Strippers and Cupcakes

I've been cracking up over the title line from Pam on The Office a few weeks ago...that followed up by Jim's 2-Way Petting Zoo. It just amazes me what these writers come up with!

Anyway, back to non-prime-time. Dumphy-time actually.

Wednesday - Jen and I ended up doing this track workout all alone in the drizzle. Typical Portland day. It was 2 miles of 100 on/100 off and went pretty well. Neither of us wanted to bust it too hard cause of the race this weekend, but really I just wanted any excuse to not work hard. (I'll admit it!) It was still a great workout and fun that we did it together and got to chat.

Thursday - I started feeling really crappy about the middle of my workday and laid down for a few hours. I was sure that the flu I'd been around was catching up to me and really pissed. But when I got up from my rest I surprisingly felt a lot better. I left to do my 8 miles in Z3 expecting for it to feel a lot harder because of my sickness. I was supposed to do this around a 7:50-8:10 pace. So when the first few miles felt hard I wasn't surprised until I did the math on my time...my first few miles were all way faster than I should have been going. Another mis-perceived pace on my part. Oh well, I kept going but ended up stopping after 7 miles. I just needed to sit down. So I did, right on the corner downtown. I just stopped and sat down on the sidewalk while people were walking home from work all around me. It felt good but probably looked weird. I was feeling sick and exhausted again and not the "wow, I just had a good run" exhausted. I walked the remaining half mile home in the cold, rain and wind and had an early night.

Mile 1 = 7:16 (139 bpm)
Mile 2 = 7:12 (172 bpm)
Mile 3 = 7:23 (173 bpm)
Mile 4 = 7:55 (173 bpm)
Mile 5 = 7:47 (173 bpm)
Mile 6 = 7:52 (172 bpm)
Mile 7 = 8:07 (170 bpm)

TOTAL = 7 miles/7:39 pace/167 avg bpm

Friday - Woke up feeling surprisingly better. I wonder if I did start to get something but my body was able to fend it off? I've been really healthy this past year and not really gotten sick at all. I usually get something, even little, at some point but the past year not so much. Maybe its working from home and less exposure to sick people? (I'm a fu'ing hermit.) Maybe it is all the training? Who knows? Maybe I was just hoping to get sick so I don't have to run this weekend? Anyway, Friday I did 90 minutes on the bike in Zone 2-3 (146-165 bpm). I incorporated a spin session in there to keep it less boring. I'm coming to the conclusion that biking is pretty boring. Especially when you're not going anywhere. I need to get on the ROAD. I hope that it is more exciting than in the gym.

TOTAL = 90 minutes/160 bpm

Today I am supposed to do a somewhat easy swim but I don't know if I'll get to it. The thought of doing anything outside of my cozy apt right now seems wrong. I do need to go out and get my race packet though.

Speaking of the race, I'm running a 5k tomorrow. My 2nd 5k in the past 5 years or so. I made a big to do out of the last one (Shamrock Race, March 15th) because it would be a benchmark. For whatever reason I'm not super excited about tomorrow.

I did do a bit of stalking online today that is embarrassing to admit. I looked at the finished that placed ahead of me in my age group on 3/15 and checked to see if they'd registered for this race. One had! So I looked up her bib number to see her picture and what I was up against. That isn't totally psycho is it? The scary thing is that they list first and last names so I could probably look her up, go to her house and poison her dinner. Yes, that would be crazy. I'm not going to worry about her because she finished in 19:xx and that's way out of my league. More stalkery: I looked up last years results to see where I would finish (4th in my AG) and to see if any of those ladies were doing this year's race. None are.

Anyway....I don't know how I'll perform tomorrow but hoping that I do better than the last race. 5ks are such a bitch and the degrees of improvement are usually mere seconds, so we'll see. My bike yesterday really blasted out my legs and I still might be fighting off a cold or something? More importantly, what am I going to wear? Probably not the flappy shorts that I wore in the last race. It is supposed to be really warm tomorrow and sunny and I am SUPER pumped for that. Summer in Chicago!* OH yeah, another thing I have against me is the drinking I did last night - 4 drinks and I was hammered. WTF?

Here is a random photo because don't pictures always make these things more interesting?

This is right after I received my wedding proposal. Up on Beacon Rock, and this is where the ring was "hidden." The box had been closed and I mistook it for a speaker device that allowed blind people to hear whats on the educational placard. Yes, I'm an idiot!

Race Report to come tomorrow!! Good luck to everyone else racing as well.

*This is a euphamism for the glee that is associated with, you guessed it, summer in Chicago. It is a feeling that can only be known to those who gritted out 8-9 months of winter then are welcomed by daisy dukes on the lakefront and patio drinks at a favorite bar.