From a post on rec.sport.disc, via Google Groups:

Note to self: two Clif shots, each of 100 calories each, do not replace a full lunch on track workout days.

Second note to self: one should clue in that if said one tries to put her sports bra on backwards, perhaps a nap would be better than a track workout.

With that said, what was I thinking? "I'm happy my fitness is coming back." Must have been the Snack of Champions™.

Today's track workout kicked my ass. It consisted of:

ladders	The usual 12 different ladders
5-10-5	Working mostly on form, start at a center cone, sprint 5 yards to the next cone, turn sprint back 10 yards, turn then sprint back 5 yards to the beginning cone
single leg bounding	going for maximum distance, 5 with left leg then 5 with right leg
ice skaters x20	(as quick and explosively as you can)
sprints	50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m, 200m, 100m, 50m (catch your breath after running a sprint, then do the next one, i.e. go at your own pace but run hard when you are running)
sideways shuffle	x20
two leg bounding	go for maximum distance, 10 jumps
rest 5 minutes
repeat	go back to the single leg bounding and do it all a second time
mile jog
abs
lunges	10 lunges, 10 lunge jumps, 10 lunges; repeat

I was nothing if not consistent in the 200s. I ran 45-46 second 200s every time. Which is such a blow to the confidence. I could run them in 26 in college. Sigh. My 400 times were 1:46, which also sucks big time. Of course, when I ran the 64 second 400, I had to do it only once.

My hamstring is hurting again, too. I really need to let that thing heal already.

Sigh.

What is it with Smith boys? I'd really like to know. Because as far as I can tell, Smith boys are all blessed with dynamic personalities (and a hint of insanity, which we'll call the Smith Factor).

Andy Smith falls smack dab in the middle of my Smith men data points (which currently consist of Mark, Kyle, and Kevin). I'm not sure if the Smith insanity extends to the Smith women, so Heidi is currently safe. Maybe the Smith Factor follows the men's side of the family, as the stupidity gene follows the men's side of the (admittedly fictional) Simpsons.

Certain people in this world have a dynamic personality that a simply attracts people to them (like moths to bright lights, if a cliche is needed). Bharat has one; so does Ariel (geez, does Ariel have one). Kim Wasson's 12 year old daughter, Ceili, is the only female I've met that has one. Mark Smith has one, too.

And so does Andy.

I'm not sure if the dynamic personality is necessarily based on the ability to lead, though that I'm sure it is factor. Being inspiring is definitely a factor. A positive outlook on life (the world is a good place, the glass is half full) is another factor. I'm struggling to define exactly what it is, I've never been able to explain it well.

In the end, it's just damn attractive.

Mike tells me I'm not supposed to admit that. Kris might agree.

As a woman working in technology, apparently admitting attraction is bad, bad, bad. Maybe as a woman, I'm not supposed to admit that at all, I don't know. Given Andy says any edits I make show up in the various RSS readers (Who reads this site anyway? You're all crazy! This is for me, dammit!), once I post that, it's out there.

Still.

Damn, I really need to upgrade. I need to tag for real. Bah. This weekend I'll be heading to the colo. Enough whining.

Of course, upgrading means I'll have to go through and retag all my posts. Sigh.

I read about a study done years ago with cockroaches and competitiveness. In the study, the speed of a single cockroach's walk from one end of a chute/corridor/walkway to the other. After the times were recorded, two cockroaches were placed in the chute and were again timed.

The second time the cockroaches were timed, they were much faster. The introduction of another caused both to speed up, presumably in competition.

The cockroach effect is very much a person effect, too. And not in just, say, sports. Cars driving on the freeway will speed up when another car is going to pass (on the right or the left, actually), people will move more quickly to reach a line more quickly than another person walking to the line, joggers will run faster if there's an audience, small things like that.

Tonight, in a true example of a cockroach effect, I ran the neighborhood loop in 19:31, including a stop for a twisted ankle and two slowdowns to figure out what was going on.

Of course, not dragging Annie the whole way might have helped my time.

Kris went for the run with me tonight, offering to drag, er, walk, er, trot Annie along the way. After about a quarter mile, he asked, "Is this your normal pace?" I hemmed and hawwed, then admitted, that no, he was being my cockroach, pushing me along faster.

Considering I ran the loop on today's snack of champions (two slices of butter pound cake) 6 minutes faster than just a week ago, I'm happy my fitness is coming back. The stretches and strength training are helping my legs considerably.

Hot fscking damn!

Ultimate Fighter 2 starts tonight! Whoo hoo!

Yes, I have every intention of spending Monday nights with the welters (Joe, Luke, Josh, Sammy (Sammy? WTF?), Melvin (Melvin?), Kenny, Anthony, Marcus and Jorge) and the heavies (Tom, Mike, Rob, Seth, Keith, Brad, Rashand, Kerry and Eli).

All I ask from you boys is this: please, please, please have personalities! Leben rocked because he was crazy and a big baby at the same time. And Diego? He does yoga and still kicks ass. BTW, Koscheck sucks.

Matt Hughes (31, 5'9", the most dominant 170 pounder of all time, current world champion and pound for pound the greatest UFC fighter, evar) and Rich Franklin (30, 6'1", didn't come from any martial arts background and, yet, is the current UFC middleweight world champion (and on the card when Liddell fought Couture at the end of the first season of UF)) are the coaches. This'll be fun.

Heh.

The first line at the house, "No one pisses on my bed!" Ode to Leben.

Yay Tivo!

Update: No! No! No! There's Right Guard Extreme product placement in the show. Oh, the horror!

Update 2: What the? 5 minutes at a 5 mile per hour pace, followed by 5 minutes each of 6 miles per hour, 7 miles per hour, 8 miles per hour, 9 miles per hour and finally 10 miles per hour. A 30 minute run. Puh-leaze! Even I can make it through the first 20 minutes of that one without breaking a sweat. Those last five minutes? Okay, I'd have issues. But that first five minutes at a 12 minute mile pace better not break you.