Marathon Training – Week 15

I DID IT! No, no…I didn’t run a marathon (yet), but I made it through the big, crazy, scary week on my marathon training schedule that I’ve been scared of since I first planned out this training back in November. I mean really, who runs 20 miles?! (Well I guess me…) This week was also INSANE work wise, I didn’t get home from work before midnight once. It was exhausting and I crashed HARD on Friday. But, like I said…I DID IT! Here is how the week went:

Monday: Cross Training – I took a Spinning class in the morning before work. I have to rush to get ready when I do a class because they end a bit later than I normally finish my work outs, but this was worth it. There was actually a sub teaching the class but it was REALLY good. Great way to start the day.

Tuesday: Speed Work – This week called for a ten minute warm up, then 5 x 2 minutes fast/2 minutes easy, and a ten minute cool down. Wait, what? That’s like…~4 miles! It was so amazing to do just a short, sweet run. I am kind of excited for after the marathon when I can run shorter distances on a regular basis. I want to keep up my mileage for Broad Street, but I can definitely work in some 3-5 mile runs in my training plan (which I will make up after the marathon). Here’s the average paces for the speed work:

Speed Type	Distance	Average Pace
Warm Up	1.04 miles	10:29
1 – 2 min fast	.23 miles	8:35
1 – 2 min easy	.18 miles	11:05
2 – 2 min fast	.24 miles	8:31
2 – 2 min easy	.18 miles	10:51
3 – 2 min fast	.23 miles	8:49
3 – 2 min easy	.16 miles	12:22
4 – 2 min fast	.24 miles	8:25
4 – 2 min easy	.15 miles	13:00
5 – 2 min fast	.25 miles	8:08
5 – 2 min easy	.18 miles	11:16
Cool Down	1.15 miles	11:15
Total:	4.23 Miles

Thursday: Tempo Run – This run was supposed to be 8 miles. But I got home from work around 1:30 am, and I had a crazy, busy day ahead of me. It was no surprise when I hit snooze a few extra times and only had time for 6 miles.Wednesday: Rest – Too tired.

I am calling this a huge victory that I even made it out there for 1 mile. Even still, I felt a bit guilty for not doing all 8, considering I’ve missed a few runs here and there because of my various ridiculous injuries. But, in the long run (ha…pun) I doubt 2 miles will make a huge difference. The splits:

Mile	Split
1	9:51
2	10:20
3	9:26
4	9:46
5	9:25
6	9:54
0.06	1:38

I only had time to cool down for .06 miles, which isn’t really enough, but oh well.

Friday: Rest – I wasn’t going to work out this day regardless because I was running 20 miles the next day and wanted to feel rested. But even if I had wanted to I wouldn’t have be able to. I got home from work and passed out the second my head hit the pillow. I don’t think I have ever been so tired in my whole life.

Saturday: Long Run – This was the first Saturday I didn’t have to work in 5 weeks. I set my alarm for early to emulate race day. I wasn’t going to wake up at a ridiculous hour or anything, but I figured 6 would be early enough. But I woke up at 7:30 with my phone half way across my room. I must have turned off the alarm and chucked it in my sleep. This is why I can’t have nice things. I dragged myself out of bed. I did NOT want to go running at all. On the other hand, I wanted to get the run out of the way so I could relax on Sunday. I made my usual pre-long run breakfast– peanut butter on a flax wrap. So good. Then I got back in bed and watched this weeks Modern Family. So good. Then I dragged myself back out of bed and got dressed. Before I knew it I was out the door.

I downloaded an audio book. I chose Ellen Degeneres’ Seriously…I’m Kidding.

I had a few other books in mind but I figured that this would be nice and light and her voice wouldn’t irritate me as much as if it were some random fiction book. It was only 3 hours long, so I figured I could just switch over to music after. This turned out to be a BRILLIANT idea. It made the miles go by very quickly. The book wasn’t great, but I definitely laughed out loud a few times. My favorite part was when she was talking about how crazy people usually have shopping carts. Then she thought that it actually wasn’t such a bad idea since she usually keeps everything in her pockets. She said it could be like her purse on wheels. And she could call it a POW. But then she decided maybe that wasn’t such a good idea after all. I was cracking up, I bet other runners thought I was crazy. Maybe I should have been pushing a shopping cart…

I am debating whether or not to get an audiobook for race day. It really made me zone out during this run, but I don’t know if you are supposed to completely zone out during a race. I’ll have to think about it…

The first few miles I was not feeling so great, but eventually I got into it. I saw a partner at my company running around mile 4, I took a Gu (Espresso flavor mmm) around mile 6, it started to flurry around mile 9. Around mile 10.5 I reached the start of the Drive again and went inside to the little cafe to fill up my CamelBak even though it wasn’t empty yet. They have a water cooler that runners can use for free, though I’m pretty sure it’s just filled with tap water. Still, very convenient.

At that point, it also started BLIZZARDING! I was worried about going back out in it, so I called mom to see if she thought it was safe, and to let her know where I would be in case I ended up in a snow bank. She said to go for it, and off I went. The “blizzard” lasted for about 3 minutes. Then the sun came out again.

Around mile 11 I saw a friend from middle school. Also around mile 11 I took another Gu (chocolate flavored mmm). Around mile 12 I felt myself starting to feel like how I did during the 18 mile run. I didn’t want it to end up like that run, so I took an extra long walking break. It didn’t kill my pace too much, and I started up running again feeling so much better. Around mile 15 I saw the same friend from middle school again. (I also saw the same old man 4 times during my run, kicking some serious butt, and a couple other people multiple times.) Around mile 16 my book ended, and I switched over to music. Around mile 17 I took a 3rd Gu (espresso again). Also around mile 17 I realized that I was going to make it! Around mile 18 I ran out of water but was nearing the cafe again so I figured I would fill up again even though I was almost done. Around mile 19 I stopped at the cafe. I was shaking pretty badly when I stopped. Weird. Then I finished really strong. Amazingly, it only took me a minute longer to run 20 miles than it took me to run 18 the other week. At mile 20 I called mom to tell her I actually did it! Then I walked home for a mile and a quarter for a total of 21.25 for the day (not including the tons of walking I did the rest of the day/night). The splits:

Mile	Split
1	11:32
2	11:02
3	11:12
4	10:58
5	10:52
6	11:38
7	10:57
8	10:59
9	10:43
10	10:45
11	10:50
12	13:27
13	10:36
14	10:43
15	10:59
16	11:41
17	11:21
18	11:15
19	10:46
20	10:01
21	18:10
0.25	4:18

I know that I still have 6.2 more miles to run after this until I complete a marathon. I kind of wish I had a 22 miler on my schedule. Most plans max out at 18 miles, 20 miles, or 22 miles. I picked the 20 mile max because the whole schedule seemed like it would work for me, but now one more super long run would be nice. However, there is only 3 weeks til the marathon, and I am officially tapering, so that is not going to happen. I also think that I kind of feel ready for it! This long run totally boosted my confidence. I know I could just as easily have a bad day like with my 18 mile run, but I’m hoping with 3 weeks of tapering I will feel fresh and rested for the marathon. I read an article earlier in the week that basically said that you ARE going to have some really awful training runs, it’s normal. All I can do is not get too cocky after this long run and hope that I don’t have an awful run on race day!

Sunday: Cross Training – I did a very easy 45 minutes on the elliptical. It felt good to get my legs moving again. I read an issue of Women’s Health during my work out. It said that moving a little after hard work outs is one of the best things for recovery. So I covered that! It also said to drink lots of water (working on it as I type) and to get a massage (it’s not just an indulgence! It really helps your muscles). So now I’m off to get a massage!

Total miles: 31.54 miles

This week should be much less crazy work-wise, and training-wise. I think I can get it all in!

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 9

This week was a big test for me. I needed to see if I could make marathon training fun again. I talked with a co worker who said that if it was easy and fun everyone would do it. Good point. I read somewhere that only 1% of the population has run a marathon. Pretty cool. I am starting a rotation at work that is going to be very demanding of my time. I have decided that I want to do the marathon again, but now I’m afraid it might not even be humanly possible. I’m going to try to make it work, but I’m still reserving the right to drop down to the half marathon if I can’t get in enough training. I start my rotation tomorrow so I think I’ll be able to get a better idea after working for a few days.

This weeks recap:

Monday: Cross Training – I did elliptical and upper body weights. Nothing too out of the ordinary. I did it before work, I’m going to have to do all my work outs before work for the next 6 weeks, so it was good to try it out. Unfortunately I couldn’t manage to fit in any other morning work outs the rest of the week. Uh oh.

Tuesday: Speed Work – This workout was a mile warm up at a 9:10 pace, phew! I rounded it out for 10 minutes of warm up. Then it was 4×800 with 90 seconds of rest in between each set. The 800 splits were paced at 9:42, 8:29, 8:43, 8:38. Then I cooled down for a mile. The total for the day was 4.8 miles. I’m not sure what happened with that first 800, but I managed to pick it up and be right around my goal pace for the other 3 800’s, so this was a pretty good run.

Wednesday: Cross Training – I couldn’t wake up before work as I mentioned before, and I had plans after work. So I ran to the gym at lunch. I did a great 20 minute elliptical workout:

minute	cross ramp	resistance
1	10	5
2	10	10
3	10	15
4	10	20
5	5	10
6	10	10
7	15	10
8	20	10
9	10	5
10	10	10
11	10	15
12	10	20
13	5	10
14	10	10
15	15	10
16	20	10
17	20	20
18	15	15
19	10	10
20	5	5

I finished up with some upper body weights before I hurried home to shower and go back to work.

Thursday: Tempo Run Rest – Oops. I skipped my tempo run this week. It was supposed to be 1 mile easy, 5 miles tempo. Tempo runs are usually my favorite run of the week. But I was invited to a happy hour, and didn’t end up getting home in time to do it.

I didn’t feel guilty at all. I would have done it on Friday instead, but I wanted to run my long run on Saturday (not sure why, because in retrospect I could have done it today instead…) so I just skipped it all together. Oh well. There’s always next week.

Friday: Cross Training – I just did an easy hour on the elliptical. I wasn’t feeling like doing anything and wanted to be somewhat rested for my long run.

Saturday: Long Run – 14 miles!!! This was my PDR! (Personal Distance Record) After last week’s disaster long run, I decided to try a new approach. I didn’t think I would ever, ever do this. But, I needed a way to mentally battle the 14 miles. Enter: planned walking breaks. I decided that I would run .9 miles and then walk .1 mile until that became too much and then switch to running .4 miles and then walking .1 mile. Overall my pace was around 11:20 (waaaay slower than I had originally planned on running this marathon, but more realistic these days I think). The splits: 10:44, 10:49, 10:35, 10:55, 10:48, 12:57 (longer walking break to eat a Gu), 10:56, 10:54, 11:39 (started with the .4/.1 ratio), 11:21, 12:56 (Gu), 11:47, 12:31, 10:17. Then I cooled down with walking for a mile, so technically I covered 15 miles in a little under 3 hours.

Sunday: Cross Training – 25 minutes elliptical, 10 minutes biking, upper body weights. It was good.

This week is a step back week. I’ll only (haha only) be doing 12 miles for my long run. But my tempo run will be 8 miles. Should be interesting to squeeze in an 8 miler before work one of these mornings…

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 8

I’m not going to make any drastic moves. And I am going to continue with training. But…I’m considering switching to the half marathon. My shorter runs have been great, but my long runs have been torture. At least 5 times on my long run today I thought to myself “why am I doing this, this is so not fun”.

There isn’t any point in doing this if it’s not fun. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone except for myself, so it’s just a matter of whether or not I really want this. This week might not have been the best because I was sick (I love you, Dayquil) and it was my first week back to work after 11 days off. I guess I’ll see how next week goes again.

Here’s how this week went:

Monday: Cross Training Rest – I was starting to come down with some sort of sickness. I wanted to run on Monday because I had the day off and the gym closed early. I walked to the grocery store before I was going to do my run to get food for the week. It’s about 2 miles round trip. When I got home I felt like I was going to pass out. A run would have been a dumb idea.

Tuesday: Speed work – I warmed up for a little over a mile in 9:41. Then I did 5 rounds of 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes easy. My fast splits: 7:51, 7:51, 7:52, 7:58, 8:28. I lost it a little on that last one, but overall I think I kicked butt. Then I cooled down with another mile and walked a bit for a total of 4.42 miles. It was freezing out and I don’t know how good this was for my cold which was getting worse, but I survived.

Wednesday: Cross Training – I didn’t feel good, but I wanted to do a quick work out anyway. I did 20 minutes HIIT on the elliptical and a quick chest/back/tricep circuit. It was better than nothing.

Thursday: Tempo Run Rest – I couldn’t get up in the morning and I had plans at night. Since I still wasn’t feeling great and it was still pretty cold I decided that a day off would do me good.

Friday: Tempo Run – I was scared for this run. It was 1 easy mile followed by 7 tempo miles. SEVEN! I decided I would let myself sleep in and just do it after work. It was a beautiful night. I couldn’t hold back the first mile so I ended up at a tempo pace (9:40 for me) for the first four miles easily. Mile 5 I started to lose some energy and that mile was a bit slower, but then I managed to pick it back up for the last 3. So I ended up with 7 tempo miles, just not in the order that my training plan called for. The splits: 9:17, 9:39, 9:28, 9:46, 10:35, 9:45, 9:27, 9:30. Then I cooled down for .29 miles.

Saturday: Cross Training – I had grand plans to spin, or swim, or do Pilates. But the timing just didn’t work out. I ended up having a real great work out anyway. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical followed by upper body weights. I did bicep curls, front raises, lateral raises, skull crushers, tricep pull downs, lateral pull downs, and push ups. My shoulders were very sore this morning. Then I stretched for a bit in preparation for my long run today.

Sunday: Long Run – Last night, I went to bed relatively early for a Saturday night but I woke up at some point because I felt like I was having an allergic reaction to something. My entire body felt like it was on fire. The bottom of my feet were so itchy. It went away but then I couldn’t sleep for a while after that. Needless to say I didn’t get the best night sleep. I woke up this morning and took my time getting ready for my long run because I was pretty nervous for it. I haven’t had a good long run in weeks. But, I tried to think positive and headed out the door. My strategy was to go at a very, very comfortable pace. This seemed like a good idea in order to maintain the same pace throughout. But I still freaked out and ended up walking a lot during the second half. I am cringing as I look at my splits: 11:07, 10:57, 10:49, 10:57, 11:06, 14:12, 11:17, 12:56, 11:35, 12:20, 12:17, 11:58, 9:48. At least I finished strong… I cooled down after for a total of 13.57 miles. I took Gu’s after mile 5 and mile 10 (explains the 14:12 mile). I can finish the race at an 11:39 pace, but it’s just so far from my original goal. It’s so frustrating because I killed it on Friday night. Why do I keep psyching myself out! Mom said “you don’t need a trainer, you need a shrink” Hehe.

Total miles: 26.28 miles

Hoping week 9 will be better. It will be my first PDR since my first half marathon. 14 miles this weekend!

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 3

I survived week 3! And my first double digits run since May! Here’s how it went:

Monday: Cross Training – I did elliptical and upper body strength. I forget exactly how long I did each for, but it was a good work out after my 9 mile run last week. I hadn’t lifted for a while and it felt so good!

Tuesday: Speed Work –  This weeks speed work was a 10 minute warm up, 3 minutes fast, 3 minutes easy 4 times, 10 minute cool down. I don’t know whether it was because I was tired or if I was just pushing too hard during my fast intervals, but this was HARD. My warm up was a 9:29 pace. My 4 fast intervals were 8:54, 8:11, 8:48, 8:03. I cooled down at a 10:50 pace. I ended up doing 4.67 miles. My run on Tuesday reminded me of a picture Vic sent  to me a while back that I forgot about:

Wednesday: Cross Training – I did elliptical and upper body again, but different upper body than Monday. My shoulders were very sore after.

Thursday: Tempo Run – My schedule had me doing 2 easy miles, 3 tempo miles, 1 easy mile. I felt much better than Tuesday when I headed out, and I could not slow down. My first 2 easy miles were way faster than I wanted, and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish my 3 tempo miles at my goal pace, but I managed to crank them out anyway. My splits: 9:23, 9:33, 9:12, 8:44, 8:45, 10:02. Then I walked for a bit for a total of 6.23 miles.

Friday: Cross Training –  I met up with Mom at the gym and worked out with her and her trainer for a half hour before I had to head off to work. We did squats. I felt those the next day!

Saturday: Long Run – 10 miles. I was worried about fitting this run in this weekend and I was glad to get it done with early Saturday morning. I lucked out with great weather once again! The first mile my legs would not cooperate and it was very slow. But after I was warmed up I managed to keep a decent pace and ended up feeling so much better than after my 9 mile run last week. My goal was to feel comfortable for the whole run, and then speed up a little towards the end for a strong finish. I stopped at mile 6 to eat a Gu. I tried the chocolate flavor this week, mmm, reason enough to do long runs!

The splits: 11:37, 10:28, 10:29, 10:28, 10:37, 10:17, 10:19, 10:10, 9:59, 9:19. Then I walked home for 1.39 miles.

Sunday: Rest  Cross Training – I didn’t rest today because I had time for an easy work out. I figure at some point I will miss a work out here and there and I should get them in while I can. Though I’m not sure today reaaaally counts as a work out since I kept it super light and was more just to get my blood flowing after yesterday. I swam for 20 minutes and then I biked very, very slowly for a half hour.

Total miles: 20.9 miles

Bring it, week 4!

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 2

Week 1 seemed a lot easier than this week. But, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I was traveling to and from/running in Antigua. Here’s how this week went:

Monday: Speed work – I wanted to work a half day because I had so much to do before leaving for Antigua. But, I ended up working a full day. I squeezed in my speed work after work and before packing. Per my training plan, I started with a 13 minute warm up. I warmed up at a 9:12 pace and got in 1.42 miles. Then I did 2 minutes fast, 2 minutes easy 6 times. My fast splits were 8:27, 8:35, 8:48, 8:31, 8:05, 8:36. Then I cooled down for 15 minutes. My total mileage for Monday was 5.44 miles. I was glad my fast splits were more reasonable this week. My goal pace for those are 8:34, so I was right around there.

Tuesday : Off – I was traveling to Antigua and left my apartment at 4 am. A workout was not in the cards.

Wednesday: 5 miles – It was supposed to be a 6 mile tempo run, but running in Antigua is HARD. It was very hot outside and after the first 2 miles I did a run/walk. I really don’t want to cheat myself on my training, but this time I think I made a good judgement call. I finished the 5 miles in about an hour. After my run, I went to kite surfing lessons. So we can call that cross training too 😉

Thursday: 1 mile run, 3.92 mile walk – It was supposed to be a cross training day, but Vic asked me to go for a 1 mile run with her. And who am I to say no?! Then we met up with Mom, Aunt Helene, Aunt Joyce, and Uncle Archie for the rest of our walk. It was equally hot as the day before and I was glad I only had to run 1 mile. I am also glad that I got in that extra mile so I still hit my weekly total that I was aiming for. Then I went kite surfing again!

Friday: Rest –  Too much rum punch + too much sun + staying up late = much needed sleep-in morning. But I did kite surf again.

Saturday: Walk – I’m not sure how far we went, but I would guess it was around 4 miles. Then I sat on the plane for hours on my way back to Philly.

Sunday: 9 mile run – This run was HARD. I think it’s because I was still so tired/dehydrated from traveling, but  I sucked it up and pushed through. I finished at a 10:20 pace, which is right on target but I still don’t feel great about how I felt during it. My splits were: 10:13, 10:25, 10:17, 10:27, 10:37, 10:33, 10:37, 10:22, 9:28. I pushed myself so hard during that last mile. Then I cooled down for .87 miles with walking until I got home. I stopped around mile 5 to fuel. I ate half of an espresso Gu. It was my first time using Gu and I think I took in too much water, but I did like the Gu a lot. It tastes like frosting! I only had half because I wanted to make sure it didn’t mess up my tummy at all. I ate the rest of it just before mile 8. Even though it was a painful run I’m glad I made it through it!

Total miles: 20.44 running + all the walks in Antigua.

I just bought a new pair of sneakers and some Gus to experiment with fueling to see what works for me. I can’t wait to try out my new kicks on my next run!

Now it’s back to reality. No more paradise and back to work, but I’m ready for week 3!

–Melissa

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Marathon Training – Week 1

Yes, it’s true! I’ve signed up for a FULL marathon. Am I crazy? Probably. Since I have not been great at posting I’ve decided to do a weekly recap instead of a post after each run. My marathon training officially started on Monday, but since I signed up on Friday I decided to start 2 days early.

Here’s what week 1 (plus the 2 extra days) looked like:

Saturday: 6 mile run – Since my watch was still broken I used map my run to find a 6 mile loop. I hit the 6 mile mark around 55 minutes and I didn’t believe that I could have possibly ran that far in that short amount of time, so I ran for 5 more minutes until I got to 1 hour. When I got home I mapped my route again and it said that it was 6.5 miles! I was pretty impressed with myself!

Sunday: 45 minutes on the elliptical – I wanted to lift some weights, but I didn’t have a ton of time because I was leaving for a work trip to Dallas. I decided that since I would be sitting on a plane for 4 hours I would be better off moving my legs than lifting weights.

Monday: Speed work – 4.5 miles – I bought a new watch on Sunday and this watch is much fancier than my old one. It times you for intervals, so I set it up to do a 10 minute warm up, then 6 intervals of 1 minute fast, 3 minutes slow, followed by a 10 minute cool down. The hotel had a “jogging path” which was really just a loop of a parking garage that had no cars parked in it. I headed out there before the sun was even up to get a run in. I warmed up at a 9:17 pace. I ended up doing 1 minute of sprints, 1 minute walking, 2 minutes jogging for my intervals. The pace of the sprint intervals were: 6:35, 7:07, 7:13, 6:45, 7:03, 6:57. Not too bad.

Tuesday: I tried to go to the hotel gym, but it was packed! I was able to hop on a bike for a little and to lift a little, but it was tough with so many people in the tiny gym. I ended up going back outside to the parking lot and did a little boot camp with squats, jumping jacks, crunches and leg lifts. Then I ran a mile in 9:02.

Wednesday: Tempo run – I headed to the parking lot again for a 6 mile tempo run, 2 miles easy, 2 miles tempo, 2 miles easy. My mile splits were: 10:06, 10:06, 9:22, 9:12, 9:50, 9:29. I know I should be happy with those splits, but I really need to work on slowing down if I want to be able to run 26.2 miles. I have definitely gotten faster, but it’s not sustainable over 26.2 miles. I would much rather run all 26 slower and run the whole thing, than to go out too fast and end up not being able to finish.

Thursday: Off. I needed to sleep in a little!

Friday: 8 mile run. I went back to the parking lot again, and like a hamster I went around, and around, and around!

My splits: 10:04, 10:22, 10:22, 10:17, 10:07, 9:56, 9:53, 9:07. I was happy with this run because I saved enough energy for the end to be able to run the last 4 miles faster than the first 4.

 

Saturday: Off. I went back up to Lehigh for the Lehigh/Laf football game. I did work out my liver though!

Sunday: Off. I wanted to get to the gym, but I didn’t end up getting home til much later than planned.

Total miles: 19.5

I’m off to Antigua bright and early tomorrow for Thanksgiving with the fam!

After this week I hope that I can get in more of a training routine since I will be traveling less. So far so good though!

–Melissa

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MIA

Alright, I know I’ve been terrible at blogging the past few weeks. And I probably will be until August. Tomorrow is my last day of work in July. Then it’s study marathon time. Boo. Hopefully this will be the LAST time I have to dedicate an entire week of my life to studying. Fingers. Crossed.

I can’t even remember the last time I posted. But you can pretty much assume my work outs have been looked like this: lower body strength, cardio, upper body strength, cardio every 4 days, with a rest day thrown in there when I feel like it.

Current favorites include hamstring curls on the stability ball (ouch), chest press (obviously), and skull crushers (make me feel strong).

My cardio days have kind of sucked this week. Monday I just didn’t have it in me to do intervals so I did a 10 minute warm up, 3 miles at a 10 minute pace and a 10 minute cool down. It was nice to just run (something I haven’t done in a while), but a 10 minute pace on the treadmill definitely doesn’t push me like intervals on the treadmill or running outside. Yesterday I just walked on the treadmill at a 4.5 pace for an hour. My legs were really sore (possibly from hamstring curls) and I just felt blaaah. I blame the heat. Maybe?

I know I need to step up my running game again soon. I got an email this week about the course for my 10k in October. I was bummed to see that it’s just the same 5k loop twice, but it’s my first out-of-state race, so I’m excited anyway!

Hopefully I survive the next week…. 😕

–Melissa

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One to go

I was waiting on 2 CPA scores this week. On Tuesday I found out I failed 1 (that I knew I had failed coming out of the exam, so I wasn’t that disappointed). I didn’t want to post until I found out my second score because I didn’t want to have to write about failing twice! But, today I found out I passed my third exam! One more to go!

Tuesday I did running intervals that were so hard I could not move for the rest of the night. I cranked up the incline each round of sprints and it was HARD!

Yesterday I did a leg work out that left me shaking in my sneakers. Then I went out last night for Center City Sips (happy hour specials on Wednesdays in the summer). When I got home I saw that NASBA had posted some scores (nerd alert) but mine wasn’t up yet.

This morning I forgot about the scores until I was in the shower getting ready for work. When I had remembered, I didn’t want to look but finally convinced myself that I had to look so I knew whether or not I had to start studying tonight. Then I checked and shrieked that I had passed Reg on the first try! I headed off to work feeling less than great after Sips (but excited that I past my test) and throughout the day kept talking myself out of my post-work work-out.

When I got home I decided to just elliptical for a little bit. But once I got to the gym I decided I wanted to run too. So I did 10 minutes on the elliptical, 26 minutes of sprint intervals and then 9 more minutes on the elliptical. During the 2nd round of elliptical my legs felt so weird!

Tomorrow I have work and then I’m off to the beach for the weekend! Monday I will start studying again so I will make sure to enjoy my last weekend of freedom.

I also finished a really great book this week. It was called Winter Garden. The beginning was hard to read and dragged a little but then it got better. It was about Russia during World War II, very interesting read. Two thumbs up!

I will leave off with a funny story for the day…the other day I captured a GIANT bug under a cup in my apartment. I asked my friend to come remove this horrifying bug and he responded with “you will run through mud and pay money to do it, but you won’t kill a bug?!”

–Melissa

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Rained Out

I got a ticket to the Phillies game tonight from work, so I did a run this morning. I originally planned to do 2 sets of the first 17 minutes (originally planned for it to last 20 minutes so it would have been 40 minutes total), but I got bored and did intervals for the second half. It ended up being just over 4 miles.

Minute	Incline	Speed
0-5	8.0	4.0
5-10	1.0	6.0
10-14	1.0	6.5
14-17	1.0	7.0
17-20	1.0	4.0
20-21	1.0	6.0
21-22	1.0	4.0
22-23	1.0	6.5
23-24	1.0	4.0
24-25	1.0	7.0
25-26	1.0	4.0
26-27	1.0	7.5
27-28	1.0	4.0
28-29	1.0	8.0
29-30	1.0	4.0
30-31	1.0	8.0
31-32	1.0	4.0
32-33	1.0	8.5
33-34	1.0	4.0
34-35	1.0	4.0
35-36	1.0	9.0
36-37	1.0	4.0
37-38	1.0	6.5
38-39	1.0	4.0
39-40	1.0	7.0
40-44	8.0	4.0
44-45	1.0	4.0

After work, I headed to the Phillies game.

Then it started to pour. The game got rained delayed and we just decided to leave(it eventually started, it’s 5-1 Phils right now!). But it was a great subway ride and beer. Heh.

Good night!

–Melissa

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Celebrity Sightings

Remember when I said I wanted to make these few weeks as fun as possible? Well, I have been doing just that! Wednesday afternoon I went shopping for some work clothes at White House Black Market (obsessed) and hung out with blog-reader Becca. We spent the whole day outside. It was so nice!

Thursday it was back to work, but during the day another friend asked if I wanted to go to dinner. After a nice upper body work out (I did 7 reps of 105 pounds on chest press!) we grabbed dinner and then decided to go out for one drink. Well, when we were sitting at the bar we ran into a few people who we knew and ended up hanging out for a while. At one point some random guy comes up to me and tells me that Jim Breuer (comedian/actor) is at the table in the corner. I turn and looked and said that’s not Jim Breuer (I was confusing him with someone else). Eventually my friends said they would buy me a shot if I went and found out. As I went over I realized I was thinking of the wrong guy, but confirmed that he was, in fact, Jim Breuer. I figured I would go back over to the bar after that, but my friends and I ended up hanging out with Jim (we are obviously on a first name basis…) and his friend (possibly his publicist??) for the whole night! As the bar was closing Jim gave my friends and me his email address and said if we emailed him he would get us into his comedy show on Sunday.

Blurry iPhone Picture of Jim Breuer and Me

After a few very short hours of sleep I headed off to work. Mid morning I heard from one of my friends that Jim put tickets for us at will call. I’m basically famous by association now…

At work I also found out that I didn’t have to work all weekend! I even got to leave work at 3! I headed home with plans of running but ended up doing happy hour with a friend instead. After happy hour I decided I was too tired from the night before to go out, so instead I had a very relaxing night at home.

This morning, I woke up and lounged around and read for a few hours. I finished Something Borrowed earlier this week and the sequel Something Blue this morning. I really liked the first one and would recommend it to anyone who likes girly books. The second one was decent too and I felt like I had to read it after reading the first, but I preferred the first one. I just started a 3rd book by the same author, called Baby Proof. So far I’m not digging it quite as much as the other 2, but I just started it. Reading for fun is so much better than reading for the CPA exam. I am dreading starting to study again….

After reading for a while, I headed out for a run. Before I left I decided on 4 miles. A couple miles in I decided I would just do 3 and bike for a little too. I ended up doing close to 3.5 by the time I got to my apartment. In the elevator I started to psych myself out about the bike ride. The streets were pretty crowded because it is such a gorgeous day, and I was getting nervous about riding with so many people around. I had a text from Becca so I called her to see if we were doing anything today. She talked me into going for a bike ride and I ended up riding for 28 minutes! It’s not that long in comparison to seasoned riders, but it’s a start for me! I also really love the bike path that runs down Pine Street.

That’s all for today! Go outside!!!

–Melissa

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