Race Report: 4th Half Marathon!

Ok, it's been a week since I ran this... let's see what I remember!

ODDyssey Half Marathon
Philadelphia, PA - 5/22/11
Costumes were encouraged, but my creative juices were not flowing and I was more focused on trying to improve my time.

The night before (Saturday), I told myself I'd try to get ready for bed at 9:30...that didn't really happen.  I was more ready for bed at about 10:30, but my mind was still racing (and I wasn't even caffeinated), and I triple-checked my phone to make sure my alarm was set. I may have fallen asleep by 11.  Luckily I got a good night's sleep Friday night.

Sunday:
5:00: alarm. it was totally dark outside and 60F. 
5:01-5:25: It was a fuzzy blur.  But I know it included drinking some water, putting contacts in my tired eyes, brushing teeth, washing face, getting dressed, slapping some almond butter and raspberry preserves on a piece of wheat bread, grabbing a banana, pulling my half frozen water bottle out of the freezer and filling it with water.
5:30: picked up by a friend and tried to choke down the half sandwich and a small banana in the car (At that hour, my body barely knows it is awake, let alone that I should be hungry).
6:15: parking found. and it was free!

 

Ready to Run! (Photo courtesy of Jess)

I was going back and forth on what to wear on my head -- it was overcast, but I didn't know if it would get sunny once the fog/haze burned off.  I went with the Sweaty band and sunglasses - just in case. I also wore my Lululemon Run: Fast Shorts and my I Just Wanna Run tank, my Feetures socks and my Asics GT-2150s.  I also used my Camelbak water bottle and ifitness pouch.


7:00ish: Race start. 60F w/fog/mist/overcast, and pretty humid.
(Still, very happy with this.  It could have been a lot hotter, like today...where it was 70 at 7am and it would have warmed up to 79 by the time I finished).

The wave start with chip timing was a good thing; there were still people in line at port-a-potties when the starting horn blew.

I tried to take it easy at the beginning.  Despite the wave start, it was congested at the beginning, so that made it easy for me to take it slower.

 Out of control hair!

That picture was somewhere between the starting line and mile 1.1, OR between 2.8 and 4.0. Probably the latter, because there would be more people around me if it was closer to the beginning.

Mile 4.0: The begin of the down hill (the same one I'd be running up, 8.4 miles later)  I'm cool with running downhill.  I just apparently stare at my feet while I do it (with surprised eyebrows?)

Mile 4.5: Planned to have gu here, but wasn't feeling it.  Knew I should have something, so I put it off until mile 5.0, where I had a mint chocolate Gu.

Mile 5.75ish was the first turn around along the river (see bottom of the map above)

I attribute my faster pace during lap 8 (mile 7.0-8.0) to the gal near me in the red Lululemon tank.  We never spoke, but were running next to each other for a good chunk of that mile.  It was a slightly faster pace than I had been running, but it helped keep me going through an uneventful stretch of the course.  Thank you, Red Lululemon Tank girl!

Mile 8: I remember my watch said 1:23.  By the way, as this course did not have a lot of tunnels/bridges/tall buildings immediately nearby, my watch's mile markers were pretty close to the course mile markers.  It varied somewhat, but the furthest my Garmin deviated was that it beeped for the mile, and I still had another .02-.03 before I reached the sign along the course. (So my watch would be at, i.e. 9.03 when I was in line with the #9 mile marker on the course).

Mile 9.5: Planned to have another gu here, but felt full.  Postponed to mile 10.0.  I know that meant only 3.1 miles left, but I didn't want to be totally drained on the hill right before the finish line.  For variety, went with the Clif Shot energy gel in mocha.

Second turnaround was at about mile 9.7.  I wish I had looked up at exactly which point this turnaround was.  I spent a lot of mile 7ish on wondering how much further until the turn around.

When my Garmin hit mile 11.0, I took a brief, planned walk break to give my HR a chance to drop a couple beats and to save a little energy for the upcoming hill at mile 12.4-ish.  I stopped and walked for about :45 then ran again, and amazingly, the walk break did not slow down my average pace for that lap too much (lap 12 - 10:37).

Mile 12.4: Begin the Up Hill.  I was feeling DONE, but I pushed through. I tried to remind myself (constantly) that this hill was not as bad as the hills in the Bucks County half marathon last month.  It did feel longer than it should have though.

I ran through this Civil War memorial at mile 13.0 (and from the other direction earlier in the race):

[Photo credit]

While I was working really hard from mile 12.4 to the end, I guess I only got my average pace up to 9:54 for that last full mile.  It was up hill though!

I forgot to stop my Garmin right after crossing finish; didn't hit stop until after I collected all my goodies.

My Garmin said 2:15:55 and as I was about to run under the chip sensor at the finish line, the clock was 2:17 and change.  I knew I had started about 2ish minutes after the gun, so I knew I was sub 2:16, but not likely under 2:15.

I picked up my medal, was given a banana, some peanut butter crackers, a KIND bar, and a bottle of water...then my finisher's pint glass.

I found the tent with touch-screen computers allowing you to look up your finish time.  You got to enter your bib number, and you were able to generate a little receipt telling you your gun time and chip time.  Very cool!

The results were...
Gun time: 2:17:50
Chip time: 2:15:32 - PR by 3:23!
(Previous best was ~2:18:55, read about my last half marathon here)

Next I found the ladies I arrived with and we found the beer tent, where they were offering to fill your souvenir glass with complimentary Yuengling or a locally-made stout.  While I brought my ID, I didn't need to show it to enter the beer tent; it was nice that they just looked at your age on your race bib.

While walking back to the car, a funny looking truck rounded the corner and pulled into the shoulder.  We had to investigate.

Free coconut water!

Vita Coco is one of my preferred brands of coconut water, and I opted for the tangerine because I have not tried it before.

Once we got back to the car, we hunted down a Starbucks (iced nonfat latte = protein!... caramel = carbs?), then made our way back to NJ.


Loved:

• 7am start: sure, it sucks when you need to get out of bed at the butt crack of dawn...or before. But it's great to be done running before 9:30!
• Ample free parking within a mile of the starting line.
• Some really creative and fun costumes to look at/be distracted by!
• Finish line was a nice little chute lined with people who were cheering!
• After finishing, easily directed into the snacks/beer tent area.
• Finisher's Pint Glass + Medal that doubles as a bottle opener:

Didn't Love:

• Sections where there were lots of spectators...who were not clapping or cheering.  They were clearly looking for their runner (silently).  Someone needed to teach them how to cheer!  How lame to run by and have all these people lining the streets, standing quietly. Maybe they weren't awake yet.
• ASI Photo apparently stopped taking finish line photos at about 2:05 (approximately the first 709 runners of 1538).  In all the events I've done, I've never not had a finish line photo!  Kinda weird, if you ask me.
• Only finish line picture of me:

Srsly?  No finish line pics?  Sorry for bringing you into this, Mr. 1231.

Meh:

• Wave Start- good idea. This wasn't too formal though - there were four "waves" based on your expected pace and some signs on the ground to show you where to stand. More important for the fast people than me... I know to start near the back.
• Bag Check- I don't think this is very common for smallish events.  Nice to have, but I don't use this.
• Looping/Out-and-back portions of course- I barely know where I ran for the first couple miles.  It was windy/loopy and part of it was repeated, but it was through the park and pretty.  Then we ran down a hill around mile 4-ish and then ran along the Schuykill river.  There were two out and back chunks along the river.  That can be good or bad...you see the faster people ahead of you, looping back already.  It can make you feel slow, or it can be a good opportunity to view costumes of runners way faster than you.
• Obstacles included a moon bounce (between mile 7 and 9) and Jenga (maybe around mile 11?), but as I was shooting to improve my time - I did not stop to play. There was also a place for costumed runners to stop and be photographed, and water balloons were being tossed at runners later on, too.

Costumes that caught my eye include:

• a woman who was a shark? with a pinwheel on her head, temporary shark tattoos, and a gun that blew bubbles as she ran.
• Elvis running with Forrest Gump.  They seemed to be taking turns holding a giant American flag.
• A woman with a car costume made from a cardboard box.
• A dish and a spoon ("Hey diddle diddle...and the dish ran away with the spoon")
• A police and a robber (with a bag of $)
• A lady bug
• Big Bird
• a nicely-feathered reddish/orangeish bird
• lots of tutus - on guys and gals
• male and female bakers?
• a team of Wonder Women (underwear over tights)
• a bride and bridesmaid (in white and purple tutus)

Overall, this was a great race!  It seemed well organized with regular race-related emails leading up to the big day.  The ample free parking for race day was very nice!  Along the course, there were regular water stops with occasional Gatorade (or Gu brew, maybe?) but I just drank my own water from my handheld bottle.  The water stop volunteers were very enthusiastic in cheering for runners as they passed.  The finisher's area was fantastic!  Lots of snacks, music, and of course free beer! I know I will get lots of use out of my pint glass, and this will be my most useful medal yet!

Longest Post Ever.

Week in Review:
Monday- an easy 3.02 miles
Tuesday- 6x400@5k pace = 3.60 miles
Wednesday- Strength stuff in my living room
Thursday- Chocolate cake with cherries + Milk Stout for hubby's birthday.
Friday- 30 35 minute tempo run in the morning = 3.32 miles
Saturday- half marathon expo

Good thing it was a little bit of a taper this week, because work whooped me this week.  I can also tell how busy/tired I am because my Gmail inbox is over 150, which is ridiculous.  I need to take some time to clean that up tomorrow.

Monday's dinner... and leftovers for lunch throughout the entire week:
Creamy Caprese Pasta from How Sweet it Is.
I actually read the recipe on her blog that day, before going grocery shopping after work.  It looked awesome and sounded easy enough so it became dinner that night.



-I used half whole wheat penne and half whole wheat rotini...cleaning up the leftover pasta in our pantry.
-I had 17 ounces of pasta instead of 16.
-I initially cut up 4 oz of mozzarella, but ended up using more like 6 oz after slicing some extra for the top of the pasta dish before it went in the oven.
-The sauce I used was vodka sauce (see above, operation: use what's in the pantry)
-It completely filled an 8" x 8" x 4" deep baking dish






Tuesday: Haircut:

It was long overdue.  Last chop was November.


Details of my Tuesday Speed Work:
After my hair was blow-dried and had anti-frizz stuff in it, I put it in a pony tail and ran.

Goal pace was in the 9:24-9:28 range.
Not very consistent...but consistently faster than 9:24!

I shocked myself with that first 400...while fast, it was strangely NOT uncomfortable!  Maybe after this fourth half marathon is past me, and my legs have recovered, I'll see how fast I can run a mile.  I might be pleasantly surprised.

Wednesday I did strength stuff in my living room:

2 x 10 stability ball pushups

10 chest pushups on knees

10 tricep pushups on knees

3 x 25 regular crunches

2 x 40 bicycle crunches

2 x 45 sec plank on forearms
2 x 20 stability ball crunches

2 x 15 second laying on back with legs straight, feet 6" off ground
15 up and outs (for lower abs - lay on back, legs straight up in the air, bring down and then out straight in front of you. Repeat.)
2 x 20 russian twists w/5lb weight
plank sequence: 20 sec plank...turn to right side, left arm in air: 8 reaches with left arm, 20 sec plank, turn to left side: 8 reaches with right arm

10 jumping jacks

3 x 20 deadlift-->upright row w/5lb weights (see Tone It Up video here, at :58)

2 x 10 tricep extensions w/5lbs

2 x 15 squats with 5lbs
2 x 10 squats
2 x 10 lunges w/5lbs in each hand, arms at sides

30 second wall sit

2 x 30 lunges with bicep curl - alternating sides

No, not in that order. Yes, I wrote it all down as I did it.

Saturday:

Half marathon Expo/Packet Pickup in Philly.

 Parking Garage Fail ^

 Race Shirt - men's sizing only, so I hope my husband likes it.

Looking forward to the souvenir pint glass at the finish line :)

I think this is what I'm wearing tomorrow:

Sweaty band?  + Sunglasses if it's sunny. Or hat instead?
I'll probably bring it all and decide last minute.


Current forecast for tomorrow? Pretty perfect:

Race number pinned on. Garmin is charging. Pre-Race jitters starting to set in.

Going to try to force myself to bed at 9:30 (yikes), for a 5am wake up.

Then at 5am I will try to choke down a banana and some almond butter on toast when my body doesn't even know I'm awake and hungry yet.  Then a 45 minute drive to Philly, then run!

A Goal: sub-2:15 would be amazing! ( <10:19 pace)
B Goal: 2:15-2:17 would still be a PR (10:19-10:28 pace)
C Goal: sub-2:19 would also still be a PR :)  (<10:37 pace)

12 Miler

Saturday I ran 12.28 miles...Last long run before my half marathon next weekend!

You can say what you want about New Jersey, but I really have some nice running areas and varied running surfaces near me...all along the same run.  Have a look for yourself:

Road

Gravel/Dirt Path

Grassy Meadow

Dirt Path through Tall Trees

Less swampy/More of a "wetland" when we have had rain.

Usually filled with the sounds of Spring Peepers

Dirt Path Along Canal

 

Now for some fun findings along my run--

I've heard of people being beaten with an ugly stick, but did not know it was available for purchase.

This goose was honking nonstop from a tree ten feet above the canal.  Maybe it was protecting nearby baby geese as it is that time of year, but I didn't see any yellow fuzzy ducks myself on this run.

This is a big blue heron, also sitting in a tree.

As  you can probably tell from my pictures, it was overcast, and about 65F.  There was a chance of thunderstorms, but luckily they held off for my run!

12.28 miles in 2 hours and 19 minutes, at an average pace of an easy 11:19.  My average moving pace was 10:58, but I stopped to take several pictures.  I decided to run the last couple miles at closer to half marathon pace- Mile 11 was at a 10:21 pace, Mile 12 at a 10:12 pace, and .16 mile at 10:17 pace before a brief walking cool down.

I had a Mint Chocolate gu at mile 5.0 and a Chocolate Outrage gu at mile 9.0.  And I brought my beloved handheld Camelbak Water bottle.  It was my first time trying Chocolate Outrage.  It tasted a lot like Mint Chocolate, just - not surprisingly - without the mint.

Oooh, and speaking of my upcoming half...remember once upon a time at my last half marathon when I donned a lovely temporary tattoo on my calf? 

 That valuable advertising space is still available for rent if anyone is interested.

Well, wearing that tattoo and dealing with the lady who asked me if it was a real tattoo (srsly?) paid off and I won a $50 gift card to a local (Philly) running store!

 Sweet!

My husband laughs at me for all the contests and giveaways I enter, but you won't have a chance of winning if you never enter! Or, maybe I am just lucky.

ETA:
Hopefully my "luck" holds up through this weekend, because this is what this week's forecast looks like.  I know it's still too early to know what the weather will be 5 6 days from now with any real certainty.  I'm counting on the rain to let up... Friday night.

Speed work & Strength

After much waffling on Monday and Tuesday (thanks to all who responded), I decided to not squeeze in an 11 mile run.  It has been hard enough for me to get in an 8-9 mile run after a full day of work; I think 11 miles would have been more stressful than helpful, and I probably would have tried to run it faster than I'm supposed to for an easy run.  I'm confident I can run that distance, as I've run it before... and I will be doing 12 this weekend (for real).  So I stuck with my speed work Tuesday night.

6 x 800@10k pace (approx. 9:45 for a 2:15 half).
800m = 1/2 mile

I ended up with all my splits FASTER than 9:45. I highlighted them in Garmin Connect. I was pretty pleased!  As usual, when I'm warming up I feel slow and like there's no way I'll be able to hit the time I want for the first interval.  Then I surprise myself and I get out of my funk.

Rest intervals were 400m or .25 mile.  I walked for about .05 mi. or until my HR dropped into the 140s,

then I returned to a slow run for the remainder of the rest interval until it was time to run faster again.

After my run I did 3 sets of 10 of these for my lower back:

[source]

Wednesday morning before work, I got in my "strength" work, sort of.  This is what I did:
25 crunches
30 second plank on forearms
10 reps, 5lbs Janae's first shoulder move
25 crunches
10 reps, 5lbs Janae's 2nd shoulder move
25 bicycle crunches
10 reps, 5lbs Janae's 3rd shoulder move
40 second plank on forearms
10 reps, 5lbs shoulder press
25 bicycle crunches
60 second plank on forearms
chest pushups - 10 on toes, 10 on knees

I am missing spinning since my gym membership ended...so Wednesday night I hopped on my bike (really quickly) after going grocery shopping and before making dinner.  I biked 3.33 miles in 14:32.  Better than sitting on my butt for those 14.5 minutes, right?

Virgin Hash

Good news, that flat tire I wrote about the other day has been repaired!  I didn't do it, but I watched my husband replace the tube, and I'm pretty confident I'd be able to do it myself next time.

Saturday I went for a glorious shoulda-been-5 mile-pace run.  I went longer.  If I had a video camera, it might have been the running equivalent of Double Rainbow ...all the way.  My first mile was my warm up and was fine...splits 2-5 ranged from 10:18-10:29, all within the range I was hoping for (anything in the 10:20s; a 10:19 pace would be a 2:15 half).

I had one more pace mile to do, and I got to the part of my favorite park where they just recently tore up the old paved road to plant grass seed.  Except it is a now very un-level packed dirt surface with giant chunks of asphalt ranging from large gravel size to pieces bigger than my fist throughout. Half way through, my course took me to a grassy path.  I was sure this non-road surface would slow me down.  I checked my watch to see I had run a mile on it at a 9:50 pace!  And I felt GREAT.  I decided to keep running.  So I continued through the park on the grassy path, in a giant loop, returning the unpaved mess and managed to run another faster mile at 9:51. I was shocked!


I tried to slow down for my cool down but ran it at half marathon pace, apparently...10:23 for that .41 mile.  Then I walked the last .04 mile home.

I was pretty excited by how comfortable I felt for that run after my warm up, and returned in such a great mood!!  Just in time to shower and hop in the car to drive to nearby (well, a little over an hour) Victory Brewing to meet a friend from high school.

Throwback Lager for me and Bayrisch Pale Ale for hubs.

We came home with our two growlers filled with two newer beers: Herbrucker Pils and Tettnanger Tripel.

Sunday morning was productive, we woke up strangely early for us, had a delicious "brunch" (really, breakfast, it was at 9am) from our favorite restaurant and sat outside because it was so nice, went grocery shopping, got dog food, then did 3 loads of laundry and cleaned the bathroom.  Whew!

Sunday was also supposed to be my 11 mile day...and I screwed it up.

I filled up my camelbak back pack (was going to try it instead of my handheld water bottle, for fun - I've only used it for biking), and I packed two gu in the camelbak, ready to head to the nearby canal towpath for my long run.  Then at the last minute I decided to go to run my very first Hash run with a friend's group.

What's a hash run you might ask?  Check out this description (not the group I ran with).

The run was 5.6 miles (or that's what I did) in 1:21.  Not a fast pace, but it's not supposed to be.  There was a lot of stopping, turning around, running through (only a little) mud, through woods, etc.  One of the faster guys there got about 7 miles on his garmin, but he was the one to usually run ahead and see if we were on the right course.  The run ended up at the house of the person who set the course...where beer and snacks were waiting.

I had a Jersey Summer breakfast ale, which wasn't bad.  And probably a much better choice than a coffee stout, before running some additional miles.

An hour later, the guy whose house it was gave everyone a ride back to their cars.  Since this was supposed to be a long run day for me, and I knew where we were and how to get back to my car...I ran there.  It was 2.79 miles - which were supposed to be easy miles - that I ran at a 10:54, 10:56, and 10:37 pace.  Not bad at all with a beer, some mac salad, and two bite size quiches in my belly.

I drove home and cleaned out a bunch of the healthy things in the fridge (it wasn't all beer and mac salad this weekend!) Veggies and Kashi crackers, hummus, and delicious feta.

Overall, the hash was fun and I would definitely do one again!  I'm just not a super muddy person, so I'd be more of a fair-weather hasher...and would look for more opportunities like today where it hadn't rained in a couple days :)  I should also mention, I picked 4 ticks off of my shoes during the 5.6 mile portion of the run...and found one in my shoe when I got home. Gross!! Luckily no ticks anywhere else and none were stuck to me, just my socks/shoes.  Maybe I'd wear some bug repellent with Deet next time to try to deter the ticks.  Ticks and all, I would do it again.  It's a nice way to explore some new parks/other towns, it's very social, and it's something fun to keep your running interesting.


Question for you all:
This is my tentative plan for the next two weeks.

Week 5  5/9-5/15	2 easy  + strength	6x800  @10k	2-3 easy  + strength	50 min  tempo	Rest	3 pace	12 long	26-27
Week 6  5/16-5/22	3 easy  + strength	6x400  @5k	2 easy  + strength	30 min  tempo	Rest	Rest	Half!

As I did not run 11 miles today, should I be looking to squeeze in an 11 mile run on Tuesday before getting to 12+ next weekend??  Do I just let it slide since I know I can run 13.1 miles and have done so on at least 3 other occasions?

I'm really feeling like I want to get it in there...but then I don't know which run to sacrifice later this week...the 6x800 at 10k pace or the 50 minute tempo run.  I guess I did a tempo run last week, so maybe do the speed work?  Or is the tempo run more valuable since I'm holding that same pace for longer...

Regardless, I should have some great weather for my runs this week... I love spring!

 ETA-
Fun fact: This past week (May 2 - May 8) I ran 32.13 miles! I think that's my all time weekly high.
Another fun fact: Sunday's hash run brought me up to 320 miles for 2011.  That's half of my 2010 total on the 128th day of the year!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

3 Runs and 2 Flats

A recap of my recent runs...

Sunday: 5 mile pace run + warm up and cool down.  No music.  The weather was perfect, it was 60 and sunny!  Goal half marathon pace for those five miles was 10:19-10:23 (for a hopeful 2:15-2:16 half marathon)

Monday: Long Run - 9.56 miles.  No music.  It was 70 and sunny at 5:30 pm.  I wanted to make that long run longer, but I did it after work and it was getting late (also: dark and buggy).  Since the length was not as long as I wanted, I thought I'd try to make the most of it by running it 3/1 as per some long runs on Hal Higdon's advanced half marathon plan (first 3/4 easy...last 1/4 at half marathon pace).

I had a Clif Shot Energy Gel (Mocha) at mile 4.6ish.  It was my first time trying the flavor and my second Clif energy gel.  I really enjoyed the coffee/chocolate flavor!  I would buy this flavor again.  I'm not sure that I need the 50mg of caffeine, but I knew it was caffeinated, and held off from any caffeinated beverages aside from my regular morning cup of coffee.

(sorry, it's kinda blurry)

Wednesday: 45 minute-turned 50 minute-tempo run.  It poured all day, but luckily it stopped by the time I got around to running at 5:45ish.  It was 50ish and overcast.  I listened to music for this run.  Hal Higdon says a 45 minute tempo run should consist of 15 minutes of easy running, 20 minutes of near 10k pace, and 10 minutes of easy running at the end. Mine ended up a couple minutes longer.

I also ran a little faster than I intended to toward the end of those middle miles...10k pace for my goal half marathon time would be 9:45-9:49ish...clearly the last .4 miles was faster than that.  I can't even blame it on a downhill or something because that stretch was flat or slightly uphill.

After my run I did some core work in my living room:

-50 regular crunches
-30 sec plank on forearms
-15 "double crunches"? (start with knees bent, back on floor- like a regular crunch.  Bring knees in toward chest and lift head toward abs at the same time...then extend legs out straight (in air, not back on ground) and straighten out your top half. Repeat)  These are tough and I think I need too strengthen my lower back more for them.
-45 sec plank on forearms
-25 crunches with knees bent to the left; 25 crunches with knees bent to the right
-2x 10 sec side plank on on right fore arm, 2x 10 sec side plank on left forearm
-60 second plank on forearms

My spring semester gym membership ended...and the summer group classes don't start up until the week of the 16th.  And the spinning I'm interested in will be moving from 5:30 to a 5:00 start time, which will make it harder to get to in time from work.  I don't know if I will bother renewing my membership until after my May 22 half marathon.  Also, unfortunately the summer schedule does not include boot camp :(  I'll have to try to remember as many exercises as I can from that class and do them on my living room floor.

Oh, one more thing...I would have also said "who cares about spinning, I've got my bike!"  Except after Monday's long run, I came home to find my bike tire flat.  Wah, wah....

I'm no genius, but I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be able to stick my finger between the tire and the rim.

Tuesday, hubs rode his bike to work only to find a flat tire on his bike at the end of the day.  So now we're both down by one tire.  Not bad considering we bought our bikes nearly 6 years ago!  This is the first time either of these tires has gotten a flat and needed a new tube.  We ordered the tubes/tools online to fix it ourselves (well, he probably will be the one to fix it, and I will watch).

Anyway, this will mean a couple-day delay in my biking.  As I am not currently a member of a gym and my bike has one functional tire, it means my cross-training will have to consist of walking the dog...or learning to ride a unicycle.