Sarah is back running! Outside even.
She ran a couple times while she was up in the Bay Area this past week and is headed to her first Team in Training workout in the past 5 weeks. Although she is a little worried about possible disappointment when she sees how much her injury has set her back (i.e., in comparing herself to her old running partner Javier), we both realize, as we look at Pam's arm, that slow running is better than no running.
Also, now that Sarah is back running, she is also back fundraising. If any one would like to contribute, it is really easy to do so online at www.active.com/donate/tntgla/tntglaSTownse. Please feel free to forward this link (and our blog site) to anyone who might be interested.
With the ups and downs of the past couple of months, more than anything else, we are both glad to be getting back into a little bit of a routine. Classes start next Thursday and with them all of the other school year happenings - recruiting and training research assistants, lab meetings, Wednesday bagel hour, etc. Although too much monotony is definitely undesirable, we both agree that too little isn't good either. But, maybe this is just our preference . . . what do you think?
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
YAY!
I (Sarah) just wanted to say "yay" or maybe "yessssss" or probably most accurately "whew." I took my test earlier today and am very glad to have it done. I'm not sure when I'll get my scores back - I think the professors definitely have to give it back before the second part of the test (an oral exam) which is going to be during the first week of October. Hopefully it will be good news.
On the running front, I am going to try it for the first time tomorrow. My hip has been feeling pretty good with all the biking, swimming, and walking I've been doing. I'm going to stick to the treadmill tomorrow, but I have a doctor's appointment Wednesday morning, so hopefully I'll be running outside and not studying by the weekend. (I'm really anxious to get back out there, but want to make sure I don't end up hurt again.)
Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted.
On the running front, I am going to try it for the first time tomorrow. My hip has been feeling pretty good with all the biking, swimming, and walking I've been doing. I'm going to stick to the treadmill tomorrow, but I have a doctor's appointment Wednesday morning, so hopefully I'll be running outside and not studying by the weekend. (I'm really anxious to get back out there, but want to make sure I don't end up hurt again.)
Stay tuned, I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Another one bites the dust
We're sorry for the lack of updates these past two weeks. Things have gotten a little crazy...
With generals coming up September 10, we were both hard at work, reading articles all day and night. Pam was training hard, running 2 hours and 45 minutes two weekends ago, and Sarah continues to work at strengthening her hip by aqua jogging and biking.
Last week after track, Pam decided it would be a fantastic idea to ride Jeff's skateboard from her car to her front door, and as she reached the door step, the board somehow flew out in front of her, sending Pam flying backwards and landing on her elbow.
So now Pam has a broken arm, which means no typing and lots of painkillers- so she's had to postpone generals- as well as no sweating or arm bending- so basically, no marathon.
We are both so sad that we wont be running Nike together, but think it's a wiser decision that we recover from our injuries. As we mentioned in our last entry, Sarah will be running in Hawaii in December, and Pam is going to try to start running again when her cast comes off (about 5 weeks), in hopes of doing an event in 2008.
Keep reading our blog for updates- even with these setbacks, we plan to continue training and blogging. And please send Sarah luck as she completes her exam in five short days!
With generals coming up September 10, we were both hard at work, reading articles all day and night. Pam was training hard, running 2 hours and 45 minutes two weekends ago, and Sarah continues to work at strengthening her hip by aqua jogging and biking.
Last week after track, Pam decided it would be a fantastic idea to ride Jeff's skateboard from her car to her front door, and as she reached the door step, the board somehow flew out in front of her, sending Pam flying backwards and landing on her elbow.
So now Pam has a broken arm, which means no typing and lots of painkillers- so she's had to postpone generals- as well as no sweating or arm bending- so basically, no marathon.
We are both so sad that we wont be running Nike together, but think it's a wiser decision that we recover from our injuries. As we mentioned in our last entry, Sarah will be running in Hawaii in December, and Pam is going to try to start running again when her cast comes off (about 5 weeks), in hopes of doing an event in 2008.
Keep reading our blog for updates- even with these setbacks, we plan to continue training and blogging. And please send Sarah luck as she completes her exam in five short days!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Breaking up in hard to do :(
After our 2.5 month training partnership, we are sad to announce that we are breaking up (although our research, studying, hanging out partnerships are still going strong). Specifically, Pam is right on track for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 21st, but Sarah has had to postpone her training by a month and a half and is now going to be running the Honolulu Marathon on December 9th. (Sarah saw one of the doctors associated with Team in Training who thinks that she should be back running in around 4 weeks.)
So what does this mean? Well, Pam will continue to train for San Francisco with the fall team - doing a 2hr and 45min run this Saturday! And Sarah will focus on resting, stretching, icing, and cheering Pam on from the sidelines. We think there will be some overlap in our training in late September and October when Sarah is just starting to get back into running and Pam is tapering down for her race. So, maybe this isn't so much of a end to our relationship as just some time off.
Thanks so much to everyone for your continued emotional and financial support!
So what does this mean? Well, Pam will continue to train for San Francisco with the fall team - doing a 2hr and 45min run this Saturday! And Sarah will focus on resting, stretching, icing, and cheering Pam on from the sidelines. We think there will be some overlap in our training in late September and October when Sarah is just starting to get back into running and Pam is tapering down for her race. So, maybe this isn't so much of a end to our relationship as just some time off.
Thanks so much to everyone for your continued emotional and financial support!
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Yay
Hi, this is just Sarah, writing to you from up in the Bay (or the Yay) Area. (Pam is also not in SB, but she is considerably further away - Maine.)
The pre-conference came and went. It was nice to see so many people I know and the research people presented was interesting and stimulated a lot of great discussions. I gave my talk, which I think went over pretty well. It is relatively complex data, so I'm still searching for how I can make it easier to understand in a 15 min talk.
The only bad part of the week has been the continued pain in my hip. :(
I don't really want to say more than that right now. I don't know how big a deal it is and how long I'll have to stay off it. I'm setting up a doctor's appointment for next week and I should know more then. Wish me luck.
Pam, I hope you're doing well. Eat a lobster for me.
The pre-conference came and went. It was nice to see so many people I know and the research people presented was interesting and stimulated a lot of great discussions. I gave my talk, which I think went over pretty well. It is relatively complex data, so I'm still searching for how I can make it easier to understand in a 15 min talk.
The only bad part of the week has been the continued pain in my hip. :(
I don't really want to say more than that right now. I don't know how big a deal it is and how long I'll have to stay off it. I'm setting up a doctor's appointment for next week and I should know more then. Wish me luck.
Pam, I hope you're doing well. Eat a lobster for me.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Ouch!
Well, since the unexpected break last weekend, the coaches seem to be getting us right back on track.
Tuesday was in fact a hill workout. We started at the SBCC track and did our normal 1.75 mile warm up and then headed across the street - to the bottom of a hill. From there we ran at a little faster than our 5k pace up the hill and then slow back down - and then we did it again, and again, and again, and again. Although we both enjoyed the workout, we got a little scared by what one of the veternan Team in Training women told Pam about the SF marathon. Specifically, she said that last year the team wasn't as well prepared for the hills as they should have been. She then cautioned Pam that we should take all of the hill training really seriously. After that conversation, we are sure we will.
Saturday was the 2.25 hour run. We started from a high school in Goleta (a new place we had not started from before). In general the run was fine, however, Sarah had a bad cramp in her butt and ended up spreading to her hip flexor and then hamstring. Looking back on it, she says she probably should have stopped running 'cause it is still really sore. We're hopeful she can be nice to her hip this week and be able to do the 2.5 hour run this weekend - something that we'll both be doing alone (Pam from Maine and Sarah from the Bay Area).
We hope you are all doing well. Thanks for reading and thanks for all the comments!
Tuesday was in fact a hill workout. We started at the SBCC track and did our normal 1.75 mile warm up and then headed across the street - to the bottom of a hill. From there we ran at a little faster than our 5k pace up the hill and then slow back down - and then we did it again, and again, and again, and again. Although we both enjoyed the workout, we got a little scared by what one of the veternan Team in Training women told Pam about the SF marathon. Specifically, she said that last year the team wasn't as well prepared for the hills as they should have been. She then cautioned Pam that we should take all of the hill training really seriously. After that conversation, we are sure we will.
Saturday was the 2.25 hour run. We started from a high school in Goleta (a new place we had not started from before). In general the run was fine, however, Sarah had a bad cramp in her butt and ended up spreading to her hip flexor and then hamstring. Looking back on it, she says she probably should have stopped running 'cause it is still really sore. We're hopeful she can be nice to her hip this week and be able to do the 2.5 hour run this weekend - something that we'll both be doing alone (Pam from Maine and Sarah from the Bay Area).
We hope you are all doing well. Thanks for reading and thanks for all the comments!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Cough, cough, plus Pam's great idea
Not much to report this week. Our long run (scheduled for last Saturday) was canceled because of the air quality. For those of you reading this blog who don't live in Santa Barbs, this was due to the heavy smoke that blew in from the Zaca fire. We got some smoke last summer from the fire out near Ohai (and also got some quality Breau time as a result), but it wasn't as intense as this. A big brown cloud blew over the mountains, and it started raining giant pieces of ash. Our coaches thought that inhaling all that couldn't be good for us, so we got to do some indoor cross training instead of the run.
In other news, summer is half over, which means the interns went home, and now we move into some intense general exam studying. Sarah is also preparing for a talk she's giving at an APA preconference next week, while Pam gets ready for a Maine vacation.
Tonight is a track workout, and, we believe, the first week of hill training. We're not sure exactly what that entails- maybe stadiums? That could be sucky.
Also, I (Pam) am thinking of buying a new car. I know you all love Chadwick, and he did drive Pamy Benyer all the way across the country with no problems, but he's got 183K miles, and that is old. Also, for some reason, other people do not seem to think that driving a 1995 Saturn is quite as cool as I do.
My problem is that I can't decide what kind of car I want. I think that lots and lots of cars are really, really ugly. And it's impossible to find a good website to decide which cars are cool. This is why I plan to start my own website: "Cars that girls might want to buy." It will have lots of pictures, and will include information about what colors they come in, which celebrities drive them, and will rate cars on important dimensions, such as mom-ishness. I will likely become famous, because this is one of the best ideas I have ever had. Understatement, or extreme understatement?
In other news, summer is half over, which means the interns went home, and now we move into some intense general exam studying. Sarah is also preparing for a talk she's giving at an APA preconference next week, while Pam gets ready for a Maine vacation.
Tonight is a track workout, and, we believe, the first week of hill training. We're not sure exactly what that entails- maybe stadiums? That could be sucky.
Also, I (Pam) am thinking of buying a new car. I know you all love Chadwick, and he did drive Pamy Benyer all the way across the country with no problems, but he's got 183K miles, and that is old. Also, for some reason, other people do not seem to think that driving a 1995 Saturn is quite as cool as I do.
My problem is that I can't decide what kind of car I want. I think that lots and lots of cars are really, really ugly. And it's impossible to find a good website to decide which cars are cool. This is why I plan to start my own website: "Cars that girls might want to buy." It will have lots of pictures, and will include information about what colors they come in, which celebrities drive them, and will rate cars on important dimensions, such as mom-ishness. I will likely become famous, because this is one of the best ideas I have ever had. Understatement, or extreme understatement?
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
What do YOU think about?
As these runs get longer and longer, we find ourselves having discussions about what exactly is going through our heads as we run for hours on end (2 1/4 hrs this Saturday, to be exact).
Most of the time, we just zone out, and think about running and motivating ourselves to keep going, and to keep going fast. Sarah says that beyond commenting on the scenery, thinking makes her slow down (of course, Sarah did just complete a 5K run maintaining 6ish-minute miles, so slowing down for her isn't exactly dropping down to a walk).
Pam spends a lot of the long run talking w/Megan (her favorite pace partner). She says they don't really talk about anything important, mostly the run, but they did have a nice discussion about bridesmaid dresses on a downhill a few weeks ago. She's also been suggesting lately that maybe figuring out brain teasers or reciting the Fibonacci sequence might be a good time-waster.
Other random thoughts we've heard:
One of the ladies we're running with, Cindy, tells us that her daughter, a water polo player, doesn't think during workouts. She swears she falls asleep while swimming laps.
Mindy Kaling (Kelly from The Office) says on her blog that she imagines her mom has been kidnapped, and the only way she can save her is if she runs fast enough. (This kind of reminds Pam of her old softball batting technique- imagining that the ball is her brother's head- but maybe it's a little different...)
What do you guys think about when you run? Write us comments and tell us!
Most of the time, we just zone out, and think about running and motivating ourselves to keep going, and to keep going fast. Sarah says that beyond commenting on the scenery, thinking makes her slow down (of course, Sarah did just complete a 5K run maintaining 6ish-minute miles, so slowing down for her isn't exactly dropping down to a walk).
Pam spends a lot of the long run talking w/Megan (her favorite pace partner). She says they don't really talk about anything important, mostly the run, but they did have a nice discussion about bridesmaid dresses on a downhill a few weeks ago. She's also been suggesting lately that maybe figuring out brain teasers or reciting the Fibonacci sequence might be a good time-waster.
Other random thoughts we've heard:
One of the ladies we're running with, Cindy, tells us that her daughter, a water polo player, doesn't think during workouts. She swears she falls asleep while swimming laps.
Mindy Kaling (Kelly from The Office) says on her blog that she imagines her mom has been kidnapped, and the only way she can save her is if she runs fast enough. (This kind of reminds Pam of her old softball batting technique- imagining that the ball is her brother's head- but maybe it's a little different...)
What do you guys think about when you run? Write us comments and tell us!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
What we know . . .
There are a couple of things we know this week that we didn't know before:
We'll see if we are still saying that on Saturday at 8:45am (the run starts at 7).
- There are way too many brands of gel-type energy supplements (but,
- Gu is decidedly better than Power Gel (but, there isn't a difference after you've been running for a while and need some more energy)
- The roller things (cylinders about 8 inches in diameter and 3 feet long) you use on your leg muscles are more painful that a deep tissue massage (but, they do actually work)
- Running for 2 hours is hard (but, it feels great to have done it)
We'll see if we are still saying that on Saturday at 8:45am (the run starts at 7).
Thursday, July 19, 2007
SF here we come!
Okay, so maybe this weekend is just an emulation run, but 2 hours with hills sounds pretty intense to us. We found out the "master plan" for our training: we have previously been focusing on building our base fitness, this month we are going to work on building speed, and next we move onto lots of hills (even more than our emulation run, apparently).
This week's track workout on Tuesday was hard. Although, Pam assures Sarah, not as hard as last week (even with Pam's wicked blisters on her heals). After our warm-up we did 400 fast followed by 400 easy, 800 fast followed by 400 easy, 1200 fast followed by 400 easy, and then another 800 fast followed by 1200 warm-down. Sarah says she takes after her little brother Aaron and likes the sprint-style track workouts. Pam says she'll take the long Saturday morning runs over track anytime.
Well, we should probably get back to drinking water to stay hydrated, trying various types of energy supplements (e.g., Gu, Power Gel), submitting our abstracts for an annual social psychology conference, and reading ridiculous amounts to study for generals (our test that is coming up in Sept.)!
Wish us luck on Saturday . . .
This week's track workout on Tuesday was hard. Although, Pam assures Sarah, not as hard as last week (even with Pam's wicked blisters on her heals). After our warm-up we did 400 fast followed by 400 easy, 800 fast followed by 400 easy, 1200 fast followed by 400 easy, and then another 800 fast followed by 1200 warm-down. Sarah says she takes after her little brother Aaron and likes the sprint-style track workouts. Pam says she'll take the long Saturday morning runs over track anytime.
Well, we should probably get back to drinking water to stay hydrated, trying various types of energy supplements (e.g., Gu, Power Gel), submitting our abstracts for an annual social psychology conference, and reading ridiculous amounts to study for generals (our test that is coming up in Sept.)!
Wish us luck on Saturday . . .
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thank you
First, thanks to everyone who has been reading our blog and donating on our websites. We can't tell you how grateful we are for your support.
This weekend was our 1.5 hour run. We started out at Camino Real marketplace (where Costco is) and ran down by Pam's house, through campus, and down the bike path past Goleta Beach. It wasn't so bad, particularly in contrast to last week's run. The 15K started at 8am, while our long Saturday workouts start at 7. It's amazing how much cooler it is just starting a bit earlier. After the run, we had a nutrition lesson where they taught us all about what we should be eating and drinking in preparation for running, and how to carbo load in the week before the marathon.
Sunday is cross-training day. Usually we just go to the gym, but this week I, Pam, am puppy-sitting while our advisor is on vacation, so Jeff and I decided to take Hobbes for a long hike up in the mou
ntains . We went up the west fork of the Cold Spring trail, and it was really beautiful, but really hot. The poor dog kept running ahead to find a patch of shade (or a bush) to hide in.
Since I didn't have any good pictures from the race, I'm posting a picture we took yesterday. This was taken at the top of the trail, looking down over Santa Barbara.
This weekend was our 1.5 hour run. We started out at Camino Real marketplace (where Costco is) and ran down by Pam's house, through campus, and down the bike path past Goleta Beach. It wasn't so bad, particularly in contrast to last week's run. The 15K started at 8am, while our long Saturday workouts start at 7. It's amazing how much cooler it is just starting a bit earlier. After the run, we had a nutrition lesson where they taught us all about what we should be eating and drinking in preparation for running, and how to carbo load in the week before the marathon.
Sunday is cross-training day. Usually we just go to the gym, but this week I, Pam, am puppy-sitting while our advisor is on vacation, so Jeff and I decided to take Hobbes for a long hike up in the mou
ntains . We went up the west fork of the Cold Spring trail, and it was really beautiful, but really hot. The poor dog kept running ahead to find a patch of shade (or a bush) to hide in.Since I didn't have any good pictures from the race, I'm posting a picture we took yesterday. This was taken at the top of the trail, looking down over Santa Barbara.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
From Sarah in Mountain View, CA
Like Pam mentioned, I'm on vacation right now. Well, I'm in between vacations actually and just working from the Bay Area for a few days. I've been keeping up on the running while I've been gone. In fact, one of Marc's friends who was in New Hampshire is training for a marathon too, so he helped keep me motivated while we were there. I've bumped up my long run this week to tomorrow (Thursday) instead of Saturday. We are supposed to run for 1.5 hrs, which should be around 11 miles. Hopefully I can find a good running path near Marc's place, and not hit any dead ends or get lost . . . wish me luck.
I found another picture from the 15k last week. This one is from much earlier in the race. It is also of me and "Pam." (Really this is one of the other people doing Team in Training - Javier - we are about the same speed, so we do our long runs together.)
Thanks so much to everyone that has taken the time to check these posts and write comments!
Tired
So, it's Pam, doing a solo update. Sarah is still on her NH/Catalina trip, so I've been doing the team workouts without her.
Sarah- you should be happy that you missed last night's track practice. It was pretty brutal. I'm sure hanging out in the Manchester airport wasn't the greatest either, but your legs probably aren't in as much pain this morning as mine are. They had us do the normal warm up (1.5 miles with sprints on the last four straightaways) and then played this mean game where they blew a whistle to determine how fast we had to run. If they blew it once, we went at an easy pace, 2 whistles was marathon pace, 3 was faster, and 4 was pretty much sprinting. We only did it for about 20 minutes, but there were some pretty long 4-whistle intervals in there.
Apparently the lesson was to not tire ourselves out at the beginning, because it's hard to recover after going too fast. I think I have learned that lesson well.
Maybe once Sarah gets home I'll get my own whistle and make her do some drills, so she can properly learn the lesson as well. :)
Sarah- you should be happy that you missed last night's track practice. It was pretty brutal. I'm sure hanging out in the Manchester airport wasn't the greatest either, but your legs probably aren't in as much pain this morning as mine are. They had us do the normal warm up (1.5 miles with sprints on the last four straightaways) and then played this mean game where they blew a whistle to determine how fast we had to run. If they blew it once, we went at an easy pace, 2 whistles was marathon pace, 3 was faster, and 4 was pretty much sprinting. We only did it for about 20 minutes, but there were some pretty long 4-whistle intervals in there.
Apparently the lesson was to not tire ourselves out at the beginning, because it's hard to recover after going too fast. I think I have learned that lesson well.
Maybe once Sarah gets home I'll get my own whistle and make her do some drills, so she can properly learn the lesson as well. :)
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Yay for update #2!
Since we last posted, we had our 1 1/4 hour run. We started at East beach and ran past the across the highway, and into Monticeto. Sarah went more than 9 miles in that time, and Pam came within sight of the 2nd water stop.
We also upped our training to 6-days a week, by adding a Monday 30 minute run. Tonight is a track workout, and the tomorrow we are both running the Semana Nautica race, which Jeff's hairstylist tells us is a quite old and very famous race. You can learn about it here: http://semananautica.bitwizedevelopment.com/ It's about 9.3 miles, and we're doing it in place of the 90 minute run that would otherwise come this Saturday. While it will be nice to get the long run out of the way, neither of us is that excited to be up at 6:30 on the 4th of July.
Wish us luck in our race, and have happy 4ths!
We also upped our training to 6-days a week, by adding a Monday 30 minute run. Tonight is a track workout, and the tomorrow we are both running the Semana Nautica race, which Jeff's hairstylist tells us is a quite old and very famous race. You can learn about it here: http://semananautica.bitwizedevelopment.com/ It's about 9.3 miles, and we're doing it in place of the 90 minute run that would otherwise come this Saturday. While it will be nice to get the long run out of the way, neither of us is that excited to be up at 6:30 on the 4th of July.
Wish us luck in our race, and have happy 4ths!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Number One
Yes, we are number one, but also this is our first blog post. Be excited.
Coach Jeff said we had to buy journals, but because we are environmentally conscientious, we decided to start a blog! This is where we'll post our training ups and downs.
So far, here's what we've done:
4 Saturday long runs (30 mins, 45 mins, 50 mins, 1 hr)
4 track workouts (inc. a timed mile - ouch!)
numerous cross training and individual runs (we've done all of them)
1 how's it hanging tourney
lots of bragging and whining (sorry Jeff H. and Marc C.)
Today, we cross trained for 45 mins - swimming and biking. Not to mention finalizing our study protocol and dependent measures . . . but we'll have to create a whole other blog for all the psych work we do.
Be sure to check back for updates as we progress towards our 26.2 mile goal!
Coach Jeff said we had to buy journals, but because we are environmentally conscientious, we decided to start a blog! This is where we'll post our training ups and downs.
So far, here's what we've done:
4 Saturday long runs (30 mins, 45 mins, 50 mins, 1 hr)
4 track workouts (inc. a timed mile - ouch!)
numerous cross training and individual runs (we've done all of them)
1 how's it hanging tourney
lots of bragging and whining (sorry Jeff H. and Marc C.)
Today, we cross trained for 45 mins - swimming and biking. Not to mention finalizing our study protocol and dependent measures . . . but we'll have to create a whole other blog for all the psych work we do.
Be sure to check back for updates as we progress towards our 26.2 mile goal!
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