Hi everyone! I hope you are having a fabulous day. I know I am! :) Wednesday is my day off and it was glorious. I went shopping and shopping and shopping. I bought fall decorations for my room (pictures tomorrow when there's good light in the room) and my room now smells like delicious spiced pumpkin via a seasonal spray bottle of Febreeze. Unfortunately that lovely week of fall weather is gone and it's hot again =/ bleh, but I'm going to pretend there's beautiful crisp fall weather outside.
Well, I've never gotten around to writing an "About Me" page. I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually ;). If I had written one then you would probably know that I'm vegetarian. I've never liked meat much and when I got to college I decided to just cut it out entirely. It made it a lot easier to turn down meals I didn't really want.
I've been vegetarian for a little over a 4 years now and the most frequent question I get is "What do you eat?" This always comes as a surprise to me because I am aware of so many vegan and vegetarian options and I can never understand why others find it so strange or haven't heard of these options. I mean, it's really a big thing right now. Vegetarian is the in thing. Anyways, everyone thinks that the only possible option is salads and pasta. Well first of all, a salad is lovely when I'm in the mood but I'm sorry there is just no way I'm going to eat salads for the rest of my life. Absolutely cannot do a salad diet. I love my salt and I love hot warm comfort foods. The salt is a story for another day, oh how I wish salt was good for you... sadly it will have to go eventually. Pasta is fine but I rarely eat it. No real reason, I just prefer tomato sauce/spaghetti sauce on other things and pasta in my opinion really has no redeeming qualities (although I'll probably be stuffing my face with spaghetti, aka carbs, the night before the race).
So what do I eat? A huge variety of things :). Breakfast is always oatmeal, sometimes with add-ins, currently pumpkin, sometimes blueberries, sometimes bananas but I also love them plain. I try to add ground chia and flax seeds but don't always cause they get stuck in my permanent retainer and can be a bit annoying. I usually have small lunches, more like snacks. Banana and a large handful of nuts or cherry tomatoes with cheese and nuts. If I'm feeling like a bigger meal I'll have some Ezeikiel bread toasted with spaghetti sauce slathered on with slices of avacado, sliced cherry tomatoes, maybe some black beans, salt, pepper, oregano and some more sauce on top. Yummy.
Dinner is always something different. I've looked up vegan/vegetarian recipes before online and found some great recipes but a lot of the time they're full of cheese or pasta or rice... things I'm not very thrilled about eating everyday. Other recipes are great but are often really labor intensive. So, I was very excited to make a discovery! I am responsible for Wednesday's meals and since I'm busy all the time I needed to find something quick. I used to make dump chicken recipes on the weekends and freeze several at a time so all I had to do was pop them out of the freezer and into a baking dish but now I only make vegetarian meals for my family. So what I've been doing is using the same dump chicken recipes and substituing beans/potatoes/sweet potatoes/grains for the chicken. They have been turning out SO good.
A few weeks ago I made greek chick peas and potatoes (tasted lemony) and delicious. Last week I made honey glazed kidney beans and sweet potatoes, roasted until the kidney beans had a slight crunch to them and the sweet potatoes were nice and soft. This week I made wine and herb roasted canalini beans and red potatoes. I wanted to skip the potatoes and make some amaranth a la rice style to put the canalini on top of but I ended up making too much wine and herb marinade and had to find something else that would soak some of it up. These meals are absolutely delicious and have been SO easy. It takes about 5 minutes to put all the ingredients together in a pan and then 30 minutes or so to bake them.
I have no idea why I haven't been able to find recipes like these on recipe websites but I am so happy that I've made this discovery. Mmm mmm!
P90X arms and shoulders followed by ab ripper x and then bedtime :)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Always Busy
Is it just me or is every week busy? I always think to myself: "This week is really busy but it's just this week. Next week won't be anywhere near as crazy as this week" And then, surprise surprise... busy again!
Because things always seem to come up, I've been very appreciative that I make working out a priority. Especially now that I'm training for a half marathon and marathon, it's so important to continue training and missing a day every once in a long while is okay but it definitely can't become a habit.
Now I say all that to say that I've been missing days. Several days. I've been getting in all of my running but P90X is suffering a little. I've kind of pushed those workouts to the back burner. They're still important but not essential.
I have some very exciting news to share with you! Well... I'm excited about it anyways ;). Saturday I ran 15 miles!!!! Absolutely ecstatic about this news. I'd say it was probably one of my easiest long runs too. I ran the 15 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. This is really exciting to me because this means that I may be able to run my half marathon in less than 2 and a half hours and then I could run the marathon in the first wave! This is so exciting to me!
As a marathon rookie it's recommended that you not make a time goal. Your only goal should be to cross the finish line still moving :). The main reason for this goal is to prevent injuries. Running too far too soon or too fast when you haven't trained for long enough can quickly lead to injuries. Now, obviously I'm not looking to get injured but if that's the pace that I run at naturally then why not try to run the marathon in under 5 hours?
My other news is that I've started to incorporate speed training into my runs. Now this is exactly what is not recommended for beginning runners. I've only done two of these and I only plan to keep them for the days when I'm running 3 miles so I feel like this is safe? I don't know, I'm no expert, I'm just doing what feels good. Last week I ran 3 miles in 24:42. This week I ran 3 miles in 22:30!!! That's a 7:30 mile pace!! I think this is a great accomplishment! I sure hope it's not a recipe for injury because it's exhilarating to actually be able to run quickly and feel the wind in your hair.
And now for some fun:
Sunday night my sister found out who her Big Sister is! I went along to see the action.
Rachel joined the same sorority as I was in during college. I was in Theta Alpha, one of the first christian sororities. Since it's fairly new, Rachel was the first legacy! So exciting!
To find out who their big sister is the girls have to go around to different stations and perform a task. Once they perform the task they will receive a puzzle piece. Once they receive all of their puzzle pieces they then will read the clue on the completed puzzle. The clue will lead them to an object attached to a string that is attached to their big... they just have to untangle a huge mess to find the person on the other end ;)
Because things always seem to come up, I've been very appreciative that I make working out a priority. Especially now that I'm training for a half marathon and marathon, it's so important to continue training and missing a day every once in a long while is okay but it definitely can't become a habit.
Now I say all that to say that I've been missing days. Several days. I've been getting in all of my running but P90X is suffering a little. I've kind of pushed those workouts to the back burner. They're still important but not essential.
I have some very exciting news to share with you! Well... I'm excited about it anyways ;). Saturday I ran 15 miles!!!! Absolutely ecstatic about this news. I'd say it was probably one of my easiest long runs too. I ran the 15 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. This is really exciting to me because this means that I may be able to run my half marathon in less than 2 and a half hours and then I could run the marathon in the first wave! This is so exciting to me!
As a marathon rookie it's recommended that you not make a time goal. Your only goal should be to cross the finish line still moving :). The main reason for this goal is to prevent injuries. Running too far too soon or too fast when you haven't trained for long enough can quickly lead to injuries. Now, obviously I'm not looking to get injured but if that's the pace that I run at naturally then why not try to run the marathon in under 5 hours?
My other news is that I've started to incorporate speed training into my runs. Now this is exactly what is not recommended for beginning runners. I've only done two of these and I only plan to keep them for the days when I'm running 3 miles so I feel like this is safe? I don't know, I'm no expert, I'm just doing what feels good. Last week I ran 3 miles in 24:42. This week I ran 3 miles in 22:30!!! That's a 7:30 mile pace!! I think this is a great accomplishment! I sure hope it's not a recipe for injury because it's exhilarating to actually be able to run quickly and feel the wind in your hair.
And now for some fun:
Sunday night my sister found out who her Big Sister is! I went along to see the action.
Rachel joined the same sorority as I was in during college. I was in Theta Alpha, one of the first christian sororities. Since it's fairly new, Rachel was the first legacy! So exciting!
To find out who their big sister is the girls have to go around to different stations and perform a task. Once they perform the task they will receive a puzzle piece. Once they receive all of their puzzle pieces they then will read the clue on the completed puzzle. The clue will lead them to an object attached to a string that is attached to their big... they just have to untangle a huge mess to find the person on the other end ;)
This is from the first station. DANCE PARTY!!!
Rachel is the girl in the middle playing air guitar :) :) :). Yeah, my sister is awesome.
The girl on the left is my sister's Big Sister, patiently awaiting her arrival
After much ducking and climbing and unwinding...
Rachel found her Big!
Now she's in my natural family and my Theta Alpha family! Yay snowflake family! :)
She's my Great Great Great Grandlittle :)
Ah! My family is getting so big! I've now been dubbed "matriarch"
This is me with all my babies :)
Keep checking back for more running updates! Hope you all have a wonderful and hopefully not insanely crazy Tuesday!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Huge News
I am SO excited, I can't even express how excited I am!
But I am also very very nervous!!
I know I can do! But wow. I watched a video on youtube from the race and it made my heart start beating faster and it also made me cry. I'm a total dork, I know.
My biggest worry right now is that the friends I am running with run 10:30 miles and I run 10. That's not a huge difference so I wasn't really worried but now I'm starting to work on speed and I guess I shouldn't? To me it seems a waste to run a marathon and run it slow because you're trying to run it with friends. This is coming from a very independent workout person. I don't know. I'm going to continue speed training and see what happens when I get closer.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Busy Mondays
Happy Monday!
You know, I've really dreaded Mondays but now I work on weekends and weekdays alike so it's all the same to me. I just like starting fresh and having the whole week ahead of me.
That being said, today was a busy day and I'm not a huge fan of busy days.
I started off running stadiums with Rachel (my sister). I texted her on the way to pick her up and said "so pretty outside. It's 55 outside though so be prepared. Hah, just to be clear I texted while stopped at a light. No texting and driving ;). I was wearing my nike drifit running capris and a sweatshirt but when I showed up at Rachel's apartment she came out in shorts and a t-shirt and then asked me why I didn't warn her about the overnight temperature drop. It really was so pretty outside. I'm probably crazy but I just love working out outside with the moon and stars out. Gorgeous.
And want to hear something horrible? Hah, I can't believe I'm about to admit this...
Sooo I naturally have pretty dry hair. Before I was running almost everyday I would probably wash my hair about twice a week. Maybe 3 times. Now I'm washing my hair everyday and I know it's really not good for my hair but what can you do when you're sweating like crazy everyday? Well anyways, today my head wasn't sweaty at all so I didn't wash my hair today. And the most awful part... I'm hoping that this means I can cut down on washing my hair a lot. Maybe back to 3 times? I know, gross. No one gets close enough to smell my head anyways. I think?
I got to play with my sister's puppy :) :) :) (although this was taken on Saturday before that awful game...)
I spent the rest of the day working.
By working I mean:
You know, I've really dreaded Mondays but now I work on weekends and weekdays alike so it's all the same to me. I just like starting fresh and having the whole week ahead of me.
That being said, today was a busy day and I'm not a huge fan of busy days.
I started off running stadiums with Rachel (my sister). I texted her on the way to pick her up and said "so pretty outside. It's 55 outside though so be prepared. Hah, just to be clear I texted while stopped at a light. No texting and driving ;). I was wearing my nike drifit running capris and a sweatshirt but when I showed up at Rachel's apartment she came out in shorts and a t-shirt and then asked me why I didn't warn her about the overnight temperature drop. It really was so pretty outside. I'm probably crazy but I just love working out outside with the moon and stars out. Gorgeous.
And want to hear something horrible? Hah, I can't believe I'm about to admit this...
Sooo I naturally have pretty dry hair. Before I was running almost everyday I would probably wash my hair about twice a week. Maybe 3 times. Now I'm washing my hair everyday and I know it's really not good for my hair but what can you do when you're sweating like crazy everyday? Well anyways, today my head wasn't sweaty at all so I didn't wash my hair today. And the most awful part... I'm hoping that this means I can cut down on washing my hair a lot. Maybe back to 3 times? I know, gross. No one gets close enough to smell my head anyways. I think?
I got to play with my sister's puppy :) :) :) (although this was taken on Saturday before that awful game...)
Please ignore my awkward smile and double chin. I need to remember not to wear my retainer for pictures. I just can't smile properly at all.
I spent the rest of the day working.
By working I mean:
Yes, I babysit
I am the most awesome babysitter in the entire world
And this is the sweetest little girl I know
Checkout Elmo, Cookie Monster and Bigbird stuffed in her pockets ;)
And also this:
Aren't they just the cutest? Last week I promised I would bring a camera and take pictures of them because they're looking so good. Well I forgot =/. So I took pictures with my horrible camera phone.
Teaching three dance classes back to back and I am DONE.
Now I'm home. I've had dinner and now I'm debating an hour and a half of yoga or bed. That first 45 minutes is horrible and mentally I just don't feel up to it. My bed is calling to me... probably because I'm in it ;)
Do you dread Mondays? Hope you rocked your workouts today! :)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Making Strides
Ahhhh... I love all things fall. I know I am not in the minority at all in saying this but I just thought I would let it be known that I am part of the fall craze. I just love it! Now let me clarify... there aren't exactly seasons in Florida. But whatever it is we're getting right now: LOVE it!
It was pretty rainy here the first couple days this week. I skipped stadiums on Monday and Wednesday because of the rain. Long story but it mostly comes down to the fact that my long run last Sunday messed up a good portion of my week. Not that I didn't get anything accomplished this week because I did, but I didn't do what I planned to do.
On Monday I was not fully recovered from my Sunday run and it was rainy and I didn't feel like dealing with slippery stadium steps so instead my sister suggested that we hit up the gym. I don't have a gym membership but she works at the gym so I got in for free. Now, there are several reasons that I don't have a gym membership. Numero uno: $. I just don't have that kind of money. I've had free access to the gym at UF for more than 4 years now and have only used it a hand full of times. I just can't see myself really using it that much and if I'm going to PAY for it and not use it... well that's a problem.
Probably the main reason why I don't use the gym: I feel super awkward on gym machines. I just can't figure them out and while I'm trying to figure them out I feel like everyone in the gym is watching me make a complete idiot out of myself. I really just enjoy my home gym and running outside. I just can't stand treadmills. I know I keep going on all these tangents but that reminded me of something I read the other day. I read that you should train for a marathon on a treadmill. I can't even imagine running on a treadmill for more than 30 minutes. Even 30 minutes is difficult. They suggested popping in a movie and said that "the time would fly by"... don't know how I feel about that statement but I guess if it rained for like a straight week then I would be wishing I had a gym membership.
But now back to my week. I had worked chest/shoulders/triceps earlier in the day via P90X so I skipped all the upper body machines and did some killer leg exercises. I usually think I have pretty strong legs. I dance, I run and I do leg strengthening exercises on a regular basis. Um... well I sucked at the leg machines. My sister kept having to decrease the weights for me because I couldn't move the machines at all. It was pretty embarrassing. I'm going to go with "the machines work different muscles than all of the other things I'm doing". Yeah, that's it.
On top of being awful at the gym, on Tuesday I was pretty sore. I wanted to go on a longer run on Tuesday but with being sore and then running in the evening I ended up just keeping it to 3 miles.
Wednesday I was still sore. I don't even know what I was sore from at this point. Still recovering from the Sunday run? The gym? My run on Tuesday? Who knows but I was definitely still sore. Stadiums didn't happen and instead I pretty much sat in bed all day. Wednesday is my day off and this Wednesday I learned that I should not have days off. I should have done all the chores that I have been slacking on because I'm never home (ie. changing sheets, cleaning my room, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, laundry, etc, etc) but instead I just sat in my bed playing on the computer. I felt horrible by the end of the day and kicked it into gear some.
Thursday it was a little overcast but it was cool! Oh my gosh, can I just say, I can do anything about 10x better when it is cool outside. GORGEOUS! I went for my 6ish mile run. It drizzled on and off during most of the run and I kept worrying about my ipod and wishing that I had put it in a ziplock bag. It never out and out rained though so my ipod was safe but now i know for future runs.
Friday I pulled myself out of bed bright and early and ran stadiums by myself. I think this is pretty dangerous so I try to always have someone with me even though I really like to go by myself. When I got there it was still dark out. It was crisp and cool outside and beautiful. The moon was out and the stars were pretty bright. The stadium was deserted which was strange because the past few times I've been there various sports teams are usually there taking up half of the stadium. It was nice to have the whole stadium to myself. I ran with my headphones off so I could hear if anyone was approaching but also because it was so beautiful outside that I just wanted to be able to take it all in.
Saturday I ran and I ran and I ran. Again, GORGEOUS weather. I ended up running 13.1 and dubbed this run my mock marathon. It went really well actually. I still don't have my fuel belt and I didn't take any GU with me but I'm still rocking the runs. This gives me a lot of hope, I feel like once I do go on a run with gatorade and water and GU I will absolutely KILL the runs. I sure hope so.
I was so excited to finish the 13.1 miles that I decided to compare my time with average half-marathon times for other females my age. Well, lets just say that it was a little disheartening. I guess I'm going to have to work on my time a little. I'm kind of guessing on my time because I walked a warm up lap and then came in and changed and did a few other things while I had my watch running but I think I'm probably at about 2 hours and 15 minutes. This is pretty average to below average. It is just INSANE that people are running these things in less than 2 hours.
A friend of mine is running the Disney marathon in January and has been trying to convince me to run it as well. I feel like I am not prepared and do not have enough time to prepare but apparently I'm ahead of her training-wise. She finally convinced me to take the plunge and I'll be signing up later today. Part of me is really excited about this and the other part of me is extremely nervous. As I continue training and am hopefully able to increase the distance of my long runs then I think I'll start to get less nervous. It just seems impossible to me right now to be able to run twice as much as what I ran yesterday. Ahh! Crazy. I know I can do it though.
Is there anything that you have thought would be impossible and then you conquered it anyways? Tell me about it!
It was pretty rainy here the first couple days this week. I skipped stadiums on Monday and Wednesday because of the rain. Long story but it mostly comes down to the fact that my long run last Sunday messed up a good portion of my week. Not that I didn't get anything accomplished this week because I did, but I didn't do what I planned to do.
On Monday I was not fully recovered from my Sunday run and it was rainy and I didn't feel like dealing with slippery stadium steps so instead my sister suggested that we hit up the gym. I don't have a gym membership but she works at the gym so I got in for free. Now, there are several reasons that I don't have a gym membership. Numero uno: $. I just don't have that kind of money. I've had free access to the gym at UF for more than 4 years now and have only used it a hand full of times. I just can't see myself really using it that much and if I'm going to PAY for it and not use it... well that's a problem.
Probably the main reason why I don't use the gym: I feel super awkward on gym machines. I just can't figure them out and while I'm trying to figure them out I feel like everyone in the gym is watching me make a complete idiot out of myself. I really just enjoy my home gym and running outside. I just can't stand treadmills. I know I keep going on all these tangents but that reminded me of something I read the other day. I read that you should train for a marathon on a treadmill. I can't even imagine running on a treadmill for more than 30 minutes. Even 30 minutes is difficult. They suggested popping in a movie and said that "the time would fly by"... don't know how I feel about that statement but I guess if it rained for like a straight week then I would be wishing I had a gym membership.
But now back to my week. I had worked chest/shoulders/triceps earlier in the day via P90X so I skipped all the upper body machines and did some killer leg exercises. I usually think I have pretty strong legs. I dance, I run and I do leg strengthening exercises on a regular basis. Um... well I sucked at the leg machines. My sister kept having to decrease the weights for me because I couldn't move the machines at all. It was pretty embarrassing. I'm going to go with "the machines work different muscles than all of the other things I'm doing". Yeah, that's it.
On top of being awful at the gym, on Tuesday I was pretty sore. I wanted to go on a longer run on Tuesday but with being sore and then running in the evening I ended up just keeping it to 3 miles.
Wednesday I was still sore. I don't even know what I was sore from at this point. Still recovering from the Sunday run? The gym? My run on Tuesday? Who knows but I was definitely still sore. Stadiums didn't happen and instead I pretty much sat in bed all day. Wednesday is my day off and this Wednesday I learned that I should not have days off. I should have done all the chores that I have been slacking on because I'm never home (ie. changing sheets, cleaning my room, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, laundry, etc, etc) but instead I just sat in my bed playing on the computer. I felt horrible by the end of the day and kicked it into gear some.
Thursday it was a little overcast but it was cool! Oh my gosh, can I just say, I can do anything about 10x better when it is cool outside. GORGEOUS! I went for my 6ish mile run. It drizzled on and off during most of the run and I kept worrying about my ipod and wishing that I had put it in a ziplock bag. It never out and out rained though so my ipod was safe but now i know for future runs.
Friday I pulled myself out of bed bright and early and ran stadiums by myself. I think this is pretty dangerous so I try to always have someone with me even though I really like to go by myself. When I got there it was still dark out. It was crisp and cool outside and beautiful. The moon was out and the stars were pretty bright. The stadium was deserted which was strange because the past few times I've been there various sports teams are usually there taking up half of the stadium. It was nice to have the whole stadium to myself. I ran with my headphones off so I could hear if anyone was approaching but also because it was so beautiful outside that I just wanted to be able to take it all in.
Saturday I ran and I ran and I ran. Again, GORGEOUS weather. I ended up running 13.1 and dubbed this run my mock marathon. It went really well actually. I still don't have my fuel belt and I didn't take any GU with me but I'm still rocking the runs. This gives me a lot of hope, I feel like once I do go on a run with gatorade and water and GU I will absolutely KILL the runs. I sure hope so.
I was so excited to finish the 13.1 miles that I decided to compare my time with average half-marathon times for other females my age. Well, lets just say that it was a little disheartening. I guess I'm going to have to work on my time a little. I'm kind of guessing on my time because I walked a warm up lap and then came in and changed and did a few other things while I had my watch running but I think I'm probably at about 2 hours and 15 minutes. This is pretty average to below average. It is just INSANE that people are running these things in less than 2 hours.
A friend of mine is running the Disney marathon in January and has been trying to convince me to run it as well. I feel like I am not prepared and do not have enough time to prepare but apparently I'm ahead of her training-wise. She finally convinced me to take the plunge and I'll be signing up later today. Part of me is really excited about this and the other part of me is extremely nervous. As I continue training and am hopefully able to increase the distance of my long runs then I think I'll start to get less nervous. It just seems impossible to me right now to be able to run twice as much as what I ran yesterday. Ahh! Crazy. I know I can do it though.
Is there anything that you have thought would be impossible and then you conquered it anyways? Tell me about it!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Beating the Weather
I woke up super early this morning to try to fit in a 10 mile run before church. I had been up for about an hour when I heard rain :(.
Side note: I know it sounds crazy to wake up at 4:30AM to go on a 6:30AM run but I think it's important to have fuel in your body but I wanted to give the food a chance to digest a little so I wouldn't get cramps. I know it's all sound reasoning but it just feels a little on the crazy side when I'm waking up at 4:30 :). Anyways, I very dejectedly decided that I didn't want to do 10 miles in the rain and went back to sleep. When I woke up 30 minutes later it had stopped raining but I had missed my window of opportunity to run. Dumb rain fake out.
At some point during my day I decided that I was going to get my 10 mile run done NO MATTER WHAT. I decided I was going to set out as soon as I got home from church which is usually around 12:30 or 1. Insane, I know. When I decided to do this it was pretty cloudy and I thought maybe it would be overcast but that it wouldn't rain so it would be almost exactly like my morning runs. Uhhh, WRONG.
Before I left I was talking to my mom and sister about how I should hydrate during my run. My hydration belt hasn't arrived yet but I knew that if it was super hot outside that I really ought to bring something with me to drink. I just couldn't figure out how to carry it. Then my sister offered to ride her bike behind me the whole way and carry water and Gatorade with her. I'm not sure what she was thinking or what she got out of the whole thing. I mean, she did ride 10 miles but she rode the bike at my pace which is pretty slow... but she did it.
There is NO way I would have finished that run if she hadn't tagged along. I definitely couldn't have done it without the water but even more than that I couldn't have done it without her support and encouragement. I got to the first place that I could turn around and make my run a 6 mile instead of a 10 but she kept telling me "I know you can do it".
Of course I had just run this course last Saturday and ROCKED IT but wow, it is sooooo much harder in the heat and humidity. Last weeks weather was gorgeous running weather. I was probably insane for running in the weather today. It was about 87 degrees and 60% humidity.
Well, I took way more breaks than I'd like to admit but most of them were to rehydrate so I guess it's okay ;). Part of me felt like I was being a wimp but I really think that it was harder, not just mentally but physically. I fought through it though. It was tough but I did it. I have a nice sunburn to show for it too :). This is exactly how I felt during my run
I can't wait to see what water does for my morning runs. I'm aiming for a long run on Thursday. We shall see.
AND
Best news...
I signed up for my first half marathon. It's in 6 weeks which seems really far away to me. I'm super pumped and I feel like at the rate I'm going that I'll be over prepared. I don't see any harm in this at all. Better than under prepared I think. I'm considering signing up for a full marathon in February. I feel SOOO far away from a marathon. The 10th mile is really hard, my legs are just dying and my knee is starting to ache so I can't even imagine almost tripling that. I think I'm going to wait and see what my next long run is with the water and see what I think at that point. I'm not giving up, eventually I will run a marathon, I'm just not sure if it'll be in February. I'll keep you posted though.
Hey, I know I have a few lurkers out there. Please say hi! I would LOVE to hear from you.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Fitness Blues and The Blue Man Group
I'm so excited because my weeks are finally going to start getting back to normal which means... more time to fit in some amazing workouts.
I get so down when I can't finish what I planned at the beginning of the week to get accomplished. I write down all my workouts at the start of the week and as I know happens with everyone: things come up. A lot of days I manage to do most or all of what I planned to get done but some days I just don't at all. When I wake up at 4:30 or 5 am everyday and I can't go on my run or go do stadiums in the morning but then I don't get home until 9:00 or later (last night it was 1 AM) then there is just no way I'm going to be able to do my run or stadiums for that day.
The important thing is to not give up and continue forward.
This week I bought several new fitness gadgets/gear. I bought a nice pair of gloves for lifting weights and for doing pull ups. My hands have been developing these lovely calluses on them which are not exactly feminine. Hah, I guess neither are weight lifting and pull ups but that's not the point ;). I feel really hardcore when I wear them :). They're pretty fun.
I also bought some body glide. I actually don't think I'm going to be using the body glide for awhile. I haven't had any chaffing problems. I've been wondering to myself why I haven't had any issues since I've been reading about other runners' problems. I finally figured out that it's probably because I really have no chest to speak of whatsoever. I think I'll probably need it some once I get over 13 miles so I thought it was a good investment.
I went all over town searching for a good hydration belt. My uncle has run several marathons and always knows what he's talking about so when he told me to invest in one I immediately got on it. He said that it really helps you to increase your mileage. I'm so excited to run with my belt and can't wait until it gets here. I'm hoping that it'll take care of the soreness I'm feeling in my legs the last several miles.
I also bought a very gently used pair of asics on ebay. Crossing my fingers that they fit well. I know it's probably not the best idea to buy shoes on ebay but they're actually not for distance running so I feel like maybe it's not so important that they fit perfectly? I'm planning to use them for walks and for running stadiums. The shoes that I currently use for these activities have definitely seen better days so I feel like anything will be an improvement.
So back to my failed workout attempts =/...
I've been missing my P90X workouts. I think I'm behind 2 right now. Well two hour ones. I also have to do 2 Ab Ripper X. Does anyone else "catch up" when they miss a workout? IE: Do multiple workouts in one day if you have the time? I do. I have no idea if this is unhealthy or not a good idea or what but it takes away my guilt. They're starting to pile up though. Sunday catch up day all day! Hah.
On top of that I missed stadiums on Monday and on Friday. I can't even remember the reason why I missed Monday but on Friday I STRUGGLED to get myself out of bed and ready to run stadiums and then we got to the stadium and it was closed. Ughhh such a bummer. Well, actually, at the time I was relieved. I was so not in the mood for stadiums. Now I'm wishing that I had. Why? Well...
Saturday is my long run day. It's pretty much the only day I can get a long run in. It takes a good 2-2:30 hours including stretching before and after and bathing and icing and all that good stuff. But... I was out til 1 AM last night and was NOT feeling it when my alarm went off at 4:45 this morning. So I went back to bed and slept in til 10:30. Wow I hate sleeping in. Where is my day? I think it was good though. My body needed it.
I've decided to take a huge risk and go before church tomorrow. I'm working in the nursery tomorrow which means I have to be there earlier and I will be holding babies/potentially standing the whole 2-3 hours. I will probably be regretting my run tomorrow. But I don't even care, I'm doing it. I'm aiming for 11 miles minimum. It would be awesome if I was still going strong and could fit in more but probably time wise I would need to cut it off by that time.
The reason I was out til 1 AM last night... actually would make it okay to have to wait a whole week to fit in a good long run. I went to see The Blue Man group last night! It was so incredible! I don't even think I would have chosen to go of my own accord, I had no idea what to expect, but it was so legit and definitely worth it! Tickets are usually around $70 but I got to go for $45. Absolutely hands down one of the best experiences of my life. I laughed for the majority of the show. My favorite part (if you've been and know what I'm talking about) was the toilet paper insanity at the end. CA-RA-ZYYYYY! But so awesome!
Here's a clip of the toilet paper insanity
Not sure how to insert video. I'll figure it out for future posts.
Kind of hard to see but this will give you an idea of what happened. I love the boy "wait, there's more?!?" my thoughts exactly...
Anyways, I'm off to try to catch up on some of those P90X workouts before I go off to babysit for 8 straight hours. Ughhh sometimes I hate my job. I get no weekend. Where's my day off?
Hope you all are having a great weekend :)
Please ignore my crazy hair. My hair + humidity = crazy hair!
I get so down when I can't finish what I planned at the beginning of the week to get accomplished. I write down all my workouts at the start of the week and as I know happens with everyone: things come up. A lot of days I manage to do most or all of what I planned to get done but some days I just don't at all. When I wake up at 4:30 or 5 am everyday and I can't go on my run or go do stadiums in the morning but then I don't get home until 9:00 or later (last night it was 1 AM) then there is just no way I'm going to be able to do my run or stadiums for that day.
The important thing is to not give up and continue forward.
This week I bought several new fitness gadgets/gear. I bought a nice pair of gloves for lifting weights and for doing pull ups. My hands have been developing these lovely calluses on them which are not exactly feminine. Hah, I guess neither are weight lifting and pull ups but that's not the point ;). I feel really hardcore when I wear them :). They're pretty fun.
I also bought some body glide. I actually don't think I'm going to be using the body glide for awhile. I haven't had any chaffing problems. I've been wondering to myself why I haven't had any issues since I've been reading about other runners' problems. I finally figured out that it's probably because I really have no chest to speak of whatsoever. I think I'll probably need it some once I get over 13 miles so I thought it was a good investment.
I went all over town searching for a good hydration belt. My uncle has run several marathons and always knows what he's talking about so when he told me to invest in one I immediately got on it. He said that it really helps you to increase your mileage. I'm so excited to run with my belt and can't wait until it gets here. I'm hoping that it'll take care of the soreness I'm feeling in my legs the last several miles.
I also bought a very gently used pair of asics on ebay. Crossing my fingers that they fit well. I know it's probably not the best idea to buy shoes on ebay but they're actually not for distance running so I feel like maybe it's not so important that they fit perfectly? I'm planning to use them for walks and for running stadiums. The shoes that I currently use for these activities have definitely seen better days so I feel like anything will be an improvement.
So back to my failed workout attempts =/...
I've been missing my P90X workouts. I think I'm behind 2 right now. Well two hour ones. I also have to do 2 Ab Ripper X. Does anyone else "catch up" when they miss a workout? IE: Do multiple workouts in one day if you have the time? I do. I have no idea if this is unhealthy or not a good idea or what but it takes away my guilt. They're starting to pile up though. Sunday catch up day all day! Hah.
On top of that I missed stadiums on Monday and on Friday. I can't even remember the reason why I missed Monday but on Friday I STRUGGLED to get myself out of bed and ready to run stadiums and then we got to the stadium and it was closed. Ughhh such a bummer. Well, actually, at the time I was relieved. I was so not in the mood for stadiums. Now I'm wishing that I had. Why? Well...
Saturday is my long run day. It's pretty much the only day I can get a long run in. It takes a good 2-2:30 hours including stretching before and after and bathing and icing and all that good stuff. But... I was out til 1 AM last night and was NOT feeling it when my alarm went off at 4:45 this morning. So I went back to bed and slept in til 10:30. Wow I hate sleeping in. Where is my day? I think it was good though. My body needed it.
I've decided to take a huge risk and go before church tomorrow. I'm working in the nursery tomorrow which means I have to be there earlier and I will be holding babies/potentially standing the whole 2-3 hours. I will probably be regretting my run tomorrow. But I don't even care, I'm doing it. I'm aiming for 11 miles minimum. It would be awesome if I was still going strong and could fit in more but probably time wise I would need to cut it off by that time.
The reason I was out til 1 AM last night... actually would make it okay to have to wait a whole week to fit in a good long run. I went to see The Blue Man group last night! It was so incredible! I don't even think I would have chosen to go of my own accord, I had no idea what to expect, but it was so legit and definitely worth it! Tickets are usually around $70 but I got to go for $45. Absolutely hands down one of the best experiences of my life. I laughed for the majority of the show. My favorite part (if you've been and know what I'm talking about) was the toilet paper insanity at the end. CA-RA-ZYYYYY! But so awesome!
Here's a clip of the toilet paper insanity
Not sure how to insert video. I'll figure it out for future posts.
Kind of hard to see but this will give you an idea of what happened. I love the boy "wait, there's more?!?" my thoughts exactly...
Anyways, I'm off to try to catch up on some of those P90X workouts before I go off to babysit for 8 straight hours. Ughhh sometimes I hate my job. I get no weekend. Where's my day off?
Hope you all are having a great weekend :)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Hodge podge
I've been SO crazy busy the past few weeks. I keep telling people that I'm taking some time off and relaxing and working a little. The life of a recent college graduate with no plans =/...
That statement is not entirely true though. I'm taking some time off from school, and while I have a little more flexible schedule it is definitely not relaxing and I am definitely working A LOT. The past two weeks I have been helping out a friend of mine who fell and broke her right arm. She has an 18 month old daughter and she has been unable to change diapers, lift the girl in and out of her high chair, or get her in and out of the car. This last one is especially problematic since the only time this little girl naps is in the car. I've been spending the majority of my day helping out and driving all over creation at naptime. By the end of the day I have been so exhausted that I've been going to sleep at 9:30 and have had absolutely no desire to blog. Another reason for my lack of enthusiasm is that I have been SUCKING at working out. This week I've been stepping it up again and so I am much more excited to share what I've been up to.
Let me start by recapping some of last week:
It was my P90X recovery week which meant a lot of yoga, a lot of stretching, and some of my least favorite workouts... that stupid Kenpo crap. Anyone else have any like/dislike for Kenpo? I just feel super awkward. I feel like I should be good at it cause I'm a dancer and I kick all the time... but I'm just NOT.
I haven't been great at sticking it out, I've either just skipped that day entirely or switched it out for a different workout. I read a message board and a lot of the commenters suggested sticking with it, saying that they didn't like it at first either but after several weeks it is now their favorite. I'll have to give it another chance I guess.
Anyways, I really didn't do much of anything that week. I just didn't have time. I mean, I could have made time if I slept 4 hours a night but I decided it was better to get my rest. I mean, a recovery week isn't going to be very restorative if you're not getting sleep.
I did however go on an awesome run on Thursday night. If you've read my blog at all you know I detest evening workouts. Well, I planned it out so at least one of my main issues wouldn't be a problem. One of my issues with evening workouts is that I'm usually hungry but if I eat anything then I'll feel sick once I start the workout. I solved this problem by eating at around 4:30.
I got home from work and hopped online to map out a route. I found a 10 mile route and set out pretty quickly. By about mile 2 I knew that this was going to be a rough run. In the past my routes have been loops so that if I'm feeling not so hot I can just quit early. I think this is the cowards way to run so I'm really working on cutting that out of my running.
Firstly it was hot and humid. I'm not sure other than that what was so different about this run but it was just HARD. I struggled the whole way. I kept telling myself "You are strong, you are strong, you are strong, you are strong".
Another thing I hadn't planned on was the sun going down... oops! A lot of the run was fine, it was on the sidewalk. The last 3 miles or so winds through my neighborhood though and by the time I got in the neighborhood it was pitch black out. I turned my headphones off and listened for cars and paid a lot of attention to lights coming up behind me. Every time I heard a car coming I jumped up on the curb and ran through the grass... oh my gosh, HELL ON EARTH! I do NOT like running through grass when I'm going on my 8th or so mile. My legs were screaming at me every time I jumped up on the curb and every time I saw car lights approaching I was mentally cursing them :).
I also got to experience BUGS! Not so exciting. I never have problems with bugs in the morning but they are out in droves in the evening. They stuck to my face and I kept thinking I was going to swallow one by accident. Thankfully that didn't happen. So gross.
Some of my route included loops and by the time I looped back to my house I decided 9 miles was fine with me and I just did not want to run the last mile. My 9th mile was pretty killer. My IT band was really starting to hurt and I was pushing it the last mile so I decided that 9 miles would make me happy, a lot happier than I'd be if I really injured myself by pushing past my limit.
Today I ran 10 miles! I know that's only a mile more than my last long run but I just feel AWESOME about it. It was just glorious out this morning. Gorgeous weather. Oh, and it was morning. That just makes everything better in my opinion. Also, my route was one big loop. I just felt like I was running so far. I just kept thinking to myself "wow, I'm so far from home. I ran all the way here. I can't believe I ran all the way here and still feel so good".
Cardio-wise, I am awesome. On my thursday evening run last week my heart rate was high-ish. It was mid to upper 170s the whole time. Today was like low 160s to mid 160s the whole time. It shot up to 170 on a few of the hills but came back down quickly. I feel like I could run forever cardio-wise. But by the end of my runs my legs are just DYING. I wonder if some kind of replenishing drink or food would be helpful? If you have any tips please share! I feel like my legs are pretty strong so I tend to think that it's not that they're not strong enough... but I'm obviously no expert.
Anyways, I can't wait til my next big run next week! I'm looking for a good half marathon to sign up for too.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Too Tired To Blog
Man oh man...
I am just exhausted. This is what happens when you wake up at the crack of... dark (not even dawn) so that you can fit in some exercise before your insane day.
I don't understand how you real bloggers do it.
How do you blog everyday AND make delicious healthy meals AND find time to work out. I just don't get it. You are my heroes.
This is probably going to my tune for the rest of this insane week of working ALL THE TIME.
I'm ready for my break. If I can just make it through this week then I'll be housesitting and then I'm going to be complaining about having nothing to do. I hate house sitting. It makes exercising so difficult. I can't even explain why but I just struggle to stay up with all my exercise while I'm house sitting. Oh well, I'll deal with that problem when I get there.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today. Plyometrics is on the schedule for tomorrow. I love Plyo but nottttt feeling it right now.
Hope you all have a wonderful night :)
I am just exhausted. This is what happens when you wake up at the crack of... dark (not even dawn) so that you can fit in some exercise before your insane day.
I don't understand how you real bloggers do it.
How do you blog everyday AND make delicious healthy meals AND find time to work out. I just don't get it. You are my heroes.
This is probably going to my tune for the rest of this insane week of working ALL THE TIME.
I'm ready for my break. If I can just make it through this week then I'll be housesitting and then I'm going to be complaining about having nothing to do. I hate house sitting. It makes exercising so difficult. I can't even explain why but I just struggle to stay up with all my exercise while I'm house sitting. Oh well, I'll deal with that problem when I get there.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today. Plyometrics is on the schedule for tomorrow. I love Plyo but nottttt feeling it right now.
Hope you all have a wonderful night :)
Sunday, September 12, 2010
I'm Still Alive... I Promise
Hey everyone!
So I've been completely MIA lately. I have good reasons, I promise.
The #1 reason is that my computer was infested with viruses and was completely unusable. It was extremely difficult to fix but has finally been restored to it's former pre-virus self. I ran virus scanners in safe mode for a few days but unfortunately when I went to start it again in normal mode it wouldn't load windows. So then I had to back up all my files and do a system restore. Unfortunately my disc seems to have disappeared so after trying multiple disks we were finally able to fix my computer. Soooo glad to have it back.
#2 reason that I've been MIA is that I have had an INTENSE crazy week. Busy busy busy. I've been working all day every day and then going to activities in the evening. I've been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to exercise much. Don't even get me started on that one. It's soo frustrating. Thank God it's my P90X recovery week or I would really be upset. I did get in a nice long 10 mile run on Thursday though. It was the hardest run I've ever done in my entire life. It was one of those runs where at mile 2 you're not feeling good at all and it's just not a good running day. I kept going though. It was awful but I'm glad I did it. I just really know never to go for long runs in the evening. Soo much hotter and muggier than in the morning, bugs flying in my face, then it got dark on my way home and every time a car came I jumped up on the sidewalk and ran in the grass. My legs were dying every time I had to do that.
Anyways, all that to say that I have another crazy week coming up but hopefully now that my computer is back I will be able to stay caught up a little better. Here's also hoping that I'll be able to stay caught up on all my exercise. I just feel awful without having done much this past week. Both guilty and HUGE. People say I'm just being silly but for real, I've gained like 8 lbs this summer. I'm sure some of it is muscle weight but definitely not all of it. And I'm sorry, tight clothes just feel horrible no matter what you weigh.
I should probably end on a lighter note but I'm just going to leave it at that :)
So I've been completely MIA lately. I have good reasons, I promise.
The #1 reason is that my computer was infested with viruses and was completely unusable. It was extremely difficult to fix but has finally been restored to it's former pre-virus self. I ran virus scanners in safe mode for a few days but unfortunately when I went to start it again in normal mode it wouldn't load windows. So then I had to back up all my files and do a system restore. Unfortunately my disc seems to have disappeared so after trying multiple disks we were finally able to fix my computer. Soooo glad to have it back.
#2 reason that I've been MIA is that I have had an INTENSE crazy week. Busy busy busy. I've been working all day every day and then going to activities in the evening. I've been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to exercise much. Don't even get me started on that one. It's soo frustrating. Thank God it's my P90X recovery week or I would really be upset. I did get in a nice long 10 mile run on Thursday though. It was the hardest run I've ever done in my entire life. It was one of those runs where at mile 2 you're not feeling good at all and it's just not a good running day. I kept going though. It was awful but I'm glad I did it. I just really know never to go for long runs in the evening. Soo much hotter and muggier than in the morning, bugs flying in my face, then it got dark on my way home and every time a car came I jumped up on the sidewalk and ran in the grass. My legs were dying every time I had to do that.
Anyways, all that to say that I have another crazy week coming up but hopefully now that my computer is back I will be able to stay caught up a little better. Here's also hoping that I'll be able to stay caught up on all my exercise. I just feel awful without having done much this past week. Both guilty and HUGE. People say I'm just being silly but for real, I've gained like 8 lbs this summer. I'm sure some of it is muscle weight but definitely not all of it. And I'm sorry, tight clothes just feel horrible no matter what you weigh.
I should probably end on a lighter note but I'm just going to leave it at that :)
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