Workout Recap.

I had every intention of doing a weekly workout log entry blog post but somehow it’s been two weeks and I have not yet caught myself up to date.  Luckily I have at least been sort of jotting it down on some paper somewhere!  I think it will be important for me to at least track what I do manage to get in running-wise especially since I am not following any training plan to at least be able to track week-to-week.  Plus, then when everything totally bombs for me, I will be able to look back and remind myself why

So to catch myself up to date, here are my entries from the past 2+ weeks:

8/13: Physique 57 + upper body weight DVD
8/14: 2 mi run + 15 min total body weights
8/15: 2 mi run + Physique 57
8/16: 2 mi run + Ripped in 30
8/17: Rest
8/18: 4.5 miles + quick upper body circuit (pushups, bicep curls, tricep dips 12reps X 3 circuits)
8/19: 12 mile bike ride + 300-400m swim + Yoga DVD
8/20: 3 mi run + 15 min upper body DVD
8/21: 2 mi run? + Ripped in 30 ( I either walked or ran this morning… for the life of me can’t recall for sure which!)
8/22: 3 mi run
8/23: Walks + Yoga
8/24: 2 mi run
8/25: 10 mi bike ride + 40 min weights
8/26: 30 day shred + 30 min Thigh and Seat Physique 57

Overall, I have not been hitting anything super hard lately.  I’ve been trying to get back to feeling normal and exercising less has been feeling better for me and my leg issue so I’ve been sticking with that for the time being.  Also, I’ve had too many after work events lately, it’s been messing with my routine

One quick note on swimming, man, it made my shoulders/body so tired and sore for DAYS!  Crazy how something new on the exercise front really manages to send your muscles for a loop!  I’m hoping to get a swim in 1x ever 2 weeks or so once I decide which gym to join!

Hopefully these next few weeks I can up the ante on running and biking.  I have my 36 mile bike ride in 2 weeks and then a half marathon walk/run in 4!  Time is sure flying and I would like to at least attempt to finish these things, even if I come in last place

Double Digits.

This morning I made my return to double digits.  But, um… not running.  I decided it was about time to get over my fear of riding a bike and just go for it.  I set out on my bike but within a mile could tell the tire was rapidly flattening and I could not change gears.  Oops!  I ended up turning around the block and stopping back home to switch over to my sister’s twin bike that actually had air in it’s tires.  After I finally got on my way, I covered 10 miles in about 48 minutes.  I have no idea what “good” versus “bad” paces are for bike riding so I’m not really going to think too much about this currently!  While on my ride this morning, I realized a few things about biking…

1) If I want to give myself a chance to actually LIKE biking, I am going to need to bike bite the bullet and actually buy a cheap end, but decent bike.  There is no possible way I will ever really like biking on my $99 special from Wal-mart and the year 2000.  Not to mention the leaky tire, lack of gear shifting abilities and very uncomfortable seat.  So I think tomorrow I am going to do some shopping around for a reasonably priced riding bike.  Not sure if I should go road bike or hybrid but I guess I’ll see what draws me in tomorrow.

Probably this one.  It’s very much in my price range, your know about $500,000.

2) I LOVE that I can bike twice as fast as I can run.  The sad thing is, people can still run faster than I can bike.  Enough said.

3) Getting hit by bugs when you are biking actually hurts compared to having them “hit” you when you are running.

4) Biking is really hard.  I was trying to get my heart rate up since you know, I have not been able to get it up running any time in the recent past and it was surprisingly hard to push and not just give up.  I feel like this is very similar to how I felt when I started running.  Fighting the urge to quite is the hardest battle at first.

5) I don’t really know much about the rules of the road in relation to biking.  Must research this.  Luckily, there is a relatively decent bike path near my house that I can use for the majority of my rides but some road riding is required to get there.

6) I think this is something I could really end up liking.  It also would be a really good cross-train option for running.  Or so I imagine anyways!

When I got back from my bike ride, I also did a 40 minute weight circuit that I made up and between the two, I feel wiped!  And very, very hungry!  I have not really been as hungry lately but man, add a little exercise and I’m STARVING!

I am excited to see where my interest in biking leads me.  Maybe I will get bored in a week or maybe it will become a tied love with running?  Who knows!

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

I shoulda had a “shorter” run this weekend to begin taper time for this upcoming marathon thing but I knew if I did that I woulda regretted it come May 20th because I would have tapered for 5 weeks or so and would feel totally unprepared instead of just semi-unprepared…

I know I coulda hurt myself running this morning or something but I figured that would just be a sign I need to wait to have my first marathon be a different one.  Because really, what difference would a week make if I injured myself on a run?  Probably nothing.  Three weeks to heal versus two weeks to heal does not really seem like a huge thing to me and I know the confidence I have from my run this morning is worth so much more than “playing it safe.” Sometimes you gotta live a little on the edge  So instead I decided to tackle one more 20 miler and just be careful and call it quits if anything got sore or started feeling weird.

This ended up being the best decision I have made in training thus far.  My run this morning went awesome!  When I woke up this morning, it was POURING rain and there were storms in the forecast but I decided to not get all worked up about this until my planned departure time came.  And you know what?  The rain stopped and the wind died down right on time!  I coulda stressed out about this but I did not.  Instead I ended up with the perfect running conditions, 50ish degrees and light winds.  Enough to not be cold but not be hot either.  Also, the sun never fully peaked out so that helped keep things comfortable too!

I left at about 7:45am this morning and went out a 10ish mile loop with plans to stop back at the house to get a water and Gu refill.  I am glad I ended up doing this because it gave me time to ask Sister to pick up a bag of ice for me for recovery and stretch a little and get more fluids and gels.  After the brief break, it was off for another 9.2 mile loop!

To play things a little safe this morning, I decided to run 5 minutes and walk 1 minute.  I am still surprised how much better this routine works for me!  Time goes so much quicker for some reason even though I get a little confused about when to turn around, take a shot, etc.  In theory, using the Galloway method shoulda slowed me down a little.  I mean I spend 30+ minutes walking… but instead, it took me 10 minutes LESS than my last 20 miler!  I woulda put up the splits so you could see them but um… I have a total of 66 laps from my run this morning because each walk/run interval counts as a lap.  I wish I could readjust this at the end though… I might have to see if I can do anything about that!

My total time running this morning was 3:18, that is an average of 9:55!  This shoulda felt like forever but once again I was surprised how time really does weird things when you are running.  3 hours at work would feel like forever but yet when I am running, time just goes by so fast!  I would be lying if I said this did not give me just a little morsel of hope for finishing the marathon in less than 4:30.  I really don’t want to stress about finish time for my first ever full but it’s hard to not do the math on this and see I would have about the perfect amount of time to finish a 10K if I could keep this pace the first 20 miles on the 20th.  I guess only time will tell on this one but I will use it as a little bit of motivation!

I probably shoulda spent the time on this run pondering deep thoughts but instead of that, I spent many miles dreaming of my post run eats!  One house I ran by was cooking breakfast potatoes and once I smelled them, that is all I could think about for a good 3-4 miles  So of course, I spent the next 3-4 miles coming up with a way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and also get my fried potatoes in!

Fried potatoes, ground beef, guacamole, hot sauce and 2% Chobani! I could eat this after every long run!

I probably also shoulda tried to take a nap this afternoon to rest up for babysitting tonight but instead Sister and I went to the grocery store and watched a few episodes of Lost!  Hopefully I can manage to stay awake long enough for the kids to fall asleep first tonight  I feel oddly awake at the moment but that will likely fade…

In hindsight, this run coulda went really poorly and left me more freaked out about Marathon Day but instead I pulled off another awesome 20 mile run and am now slightly more confident in the fact I have trained enough to make it across the finish line on May 20th.  Likely not in my secret goal time but that will just give me something to work for at the next marathon, right?

Now Taper Time officially begins!  It’s all downhill from here and soon I will be in Green Bay getting ready to cross a Marathon off my life list.  I really find this hard to believe yet it’s kind of starting to sink in now since this last training run is over.  A few short runs this week, a semi-long (8-10 miler) run next weekend and then really easy runs the week of and I will be totally done with training!  Crazy!  Here goes nothing!

Insanity. Week 4.

Is is really the start of week four already?!?!  Man, time is really flying!  And only two more days and I will be on my way to vacation – Insane!!

So anyways, this week of Insanity went really well!  I actually am starting to feel like I can do the moves more correctly and keep up with the people in the video for the first two out of three rounds that are in each of the videosDVDs (videos? what is this 1998?)!!  So even though I have been too lazy to actually do the fit tests that would give me a true indicator of how I am doing, I am just going to say things are going better and better each week!  This morning I did the Power Circuit DVD and realized how much I like this one!  For some reason, I had been thinking this one was not my favorite, probably because it was the hardest, but this morning I found a new appreciation for it!  I was a sweaty beast by the end – per usual Insanity Form!  I really think this is something that I am getting quite addicted too!!  I don’t think I will ever find another exercise that gets me quite as sweaty as this!

As for actual changes on my body, I’m still not really noticing anything substantial. I sometimes think my arms and shoulders look more toned but then again, I seem to be very good at making things up in my mind so I wouldn’t trust me if I was you… I also have been slacking in the weekly check ins for weight, measurements and photos.  (Pretty much a failure at life in this post!)

To keep better track of things for myself, I am going to start posting what workouts I have been keeping busy with.  This past week my workouts looked like this:

• Monday: Insanity: Cardio Power and Resistance
• Tuesday: Body Pump
• Wednesday: Insanity Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs
• Thursday: Body Pump and CX30 (maybe??  Still not sure wth this class was…)
• Friday: Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
• Saturday: 5 Mile Run
• Sunday: 5 mile walk, Insanity: Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs

That last week was kind of sad in the running and resting department… I feel the vacation itch to workout now so I don’t have to on vacation  Knowing me, I will still WANT to but that’s fine with me!  And I am planning to have a few rest days then so that will make up for this past week’s really bad balance of work to recovery…oops!  I also may have skipped the Insanity: Rest and Recover DVD because I really don’t like it :S  LOL!!  And also the Fit Tests… maybe I should consider actually doing one of these once?  Yeah, probably not

Sorry for that kind of boring post but maybe tomorrow night I will have something a bit more interesting to share?  Ya never know!  Sister is currently baking up some Pumpkin Muffins that I am quite excited for so look on her blog for the recipe in the coming weeks I am sure!!

Also, is it just me or is this time change kind of annoying?!?  It feels so much later than it actually is, all the time!  Which includes work…like these days need to go slower?!