Ya know, it's absolutely freaking unreal that every single time I write about a new outlook and feeling good about just being out there and "oh, going slower than the slowest little turtle out there isn't *that* bad" .. every single time... I end up going into some sort of illness inducing depression and I skip a week of workouts. What the heck is that about ?
So last week was a wash. It sucked. I did next to nothing from Sunday through Saturday. Granted, on Saturday morning/Friday night I woke at 1:00 a.m. with a migraine that I'd had most of the day and I didn't get back to sleep until about mid-morning when Joel returned from his cycling. He was sweet enough to let me rest most of the day but dang that headache just wouldn't dissipate. On Sunday, I woke up and ran out to the neighborhood track (paved 1k) and did just under 3 miles. Holy cow but it was hot at 8:00 a.m.!! Again I ask, what is that about?? Will it ever cool off in this godforsaken climate??
I was scheduled to run 8 miles. This was the long run before the Nike Human Race 10k coming up this Sunday. Well, 8 miles didn't happen. However, lest you readers think that I bailed after "just under 3 miles", allow me to set the record straight. I came home, told Joel he could head out for a ride before it got too far beyond 100 degrees, and I cranked up that treadmill. Another 3 miles and I was done. So I didn't do the full 8, but I did almost 6. Talk about intervals!
Tonight I ran a 5k on the treadmill. I'm still terribly slow. The finishing time (on the treadmill, in a climate controlled environment, with a treadmill fan blowing on me!) was 35:36, which by the way, is just one second slower than my fastest [treadmill] 5k ever (35:35).
They (the infamous *they* who decide these things) should just let me run all my races on treadmills. Under climate controlled conditions. With loads of water and a tv at my disposal.
It wouldn't be as pretty as it was on Sunday morning. Our little park is actually looking much better these days and I enjoyed seeing the neighbors, but I can't wait for it to cool off.
Check back with me when I begin whining about the cold rainy days. It's certain to happen.
Until then, I run... and run... and run.
Running towards fitness and never, ever, away from a challenge!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Last week's workouts
Running
11 Aug: 35 min/easy DONE! 5k
12 Aug: 30 min / DONE! 2.51 mi.
14 Aug: 30 min / DONE! 2.63 mi.
16 Aug: 7 miles / DONE!
Pushups
11 Aug: 15/12/12/10/max DONE! 18/12/11/10/12
13 Aug: 16/14/14/12/max
15 Aug: 20/15/15/12/max
NOTE: I'm repeating this week 3 due to doing too many pushups in the P90 Sculpt 1/2 workout on the off days and screwing up my timing and recovery. Will just do extra squats and lunges and curls during the pushup section in the future.
Running
11 Aug: 35 min/easy DONE! 5k
12 Aug: 30 min / DONE! 2.51 mi.
14 Aug: 30 min / DONE! 2.63 mi.
16 Aug: 7 miles / DONE!
Pushups
11 Aug: 15/12/12/10/max DONE! 18/12/11/10/12
13 Aug: 16/14/14/12/max
15 Aug: 20/15/15/12/max
NOTE: I'm repeating this week 3 due to doing too many pushups in the P90 Sculpt 1/2 workout on the off days and screwing up my timing and recovery. Will just do extra squats and lunges and curls during the pushup section in the future.
Edited to add: I almost forgot!! I saw a rainbow Saturday morning. If I hadn't been running slower with M, I would have missed it. I am so thankful for that!
Saturday was weird. I woke up on time to meet the girls for a 6:00 a.m. 7 mile run. But I think I wasn't quite fully awake. See, I put on the wrong shoes, but I didn't realize it until we were a few meters into the run and I thought "better turn that nike+ thing on ~ don't want to miss out on logging this great run!" And guess what? It couldn't find my sensor. Know why? That's right. There was no sensor. I'd put on my Nike's but had my sensor in the shoe wallet on my Asics. Okay, so I'm a spaz.
So we were rocking right along ~ Trish and I discussing how we're going to continue motivating ourselves and each other ~ and I looked at my garmin and saw that we'd only gone 1.37 miles. What the hell? It felt like we'd been running forever. That's when Trish said we'd gone almost 2.5 miles and were 35 minutes into the run. My garmin showed a 20 minute run thus far. Clearly I was more of a spaz than could have been anticipated that morning and somewhere along the way I hit the stop button. That meant my nice 7 mile run wasn't even going to record properly on my garmin. Could I not catch a break??? just a little one???
Anyway, off we went to the turnaround point where we stopped to stretch. I felt surprisingly good. We had jogged at a slow enough pace that it felt comfortable for that "long-slow-run" day. Here's where things got a bit hinky though.
A few of the group came up as most of us had finished stretching. Rather than head off with the larger group I stayed behind to stretch with one of the gals and then we took off. She was struggling a bit so we went slower than I might have done alone and certainly slower than the rest of the group. We had a really good talk about motivation and continuing to run even when you think you suck. For instance, going that slowly felt to both of us like "wow, we suck at this" but one could argue that just being out there qualified us for as non-suckers. Or something like that. During the course of our conversation, we realized that we both tend to try to overdo things. From having been athletic in the past, it's a struggle to admit that a few decades and couple of babies later and we're no longer capable of the same things. That doesn't, however, mean we need to lie down and give up, right?
Giving up seems to have been what we've both done in the past. We made a pact that we wouldn't get down on ourselves for moving slower than others, and instead, we'll consider it a victory to continue.
Okay, that all sounds good but at the end of the run I felt like the 7 miles had been easy. Partly because of the squats and lunges I'd done during the week ~ my legs felt strong. But also because we moved so slowly on the way back that I felt like the second half of the workout was negated. I mean, you can't actually cover 3.5 miles and have it count for nothing, can you? And there was no way in the world I was going to leave her behind. Even though the path is well-lit and there were tons of people out there, you just don't leave someone behind. Especially when that someone is mentally struggling to continue.
So I'm glad I hung back with her. I was able to get to know a really nice person by doing it, and it's the sort of thing that I would have wanted someone to do for me. Knowing how I can't just accept things as-is, I worry that this could be something I allow to become a repeat event. The only downside to that is my not being fully prepared to run the marathon in under 6 hours. If I go too slowly on the Saturday runs, will I be able to pull it together on the big day? I mean, I like helping others but I didn't volunteer to coach. I'm actually out there trying to improve my own running and ..... wow, I sound like a witch, don't I?
I think that I'll just have to step up my weekday runs so that if our group coaches aren't able to accommodate all the runners in our group, I can do it again, if needed. That way I can meet both goals ~ improve my running and maintain my ability to face myself in the mirror.
Saturday was weird. I woke up on time to meet the girls for a 6:00 a.m. 7 mile run. But I think I wasn't quite fully awake. See, I put on the wrong shoes, but I didn't realize it until we were a few meters into the run and I thought "better turn that nike+ thing on ~ don't want to miss out on logging this great run!" And guess what? It couldn't find my sensor. Know why? That's right. There was no sensor. I'd put on my Nike's but had my sensor in the shoe wallet on my Asics. Okay, so I'm a spaz.
So we were rocking right along ~ Trish and I discussing how we're going to continue motivating ourselves and each other ~ and I looked at my garmin and saw that we'd only gone 1.37 miles. What the hell? It felt like we'd been running forever. That's when Trish said we'd gone almost 2.5 miles and were 35 minutes into the run. My garmin showed a 20 minute run thus far. Clearly I was more of a spaz than could have been anticipated that morning and somewhere along the way I hit the stop button. That meant my nice 7 mile run wasn't even going to record properly on my garmin. Could I not catch a break??? just a little one???
Anyway, off we went to the turnaround point where we stopped to stretch. I felt surprisingly good. We had jogged at a slow enough pace that it felt comfortable for that "long-slow-run" day. Here's where things got a bit hinky though.
A few of the group came up as most of us had finished stretching. Rather than head off with the larger group I stayed behind to stretch with one of the gals and then we took off. She was struggling a bit so we went slower than I might have done alone and certainly slower than the rest of the group. We had a really good talk about motivation and continuing to run even when you think you suck. For instance, going that slowly felt to both of us like "wow, we suck at this" but one could argue that just being out there qualified us for as non-suckers. Or something like that. During the course of our conversation, we realized that we both tend to try to overdo things. From having been athletic in the past, it's a struggle to admit that a few decades and couple of babies later and we're no longer capable of the same things. That doesn't, however, mean we need to lie down and give up, right?
Giving up seems to have been what we've both done in the past. We made a pact that we wouldn't get down on ourselves for moving slower than others, and instead, we'll consider it a victory to continue.
Okay, that all sounds good but at the end of the run I felt like the 7 miles had been easy. Partly because of the squats and lunges I'd done during the week ~ my legs felt strong. But also because we moved so slowly on the way back that I felt like the second half of the workout was negated. I mean, you can't actually cover 3.5 miles and have it count for nothing, can you? And there was no way in the world I was going to leave her behind. Even though the path is well-lit and there were tons of people out there, you just don't leave someone behind. Especially when that someone is mentally struggling to continue.
So I'm glad I hung back with her. I was able to get to know a really nice person by doing it, and it's the sort of thing that I would have wanted someone to do for me. Knowing how I can't just accept things as-is, I worry that this could be something I allow to become a repeat event. The only downside to that is my not being fully prepared to run the marathon in under 6 hours. If I go too slowly on the Saturday runs, will I be able to pull it together on the big day? I mean, I like helping others but I didn't volunteer to coach. I'm actually out there trying to improve my own running and ..... wow, I sound like a witch, don't I?
I think that I'll just have to step up my weekday runs so that if our group coaches aren't able to accommodate all the runners in our group, I can do it again, if needed. That way I can meet both goals ~ improve my running and maintain my ability to face myself in the mirror.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Yesterday was a great day. It was a bit too hectic at work, as is normal, and I even had to bring work home, but I didn't let that interfere with other priorities. Other priorities being: 1) eat clean and 2) exercise.
I swear, this is such a huge feat for me that I should make it a public announcement: I ATE ALL OF WHAT I PLANNED TO EAT AND ONLY WHAT I PLANNED TO EAT, AND I DIDN'T BINGE ALL DAY (OR NIGHT)!!!!
Silly? Sure. But a huge accomplishment nonetheless. See, I had this plan to go home and fix salmon and I actually did it. Often in the past, I'd have that plan, get home, realize I had tons of work to do and wanted to carve out time to exercise, so I'd either skip dinner altogether and find myself too exhausted to have a good workout or binge on cheese-its & bbq sauce (yea, weird, but it's my thing) and find myself too queasy to have a good workout. So not only did I fix the planned healthy meal, I was so glad to find out it was quite delicious!
It's been a long time since I've tried to plan my meals and log them and eat according to a 40/40/20 distribution of macronutrients. I seem not to be one of those people who can just make good choices at each meal and have it all balance out at the end of the day. It's safe to say I'm not there yet, although I still remain hopeful.
Today looks to be another good day, even if it will be another long and busy one. More later on an interesting e-mail I received from TrainingPeaks.
I swear, this is such a huge feat for me that I should make it a public announcement: I ATE ALL OF WHAT I PLANNED TO EAT AND ONLY WHAT I PLANNED TO EAT, AND I DIDN'T BINGE ALL DAY (OR NIGHT)!!!!
Silly? Sure. But a huge accomplishment nonetheless. See, I had this plan to go home and fix salmon and I actually did it. Often in the past, I'd have that plan, get home, realize I had tons of work to do and wanted to carve out time to exercise, so I'd either skip dinner altogether and find myself too exhausted to have a good workout or binge on cheese-its & bbq sauce (yea, weird, but it's my thing) and find myself too queasy to have a good workout. So not only did I fix the planned healthy meal, I was so glad to find out it was quite delicious!
It's been a long time since I've tried to plan my meals and log them and eat according to a 40/40/20 distribution of macronutrients. I seem not to be one of those people who can just make good choices at each meal and have it all balance out at the end of the day. It's safe to say I'm not there yet, although I still remain hopeful.
Today looks to be another good day, even if it will be another long and busy one. More later on an interesting e-mail I received from TrainingPeaks.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
This week was certainly not my best effort. Although effort wasn't the problem as much as being unable to breathe or think due to the cold/fever-ish stuff I picked up at last week's group run. Yuck.
So due to feeling like crap, I did Monday's run r-e-a-l-l-y slowly and skipped Tues & Thurs, did Friday's pushups and Saturday mornings long run. Long, slow run. Very slow and no shame in that!
The pushups were a bigger challenge than I expected. Well, first I still couldn't breathe and had just taken more Advil Cold & Sinus (this stuff workeds, but I still had no energy and was worried about not recovering from whatever it was). But also, it was a total of 47 pushups, I think. That's quite a bit for someone who hasn't done any in months. It felt pretty great to finish and even better to realize that my biceps were twitching for the next 30 minutes. Sort of a "wow ~ I did something!" moment. I loved it!
So due to feeling like crap, I did Monday's run r-e-a-l-l-y slowly and skipped Tues & Thurs, did Friday's pushups and Saturday mornings long run. Long, slow run. Very slow and no shame in that!
The pushups were a bigger challenge than I expected. Well, first I still couldn't breathe and had just taken more Advil Cold & Sinus (this stuff workeds, but I still had no energy and was worried about not recovering from whatever it was). But also, it was a total of 47 pushups, I think. That's quite a bit for someone who hasn't done any in months. It felt pretty great to finish and even better to realize that my biceps were twitching for the next 30 minutes. Sort of a "wow ~ I did something!" moment. I loved it!
Monday, August 04, 2008
Training Plan for Week of: 4 Aug 2008
Running (looks like an easy week)
Running (looks like an easy week)
- 4 Aug: 25 minutes run/jog / 25:26; 2.15 miles (treadmill)
- 5 Aug: 30 minutes run/jog / skipped ~ ill
- 7 Aug: 20 minutes run/jog / skipped ~ ill
- 9 Aug: 6 miles long, slow run / 1:30:00 ; TH Park
- 4 Aug: W2D1: 9, 8, 6, 4, max / 9, 8, 6, 4, 9
- 6 Aug: W2D2: 11, 9, 7, 7, max / skipped ~ ill
- 8 Aug: W2D3: 10, 10, 8, 8, max / 10, 10, 8, 8, 11
Other Stuff
- 6 Aug: Muscle Breakdown spinning dvd / skipped ~ ill
- 8 Aug: Recharge spinning dvd / skipped ~ ill
- 10 Aug: Recharge spinning dvd
Week 1 of Hundred Pushups Challenge
- W1D1: 7, 7, 5, 4, max / 8, 7, 5, 4, 9
- W1D2: 9, 8, 6, 5, max / 9, 8, 6, 5, 10
- W1D3: 10, 8, 8, 5, max / 10, 8, 8, 5, 8
Day 1 of Week 2 of the Hundred Pushups Challenge. Despite having a cold/sinus thing from hell, the pushups went rather well. Jogging for 25 minutes went less well, but I didn't expect much. Still 2.15 miles, as medicated as I am, I'll take it.
I've decided I need to be a bit more clear on what I'm doing with this challenge. I need to better track my training, and although I do track it on Training Peaks, I don't keep up with all the little details. One day they might matter. I suppose the best way to track it is to do a post at the beginning of the week with the plan, and return to it to update/edit as the week progresses.
Okay, off to do that now!
I've decided I need to be a bit more clear on what I'm doing with this challenge. I need to better track my training, and although I do track it on Training Peaks, I don't keep up with all the little details. One day they might matter. I suppose the best way to track it is to do a post at the beginning of the week with the plan, and return to it to update/edit as the week progresses.
Okay, off to do that now!
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