Adrienne Langelier Racing

I checked into the athlinks website that I keep seeing and put a profile up for myself. The link can be found here: http://www.athlinks.com/racer.aspx?rid=36004209. It looks like a pretty cool site-I was fascinated with how it retrieves your race results and posts them for you.

I also found myself wishing I was running a race this weekend, I think I may be going through a "withdrawl" of sorts! I was thinking of running David's Dream this weekend, but waiting on a paycheck and driving to the Woodlands is probably not a good combo. I do have two things on my calendar so far for June: the 7Hills/TWRC Interclub competition and the Polish Pickle 5k (the name still makes me laugh a little). in big 'ol Bremond! Neither are long, but should give me a decent "fix".

In a little bit, I am off to the park to run 14. Given I have had more time to run this month, I have been able to put in more miles than usual-yay!

Apparently, I'm jumping on the swim bandwagon! Actually, swimming has always been part of my summer workouts, yet I have been a little slower in getting into the water and back into it this summer, with the exception of my impromptu relay swim a few weeks ago. After running on pavement for the past week or so and waking up sore this morning, I decided to hit the pool today after my core and body weight training.

After starting too fast on the first lap (bad habit I can't seem to break), I settled into a little rhythm and swam for about 20 mins. According to my count of the laps, I put in about 900 meters, give or take. I forgot about how weird it feels when you first get out of the water, with everything feeling jell-o-like.

This may become part of my weekly routine. While I have not yet committed to it yet, I have been perusing the internet for bikes!

No more guns for me today! I did do about 8.5 miles today though. I'll admit, I was not feeling it this morning, which is an effect that creeps in every once in a while. My best weapon (no pun intended from yesterday!) for days like this, besides resting (something I need work on), is load the mp3 player with fast tunes. To date, it has always worked well enough, so I will share today.

We'll call this the "lil kick in the backside mix" (songs in no particular order):

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers-Fortune Faded
2. Aerosmith-Ragdoll
3. Rhianna-Shut up and Drive
4. Madonna and Justin Timberlake-4 Minutes
5. Linkin Park-Bleed it Out
6. Duffy-Mercy
7. Kanye West-Jesus Walks
8. The Killers-Somebody Told Me (I always have a Killers song in there!)
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers-Dani California
10. Outkast-B.O.B
11. Heart-Barracuda
12. and who can forget...Kanye West-Stronger

That's all I can recall for the moment. For best results, play loudly, but not too loudly!

By the way I'm going, hopefully I won't be deaf by the end of the summer!

After a little apprehension on how I would perform, I conducted my first personal training session this morning. After teaching psychology for two semesters, I was not sure how I would transition back to the fitness arena.

After playing the "I'm meeting you here but have no idea who you are" game, I met my client, whom I was pleased to see was in good shape-makes for a funner program design. We commenced with at core workout and went from there. Luckily, the feeling of being rusty was virtually nonexistent, it felt as if I had never quit in the first place. The client, on the other hand, may not have had as good of a time, she appeared to leave rather spent! I followed up with my own workout, consisting of strength training and low impact cardio. I banned myself from running for the day, given I put in a surprisingly substantial amount of miles as of lately.

Now for something kinda scary: After a failed attempt at laying out this afternoon, some friends had the idea to go to the shooting range outside of town. After not firing a gun in nearly a decade, I was persuaded to do so this afternoon, I agreed after a safety tutorial of sorts and some encouragement. And nobody got hurt! I actually had some good shots on the target. It's interesting to see what things you do to entertain yourself on a summer afternoon in a small town!

Anyhow, I managed to not myself or anyone else (in more than one way!) today. I guess my work here is done for the moment!

After what seemed like an endless weekend, I am back in Huntsville.

As many of y'all may know, my little sister got married yesterday! The ceremony was held in a beautiful outdoor setting just outside of Austin. It was also true to my sister's character, short, simple, yet also elegant at the same time. I was given Maid of Honor duties (or M.O.H. as we called it, ripping off Hollywood), and I think I managed to not totally flub them! Based on other experiences I have had with being in weddings, I owe my sis big time, this was by far the easiest and most relaxing one to date.

Though I was banned from running (by request for Sun! :)) I managed to spin out some miles in San Marcos, where my sister's apt. is. I quickly realized by running through the Texas State campus there, that the town gets significantly steeper than Huntsville! At some parts, it felt like I was running a vertical climb! I have run around S.M. some before, but never on the backside of TXSt. Nevertheless, it was fun to run down some different streets and along the river. This morning I saw one of my old professors from when I was at Texas State (remember I said I was not always an Aggie!!) out with her daughter, along with some teenage kids yelling stuff at me as I ran down a hill-I turned up the music to tune them out.

Anyhow, I am definitely a bit tired from all the festivities and the like, and I have my first personal training client in several months tomorrow...should be interesting!

I do not officially start working again until next week, so I took off from Huntsville a day early yesterday to visit my parents in Sugar Land. There are only three days left until the wedding and I am hoping my scraped knees heal up before I don my bridesmaid's dress!

Anyhow, I put in 9 this morning on the Greatwood loop (nearby subdivision), which is just over 3.5 itself, plus sidestreets and another mile from the start of the loop from our place. (that sounds complicated!) It's a nice, flat route that runs along a golf course with some impressive houses along the way. I try not to drool too much as I pass some of them- don't know why, but I am a sucker for houses! My only complaint is having to dodge ducks near the ponds.

Anyhow, today I'm gonna relax, shop a little, and enjoy being able to do basically nothing while I still can!

So I did an afternoon trail run with club members for the first time in forever. It was also the first time in forever that I ran in hot weather. Being my stubborn self, I opted for the outer loop instead of the inner and took off. The run started out pleasant enough for the first few miles, then my TIR shirt became soaked and I started to feel the heat (probably not a good idea to run in that color when it's over 90 degrees!). Despite not feeling very comfortable, I kept on going, sucking on my bottle of HEED like it's liquid gold.

Hot and more tired than usual, I headed past the last boardwalk before reaching the parking lot, I thought to myself how long it has been since I had last fallen...that became a self-fulfilling prophecy as I reached the final stretch of the trail where the surface changes. I had just caught up with Hans, who was running the inner loop, hit a root and ate it hard-of course, during the last 30 seconds of the run I fall. Falling in sand has it's good and bad points; while more forgiving than the regular dirt, it hurts less, but you get it all over you! I hit the "shower" outside the nature center and it took forever to wash most of it off. I spent the rest of the time talking in the parking lot looking like a beach camper-sandy, wet, and shoeless, I even felt some sand in my teeth-gross! While a tad embarrassing, I rate it as my favorite fall in HSP to date!

As for the higher temps, I assume my wussy self will eventually acclimate!

As of today, and for the duration of the summer I am officially "out of retirement" as a personal trainer. I will be donning one of the snazzy black shirts for the HKC at the university-not exactly lucrative, but hey, it works in the short-term. This is quite a switch from teaching psychology all year long, and a bit of a welcome change! I may even get paid to run with some clients, I think I will be marketed (to use the term very loosely) as a "cardio specialist" of sorts. I'm just hoping I transition back into my old role smoothly enough and help some people out.


As for my workout today, I did some weights and interval training. I started with 2 relatively easy miles, hit the weight room, and then headed up to the mini-track at the HKC. The workout consisted of:

5-minute warm-up
3x800 repeats
2x400s-each interval included a one-minute recovery
7-minute cool-down

I estimated my total mileage for the day to be around 6ish, but who knows.

I've lately been playing around with my training and nutrition a bit. I've started incorporating intervals in a little more (got a couple 5k's in the plans) and trying to diversify my pacing and distances. As for the nutrition end, I've incorporated in more protein (notably soy milk, that stuff rocks!), especially for recovery purposes, and so far it seems to be beneficial. Also, as a preventative and a reaction to the knee/upper-calf issue I recently experienced, I also have included glucosamine/chondroitin-yes, the granny stuff, into the mix! With someone with as hectic of a lifestyle as mine, I could use all the help I can get!

I was able to go to HSP twice this week, which has become a rarity these past few months. This morning, I set out to get in either 12 and/or 90 minutes in, whichever came first. Instead, I slowed down a bit and went for 2 hours-I just didn't feel like stopping. A rough estimate of my pace would put me at 15ish miles. I was able to reflect on everything that had occurred in the past ten months or so, and enjoy just getting out and running without thinking about deadlines, projects, and due dates. It was awesome! I even got cheered on by a group of boy scouts out hiking, it was cute.

I had a list of things to accomplish over the past year, and I think I successfully accomplished most of them. They included: finish first year of graduate school in one piece with sanity intact (I hope, anyway!), check. Not get eaten alive as a first-year instructor, check. Run my first long race, check. See my little sister get married, soon will be a check. These things and a whole lot more surprises made these past ten months something memorable, to say the least. At times, I wondered how I was still standing! :)

Needless to say, I get a few weeks off to clear my head a bit. And I am looking forward to it. Today I am going to College Station to see my pregnant best friend and soon-to-be "niece", I'm excited because I haven't seen her in over a month. This evening it is off to see the Aggie baseball team kick some arse-should be a good time!

Anyhow, it is a great Saturday outside-Y'all have a good one!

Since it has been requested, I will share this experience!

My personal version of "The Birds" happened about a year or so ago while running around the campus at A&M. I was on a 5-mile route that I frequented in the evenings, so due to familiarity and a long day I was totally zoning out on this one.

I was passing a parking garage on my way back home when I feel a tug at my ponytail. Thinking it was the breeze I kept going. Then I felt it again, and heard wings flapping near my ears, and something kept passing over my head. I turned around and saw about 4-5 evil/crazed/nasty grackels (I hate those things-yuck!!) taking turns dive-bombing my head. I have no idea how long they had been chasing me. I guess my flopping ponytail looked like a threat! I saw another take another swoop at me so I did what any reasonable female runner would do: scream some four-letter word and run like heck with hands waving! Those were some angry birds!

After some more overhead flapping for the next few yards, I finally lost them. I then turned around to see that I had an audience of a mother and her baby in a stroller, some golfers, and two guys on their bikes, who were laughing (I'd like to see how they like having a flock of ugly, crazed birds circling their heads!). Embarrassed, I smiled and waved and ran back to my apt. Luckily, I was unhurt by the incident, no pecks or scratches besides a little elevated blood pressure and embarrassment. I did, however, wash my hair a little throughly after my "semi-Hitchcockian" evening!

I learned that birds are not too fond of sharing the sidewalk. Anyhow, that is my bird experience-luckily, it was not a whole cloud of them, for I might still hold a phobia to this day! Hopefully, this is the worst brush with wildlife I will even encounter while running.

Ok Curtis et al., here goes!

1. I am probably one of the only people in history to have the steering wheel of your first car break off while driving! (myself and my passengers were all unschathed, fortunately!)
2. I am eligible for membership for the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, despite my decidedly French name.
3. One of my favorite foods is hummus (weird, I know).
4. I was not always an Aggie!
5. My high school mascot was the Unicorn-seriously.
6. I quit track when I was younger due to "stage freight".
7. One of my arms is longer than the other.
8. I have been attacked by a bunch of birds while running both funny and a bit scary!

That's all I can think of for now. I know many of you have already been tagged, but go for it Tiggs, Norman, Tommy, Karen, Sarah, and Joe. I think I need to expand my online social network!!!

I am beginning to probably sound like a workaholic!!

Despite feeling a little run down this AM (don't know what that's about) I was able to complete 3 miles of "lighter" intervals on the HKC's wonderful "track"- It's not so bad if you blare your MP3 player while up there. I also did a fun little core/full body strength workout that had a couple people looking at me strangely! I think I may be doing some personal training at the HKC this summer, so it's time to get creative again with the workouts! I'm kinda excited about "coming out of retirement" for a while. Beats the heck outta reading SPSS outputs, as I have been doing a lot of lately!

After the workout, I headed to my office to finalize/turn in grades for my students-after becoming a virtual "grading machine" it was a relief to finally put in all the A's B's and C's (and everything else in between) into the computer. So far, I have managed to not face any angry students!

Also I finished up in another one of my classes today, meaning I have just one more exam tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to try and get back-to-back 100's in this class. As for a run, I have my sights on 7 or 8 if my energy returns. Whew! Almost (mini) break time!



Mileage:

Year: 1094.5

Month of May: 73

...At least that's what it felt like this morning! I should have stuck a sign on my back stating: "if found lying on sidewalk, simply peel me off and point me toward Montgomery Rd."-at least that's how the last 4 of my 13.5 today felt. I did some of Veteran's Memorial today for a change of scenery-but I still prefer the park for around these parts! That leaves me with 40.5 miles for the week, not bad, considering I have been a paper-grading machine as of late!

After my fast and furious week, I am actually not as swamped this weekend as I originally thought, so I am probably going down to Sugar Land this evening to surprise my mom for Mother's Day. It's worth the $10 or so a gallon for gas to see how she'll react! Also, happy early Mother's Day to all you "blogger-mom's" out there! :-)

Mileage:

Year total: 1091.5

Month of May: 70

I am about a week out from finishing my first year of graduate school, and everything is coming to a close, yet at a fever pitch. Today's tasks included submitting a five-page final, grading about fifteen 8-page-plus papers (probably my least favorite) and studying for statistics next week. I guess I am whining a bit! On the bright side, I got a lot done and I'm closing in on that 4.0-if only I wasn't so dang competitive!!

After taking a necessary rest day after the crazy weekend (I also got in approx. 14 miles in on Sun., knowing I was gonna need it), I am gonna try and get in 8 or 9 in the morning before hitting the office. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Warning: Lengthy Post Ahead!!

I was going to wait until the results/splits were released, but the stories are better than the stats in this case! As many of you are aware, I signed up with a couple fellow psychology majors (hence Katy's favorite team name, Tri-Psy!) to participate in the running leg of a triathlon relay sponsored by Sam Houston State. Or at least that was the plan.

The adventure started when my friend/cyclist newbie/newly minted 7Hiller Karen called me up at the office and told me that our swimmer was under-the-weather. She asked me if I would be willing to swim the 300-meter first leg. With minimal hesitation, I accepted and we went on as "du-psy"-hopefully our other teammate is on the mend.

I have some experience in the pool, I once swam almost daily when I had a stress fracture a couple summers ago. The last time I swam it was around Christmastime when I was visiting my family. So needless to say, it has been a while since I donned a onepiece! But I was gonna give it a go and just have fun with it. Given my spontaneous participation and great experience with TIR, I was up for some randomness. Minimal embarrassment, better yet, not drowning was the main goal. The pool sure does get crowded in the middle!

After a fairly shaky warmup in the pool, I lined up for the staggered start in the chaotic pool at the HKC. One of my favorite moments was right in line before jumping in was when someone asked me what I did a 300 in; my answer: "I have no idea!" After that, I was off. As a substitute, I had to start at the back, and that worked out well as I was able to pass some people up (my competitive side loved that). I actually think I swam pretty well for spending little to no time in the pool as of lately, feeling strong yet a little more winded than if I was running. Unfortunately, at this time I have no idea what my split was, but I accomplished my goal of not drowning!

Soaking wet, I tagged Karen on and she rode away on the 10-mile bike ride. My hat goes off to her, for she had the toughest job of the day! After changing I watched the cyclists come in and warmed up for the 2-mile run. I was caught off guard with Karen coming in quicker than she originally quoted, so I sprinted to the exchange and was off again. I took off on a pace that felt like a near-sprint towards the main campus. Unfortunately I was not able to hit the split on my watch to get an exact time. From doing the math and estimating starting/stopping the split, it was anywhere from a high 12 to mid-13:00. I wanted to see how fast I could do it in, maybe because I spend so much time at that place, I don't recall much of the run, except for seeing Sam XC runner and race volunteer fixture Keith E. directing traffic.

I came through the chute about 1:20ish and both Karen and I were satisfied with the experience. We were resourceful and had a good time! I ended up exceeding my goal time for the run, getting in 15 seconds faster than my desired 13:00. Who knows, maybe after this grad school thing is over, I may be in the market for a bike! But for now I guess I'll stay a "2/3 triathlete" if there is such a thing! Also, it is kind of cool walking around with sharpie residue on your arms and legs for the rest of the day!

It was interesting getting out of my little "runner bubble" for a little while.

Results were just posted: We finished 36th overall, 3rd for Female relay groups.
Here are the splits with available rankings per leg:
300m Swim: 6:45, Rank 20 (A)
10-Mile Bike: 57: 51 (K-oldie bike held it's own)
2-Mile Run: 12:45, Rank 3 (A)
Total: 1:19:22
Rankings are for both genders


Mileage:

Since 11/12: 1061.5

Month of May: 30