so well together as a team that if I were to have any worry about the smoothness of our schedule, I’d find it totally unfounded once the day arrived.
The Turkey Trot in which I partook, on the other hand…total fucking shitshow.
I grant you, this particular trot has run over 40 years, and while large and somewhat untamed races can have its annoying quirks, this year’s iteration was just an embarrassment through and through. Apparently the city of Clearwater took the race from its previous organizers and turned the event into a bullfighting ring of chaos. Honestly, there was no part of this occasion that went well for us as participants.
For one, the website when I signed up looked like it was scrapped together by a 4 year old. Typos everywhere, a rudimentary sign up form. It was ugly as hell.
Then, the packet pickup the Wednesday prior. Oh my god, the packet pickup. Previously the Trot held two or three pickup options earlier in the week, then a bigger event on Wednesday and of course race morning pickup on Thursday. This year there was a single pickup held at the ballpark, where three unmarked lines wound around the concourse over the field and nobody knew where they were supposed to go. Once in the main line, you had to approach a table and find your name and bib number, pass another table to get signed in, grab a t-shirt ticket, and to be given two safety pins for your bib (yes, the guy said he couldn’t give me more than two, then I proceeded to a second table and grabbed two more with their permission. What the fuck).
After that, another line to find your bib yourself in a few boxes. This is abnormal, mind you. Volunteers typically camp out at tables labeled with last name or bib number ranges and find your paper for you, but this time? Nope, you had to be damn hopeful some hooligan didn’t accidentally take your bib number thanks to a self-serve style that was absolutely insane.
Finally, a line to pick up your tee. Right when I FINALLY got to the table, the family in front of me decided to have some sort of massive reunion with a rando who came up to them and delayed all of us waiting with their niceties and OH MY GOD IT’S SO NICE TO SEE YOU bullshit. I think I wound up cutting them in line because they wouldn’t shut the fuck up.
I’ll breeze through race day because it was, again, a shitshow. Undefined parking regulations, though I wound up parking in a big back lot at the school even though one of the volunteers claimed it was only street parking. Clearly didn’t know what she was talking about. Ran a 2 mile warmup with strides, hung out at the starting chute, and the only good thing from here was that the race started on time.
The race. No mile markers, definitely short by at least .05 miles though my watch didn’t even pick up 3 miles total – so I ended up running around the track until I hit 3.11 – and the results page glitched massively and our official times were delayed by two days. The site claimed I averaged 7:16 with a 22:29 time but that is pretty much impossible. I may have broken 23 but more than likely sat around a 7:25-7:27, which is still an improvement over the last year. My watch did screw up at the beginning so it is feasible that I officially ran 3.05 miles, but I have no way of knowing.
Thanksgiving itself was peaceful and chill. We enjoyed pumpkin waffles for breakfast, lots of snacks throughout the day, and viewed the parade and dog show before switching over to Christmasy Hallmark movies for the remainder of the afternoon.
Dinner was seamless and absolutely fantastic. I contributed by Sheet Pan Farmhouse Salmon Roast and Butternut Squash Apple Bisque and mom whipped up a batch of crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. We finished the night with a homemade pumpkin roll cake filled with cream cheese. SO good. We were both rather pooped from our restless nights and early mornings, so I headed home fairly early to get stuff packed away and ready my ass for an 8.5 hour workshift the following Friday.
It truly was a busy and fulfilling week.
Monday, J and I visited Chill Bros for a final helping of fluffer pumpkin ice cream. They pumped out one of their new holiday flavors that I’m eager to try now that it’s December, and I can’t wait until they release more.
Saturday we had a little date night (and a break from leftovers) at Crooked Thumb Brewing. I adore the Frosty Nibs beer they put out this time of year and they featured one of my favorite food trucks that evening. I had the veggie pizza and we sat on the patio enjoying the fairy lights, Christmas tree, and listened to the bluegrass band do their sound check. I also got to pet both of the brewery kitties. This sweet girl is Leia (her sister is Vader. Definite Star Wars nerds at this place).
My pace of being shows no sign of slowing up this week, between 30 hours of work, Christmas content, and hopefully getting my house decorated and my tree bought and assembled. I’m working on being more present during this month, and made a “holiday bingo” page in my bullet journal to ensure I’m not getting too wrapped up in the logistics of the season and instead make space for childlike enjoyment and presence. I crossed off one item on my list already in buying this CUTE sweater. Hey, gotta get gifts for myself as well as others, right?
Be well, flock! We’ll catch up next week.
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A fun meal to use up your leftover stuffing!
…A fizzy and festive holiday cocktail!
…Cute cutout cookies for your Christmas box.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Bagels…Love me a Thomas cranberry bagel. They’re a fun vessel for sandwiches nowadays – I’ve been making a turkey-apple-avocado sandwich with them lately, sometimes with tofu bacon if I have some around.
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…French Onion Bourbon Soup
Tuesday…Chickpea Meatballs Au Vin
Wednesday…Candied Pecan Brussels Sprouts with Honey Mustard
Thursday…Kale Pomegranate and Maple Chickpea Salad
Friday Happy Hour…Winter Bourbon Sour
Saturday Baking…Pumpkin Butter White Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
Gameday Snack…Whipped Goat Cheese with Sticky Maple Bacon and Cranberries
Cran-Merry Holiday Recipes
Sparkling Cranberry Cider Tequila Punch
Honey Whipped Feta and Cranberry Crostini
Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Week in Training
Monday, 11.24: 9.5 miles, 9:28 pace + 23 minute lift
Down week of training so a slightly shorter, but still intense, workout this morning: 2 x 3200 (about 2 miles) at 10K. It was SO foggy and at the end of the first rep my glasses got so condensed that I had a bit of trouble seeing, but thankfully I found the one part of my bra that wasn’t saturated to clean them off with. Super session, averaged 7:57 and 7:52. Finished with 5 x 100 strong, hitting a 5:38 max speed.
Strength:
- 4 x 8 ea. single leg deadlift 50#
- 4 x 8 chest press 50#
- 3 x 10 ea. split squat 30#
- 1 x 12/2 x 10 narrow press 15/20#
- :35 ea. Copenhagen
Tuesday, 11.25: 5 miles, 11:05 pace
Nice miles at 147 bpm before a FRAZZLING AND FRUSTRATING DAY UGH.
Wednesday, 11.26: 8.85 miles, 10:57 pace + 4.25 miles, 10:31 pace
What a FUCKING day! 8 x :30 hill in the morning, didn’t go full blast but had a pretty pleasant time after the first warmup mile, which felt like shit.
8 hour workday, a dying car battery replaced, and a glorious midday run before heading off to the single worst packet pickup I’ve ever been to. 13.1 miles for the day!
Thursday, 11.27: TURKEY TROT! 3.11 miles, 7:32 (?) pace
I ranted above about the race so I’ll spare you most the details. The course was off by 200m so I wove out of the finishers village and finished on the perimeter of the track, so this PR is a bit of a lie. According to my watch my time was 23:25. Ridiculous and poorly organized event.
Ran 2.05 mile warmup at 9:56 pace and 2 mile cooldown at 10:05 pace for 7.16 total.
Friday, 11.28: 4.5 miles, 11:16 pace
Brrr! It got cold overnight! Windy easy miles, 149 bpm, and feeling pretty well recovered after yesterday’s Turkey Trot.
Saturday, 11.29: 14 miles, 11:07 pace
Holy crapsicles wind. The first 6 miles were pretty normal, then I turned around and smacked right into 10mph sustained/20 mph gusts. Slowed me down A LOT (10:5x miles to 11:2x miles) but honestly, that’s to be expected, and my heart rate stayed reasonable so I know at least I wasn’t working excessively hard despite the obstacle. Speaking of obstacle, I had a TREMENDOUSLY hard time with my gels and had to fight two of them to get them slightly open. Cold hands probably didn’t help this. At any rate, the run was fine and a nice way to close out my down week.
Sunday, 11.30: 25 minute elliptical
Total running mileage: 53.3
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