6.26.12

Just ate like 5 kit kats. Delicious. In other breaking news I ran 5 miles this Sunday. Yay! Felt great, nice warm morning in Central Park at the Achilles Hope & Possibility 5miler. Incredibly inspiring to see people not let their disabilities stop them from being active. Not going to forget the appreciation I have for my whole healthy body. Not after that run. And doing 3 miles later today!

2nd half of June

Time flies and it's funny to think of how much time I let slip away. Especially considering how 1. impatient and 2. easily distracted I am. You'd think I'd get more done in 2 weeks. But no. Missed my race yesterday - a 5 miler. It was going to kick my ass to begin with but I only got 4 hours of sleep. Thank you, but no. I'm going to have to make my races a priority until I get to the half in September. Oh yeah, in a fit of ambition I signed up for a half marathon. I'm actually really excited because I'm planning for it this time around. I'm going to run at least a mile a day on my "rest" days to keep my schedule and habits consistent. So the plan for this week is: Monday - 3 miles + ab work Tuesday - 1 mile + arm & leg strength training Wednesday - 4 miles + ab work Thursday - 1 mile + arm & leg strength training Friday - 2 miles + ab work Saturday - 1 mile + + arm & leg strength training Sunday - 5 mile race Going to run in the mornings this week so I'm going to be calling it an early night most nights. This will be the most difficult thing of all I think, is becoming more conscious of my time once I get off of work and prioritizing what needs to be done. If I have a 90minute work-out time in the morning carved out, with a 45 minute shower/breakfast/get ready for work time to leave the house by 9am I need to wake up at 6:15/6:30am. Yikes. That means going to bed at 10:30 or 10:45pm. Which means if I have worked out from 6:30-7:30 or 8 I have 2.5 hours of free time before hitting the sack. Also having a cook out on Sunday which means some house clean-up during the week! And some grilling testing...since I'm kind of a novice. Ugh. It'll be worth it but ugh.

June jolt

Banged my knees up pretty badly last Monday and took the week off of running. Got a good strength workout in on Saturday but was resting for the most part. Back again today for 2 miles or bust!

on again

So, I'll admit I haven't fallen off the bandwagon completely when it comes to running. I've had at least one run a week for the past month, but life always manages to make its way into my running plan. And I don't make the grand effort to reschedule. But I think I'm ready to get back into it. I have a month to train for a 5-miler. I always think of things like running or exercising as distractions from something else. But this time I want to approach it as its own facet of my life. Not as something that I'll do for a while until everything else in life falls into place, but as another part of my life. Something I do to do it, not just as a way to burn off extra energy or stress. I run to run. Joined a new gym that doesn't have towels. So I need to go get some, and maybe a larger or just better gym bag... getting a little awkward to carry around. But first towels, then laundry, then make a plan for the week.

4/5/12

4 miles bam.

4/4/12

3 miles Monday
2 miles Tuesday
Thinking of skipping running today and picking it up tomorrow. Got to do an extra round of sets tonight to make up for going out yesterday (and not doing said sets).
Then who knows what. Race Saturday morning...to skip or not to skip...that is the question. Whether tis nobler to to make a last-ditch effort or sleep in on Saturday - To be continued

4/3/12

On the upside, though, I ran 3 miles last night. 2 miles, then 20 min on elliptical followed up with a 1 mile victory lap on the treadmill.

Going to work out again today before an 8:30 date...or maybe I shouldn't jinx myself by writing anything here.

Fail

Just total, all around all out fail for doing all the things I say I'm going to do on here.

Bad form.

3/26/12 3 miles

New day, new run.
Going to try out Blink tomorrow. Tonight back to the ol' gym for a run. 2-3 miles on the treadmill, then some quick grocery shopping then back home for cooking and 8-minute abs and arm and leg exercises.

Trying to get out of my funk of a mood. Some basil should do the trick...

3/21/12

Alright. So did 2 miles on Monday. Respectable. Skipped yesterday and am running tonight. Thinking of switching gyms to save major $$.

And am really not doing well with waking up early for AM runs. Going to try again with renewed gusto next week but not sure what will come of it.

One great thing that I have been keeping up with is other training. I've started arm, leg and ab exercises and have done them since Sunday! Wooo!

Need to run the park this weekend and see what I'm in for in a few weeks. Time to train for real so I can push my butt over the finish line of a 10K. Yikes!

Weekend 3/17-3/18

Okay, so I only ran like a mile total on Saturday. And volunteered for a race this morning. BUT I have been very good about the diet changes. I just tracked my foods for the past two days and I'm happy with how I did. Reading another book from the library on a plant-based diet and it's making me want to give up meat for a while. Maybe when I smell chicken cooking tomorrow I'll change my tune...

Tomorrow, running 2 miles in the AM. Getting up at 6:30, which is a hell of a lot easier than the 4:50 I woke up at this morning. Then when I get back, doing a round of 3 exercises with my brand-new 5lb free weights!!!

I'm excited to have them around and be able to use them while watching TV. Tonight going to do 8 minute abs before watching the biggest loser.

2 miles tomorrow. Watched thousands of people run 13 miles today. I think I can knock out two. Feeling really good today.

Changing

Oh wow. I love H&M for their adorable cheap clothing, but wow, do their changing rooms have the most unflattering light or what?
After a quick trip in there yesterday after work, I came out feeling pretty down. And I want that to change. I am going to start now to make better choices. No more 200 calorie afternoon cheese-it snacks. No more seconds when I'm not truly hungry. No more filling my body with fat so that it looks like fat.
No more just sitting around. Time to add weights and lunges to my regular tv-watching routine.
No more lazy-bones. Getting up and going running every day at least one mile. Keeping to my running schedule.
Taking care of myself, my body and my life with every bite of food, every free minute.

Already feel proud of my body from where it started a few months ago, but ready to make the commitment to make the best choices from now on.

Going to try the following for a month and see how it goes:
Switch from dairy milk to soy milk.
Oatmeal or two eggs for breakfast every day.
Limit grains/pasta to one serving per meal.
One serving of animal protein per day.
At least 8 glasses of water a day.
Hot water with lemon in the morning.

Unlimited clean veggies and fruit.

NO soda, no sugary juice. Only coffee, tea, water and soymilk. And vodka/gin tonics.

Happening now.

Living Strong

So this workweek has been really tough. Lots of stuff going on, which I love, but being busy combined with the daylight savings change has left me not able to go to sleep wake up early enough to run. Also on Monday my right knee was sore and yesterday the right ankle was bugging me. Leg seems okay today, though.

So tired today, too. Going to get back on track and run tomorrow AM.

Also going to start logging food again with myplate.com. I miss running. Even though it's only been two days. Going to get to CP this weekend to go over the course for the 10K coming up!

So tomorrow AM: 2 miles. Yay, glad to be getting back on the road!

3/7 & 3/8 -- 3.5 miles

Ran last night, was so sore in my quads and in particular on my right inner thigh.
Did 2 minute walking warm up and then tried to do 6mph but it was just hurting. So I did 5 mph (12 min mile) for the first mile. Then walked a bit, then increased the spread from 5mph up to normal for the second mile.

Then did 13 minutes on the stationary bike on "cascade" mode level 5.

This morning ran 1.5 miles (1 mile on my own in 9:34 and about .5 running miles in run/walk intervals with Heather).

Would love to continue running in the morning. It's a little slow going and feels a bit shocking to the system to go that early - 6:30 yikes! But it's really great feeling afterwards. And a quick 10 minute nap after showering helps, too.

Going to a show tonight so no AM run tomorrow. Packing the gym bag instead tomorrow for another treadmill run this time aiming for another 2-3 miles.

Last week 2/27-3/4/12

Ran 3 miles on Monday and did the 5K Zombie race on 3/3! Toughest work out ever. Also meant my poor shoes died.

So last night in lieu of a work out I went to Jackrabbit sports and got a new pair! Going to try them out on the real treadmill tonight. Cool store, they said I needed a neutral pair after a nifty little running analysis.

Not feeling great, though. Super headache again today and a little congested.

So tonight going to run at least 2 miles, hopefully 3. Would love to run for 30 minutes straight. Just go and go and go!

2/25/12 RACEDAY!

I DID IT! I did it! I did it!

Doing a little happy dance because I finished my first race! Ever! It was a 4 mile race through Prospect Park at 8am. What a beautiful day for a race, sun was shining, wind was breezy but not overpowering, it was cold but not freezing. Gorgeous.
The funny thing was, I checked the website last night and they were considering postponing the race due to weather conditions. Ha! I guess it's hard to tell even 12 hours ahead of time what it's going to be like.

Met a couple girls, one who was also a first-time racer who started running in October (just like me!) and another who had run the race last year as her first ever race. Really nice and supportive and helped calm my nerves as I pinned on my bib number.

Then after jamming all together, the race started and in two minutes I'd already lost track of those girls I met. This race was for me, no matter how goofy, red-faced or slow I looked. I got to the start line about 7 minutes after they blew the horn and had already lost track of the two. So I kept subtracting 7 from each mile-marker timer. Mile 1 was good, it was a little slow going being in the last group of runners, so there were a ton of people in front of me. We went down a little hill at first which was nice and encouraging. Then another little gradual incline I made it past mile 1 around 18 minutes (so my time was 11min). Mile 2 was much more flat and forgiving. During my workouts, between mile 1 and 2 is usually where I start bargaining with myself or take a walking break. But I kept going, kept running. Passed a water station, passed mile 2, passed another water station. By then I was sucking wind but was feeling good. Tired, wired and good. Took off one glove, then two. Looped around the lake and passed mile 3. Took off my purple wool Alaska bear paw hat. Glanced longingly at the water station as I trudged by.
We were coming back around the bend, I was soooo tempted to walk for a minute. Just to catch my breath, give my muscles a break. But I kept going. I could hear the sounds of the speaker system at the start/finish line echoing through the park. I was almost there.
And then, the hill. The course was a loop and at the end we doubled back on the first section. The hill that was my friend getting going was now my worst nightmare. It wasn't mountain steep, but to my poor calf muscles it was Everest. Made it halfway and was slogging. Made it 3/4 up the hill and just had to. I walked. For 20 seconds. Then started my shuffling run again all the way in to the finish line.

4 miles. Check.

Wham, bam, thank you Al Gordon.
Feeling so good and so sleepy. Going to nap and then plan the rest of my weekend. Oh and workouts. Got a 5-k next weekend!

2/20/12 President's Day Weekend Runs

Yesterday ran 2.6 miles in the park and walked 1.4 miles. Did it in about an hour's time.
Broke down like this:
1mile run
.3 miles walk
.6 miles run
.2 miles walk
.2 miles run
.2 miles walk
.3 miles run
.3 miles walk
.5miles run

That makes 8.1 miles for the week! Which is awesome considering that I missed my normal Monday run at the start of the week.

Today I didn't keep that close track of my run/walking. I just did a 4.2 mile course and ran at least 3 miles of that for sure.

On my way back up the ped ramp that goes over the highway, coming down was a guy in an electric wheel chair. It just really made me appreciate how even though my muscles are going to be sore, even though I'm going to be exhausted, even though I might take over an hour to complete my race on Saturday my muscles work, my body is whole and healthy. And I'm not taking that for granted. It's still chubby and jiggly in places that I wish weren't, but I love my body. I love that it will run all over New York City and take me wherever I want to go. I love that it's going to be sore and tired from working so hard, and it's a lot healthier than it was when I started running 4 months ago. I'm a lot healthier and proud of what I can do, even if it pales in comparison to other people's PRs and distances.

2/17/12 Evening workout plan & weekend goals

Wow. Didn't run last night or work out at all. If my body's trying to tell me anything right now it's that rest is uber important. Or that I need to change...something.

So going to the gym tonight to do the following:
Treadmill round 1 - run 1 mile, walk 3; run 1 mile, walk 3
Elliptical for 15 minutes
Treadmill round 2 - run 1 mile, walk 3; run 1 mile, walk 3


Then tomorrow going to do a run just like the race next Sunday. Going to go to sleep early tonight (by 9:30 or 11pm) and do some journaling. Need to shake some things out of my system before this weekend.

Then wake at 6:30am, take the train over to the park and do the 4mile loop! Of course after having run 4 miles the night before, I don't expect to be running at breakneck speeds. Really just want to get familiar with the course, feel comfortable with the commute. Considering doing it Sunday, too, and actually running that one like it was the race.

AH! A RACE!! Even if it's just 4 miles, I'm super excited. This is a huge goal for me and a milestone that I've been working towards for many, many months.

2/16/12

Alas! No morning run. Did wake up extra early (7:30) to take a shower. It's a step in the right direction, but still not the same as running at 6:30. One step at a time I suppose.

Will be going to the gym tonight, though!

2/15/12 - 3.5 mile Run complete

Got to the gym around 6:45ish and as I was walking into the locker room my heart DROPPED. I'd left my ipod at work charging on my computer. So I put on the TV screen on the treadmill to have a visual distraction rather than an auditory one.

Ran 1mile in 10 min, walked 2 min
Ran 1mile in a little under 10 min, walked 3 min
Ran .4mile in 4 min.
Then took a 12 min elliptical break.
And then ran 1.1 miles and cooled down for 5 minutes.

Felt great afterwords. During the last 1.1 my knees started to feel strange, though.

Had a nice lean dinner and am taking some chia seeds to fuel up for tomorrow's attempt at an AM run!

Should get to sleep soon and away from this screen.

First Post - First blogged run

Going to try a new way to keep track of my running. Le blogue.

My ultimate goal is to quit the Y in about a month. Gotta take full advantage until then!

Last week I ran 2 miles Monday 2/6 and 3 miles Wednesday 2/8 and 1.5 miles Sunday for weekly total of 6.5 miles.
Didn't run on Monday or Tuesday so today my goal is to run 3.5 miles after work at the Y.

Run: 10min/1mile
walk:2 min
Run: 10 min/1mile
walk:3 min
Run: 10 min/1mile
walk: 3 min
Run: 5min/.5mile


Of course I might have to throw an elliptical break in there depending on treadmill availability.
Wondering if I can motivate myself to run tomorrow morning, too. It's supposed to be clear and 38/40 degrees in the morning. Would love to knock out 1.5 miles or even 1 mile before going to work and then do a x train/weight session afterwords.

So for the rest of the week:
Thursday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Thursday PM: run 1 mile + x train
Friday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Friday PM: run 4 miles
Saturday run 4 miles + x train
Sunday run 4 miles + x train

And for next week:
Monday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Monday PM: 5.3-5.5 miles
Tuesday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Tuesday PM: 4.5 miles
Wednesday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Wednesday PM:5.5 miles
Thursday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Thursday PM: 6 miles
Friday AM: 1-1.5 miles
Friday PM: TBD race prep
Saturday: 4 mile race day!

That's a lot... We'll see how it goes! I have high hopes!