Back to the West Siiiide!

Hey stinkbombs - I'm back in California so I'll report on my training runs tomorrow when I'm a little less bleary eyed.  I bought new sneakers and a new hat from my favorite running/tennis gear store, RnJ Sports -- no tax and free shipping!  Talk to you all tomorrow!  I'll post pics of my new kicks.

9210B -- if I don't talk to you before you begin your Los Cabos Rest & Relaxation vacation -- have a GREAT time and take tons of pictures!  YOU DESERVE A BREAK!!

funny old Adidas ads

From here. This one was my favorite--it's totally me. I will stretch ANYWHERE! :)

Day 60! Hoo haloo!

The best thing I can say about today's run is that I finished it. My legs felt SO tired the entire time; my feet were literally dragging, and I only bothered to pick them up a little when there were people around to see me. Plus the wind was blowing hard the entire time so I had to eat my usual afternoon snack of seed pods as I ran, and running against the wind made me feel like I was running even more slowly than I already was. Anyway, surprisingly I still managed to run 4.23 miles in 39:51. I'm a little bummed on my current course because there are two intersections at which I invariably have to stop and wait, and while I would normally jayrun, today there were cops everywhere I looked. what the heck cops! anyway--my last piece of bad news is that my USB port is broken and I can no longer sync my ipod!!! I'm really mad because I just bought a bunch of new summer jams off itunes to run to. Sucks :(

I think this post is so gloomy because apparently I'm the ONLY ONE STILL TRAINING! HELLO PEOPLE! I'm so ronery and sadry arone :( If you guys don't start posting I'm going to boycott the blog and deprive you all of my scintillating wit!

Oh, and happy 2-month anniversary ♥

52- Waldo is a SLACKER!!!!!

So I was supposed to run on Sunday but it was too hot then it got dark out. I was going to run my five miles according to schedule on Monday but I didn't feel like doing it on Monday. I have not been into running lately. I have to force myself to go now, I hope this phase passes. I remember Running Girl saying she was getting burned out a few weeks ago. I think I have definately hit that point unfortunately. I did five miles today, and it was not bad. My knees are a little sore though. Wierd thing my lower stomach was cold to the touch after my run. It is where my stomach is a little thicker but still if it was burning fat you would think it would be hot not cold. Sorry to have been a slacker on working out and blogging, but if I ain't working out I can't blog. Haha unless I blog about sitting on the couch, eating taquitos, and watching movies!!! Have a great week guys.

Where is Waldo?

Hey! Where is everybody?

I'm on the east coast this week visiting a ton of family AND it rained all weekend so it has been tough to complete my training runs. Sowwy! Where is everybody else? I'm dropping the hammer!

Day 58

Almost two months of training behind us already! Yesterday I did a bit of yoga and otherwise lazed around. Today was a short run:

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the elliptical
Run: 3 miles @ 27:17
Cooldown: 1/2-mile walk
Strength circuit and stretch

It's starting to get super hot out. While this will make running outside a little more uncomfortable, for the most part I'm loving it. I can't wait for summer!!!

Day 56: 5 + 3

Since I woke up at 7:30 today, I decided to go ahead and do my run:

5.1 mile run @ 47:42
1 mile walk

I was supposed to walk 3 miles but just didn't feel like it. I'm not a big fan of walking as exercise; I already do enough of it as transportation. Anyway, even with the extra tenth of a mile I only shaved about 30 seconds off of my last outdoor 5-miler, but it was still a decent time. I'm just glad I got this out of the way today so I can enjoy my lazy Sunday!

Training Days 54 & 55

Yesterday after school I came home and did an hour of yoga, and I'm still feeling a little sore from it--I was doing some seriously deep warrior poses! Today was cross-training:

40 minutes on the elliptical
3-mile run (didn't check the clock--somewhere around 28:00)
1/4-mile cooldown
Strength circuit

I still need to stretch a bunch. My legs were feeling super tired still from Wednesday's run--this 3-miler was a bit of a challenge as a result. I'm thinking of taking tomorrow off and doing my long run on Sunday, instead; we'll see how I feel in the morning.

Before my workout I was perusing the magazines in the women's locker room, and happened upon an issue of AV Magazine. What does the AV stand for, you ask? Anti-Vivisection, of course! Hands down the strangest magazine I've ever seen there. I opted instead for Via, which had a crappy article on Sacramento in it. Slim magazine pickins at the gym today--I should have bought that In Touch when I was at Safeway :( Who will get custody of Suri?!?!!!?!!!!!!

Have a great weekend all! :)

Training Day 55: 4 miles with David Beckham! AIYEE!

Date: 24 April 2008 / Distance: 4 mi / Time: 35:50

Today, I purposely scheduled my run for 3:00 pm.  Yup, I ran with David Beckham.  hoo hoo!  He was on the Ellen Degeneres Show today.  As noted by Ellen, he's pretty easy on the eyes.  Plus it's really hilarious (and disarming) that he can't pronounce the "th" sound properly.  He kept saying, "I have free children."  The time went by quickly; I'm normally a major clock watcher because I'm so impatient to get the run over with.  Today, my attention was on Sir Beckham.  Swoon!

Day 51: No music =Boring Workout

So I was half way through my run today and my nano stopped playing music and clocking my distance. It would turn on but that was it, it would not play music. I tried turning it on and off but nothing. Running the rest of the way without music was sooooo boring. It made my run seem so much longer and I focused more on being tired then my good tunes that are usually playing. I felt pretty tired and worn out for most of the run. Not sure if I am hitting a wall because of all the training or it was the lack of music. I am hoping to take my nano to get fixed at the apple store tomorrow so I won't have another boring treacherous run.

Day 53

It felt great to get back outside today! It was nice and cool and breezy, though toward the end of my run the wind picked up and got kinda crazy so now I have lots of little bits in my eyes. Anyway, I ran the 4 (plus maybe like .1) miles in 37:02, so I was pretty happy with that--the treadmill obviously hasn't hurt my game too much. Happy Hump Day everyone!

Training Day 51: 4 miles - Now I feel steamrolled

Date: 22 April 2008 / Distance: 4 mi / Time: 33:09

When I lived on the east coast, my spring allergies were MISERABLE.  I'd sneeze eight times in a row, I would blow my nose every 5 minutes, and I'd be forced to wear glasses for 2 weeks because my eyes would be so itchy and aggravated.  I haven't had the miserable spring allergies on the west coast.  However, I do feel some allergy symptoms -- like a sore throat and a runny nose.  I decided to run on the treadmill for my 4 miler to prevent the San Diego tourists on the boardwalk from being subjected to seeing a sweaty girl with snot running down her face or all over her sleeves.  Gross!    I had a good run and then I did my core strength workout of dips, squats, lunges, and some free weight work.  I had a good workout but I didn't think it was all that strenuous.  Wow - Joel tried to wake me up at 7:30 this morning. I could barely open my eyes and roll out of bed.  It took me 15 minutes to wake up.  It's 9 am right now and I'm still in my pajamas.  Ugh!  Thank goodness it's an off day.  

Day 51: 4-mile run

I had a great workout today. I was feeling really motivated, so I decided that since I was running at the gym I would at least start incorporating some inclines again.

• Warm-up: 25 minutes on the inclined elliptical; finished editing my essay :)
• Run:
• Mile 1: 10:00, 104' climb
• Mile 2: 10:00, 152' climb
• Miles 3 & 4: 18:00, 57' climb

• Cooldown: 1/2-mile walk
• Strength circuit
• Stretch

I felt great at the end of the run and almost pushed it further, but I still had to hit the weights and I needed to get home to finish up some crap for school. Wednesday I'm going to get back out on the street for my run--I hope I haven't lost too much ground over the past couple of weeks!

Day 51: Core & Short Run

I just realized that we've been training for more than 50 days. Wow. That's a whole lotta miles accumulated!
Congratulations on your long runs, guys! I weenied out last week, so I'm planning on 10 for Friday. I also want to commend you on donating your hair -- that's a great cause. If I could ever grow my hair long enough, I'd love to donate it!

Today was a core workout and short run. I'm really going to start looking into some sort of speed training to incorporate into my shorter runs. As it is now, I just slog through them while watching Friends reruns on my TV. I feel like I'm not really get anything out of it and I'm starting to dread them as "wasted" time. Maybe I'll look at intervals to sort of spice it up and make it a little more engaging.

1 mile sprint (8:25)
Full-body weight circuit (legs, arms, abs, obliques, back)
1 hr Pilates
.25 mile walk
3 mile run (28:10)
.5 mile walk
stretch

Training Days 47 - 50: A Total Training Blur!

Date: 18 April 2008 / Distance: 3.2 mi / Time: 26:32

Date: 19 April 2008 / Distance: 3.2 mi race / Time: 31:14

Date: 20 April 2008 / Distance: 7 mi / Time: 72:06

PHEW!  921OB and I had a full week of running.  Last Tuesday, 921OB and I each donated 8.5 inches (at least!) of our hair in support of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program.  Pantene has partnered with the American Cancer Society to collect donated hair and to create wigs which will be distributed to cancer patients.  It felt great to donate our hair for such a worthy cause - particularly because close friends and family have been impacted by the illness.  On a lighter note, we were joking around about becoming more aerodynamic as a result of our new haircut.  I'm not sure we're running any faster, but I'm definitely dealing with less static electricity and my baseball caps are fitting a little looser.

On Saturday, 921OB and I participated in the Parkinson's 5K Fun Run.  It wasn't much of a race because there were a lot more walkers than runners.  It was still a lot of fun to see all the dogs dressed up in wacky outfits though.  

On Sunday, we mapped out a 7 mile run in 921OB's 'hood.  It was an awesome run - EXTREMELY scenic.  We ran by marshland and saw ducks and egrets.  We ran through the Ocean Beach residential neighborhoods and got to check out beautiful gardens, friends and families passing a lazy Sunday in their yards and we saw a guy smoking a joint on his front stoop.  Pretty funny.  We also ran along a long stretch of ocean cliffs.  Boy - it was a GREAT run. We were very proud to complete the 7 miles -- it's the first time we've ever run 7 miles!  What a milestone!  

Hope everyone has a great week ahead!  We're halfway through our first training schedule!

7 miler in OB

Running Girl and I did our 7 mile run without any issues, no cramps, no heat strokes and no dodging people on the board walk. It was a fun scenic run along the San Diego River, then the beach and then through some neighborhoods. People were out in their front yards playing with their dogs, drinking, eating and socializing. It was good entertainment and made the run go by faster. I feel good that we went that far. I still can't imagine doing almost double that for the half marathon............... Great job everyone this weekend doing their long run!!!!

5k

We ran the 5k, it was a lot of fun but there were tons of walkers and dogs so it made it hard to get running and keep a good pace. The race was to benefit Parkinson's disease. Apparently dogs can get it too, that is why they let dogs be part of the race. All the dogs were dressed in running shirts and track suits, so freaking cute.
We did it in about 31 minutes I think, Running Girl has the exact time.
Thanks for the words of encouragement , we needed it!

Day 49

Well, I did it--I woke up at 6:45 on a SATURDAY MORNING to run 7 miles. My bike ride to the gym was very chilly. The run itself was pretty awesome. The upside to running so early was that I had just had my coffee and was super alert and energized. I listened to the Dixie Chicks the whole time I ran.

Run: 7 miles @ 63:58
Walk: 1/2 mile

I was supposed to walk a full mile after the run, but I had to get home to shower before my friend came to pick me up. We went over to one of Sacramento's urban farms for a very interesting seminar on home-scale farming. I didn't have a chance to eat anything other than an apple before we left, so I was pretty hungry afterwards, but Dave wanted to go for a walk so I scarfed down a few bites of BBQ tofu and hit the road. We walked about 4-5 miles in some gnarly wind; Dave, Mickey and I were all sneezing uncontrollably by the time we got back home. I am now completely famished and planning to go chow down on some delicious Indian buffet. Also, I never ended up having that glass of wine last night, so I will be making up for it today.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Did you guys tie for first in your 5K?

Blog slacker

I last left you on Wednesday after my mini triathlon training. Thursday was a killer day (real smart before a 10-miler, eh?)....

1 hr Cardio Kickboxing (the sadisic B focused on monkey squats and other painful quad/glute exercises)
1 hr Pilates (the other sadistic B focused on leg raises to the point of muscle failure)
Whole body strength circuit (yeah, my thighs and glutes were D-E-A-D)

So I woke up Friday morning thinking, "Yeah, I can run 10 miles today." That is, until I sat up. I was so sore, it took me a couple of minutes to work the soreness out enough to walk to the bathroom! Ten miles, yeah, not so much.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H!!!!!!
5.67 miles (with a most necessary potty stop at Emma's elementary school in the middle!)
S-T-R-E-T-C-H!!!!!!!

The good news is that when I did finally get going, I was in a good rhythm. Other than the major bell in the road (so that there's drainage), my legs felt good. Now I know which sections to avoid on these streets -- they make the shin of the leg that's closest to the yellow line hurt something fierce. My 10-mile route is on the shoulder of a much larger road, so I don't have that issue. But there's far less to look at and people honk. Jerks. Of course, on the smaller roads, drivers apparently think that you should jump off the side of the road into a ditch every time they pass. What is it WITH people? Anyway, today should be yoga and a strength circuit, but I'm getting ready for Emma's first sleepover -- she's very excited and I still have a lot of house to clean.
: )
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Good luck on the 5K!

5K!

Good luck to Running Girl and 921OB in their 5K tomorrow! Don't forget the sunblock, ladies!

Training Day 48

Cross-training...yawn!

45-minute cardio workout on the elliptical, 5-minute cooldown
Strength circuit & stretch

Boring, but at least I got most of an essay revised. Something about the elliptical really helps me get into the zone when it comes to paper-writing :)

My left calf is feeling SO much better today that I'm tempted to do my long run outside tomorrow. I know you guys will be waiting with bated breath to see what I decide; I'll keep you posted!!!

Tonight I will be having ONE glass of wine, I know I should probably have zero before a big 7-miler at 7am tomorrow, but I'd rather play now and pay later. Cheers!

Training Day 45: Sleepytime!

Date: 15 April 2008 / Distance: 3.05 mi / Time: 25:05

Just a quick post to document my workout.  Nothing exciting.  I did my Bosu workout and played tennis in addition to my run.  I slept like a log that night.  Have you guys noticed that you're sleeping more soundly now that you're training?

Day 46: 4-mile run

I've decided to round out this week running at the gym; it was super windy again today, and while one might think the wind would feel really good while you're running, Sacramento is so incredibly fecund and bursts into life with such force in the Spring that there is an overwhelming amount of organic crap flying through the air, so that you can't avoid getting little seed pods and pollen and random junk in your eyes, nose, mouth, wherever. When it's windy, we stay inside :) Also, since my leg is still not 100% I've decided to favor it a little by sticking to the treadmill, just for the next week or so. I'm not too worried about missing a few street runs since we still have so long to train. Although, at this point, I feel like if I had to run the race tomorrow, I could do it--my body's ready, it would just be a mental challenge.

Anyway, my run today:

Warm-up: 15:00 on the inclined elliptical
Run: 4 miles @ 37:20
Cooldown: 1/2-mile walk

4 miles is feeling totally easy and kind of boring--I'll be glad to get back outside where I can at least look at stuff. I did an hour of yoga on Tuesday, so today I'll probably do some stretching, and that's basically it. I have a 10am date on Saturday so I'm going to try to get up and do my long run early in the morning--maybe around 7am?!? Wish me luck...! :)

Day 45: Foot Cramp

I went running with two friends who are training for a half marathon next weekend. We were running and chatting and having fun. At 3.5 miles I said I would love to keep chatting but I gotta stop talking or I will run out of steam. I cranked up the ipod and ran about 4ft behind them.
Towards the end of the run I got a mega cramp in the arch of my foot. I have never had a cramp like that. Even after when I was walking home it hurt so bad I took off my shoe. The pain did not go away until I got home and rubbed my foot for a while. It really sucked, I couldn't imagine if that happened during our race.

Crosstrain: Mini triathlon

Another Wednesday, another mini triathlon. : )
Started out with lots of stretching -- I've been feeling a little sluggish and unmotivated this week, so I started slow... the nice thing about starting with swimming is that you're already there, you've already crisco'ed yourself into your suit.... you're COMMITTED.
350m swim: 6:15
10 mile bike: 30:45
25 minutes on the eliptical trainer
stretch
I was supposed to do a strength circuit following this, but time was getting short and I still had to do my grocery shopping and get home in time for the floor guy to NOT show up to fix my floors. I had to stay home from the gym yesterday for this joker to come and make more of a mess trying to fix what he did incorrectly in the first place. Can you tell I'm bitter?
: )
Tomorrow is kickboxing, pilates and a run. Friday is supposed to be 12 miles, but I'm going to keep it at 10 and try to increase my comfort (and confidence) level. I WILL be downloading a podcast and putting some gatorade in the camelback so we don't have a repeat of last week!

Day 43: Hot Hot Heat!

So it was 90 degrees when Running Girl and I decided to embark on our 6 mile run. It was very warm and the boardwalk was packed with people in bathing suits, on skate boards and bikes. It was like running through an obstacle course . I trailed behind Running Girl for most of the way, having her in front of me kept me motivated to keep going and not to stop and walk. On the way back not only was I sweating like a pig, running against the wind, but I was so dehydrated and EVERYONE had water, Gatorade, slushies, smoothies you name it they were consuming it. I wanted to stop by the beach goers with their big coolers and ask for a cube of ice to sustain me till we got back. It was quite a long, torturous run but WE MADE IT!!
I can't believe 7 miles is this weekend. YIKES...............

Training Day 43 Continued: Hot, Hot, Hot

921OB and I ran our 6 miler on Sunday.  We knew it was going to be a "sizzla" on Sunday, so we scheduled our run for 4pm thinking it would be a little cooler.  WRONG!  As soon as we started running, I felt a cloud of warm air engulf us.  I actually said, "Ugh!" as we began the run.  HA HA!  As soon as we hit the boardwalk, we entered a tunnel of heat.  I'm convinced we encountered the nexus of Global Warming on planet earth.  Poor polar bears!  

1.)  It was 90 degrees so the sun was bearing down on us and causing our skin to sizzle.

2.) It was 90 degrees so the sun was baking the sand and the residual heat was rising and creating a bubble of heat around me and Stephanie

3.) There were 50 million scantily clad people on the boardwalk emanating a ton of body heat

4.) The grills at the boardwalk restaurants and bars were cooking overtime and all the grill heat was spilling on to the boardwalk where we were running

5.)  For some really stupid reason, I wore a black hat and a black top, which absorbed all the heat in the universe

Stephanie said she saw people drinking cold, refreshing beverages and felt crummy because she didn't have one.  I saw people frolicking in the ocean and the pool.  I actually entertained the idea of taking a short running detour into the ocean and including it in my mileage for the day.  The crowds (roller bladers, bikers, fellow runners, quick walkers, slow walkers) on the boardwalk made the run even more interesting.  Stephanie and I engaged in slalom running.  We were dodging, weaving, zigging, zagging, and doing the robot.  There were a couple sections where we had to jog in place or where we had to run a quick detour but it wasn't terrible.  Once we hit the 3 mile mark, we turned around and we were punched by a crazy headwind.  Ha ha!  It actually felt kind of good.  We ran the remaining 3 miles against the wind.  We finished it!  Joel saw us when we finished our run -- he said our faces were beet red.

Day 44: 1-3 miles

Back to the grind. It's extremely windy outside today and there are all kinds of seed pods and weird bits flying around in the air, so I ran at the gym again.

Warm-up: 1/2-mile walk
Run: 3 miles
Cooldown: 1/2-mile walk
Strength circuit & stretch

Total time of walk & run was about 42:30. On Wednesday, unless it's super hot, I'm going to try to run outside again and see how my leg feels. I'm just a bit wary to run on the street as drivers downtown are either really confused or just big b's sometimes. But, we'll see how it goes... :)

P.S.--I really recommend the podrunner podcast--you guys should all check a couple of them out if you're looking for some new music to run to. So far I've found that I'm comfortable running between about 155-170 BPM, but there are some as low as the 130s, and up to around 180 I think. They're awesome for keeping you on pace!

Training Day 43: Long, Hot, 6 Miler

Date: 13 April 2008 / Distance: 6 mi / Time: 60:00

921OB and I ran 6 miles today! I'm so wiped right now, I'm going straight to sleep. I'll write about our 6 mile adventure tomorrow. Here is a little teaser: 90 degrees.

Training Day 41 & 42: It's Hot Down Here!

Date: 11 & 12 April 2008 / Crosstrain and Strength / 

It's gotta be in the high 70's or 80's today.  For San Diego, that's HOT.  The sun feels super harsh when it's that warm.  For my crosstraining day, I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer and 20 minutes on a recumbent bike.  I haven't ridden an exercise bike in 10 years or so.  I now understand why I avoided it in the first place.  I left a pool of sweat on the bicycle seat.  Oops! Sucks for the next rider!  Today, I had a private tennis lesson.  I must have hit thousands of balls all over the court -- it certainly felt like it!  921OB have our 6 mile run + 1 mile walk scheduled for 3 or 4 pm tomorrow.  Wish us luck!  We're running on the beach boardwalk so we'll have good people watching and annoying people dodging.

Day 43: now THAT was a workout!

I ran at the gym today because it's in the upper 80's outside:

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the elliptical
Run: 1 mile at 8:40
...bathroom break...
Run: 6 miles at 55:25! Holy cow!!!
Cooldown: 1-mile walk

I went ahead and called the first mile a second warmup because I felt like a cheater counting it as part of my run. It was kind of hard to get started today, but once I hit my 4th mile I was feeling good and knew I could make it to the end. The only downside to today's run was watching Tiger's Masters Meltdown. Poor baber :(

I didn't post about the junk I did on Thursday and Friday because it was really boring. After today's workout I'm feeling excited about training again. Hope everyone's having a great Saturday!

New shoes

As a reward for my run today, I got some new shoes. Well, as a reward and because the others have a few hundred miles on them by now! I've never had Saucony's before, but these just felt perfect the minute I put them on. I have to tell you, I have feet/running shoe issues -- the last time I bought a pair of shoes, I bought/tried out at home on the treadmill/returned SIX pairs. I sprained my ankle back in college and then had a bone scan done about 5 years later... all the little bones on the outside of my right foot are shattered, so I can't wear motion control/stability shoes. When I try on cushioning shoes, either the top or bottom of my feet (sometimes both, just for added fun!) go numb, no matter how loose the laces are. I really find that the most comfortable shoes are the lightweight racing ones, but those aren't good for any kind of distance running -- which really makes the search a tedious one. But I found these after trying on just 4 pairs. Score!

Day 42: Long Run (10m)

The day I've been dreading all week -- the long run. This week, it's 10 miles. I mapped out a pretty flat, 2.5 mile each way loop and did two "laps." It's along a 4 lane road with a fair amount of traffic, and I prefer my serene side-road runs. I KNEW there was no way I could do 10 miles with the hills I face on my shorter runs, so I took it to the streets. Does anyone know if it's a runner "show of support"-type thing to honk? A few people did and it scared the crap out of me every time! I was like, "What? I'm not in your way... do I have an incredibly long string of toilet paper stuck to my shoe or something?" Anyway, I was a little concerned about the weather because of the very weird and very severe storms we had last night -- the wind blew the rain so hard against the windows that it actually woke me up. But the sky was just a little overcast and it held out for most of my run. The light drizzle at the end felt good!
I finished the first 5 mile lap in 47:00, which wasn't TOO bad, but the second half was tougher. I hadn't prepared by hydrating the day before and the breakfast I ate wasn't enough to sustain the energy level I needed to keep up to finish. I also didn't take any water with me (NOT a smart move), and by about mile 6.5 - 7, I was feeling dizzy and woozy. I stopped to walk for a couple of minutes, mostly because my hands/arms were sort of numbing out and my vision was tunneling. Note to self: PREPARE next time! But I picked it back up and ended up finishing around 1:40:00, which works out to an average of about 10 min/mile. Not too bad, about where I wanted to be. I have a camelback from my days in the Army (we NEEDED them in Saudi), so I'm going to dust that bad boy off for the next trek. I also wish I had spent a little more time organizing my iPod for a run of that duration. I've really come to rely on it, and I ended up, instead of working off a playlist like I normally do, scrolling back and forth through all of my music in the main folder. That was sort of annoying, so I'll make a "long run" playlist that'll include all sorts of stuff, not just music. Two hours is a long time to listen to Madonna, Avril Lavigne and the like.
: )
....and the thing that I missed the most was a cheering section! When I was at home in MD, it was SO nice to have my parents and kids out cheering me on. It really helped to motivate me, push me, give me a sense of accountability... the car honkers just weren't the same.
: )
Next week is supposed to be 12 miles, but I think I'm going to stick with 10 again and try and improve my time or at least feel a little better while running it. Regardless, I'm into double digits and pretty proud of my accomplishment!

Day 40: Fruit Booting CA!!!

Yesterday was my off day, today was 40-60 minutes of cardio. I decided to bring back the early 90's and go roller blading ( As my husband calls it Fruit Booting). I also decided last night to download old Micheal Jackson songs to my ipod in order to pump me up during my runs. So today I was roller blading and rocking out to Billie Jean and Man in the Mirror. I might as well have been wearing stretch pants, and a Miami Vice T-shirt! It was a fun workout, but I definitely do not use those muscles when I run. My legs were burning and my quads were tightening up towards the end.

Training Day 40: Turdsday Two Miler

Date: 10 April 2008 / Distance: 2 mi / Time: 17:14

I think I'm starting to get a little burned out.  I ran my bum off today.  I tried to run faster so I could stop running as soon as possible.  It didn't work.  I just felt really tired and my shins felt super tight this morning.  I think I need to do a mini-triathlon type workout like tennis-run-bike (or better yet: shopping-beach cruising-eating) to get me out of my rut.  We'll see.

Day 41: Short Run

Well, it's Thurdsay and that means Cardio Kickboxing and Pilates. I did a 45-min class of each (we used weights in Pilates which made it both more challenging and strangely less awkward for me). After an hour and a half at the gym, I came home and....
.5 mile walk
3 mile run -- 27:46
.5 mile walk
S-T-R-E-T-C-H

I did arms last night -- weights on a stability ball -- so Kickboxing kickboxed my butt. I'm feeling better, though, and was actually able to watch myself in the mirror duing the class today -- something I normally avoid out of disgust!
: )
Happy Thursday!

Day 40: Mini "triathlon"

Well, the stars aligned and I got to do my mini triathlon. It was a super mini version because I was a little limited on time, but it felt good to use everything instead of just pounding the pavement.

Stretch
300m swim -- 15:00
6 mile bike -- 17:49
1.25 mile run -- 11:23
Cool down stretching

The sprint distance triathlon in Nashville in July has a longer bike and run -- 300m swim, 16.5 mile bike, 3 mile run. It's funny, in most of the training advice on triathlons, they focus on swimming, but since I was on swim teams from 8 - 18 and then played water polo in college, that's the least of my worries! The bike part scares me to death. I rode a stationary bike that had the arm pads so you can lean forward and, man, I sweat like I've never sweat before in my LIFE. And I lived and ran in 140 degree heat in Saudi Arabia for 6 months. No comparison! Now I'm dehydrated and my legs are a little rubbery, but it was a great crosstraining day. Of course, on Friday when I'm tackling the 10-miler, I'm probably going to wish I had just gone for a leisurely swim!

Day 40!

For some reason last night I was feeling like I'd been slacking, or like I was getting out of shape or something. I don't know why--maybe the 2-mile "long run" this week was a shock to my system. Anyway, today I decided to ramp up my run a little bit:

Warm-up: 15 minutes on the elliptical
Run: 2 miles @ 17:03--wowee!! If I could run even half the race at this pace I would be ecstatic.
Cool-down-ish run: 1 mile @ incline of 2--10:00
1/2-mile walk

I'm still kind of breaking in my new shoes. The left one is totally scraping the back of my heel, and the right one has something weird poking into my arch. I've already run outside with them so I'm hoping this will improve soon. Better socks would probably help...the ones I wore today were really thin. Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty good. My hip feels a lot better already, and my leg is definitely hurting less, though I haven't run outside again since Saturday.

I was thinking as I left the gym how the first time I went there, about 3 years ago, I worked out on an elliptical for about half an hour. By the end of the half hour I was totally exhausted, lightheaded, and I think I felt a little like I was going to barf. My face was beet red--I thought someone might stop me and insist that I receive medical attention. I can't believe what bad shape my poor little heart was in at the time! In some ways I feel like a completely different person, and though 3-4 years ago I probably wouldn't have really believed it, subtracting cigarettes and adding tons of exercise has made me enjoy life SO much more than ever before. Now I just need to figure out how to live forever!

Blog procrastinator

I suck. Actually, things have been insane around here this week, so, while I HAVE been working out, I have failed to post my workouts on the blog.

Sunday: off

Monday:
Weights (arms)
.25 walk
3 mile run (27-ish minutes)
.25 walk

Tuesay:
Core workout
.5 walk
3 mile run (27-ish minutes)
.25 walk

I'm starting to get into a rut, so today the plan is to do a mini triathlon work out -- swim, bike, run. The weather is crap, though, and there has been some thunder, so the pool may be closed. I'll post later with the results of my crosstraining day.

Day 38: Walking and Running through OB

When I got home from work I remembered I needed to go to the vet to get Frisky ( our cat) some food. My husband and I walked to the vet and got him 12 cans which I carried home in my backpack. It was a 2.25 mile walk round trip. Once I was home and fed the nagging brat, I went for a 2.15 mile run. It was pretty chilly so I ran fast to get home quickly. I did my run in 17:42 not bad but I did have the cold air making me go faster then I normally would. I know me saying cold is not really cold compared to the east coast but we are wimps out here when it comes to weather below 65!!

Training Day 38: Construction Workers Take Lunch

Date: 8 April 2008 / Distance: 3.04 mi + Core Strength / Time: 25:39

For the last few days, I've been running between 10:30 - 11:00 am.  Apparently, all construction workers take lunch at that time.  They all sit in a single row along a wall on each property and chow down.  My favorite construction crew wears white overalls with matching white caps. They wear the same outfit as Mario or Luigi from Super Mario Bros.  It's pretty funny!  Today, I actually smelled barbeque as I ran by.  Yum!  I think they set up a small hibachi grill on the property.  My run was pretty uneventful.  I didn't have to dodge cars or potholes today.  For my core strength workout, I worked on the Bosu.  I listened to the Allman Brothers today.  Have you ever run by people who sing out loud while they run?  I noticed this phenomenon all the time in San Francisco.  Today, I noticed that I was bopping my head and shaking my hands (like I had drumsticks) with the beat of the music.  I was also mouthing some of the words.  I probably looked like a freak -- but I now understand how people get really into their music during work outs.  ha ha!

Day 37- The shuffle and the nano

So I skied and went swimming for day 34 and 35. Day 36 was off day and yesterday I went for a 3.25 mile run. I had my shuffle and my nano with me. I listen to my shuffle but bring the nano for the pedometer ( it only works on the nano). The nano has one Lilly Allen song on it bc I am having issues converting my shuffle songs to the nano. So at .9 miles my shuffle dies no music, and unlike Running Girl I can't run for long with out tunes. So I figure I could listen to the nano and just have Lilly Allen on repeat the whole time. About half way home I started feeling dizzy, I am not sure if it was because I was running so fast bc I wanted to get home since I had no music or if it was the constant repetition of the song!! Either way I made good time but did feel a tad dizzy during and after the run. Hope everyone else had a better Monday!

Training Day 38

Warm-up: 25 minutes on the inclined elliptical--no numb feet this time
Run: 3 miles, didn't pay attention to the time today
Cooldown: .4-mile walk
Strength circuit

Today was kind of boring. I ran along reading about the evolution of language and looking at the same old gymgoers I always see: the dude who runs with his towel stuffed in his mouth, the manic guy who does super-speedy reps on the weight equipment, the chatting ladies who creep along on the ellipticals and stop every 5 seconds to flip a page in their Good Housekeeping. Friday it's supposed to hit 84 degrees--our first time into the 80s this year. I may try to find a little river route to run along where it's cool and breezy and I can do some birdwatching too!

Happy Monday!

Day 36 and 37: Cheater!

Date: 7 March 2008 / Distance: 2 mile run + 2 mile walk / Time: Run - 16:10 Walk - 29:30

I pushed my training run by a day. I rode my beach cruiser to a farmer's market yesterday. I considered that ride my workout for the day. Ha! Today's run was pretty good. I think it's my best training time to date -- unfortunately, I doubt I'll have a repeat performance. I ran fast today because I was almost hit by a car which threw off my stride and made me accidentally run into a pothole and twist my ankle (not seriously though). I was so mad at the driver, I started pumping my arms faster and quickening my pace. I had a storm cloud over my head for the remainder of the run. I was still fuming during my walk until I spied a really cute bird. After seeing the bird, I chilled out a little.

Day 37

Went to the gym to complete the 3-mile walk from yesterday, but ended up working out for about an hour and a half:

45 minutes on the elliptical: my feet were totally numb at the end of the 45 minutes. This always happens to me if I'm on the elliptical for more than about half an hour. Not sure why, but it's pretty unpleasant.

2-mile walk on the treadmill at an incline of 5.

Then went home and watched No Country for Old Men. McCarthy love! &hearts

Training Day 35:

Date: 5 March 2008 / Distance: 3.05 mi / Time: 25:28

Started the morning off with my weekly hour long tennis lesson. After the tennis lesson, I downed some Gatorade and did my 3 mile training run. I actually ran without my iPod. It felt a little strange at first, like I had audio vertigo or something. Right after my run, Matt, my friend visiting from the east coast, called to grab lunch and to check out Balboa Park and the beaches in San Diego. I'm still really loving my beach cruiser so I insisted that we ride along the beach. We rode 7 miles along the boardwalk. Phew! It wasn't a super rigorous ride, but after a morning of tennis, running and walking through the park, I was pooped. Check out my beach cruising action shot!

Day 36: 2+3

Just a few months ago I would have been pretty daunted by a 2-mile run like whoa, but yesterday I welcomed it as a nice easy break from the 4- and 5-milers. My ipod died after one mile, so I ran one more and then went and got the pup and walked one mile, and then decided I'd walk the other two at the gym on Sunday. My new shoes felt good, but my right hip and left calf still hurt, and I'm kind of worried about the hip in particular--I feel like the bones are rubbing against each other or something when I walk. I've got to find somewhere better than the sidewalk for my outdoor runs; until I can figure out a solution I think I'm just going to stick to the treadmill, since I never had any pain aside from regular soreness when I was running exclusively on the treadmill. Hopefully I'll find a good grassy or sandy route for next Saturday's 6-miler! :)

Day 36: Strength and Flexibility

Still have something strained in my right hamstring/glute, so I thought I'd take it easy today. I ended up doing an hour and a half of yoga, but stuff like Pigeon pose made me want to absolutely cry. I'm supposed to have an off day tomorrow, but I think I'll get on the treadmill and see how I feel.
Hey -- has anyone ever looked into doing a triathlon? There's a sprint distance triathlon here in late July, and I was thinking I might give it a shot. I just know there's a little more involved because of the transitions from sport to sport and didn't know if anyone had attempted it. I might wait until next spring, but it's always been one of my life goals -- it's on my "bucket list."
: )

Training Day 34: Beach Cruiser Crosstrain

Date: 4 April 2008 / Distance: 4+ mi / Time: Approx 35:00

I couldn't bear the elliptical trainer today.  I ditched it and rode my beach cruiser instead.  Joel had a training run this morning so I joined him on my bike!  The downhill portions were awesome. Wheeeee!  The uphill portions were not so awesome.  Huffing, puffing, quads burning!

Training Day 35: Combo Day

Since I had school yesterday I wasn't able to do my cross-training. Even though I do a ton of walking all day I don't really count it as exercise since it's interspersed with a bunch of sitting on my butt in class. I got out of class early and caught the early train with like 30 seconds to spare--anyone who's ever had to deal with Amtrak or any kind of commuter train knows how freaking sweet this felt. I thought I might even get home early enough to go to the gym before the after-work crowd swarmed in. However, we ended up having multiple delays and I got home about 15 minutes (instead of an hour and a half) earlier than normal. Pretty lame. So I did an hour of yoga and called it a day.

Today I went and got some new shoes. I've been having a little bit of pain in my left calf when I run on the sidewalk, and my right hip has been hurting too--the other night I think it actually woke me up because I was trying to sleep on my side and it hurt too bad. So I decided to get fitted for some new shoes just for some extra protection. Afterwards I went to the gym to make up my crosstraining from yesterday, and squeeze in today's workout as well:

Crosstrain: 30 minutes on the elliptical
Run: 3 miles @ 26:30
Walk: .75 miles at 3 incline
Strength circuit
Stretch

For the first mile of the run I was planning to stop after a mile--I felt really tired, and my legs were feeling really sore. For most of the second mile I was telling myself I could stop after two miles. Once I hit the third mile I knew I would finish, but I definitely made this run harder on myself by continuously thinking that I couldn't do it. I think the third mile was also easier because I was listening to music rather than reading about US immigration history.

I'm going to celebrate the end of the week with some delicious food and drinks. Hope everyone had a good one!

New Shoes!

Shoe love! &hearts

Long Run

Pilates and kickboxing are bad -- bad, I tell you! I was going to make up for my slack yesterday by bumping today's 4-mile run up to 6.... and I ended up doing only 3 because I've pulled something in my glute/hammie. Yeah, calling them that doesn't make it any cuter or any less painful.
: )
I didn't even watch the time, just clicked off the distance in my head as I was praying to see the finish line. So tonight will be a whirlpool soak and lah-hah-ts of stretching. Tomorrow is yoga and Sunday is off, so I'm sure I'll be raring to go by Monday. Getting older bites.

Day 33- 11,000 ft above sea level

No runs, no walks, and definitely no beach weather today! It was sunny and 32 degrees. We skied from 9 am to 2:30pm. Quite a cardio and leg workout. I am so freaking sore. My sister is hard core and made us go on so many difficult trails. Me being the older sister, I couldn't be called a wimp so I trudged down the slopes after her in over a foot of powder. After the long day of skiing I came back to the room and changed and laid on the bed. My sister comes in the room and says hey I am going up to the fitness center to work out, wanna come??? At this point my legs and buns felt as heavy as bricks, I had to admit defeat and take a nap!!

Day 30-whatever!

Today was supposed to be a short run (2-3 miles), but I did a Cardio Kickboxing class and a really tough 45 min Pilates class that collectively broke me down. Tomorrow's supposed to be a short-ish run (4 miles), so I may just bump that up to 6 to compensate. We'll see what the weather does... today, it poured all day long and there was no dearth of lightening and thunder. I don't know if I can hack 6 miles on the treadmill!

Training Day 33: 4 miles that dragged on forever

Date: 3 April 2008 / Distance: 4.04 mi / Time: 35:53

I ran around 10:45 am today. The entire run felt like a struggle. When I first started, my shins felt really tight. I started off listening to Tom Petty. Then, I started focusing on how hot the sun felt and how its rays were bearing down on me. I needed something with a quicker beat so I changed the music to The White Stripes. At mile 1 or 1.5, I felt pretty crummy. I changed the music one last time to Madonna! I can always count on Madge to get me through the remainder of the run. It was a tough day today -- my breathing was off and I felt really hot.

Day 32: 4 mile walk

Since I knew I was leaving town and my nice beach side runs/walks, I decided to go for a long walk. I walked 4.05 miles through Ocean Beach before work. I did a bunch of hills to work my endurance ( So I can keep up with Running Girl!) and to work my glutious maximus!!! I am in Utah now where its 20 degrees and there are tons of snow. I can't wait to shred the slopes.

Day 33: Crosstrain

Well, my butt and outer thighs are so sore from the sadist lady's kickboxing class, I figured I'd take a day to stretch and recover. Instead, however, I worked on getting the lawn mower started for the first time in 2 years. Once I got it started, I was afraid to turn it off! The grass was getting so long, we could have had a car up on blocks and you wouldn't have seen it... so I mowed our 1/2 acre lot. I'm calling that crosstraining. It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r, but at least now we won't get hate mail from our neighbors and threatening letters from the HOA.

Day 33

My run today:

Distance: 4.03 miles
Time: 37:02

Stoked! I am extremely happy with this time. Sometimes I start out really slow, so even if I speed up later on my time suffers, or else in the middle I hit a slump and run like a 12-minute mile before I force myself to get moving again. This time I listened to one of my "podrunner" podcasts (157 BPM) the whole time and so basically kept up a consistently decent pace for the entire run. Super sweet!

Training Day 31: Sunset 4 Miler

Date: 1 April 2008 / Distance: 4.05 mi / Time: 34:27

My friend Matt came into town from DC so I had to push my run from dawn to dusk. We spent the day walking all over the zoo, checking out the ocean cliffs at the Torrey Pines Gliderport, and tidal pooling in La Jolla cove. I saw my very first octopus today. I was goofing around a small tidal pool when I suddenly saw a purple tentacled arm stretch out from underneath a rock. It freaked me out and I started shaking my hands and yelling "AAAAGGGHHH!" - but Matt calmed me down with his scientific speak and I resumed my octopus observation. By the time I got home, I was feeling tired and seriously thinking about skipping my run. Joel changed my mind. He volunteered to ride his beach cruiser to keep me company. Plus, we timed our trip to coincide with the sunset! I think I ran a faster pace because I wanted to keep up with Joel and because I was trying to beat the sunset. I don't enjoy running in the dark. I'll probably do my core strength workout tomorrow.

Day 31: Ocean side run

Since my knees have recuperated I went for a run today. I took it easy and did two slight inclines to avoid more pain to my knees. I completed 4.96 miles in 44:32 minutes, too bad I didn't look at my pedometer to see I was almost at 5 miles. I guess 4.96 is close enough, but I still need to get better at looking at my distance along the way.
This will be my last run for the week. I am going to Utah to ski for the next three days.
Hopefully that will count for cross training! With the 18 inches of snow they just got it will definitely work my leg muscles.

Day 32: Short Run

It was really nice to get back into the swing of things and a regular routine after a little break. Miles and I went to the gym today -- he almost missed the three steps leading down to his tumbling class in his excitement to greet his teacher. THAT'S always a nice thing. I have to say, after a week and a half of running outside, I'm H-A-T-I-N-G my treadmill. It's such drudgery! But I can only run outside on the days I don't have kids at home, so it's a necessary evil right now. Motherhood is wonderful, but terribly inconvenient.
: )

1 hr Cardio Kickboxing (killer thigh workout today)
30 min Ab Class
.50 walk
3 run (28:03)
.25 walk
stretch

Tomorrow is supposed to be crosstraining, and I have no idea what I'll do. I'm considering breaking out the bike. We'll see!